Basketball :: essays research papers

Basketball     Basketball is a great game that is one of the close to popular in America.In this sport you have to have genuine aim to shoot, good jumping skills to rebound,you have to be quick, and also have good ball handling skills. In a real gamethere are only five subject areaers on the court, referees, foul outs, and rules like no ladder with the ball, no fouling, out of bounds and no running over the other police squads players on offense. I really enjoy playing this game and I employment a lotoutside on my court and play for P.A.L in the winter. I think I am a prettygood player and dream of playing for the NBA one day. Next year Im going toplay varsity for our indoctrinate instead of wrestling and try my best to help theteam win. If I try really hard and practice everyday I could be an extremelygood player. I usually play with my friends after school for fun or just toplay around and have a good time, practice on my own to practice things I needwork on, or practice with my dad and let him give me some pointers.     I love watching basketball games on TV and usually watch the Knicks play. place of all of the 28 teams in the NBA my deary teams from best to leastfavorite are the New York Knicks with Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, John Starks,Charlie Ward, Chris Childs, Charles Oakly, and Allen Houston. Then I like theCharlotte Hornets with Anthony Mason, Tyrone Bouges, Glenn Rice, Gladie Divac,and Curry. My third favorite team is the Seattle Super Sonics with Shawn Kemp,Gary Payton, Schremph, and Perdue. My fourth and final favorite team is theOrlando Magic with my favorite player Anfernee Hardaway, Horris Grant, and NickAnderson. My three favorite players in the NBA are1)Anfernee Hardaway/ byname "Penny"2)Larry Johnson/nickname "Grandma"3)Shawn Kemp/nickname "Rainman"These players have a lot of talent and I enjoy watching them play.For instance Anfernee is a leader for the team and ha s good passes, gooddribbling, and good shooting skills. While Larry Johnson has goodrebounding, pretty good shooting, and good dunking skills. Last but not leastShawn Kemp who has great rebounding and great dunking skills includingfancy dunks and great allyoops.     I think basketball is a great sport and that it will continue to be

The War on Terrorism Has Not Compromised Civil Liberties Essay

The War on Terrorism Has Not Compromised complaisant LibertiesIn the wake of 9/11, the coupled States of America began to rouse a war on terrorism. Many in this country would say we actually started a war against ourselves. One argument is the war on terrorism has begun to erode our civil liberties. Have our civil liberties really been abused or have they been slightly altered by the Patriot displace to protect all Americans best interests? To fully protect Americans from future terrorist attacks monitoring, the contradictory Terrorist Tracking Task Force, and the Patriot Act have been essential components. Many animadvert the war on terrorism has invaded their right to privacy. People are worried their phone conversations and internet use are organism monitored. The truth is only those venture of terrorists acts are being closely monitored by the government. The fact is we need military tribunals, detention programs, monitoring of internet and phone activity and attorney-cl ient conversations to protect all Americans from future terrorists attack (Ashcroft). Any person being monitored by the government is told before hand. For example an inmate whos attorney-client conversation is being closely monitored know they are being overheard and can only be prosecuted for information pertaining to terrorism or future terrorist attacks. According to John Ashcroft monitoring conversations is one of the many steps needed to fight terrorism.Immigrants fear deportation from the United States and feel their rights have been violated since 9/11. Our government has instilled this fear by passing the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act flowed from a draft bill circulated by the Department of Justice in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (Byr... ...e Senate Judiciary Committee. He said to scare the American plurality into losing their liberties only aids the terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve (Davies).Works Cited* Ashcroft, John. The W ar on Terrorism Has Not Eroded Civil Liberties. Civil Liberties Opposing Viewpoints. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. New York Greenhaven Press, 2004. * Byrd, Robert C. Losing America. pgs 45-49 New York W.W. Norton and Company, 2004. * Davies, Frank. Civil Liberties Ashcroft Defends U.S. antiterror tactics. Detroit Free Press. 7 December 2001. 6 November 2004. <http//www.freep.com/news/nw/ash7_20011207.htm. * Hannity, Sean. Let Freedom Ring. pg 133 New York Regan Books, 2002. * Hendrickson, David C., and Robert W. Tucker. The Sources of American Legitimacy. Foreign Affairs. New York 2004.

Child And Parent Behavior Observation Essay -- Sociology Child Psychol

Child And Parent Behavior ObservationI am almost always surrounded by the interactions between children and their parents. I hear it at my work, I hear it in restaurants, but most of all I hear it at my house. My mother owns a daycare and every(prenominal) night I hear parents being hit by a barrage of questions. When children are being picked up they always have a couple on of questions for their parents. Children are always asking about the meal for the night or whether they can go over to a friend?s house or have some body over. Every night I see 12 different children with twelve different parents and it seems that each parent acts differently thusly the next.When I thought of observing the children that attend my mothers daycare I decided that I should observe the interactions betwe...

Comparing Illustrations of H. A. and Margret Reys Opposites :: Compare Contrast Comparing

Comparing Illustrations of H. A. and Margret Reys Opposites and Beatrix Potters The taradiddle of Peter Rabbit Margret Rey and husband H.A. Rey be well known for their writing and illustrating the Curious George books. This paper is going to look at the way H. A. and Margret Rey and Beatrix Potter as authors and illustrators use images to express their feelings through these characters. H. A. and Margret Reys Opposites, and Beatrix Potters The Tale of Peter Rabbit will be compared and contrasted.These two authors H. A Rey and Beatrix Potter has created two similar characters. Curious George and Peter Rabbit seem to find mischef wheresoever they go. There are also some distinct differences between these two books. In Margret Reys Opposites, husband H. A. uses cartoon looking characters making the illustrations interesting giving it a feeling of fantasy. The characters in this book are all smiling and the colors seem to be more bright and vivid to catch the readers eye. The color lily-livereded to me represents Georges curiosity. This bright yellow also makes for a focal point in many of the Curious George books. For example in Curious Georges Opposites bright yellow is delineated on the majority of the pages. From a small flower taking up just a little area to the pigpen which takes up most of the page. To me this parades the importance or trademark of the yellow in Curious George series. Another book H.A. and Margret wrote was Curious George the original. This book is dealing with similar characteristics. Curious George becomes curious when he sees that yellow hat lying on the ground. Again the characters are more fantasy like. The faces are all smiling which represents how this is an unrealistic story. Rey tends to use this kind of illustration to show how this is more of fantasy writing and not so realistic. He also uses round shapes rather than pointed or jagged representing innocence. As Curious George seems to be so innocent wh en he gets into this mischef. Another character that is curious and is always getting into mischef is Peter in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. In this book Beatrix Potter uses a different type of illustrations than does H.A. and Margret Rey.

Comparing Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and William Wordsworth’s T

Comparing Christina Rossettis Goblin Market and William Wordsworths The Thorn On the surface, the poems Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti and The Thorn by William Wordsworth appear to be very different literary works. Goblin Market was written by a young woman in the Victorian period about two infants who develop a special bond through the rescue of one sister by the other. The Thorn was written by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth about a middle-aged man and his experience overlooking a womans stirred breakdown. Material to understanding the works Goblin Market and The Thorn is recognizing the common underlying themes of sex and gender and how these themes affect perspective in both poems. In Christina Rossettis Goblin Market, the main foci are on feminism and the oppression of women by men. The first part of Rossettis message is given through her thoughts on feminism, which is surely a major theme in this poem. For instance, the two main character s, Laura and Lizzie, reside free of any positive male interaction. Considering Rossettis background as part of Victorian society, the conclusion can be made that Rossetti longed for a place where she could be free of masculine overbearance. Even so, she understood the impossibility of any such personally ideal world. The poem illustrates this realization by including the Goblin men, who seem to haunt the female characters. The Goblin mens low-pitched cries sustain the girls. Laura and Lizzie constantly hear the goblins in the forest Morning and evening / Maids heard the goblins cry (Rossetti, 1713.) Even while the characters were alone or in the exclusive battlefront of women, the presence of the Goblin men exist... ...seful miscommunication between men and women. Lastly, when looking through the imagined perspective of the thoughtless male tricksters, the reader is shown the heartlessness of men. After this readers final consideration, the main theme in each of the pr esented poems is that both authors saw women as victims of a male dominated society.Works CitedJackson, Geoffrey. Moral Dimensions of The Thorn. Wordsworth Circle. 10 (1979) 91-96.Mermin, Dorothy. fantastic Sisterhood in Goblin Market. Victorian Poetry. 21 (1983) 107-118.Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market. The Longman Anthology of British Literature Vol. 2B. Ed. David Damrosch, et al. New York Longman, 1999. 1712-1724.Wordsworth, William. The Thorn. The Longman Anthology of British Literature Vol. 2B. Ed. David Damrosch, et al. New York Longman, 1999. 319-325.

Comparing Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and William Wordsworth’s T

Comparing Christina Rossettis imp Market and William Wordsworths The Thorn On the surface, the poems Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti and The Thorn by William Wordsworth appear to be very different literary whole works. Goblin Market was write by a young woman in the Victorian period about two sisters who develop a special bond through the rescue of one sister by the other. The Thorn was written by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth about a middle-aged man and his experience overlooking a womans emotional breakdown. Material to understanding the works Goblin Market and The Thorn is recognizing the common underlying antecedents of sex and gender and how these themes affect perspective in both poems. In Christina Rossettis Goblin Market, the principal(prenominal) foci are on feminism and the oppression of wo manpower by men. The first part of Rossettis message is given through her thoughts on feminism, which is surely a study theme in this poem. F or instance, the two main characters, Laura and Lizzie, reside free of any positive male interaction. Considering Rossettis background as part of Victorian society, the close can be made that Rossetti longed for a place where she could be free of masculine overbearance. Even so, she understood the impossibility of any such personally type world. The poem illustrates this realization by including the Goblin men, who seem to haunt the female characters. The Goblin mens low-pitched cries follow the girls. Laura and Lizzie constantly hear the goblins in the forest Morning and evening / Maids heard the goblins cry (Rossetti, 1713.) Even while the characters were alone or in the exclusive presence of women, the presence of the Goblin men exist... ...seful miscommunication between men and women. Lastly, when looking through the imagined perspective of the thoughtless male tricksters, the reader is shown the heartlessness of men. After this readers final consideration, the main theme in each of the presented poems is that both authors saw women as victims of a male dominated society.Works CitedJackson, Geoffrey. Moral Dimensions of The Thorn. Wordsworth Circle. 10 (1979) 91-96.Mermin, Dorothy. Heroic Sisterhood in Goblin Market. Victorian Poetry. 21 (1983) 107-118.Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market. The Longman Anthology of British Literature Vol. 2B. Ed. David Damrosch, et al. New York Longman, 1999. 1712-1724.Wordsworth, William. The Thorn. The Longman Anthology of British Literature Vol. 2B. Ed. David Damrosch, et al. New York Longman, 1999. 319-325.

Himalayan Herders Reaction Essay

The film Himalayan Herders portrayed mountain pastoralists from Himalaya. This movie covered umteen points on the lifestyle of these indigenous people. This documentary styled film covers many aspects of ethnography. This ranges from religion, to death ceremonies. This video did a very good job of portraying these people and it was very ethnographical well-nigh it. As far as ethnography is concerned, this film is full of it. This group of people is considered pastoralists. This means that they standardised to remain in one ara. Also, they are farmers and herders.An example of this is how potatoes are the staple of their diet. An example of how they are herders includes how they raise Zomo, which are cows in combination with yaks. This is because theses pastoralists use the milk of a cow for many things but live at higher altitudes, which yaks can handle. There is definitely a division of labor among the genders. The women are responsible for tending to the Zomo, milking them and making cover from the milk. The women also take on help from the children. While the children are helping, they are also learning how to tend the Zomo for future responsibilities.Essentially the only responsibility the men have in regards to the Zomo is taking them out to feed, while the women have to take the time to milk them, churn butter, and engage cheese. Something else that men are responsible for however includes creating objects and machination out of color dyed butter for a ceremony called the Nara. Men also have the responsibility of performing the rituals at the Nara. Another aspect of pastoralist elaboration covered here was their economic constitution. For a while, the mountain pastoralists of the Himalayas didnt use a coin or paper form of currency. More often than not, whit was considered currency.Grain could be traded for tools and useful things for the group. More recently however, coin currency has been used. Coin currency can be traded for sheep and vica- versa. Sheep are another important expound of their lives. Sheep were of course used for their wool and the women had the responsibility to turn the wool into textiles to be worn or for other uses. The wool was turned into a yarn same(p) string by hand, by tightening it up. After that, the women used a series of sticks and intricately created fabric which was its useable form. The point of view of this film is in the form of a narrator.A narrator educates the viewers on the day to day lives of these people with the occasional interview-style scene which would include an person from this subprogramicular decree speaking about an aspect of it. With this style, we get to hear about what the people within the group think and how they feel about certain topics. I breakt believe the narrator is biased because it seems to me that they have done a lot of studying this society and instead of giving opinions, is giving generalizations and genuine facts. I believe that the people that wh ere studied would generally give us the same information the narrator provided.This is because, as stated above, the narrator is essentially just sticking to the facts and presenting to us in the same way the individuals in the group would. If anything, this film shows empathy. The narrator shows no sign of feeling sorry for this group when he dialog and is just presenting the information for us to perceive. The narrator seems to have an understanding of the culture and does not show resentment in the least bit. After watching the film, I dont dislike the group either however, I also wouldnt say I admire them. I feel indifferent towards them.They are going about their lives, surviving the way they know how to and the way that was taught to them which is respectful. It would be very easy for them to just stop and let technology do everything for them like we do here but they carry on living simple lives. In all honesty, I suppose I feel respect for them. I believe it would be fanta stic to live a simple life and really only have to worry about what daily tasks lie up of you. Although it would be nice, it would also be nearly impossible for someone in our culture such as me to just drop everything and go move into a mountain.This culture is honestly not a lot like my own. In my society we shop in grocery stores whereas in this culture they basically make everything they use from scratch. Its hard to find a similarity except a little bit in the death ceremony. In the death ceremony, the numb(p) is put into a wooden box where no spirits can enter. When someone in America is buried, this is also done in a wooden box but a much more intricate one. The school system is also much different. There is barely a school system there. If Im not mistaken, a school system is a very new concept for them where here, school is life.In conclusion, this film did a majuscule job of describing the mountain pastoralists of the Himalayas. It was very ethnographic and covered many aspects of their culture. The narrator also did not appear to have any biases. That is a huge part of learning about a society. It is always best to have a narrator that just relays information to you and then cut to a scene of an individual within the group talking about it. That way, we could get a better scope of their lives. All in all, this film did a great job educating everyone who has viewed it about the life and culture of these specific pastoralists.

Dreams in Death of a Salesman Essay

Dreams are part of any mans nature. To dream is to live a life that you hope for yourself in the future. These dreams may or may not be achievable besides will always drive people toward them. People may take these dreams sternly like Willy Loman but to most people to achieve their dreams would be to achieve the impossible. Dreams can be very dangerous if they are the solo tearaway(a) forces stool a persons life and lead them, not to hope but to want for things beyond their reach. This is the case in Death of a Salesman.The driving force behind Willy Loman throughout the Death of a Salesman, is the idea that he can achieve the American Dream. He wants to have the material things in life and to have the best of everything he wants lots of property, a big house, and a loving family and, To come out the number-one man. He sees Ben as the abridgment of success, he longs to be as successful as Ben or in time as successful as Bernard, always asking Whats the secret? preferably of being discouraged from this by Linda she is tolerant of him, constantly backing down, right to the end. Even in his plans of suicide, she is scared to contradict him, instead replacing the rubber hose down every evening when he comes home.Happy idolises his father and buys into the American Dream. Right until the end, he cerebrates he actually is somebody. When scoke points out, Youre one of the dickens assistants to the assistant he still tries to convince himself of his importance. He is very like his father in his need for success, when he looks where there is no success he has to make it up. Both of them believe they have to lie to people to make themselves likeable. When Willy dies, instead of understanding how futile his dream is, Happy vows to fight on for Willy chronic his battle. biff, however is less stubborn and prefers simple pleasures. He doesnt want to be told how to live his life and doesnt want to follow certain rules.He wants to be able to whistle in the elevat or. He loves The work and the food and the time to sit down and smoke. He doesnt want to exploit and crawl and make money he would only spend to beg and crawl less. However Willy doesnt understand this and believes that pigeon berry is simply, A lazy prat. He is sure that Biff could succeed in the city if he only tried. Both Willy and Happy feel they have to cover up Biffs lack of success Willy boasts to Bernard that Biff has being doing, very big things in the West and Happy in much the same way tells Stanley how Biff is a big cattle man. They wholly subscribe to the American DreamA major part of the play is the time that Willy spends living in the past daydreaming and reminiscing. He is constantly revisiting the parts of his life that have shaped him to the person that he is. In this way the audition unravels the story of Biffs childhood, Bens success and Willys affair with The Woman. This seems to be the part of his life he most regrets, as it is the time he revisits the mo st. At several moments throughout the play, The Womans laughter is heard from offstage, usually at times that Willy sees what has become of his life, for example when he sees Linda mending her stockings.These flashbacks are vie out to the audience like scenes in real life and often simultaneously they are only indicated by the actions of the actors. During dream sequences, the actors pass through the boundaries of the walls as though acting on a completely different stage, but during sequences in the present the actors obey the imaginary lines of the walls, entering and leaving through the doors. This helps the audience to distinguish between times. Often during flashbacks a certain melody is heard on the flute this is his fathers flute. Ben tells Willy about their father and how they used to sit around a fire and listen to their father play.Ben is idolised by Willy for his success and wealth but at the same time distrusted by Linda. She seems to be reserved in her affection for him as opposed to Willy who treats him as a hero the moment he walks through the door and she is disinterested when Willy reminisces about Ben days later. We dont meet Ben in person at any time throughout the play, only through Willys dreams, so we are only aware of him through Willys estimation of him. Willy remembers him as a go-getter and a leader of men. He is shown to be motivated only by money as seen in his final conversation with Willy. He is not concerned with Willys wellbeing, only by the large sum of money he would get on from the insurance payoff, twenty thousand that is something one can feel with the handLinda is the only member of the Loman family that has no dreams, all she wants is for Willy to be safe and well and the boys to prise him. Happys farfetched idea of setting up business on their own carries even Biff away. Linda merely encourages. She is contented to live with Willy even if they have no garden or the car breaks down or the fridge fails. Arthur Mille r seems to see her, not Ben, as the real hero of the play. This is reflected in the gentle respect he gives to her in his writing.This play is a strong message against the principle of the American Dream. Willy Loman is constantly striving to achieve the dream, but drives himself crazy. Biff seems to be the only character in the Loman family that is able to set himself aside from this dream, wanting only to be happy his own man. Although I believe dreams to be an important, if not essential part of life, I also believe that contentment is far more important. If you cannot be happy with what you have, you cannot possibly hope to be happy with what you wish for. Willy Loman dreams of becoming a great man, dreams of the great man he was and dreams of the great man Biff can be, he just fails to understand that they are great men.

CRITIQUE OF CURTIS’ A NOTE TO STUDENT ART DIRECTORS

Hal Curtis A Note to Student Art Directors is an inspirational, simple to read phrase approximately the need for greater creativity in the advertising world. The author believes that there are formulas that are already in place and known to sell. The art music directors job is to add more originality to the simple formulas. To put it another way, the author advises the budding art director not to forget about the word, art, one time he or she has managed to land a dream job in an advertising agency used to selling advertisements created with standard formulas. The most essential administer of the article driving the point home begins and ends thus Heres the thing. But not the art part.1 To encourage art directors to dwell committed to originality and creativity central to being an artist Curtis offers several pointers toward the end of the article. He mentions execution before this.2 According to him, art directors must not only remain focused on fine arts but also able to co nvey their originality and creativity in the advertisements that they play a role in creating. These portions of the article persuade the reader to believe in the message of the author. Although the author does not provide evidence of lack of creativity in the world of advertising, nearly everybody in the worlds of art and business is aware of the importance of creativity and innovation.A formula that sells does not ask for anything else unless an art director has risen above mediocrity to help in the creation of an advertisement that is entirely unique. Even though Curtis does not mention this it is quite possible for the art directors originality to be rejected at first. Then again, as the author would advise, it is for the art director to remain loyal to art.BibliographyCurtis, Hal. A Note to Student Art Directors.1 Hal Curtis, A Note to Student Directors. 2 ib.

Theory Observation Distinction

Is on that point a genuine singularity mingled with observable and unobservable entities? Why does it progeny? How, and why, might one distinguish betwixt theoretical and ceremonyal allegements in knowledge? I have decided to tackle both these questions because they feed into and relate to one a nonher. They emphasize different aspects of a prevalent debate, all aspects of which I wish to touch on. Whether the question of a bankers bill among observable vs unobservable entities is synonymous to the question of a bill mingled with theoretical vs non-theoretical statements is itself a matter of debate.Quine advocates semantic ascent, the shift in which the run-in we use to refer to the world becomes more or lessthing we talk about in its accept right. Semantic ascent is a shift from questions about objects to questions about words or statements. He claims we should drop the talk of observation and talk instead of observation sentences, the sentences that ar said to re port observations (The roots of Reference). So obviously Quine thinks the two questions be equivalent. They have often been treated as equivalent questions, or at least non distinguished too c argonfully.I tot up with Van Fraassen that we should at least note and respect the differences between the two ways of talking about what might be the same issue, and not make the category mistake of talking about theoretical entities, just for clarities sake. At any event capital of Minnesota M Churchland disagrees with Quine that the two debates are parallel , He says we agree (Churchland and Van Fraassen) that the observable/unobservable distinction is entirely distinct from the nontheoretical/theoretical distinction.This variant / confusion as to the very terrain, layout of the questions of the debate, arises because there is the ordinary language question of how do we naturally apply the terms accompanyd and observation, as thoroughly as the question of whether a principled O/T dist inction buns or should be drawn as Gerry Fodors Granny says unfeigned there is an epistemologically important distinction, that its reasonable to call the observation inference distinction, and that is surmisal relative.And, also true, it is this theory-relative distinction that scientists usually use the terms observed and inferred to mark. notwithstanding that is quite compatible with there being another distinction, which it is also reasonable to call the observation /inference distinction which is also of central significance to the doctrine of learning, and which is not theory relative. It is this second principled O/T distinction that I will focus on as opposed to the ordinary language distinction, I do not think ordinary language arguments succumb on the question of whether there is or should be a principled distinction.Although examining what inclines us one way or another in ordinary language usage may clarify featureors that also influence us in an boilers suit di stinction, such as naturalness, entrenchment, flexibility and plasticity. After semantic ascent the question of whether there is an O/T dichotomy becomes one of whether all observation reports suppose many theory. This slightly ignores the question of the ontological view of the entities, whether observed or unobserved, but this will come up when I tackle the subsidiary severalise of each question the why make a distinction, for what purpose? or why does it matter if a distinction presents itself? I think the strategy of semantic ascent is useful and justified since the debate takes place in at least two domains, the perceptual/cognitive (internal) and the empirical/inferential (public)The strategy of semantic ascent is that it carries the discussion into a domain where both parties are better agreed on the objects (viz. , words) and on the main terms connecting them. Words, or their inscriptions, unlike points, miles, classes and the rest, are tangible objects of the size so p opular in the marketplace, where men of unlike conceptual schemes communicate at their best.The strategy is one of ascending to a gross part of two fundamentally disparate conceptual schemes, the better to discuss the disparate foundations. No wonder it helps in philosophy. Quine word and object. still it is a second base confusing and difficult to translate debates or points between the two, and certain debates are clearer at the ground level rather than the meta-level. There are three classes of arguments that bear on the T/O distinction 1. Meaning holism arguments. Which tend to work against the distinction 2.Ordinary language arguments. Which tend to work for the distinction 3. Psychological arguments. Which can work for or against As well as a specific argument by Grover Maxwell from the continuity of observation with inference which works against the T/O distinction. There are two extant modes for making the theory observation distinction Fodors and Van Fraassens. Fodor stand fors the distinction against the implication from cognitive science that perception is continuous with intuition. VanFraassen defends the distinction against Maxwells challenge that it is impossible to draw the line between what is observable and what is only detectable in some more roundabout way. Fodor and Van Fraassen have different reasons for drawing a distinction, Fodor, to defend realism, Van Fraassen to attack realism, strangely enough. Fodor to defend realism against Kuhnian relativism, and Van Fraassen to defend constructive empiricism, a form of anti-realism, against incoherence, and so pit it against realism.As Andre Kukla notes It is not surprising that a realist and an anti-realist should agree on something but it is curious that van Fraassens and Fodors defenses of the theory-observation distinction play diametrically opposite roles in their philosophical agendas. Andre Kukla the theory observation distinction. But should we be driven by a philosophical agenda in debating a question? Or should we resolve the question and then decide on a position which accords with our coif? Shouldnt we be immaterial when we make philosophical decisions?Unfortunately in philosophy there is so little evidence making up your mind is more a matter of achieving coherence, it is legitimate to allow justification to flow in all directions. The question of whether there is a T/O distinction is relevant to the debate between realists anti-realists and relativists in the following manner. So far as realists debate with anti-realists is concerned, the T/O distinction is optional for realists. They have everything to gain and nothing to lose by making it unravel.They have everything to gain, because the constructive empiricist position is incoherent without a T/O distinction. But so far as realists debate with relativists goes, realists have conversely everything to gain and nothing to lose by defending a distinction, they would defeat relativists. Kuhnain Relati vism requires the lack of a theory neutral language with which to adjudicate our differences, so we buy off incommensurability, incommensurability leads to the irrationality of theory choice thus we get relativism. But realists cannot have an easy victory against both parties.I suggest that the realist denies the T/O distinction and so wins against the constructive empiricist. The lack of a T/O distinction does not entail relativism a theory laden observation can still tryout a theory. To return to the question of whether we should be driven by a philosophical agenda in deciding a point, it must be remembered that we are concerning ourself with the question of whether there is a significant or principled O/T distinction. Its significance comes from its position within a larger debate.Frankly, everyone can let there is some sort of distinction or difference between direct and indirect observation, the question really is how significant the difference is, whether a distinction can be drawn at a position significant enough to support any theory, the significance depends on the work it is made to do by larger theories. Paul M. churchland defines his scientific realism as a realism entirely in terms of his side towards the T/O distinction. He believes any attempt to draw the distinction, particularly Van Fraassens, is arbitrary.By any skepticism our observational ontology is rendered exactly as dubious as our non-observational ontology He is not an Jewish-Orthodox scientific realist he is skeptical about the overall truth of our beliefs, the reference of scientific terms, and the convergence of theory towards truth. But he is skeptical about the victor of all our theories, cognition at large, from a low to a high level not just scientific theories, and thus does not distinguish between the integrity of observables and the integrity of unobservables. He states that global excellence of theory is the ultimate whole tone of truth and ontology at all levels of c ognition.Although churchland has exactly the same attitude to observables and unobservables, a cautious skeptical attitude, relative to his peers he has a slightly pro attitude to unobsevables, and a negative attitude to observables. This pro attitude to the unobservables of science makes him a realist and his slightly negative attitude to the observables of everyday life make him a scientific realist the function of science, therefore, is to provide us with a superior and (in the ache run) perhaps profoundly different conception of the world, even at the perceptual level.I agree with Churchland as to the theoretical character of perceptual judgments, I agree that perception consists in the conceptual exploitation of the natural teaching contained in our sensations or sensory states . Having done part of a module on the humour as a statistician I know that our perceptual judgments are statistical decision problems akin to gambling or any decision base on uncertain evidence.Beca use inputs are noisy the external world and inefficient transduction creates noise- the question of whether a signal is present or not will take a hop the relative probability that a signal is drawn from distribution A(noise only) or distribution B(signal + noise). Biasing factors are the probability of occurrence of a member of each category, information on which is drawn from memory. Perceptual decisions rely on perception and memory, or evidence and prior knowledge, prior knowledge being essentially a theory about the world. provided I disagree with Paul Churchland as to the possibility of our being trained to make systematic perceptual judgments in terms of theories other than the ballpark horse sense theory we learnt at our mothers knee For one, I dont think we learn our common sense theory rather it is built into our genetics. I do not think we are nearly as plastic as he makes out, on this point I go with Gerry Fodor, perception and cognition are not continuous, and perce ption can never make judgments in terms of grand theories which we can barely conceive. The boundary between what can be observed and what must be inferred is largely determined by fixed architectural features of an organisms sensory / perceptual psychology Gerry Fodor Observation Reconsidered. Paul Churchland directly contradicts this formulation our current modes of conceptual exploitation (perception) are rooted, in substantial measure, not in the nature of our perceptual environment, nor in the innate features of our psychology, but rather in the structure and content of our common language.How plastic the brain may be is an empirical point, and I think Gerry Fodor wins the debate with his analysis of the ponderer-lyer illusion. Fodor says the robustness of the muller lyer illusion at interrogatorys to the imperviousness of perception by cognition. There are both perceptual plasiticities and implasticities. Kuhn was impressed by the plasticities, but it is time to dwell more on the implasticities. To the best of my knowledge, all the standard perceptual illusions exhibit this curious refractory character knowing they are illusions doesnt make them go away However I dont think Fodor is being entirely empirically accurate.Some illusions such as the concave convex illusion, in which heavily shaded circles appear as concave when the shadow is at the top of the circle, and convex when the shadow is at the infiltrate of the circle, which occurs because we have a strong prior belief / prior given that light falls from above, can be reversed or at least nullified if you really try. The famous duck rock rabbit can in spades be flipped at will. And the old hag, young girl illusion, personally I can never overtake the old hag unless it is explained to e, then I can. But anyway Fodor makes his point, we cannot always see just what we want to see or think we should see. I agree with Gerry Fodor that perception is fairly modular, and is not (probably) affected (mu ch) by conscious explicit knowledge. Certainly the muller lyer illusion is fairly robust And I think far too much is made of the duck rabbit illusion Kuhn says it is as elementary prototypes for these transformations of the scientists world sight that the familiar demonstrations of a switch in gestalt prove so suggestive.But I do not think they are anything more than just that suggestive because a scientist, does not, cannot form an image or representation of quarks and leptons in any way analogous to a duck or a rabbit, so this image cannot flip. Paul Churchland seems to think we can form such images, but personally I cannot. I see the western sky redden as the sun sets not the wavelength distribution of incoming solar radiation shift towards the longer wavelengths.However I would say our inability to alter our perception does not damage churchlands essential point which was that perception relies on theory, implicit theory. A very entrenched imbed theory, but theory all the s ame. Churchland thinks the distinction between the theoretical and the non-theoretical is just a distinction between freshly minted theory and thoroughly thumb-worn theory whose ethnical assimilation is complete.I think some thumb-worn theory is actually entrenched in our biology. But maybe individual differences come into play here, maybe some people are more plastic than others, or innately sensitive to some aspects of reality than others, maybe our biology is not universal. Paul Churchland says that the person with blameless pitch is not a physiological freak but a practiced observer. But I think it most likely that there is something strange about them.Maybe I am closed minded in the sort of visualization Churchland encourages, maybe thats just me, I had no luck with visual perception in the fourth dimension even after reading Flatland and speculations on the fourth dimension whereas other people (the authors) claim to have, still Im a bit skeptical. Paul Churlands thought exp eriments where he gets us to imagine various other beings, with radically different physiology, beings that can visually see infra-red heat for example, raises the idea of the possibility of other sensory modalities.And although we cannot communicate with them, so they are not part of our epistemic community, there are animals on our planet who presumably sense different things to us, such as bats and dolphins. Van Fraassen insists that is observable must be observable to us unassisted, and as we currently are, an anthropocentric conception the limitations to which the able in observable refers are our limitations qua human beings. It could be argued that Van Fraassens anthropocentric conception of the observable is not just anthropocentric, but parochial.Alternatively it could be argued that van fraassen draws the line arbitrarily according to Van Fraassen we can observe planets using a telescope, but we cannot observe viruses using a microscope, because planets are something we could observe without any augmentation of the senses, where we close enough to them, and indeed some of them we can observe from earth, our natural position, (venus) whereas under normal conditions viruses cannot be seen.I do not agree with this remonstration to Van Fraassen, I think where he draws the line is one natural place to draw it if it has to be drawn, but it is just that I dont agree with him that the drawing of the line here is very significant. I am a realist and I believe unobservables are generally as real as observables. From his drawing of the line, van Fraassen only believes in observables.Fodor lightly passes over the fact that perceptual analyses are undetermined by sensory arrays and are only firm by Bayesian reasoning from previous evidence / experience, and that the appeal to background theory is inherent to the process of perceptual analysis Fodor Observaiton reconsidered. I think this fact is indisputable, and it is in this respect that perception and cogni tion are similar as Paul churchland maintains, both are theories and global excellence of theory is the ultimate measure of truth and ontology at all levels of cognition .The impossibility of our being trained to make systematic perceptual judgments in terms of theories other that the common sense theory we learnt at our mothers knee, the implasticity of actual human perception, is irrelevant in drawing a theory observation distinction, both perception and cognition are theory dependent. But Granted as Fodor points out against Kuhn scientific knowledge doesnt actually percolate down to affect the perceptual. Kuhnian perceptual theory cargo does not occur. There is some natural barrier. Is this barrier the location of the O/T distinction? I think it probably is if there is one.It is significant, but not significant for the anti-realist, it does not decide our ontology. It is significant in the realists fight with relativism since observations are theory laden, but are not necessaril y laden with the high level theories that they must adjudicate between. So perceptions are laden with perceptual theory, but not laden with quantum theory. Fodor makes the O/T distinction in such a way that it is significant for realists against relativism, but not significant for anti-realists. Fodor isnt looking for a notion of observationality that underwrites our granting epistemic privilege to observation statements.Hes looking for a notion that will ward off the incommensurability arguments. And for that purpose anything that produces consensus will do Andre Kukla The theory observation distinction. Now to explicitly tackle the questions, why make a distinction, for what purpose? or why does it matter if a distinction does or does not present itself? . I have already touched on the answer to these questions when outlining the role of the distinction (or lack of) in larger debates between anti-realists, and relativists.The question of the O/T distinction has epistemological sig nificance it concerns the epistemic bearing of observational evidence on theories it is used to evaluate. This is part of the debate between realists and relativists. The relativists holding that observation is an inadequate basis for choosing between rival theories, the realists claiming it is an adequate basis, or there is at least something which is an adequate basis. Observational evidence also plays important and philosophically interesting roles in other areas including scientific discovery and the application of scientific theories to practical problems.But we will concentrate on theory testing. It seems that if all observations are theory laden then there is no objective bedrock against which to test and justify theory. The classic or common view of science is that scientific knowledge is derived from the facts or observations. Two schools of thought that involve attempts to formalize this common view of science are the empiricists and the positivists. An extreme interpretat ion of the claim that science is derived from the facts implies that the facts must first be ceremonious, and subsequently a theory built to fit them.This is the baconian rule building a case from the ground up. This is not how science actually proceeds. our search for relevant facts needs to be guided by our current state of knowledge, which tells us for example that measuring the ozone concentration at various locations in the atmosphere yields relevant facts whereas measuring the average hair length of the youths in Sydney does not A F chalmers What is this thing called Science?. But the fact that science is guided by paradigms does not support kuhnian relativism.Kuhnian relativism can only be established if incommensurability is, that is if high level theory- warhead of observation were established. As I have already argued along with Fodor, observation may be loaded with low level perceptual theory but not with high level conscious and elaborate theory. Proponents of competin g theories often produce impressively similar observational data, this indicates perceptual theory loading is not that great. If science were blinded by paradigms that would be a different matter. Against semantic theory loading Often observations reported non-linguistically, pictorially with tables of numbers etc.Late twentieth century philosophers may have exaggerated the influence of semantic loading because they thought of theory testing in terms of inferential relations between observational and theoretical sentences. Against Salience or attentional loading scientists under different paradigms attend to different things. Yes, but doesnt always happen. And scientists may cherish the significance of data that is brought to their attention that had not been noticed. Attentional loading is not inevitable and not irredeemable. So observation is and adequate basis for adjudicating between theories (unless the theories are underdetermined by data).In conclusion I would say there is no absolute T/O distinction, but there is enough of a difference, enough bottom up flow of justification, to defeat relativism. A. F. chalmers what is this thing called science? Paul M Churchland Scientific realism and the plasticity of the mind Paul M churchland The ontological status of obsservables In praise of superempirical virtues Gerry Fodor observation reconsidered Andre Kukla the theory observation distinction W. V. O Quine Word and Object Bas Van Fraassen the scientific image

Religion Essay

1.) As a per discussion of good leave behind, explain the necessity of establishing rapport, amity, and musical harmony among the dissimilar pietys in Asia and the world and more specific anyy among Muslims and Christians in the Philippines. Why is religion a positive contributor towards peacemaking but at the same eon rotter be a source of societal turmoil? In what expression can Asiatic religions transcend divisiveness by standing side by side with other religions, without losing their very own unique creeds or belief-systems? Based on the films about Muslim Filipinos shown in class, please explain in what way Christians and Muslims can utilize their respective religions for peace and harmony in Mindanao? Answer these questions by citing concrete cases to prove your point (30 points).It is necessary to establish rapport, amity, and concordance among the various religions in Asia and the world more specifically among Muslims and Christians in the Philippines in order to bett er understand their systematic beliefs, values, and behavior, acquired by people as a phallus of their society. These patterns are systematic because their manifestations are regular in occurrence and expression they are shared by member of a group. It is likewise necessary to make up friendship and connection among diverse religions in Asia and the world to build a better society and to contribute peace in every realm. In such(prenominal) a society it is very important to have harmony and respect amongst the different religions. We essential distinguish amidst belief and respect.Belief refers to total faith, which you must have in your own religion. At the same age you should have respect for all other religions. This tradition of believing in ones own religion and having respect for others. In every religion, there are transcendent things that are beyond the grasp of our mind and speech. For example, the concept of God in Christianity and Islam and that of wisdom truth bod y in Buddhism are metaphysical, which is non possible for an ordinary person like us to realize. This is a harsh difficulty confront by every religion.It is taught in every religion, including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, that the ultimate truth is driven by faith. As far as the Muslims are concerned it is appropriate for them to have complete devotion to Allah while praying in the mosques. This is excessively the same with Buddhists who are completely devoted to the Buddha when they pray in Buddhist temples. A society, which has many religions should also have many prophets and sources of refuge. I want to emphasize that it is extremely essential to sincerely believe in their respective religions. Usually, it is very important to distinguish between belief in one religion and belief in many religions. Religion is a positive contributor towards peacemaking but at the same time can be a source of societal turmoil because religion is a perennial and perhaps inevitabl e grammatical constituent in both competitiveness and conflict resolution.Religion, after all, is a powerful constituent of cultural norms and values, and because it addresses the most profound existential issues of human life story (e.g., freedom and inevitability, fear and faith, security and insecurity, right on and wrong, sacred and profane), religion is deeply implicated in individual and social conceptions of peace. To transform the conflicts besetting the world today, we need to uncover the conceptions of peace within our diverse spiritual and cultural traditions, while seeking the common ground among them. Traditionally many people focus on how wars and conflicts are seemingly undertaken for ghostly reasons, or at least undertaken in the name of religion.A significant problem with organized religion and belief, as this relates to peace and conflict, is individuals and groups often confuse the map (their socially-learned version of verity or culture or religion) with t he territory (or ultimate reality). Thus people believe that their personal or subjective version of reality or religion is valid, while other views are invalid. Instead it can be argued that the many maps are different, but possibly equally valid interpretations and attempts to understand the same vestigial reality or territory. Asian religions can transcend divisiveness by standing side by side with other religions, without losing their very own unique creeds or belief-systems through banding together in interfaith dialogue, cooperation, and religious peacebuilding.The first major dialogue was the Parliament of the domains Religions at the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair, which remains notable even today both in affirming universal values and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures. The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic, political, or even religious conflict, with ChristianJewish balancing re presenting a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews.Christians and Muslims can utilize their respective religions for peace and harmony through sharing the main ethical motive and conducts that are for the benefit of humanity and nature. They believe in the same basic morals that are important for people to follow in order to blend in in peace, harmony, and love in communities with different faiths and cultures. And to through tolerance, respect and cooperation with respect in each others religions.2.) Explain why Islam is considered the most misconceive religion. What are some historical, sociological and cultural reasons that paved the way for a misunderstanding of the true nature of Islam among non-Muslims and even among Muslims? Islam means submission to the will of God in all areas of ones life. Muslim means, wizard who submits to Gods will.These Arabic words are really non-sectarian terms if we look at the context of these words in the Quran. Can we use the term Muslim in its universal implication to include all believers in One God? Can we use the term Muslim to any person (irrespective of religions) who strives sincerely to submit to the will of God in his life? Hint Consider the Islamic doctrine of Risalah (Progressive Revelation) and the Islamic view of the universality of Gods calling of prophethood (30 points).Islam is considered the most misunderstood religion because most of the time it is considered as a violent religion and is likely to encourage violence among believers. And there is also some outright falsehood for example, God sent prophets to every nation for their guidance. But, According to the Doctrine of Progressive Revelation, Islam is very universal since it admits that Allah sent prophets to everyone whereas Jews believe that prophets only come from them because they are the chosen people of God. Another example, One of the missions of the visionary of Islam was to bring peace and unity to t he feuding tribes, the Jahiliah or the ignorant Arabs of the pre-Islamic days. This he succeeded in doing as narrated in several verses of the Qur-an.The message of Allah were brought by one Prophet and recorded in one holy Qur-an. There is no other Qur-an, or versions or it, or editions which carry different texts. The hold Qur-an is not in the form of Gospels by Muslim saints or ulama. The holy Qur-an is just the record of the messages of Allah in the Arabic of the period. Translations of the Qur-an may be different in minor ways, but they are not accepted as the holy Qur-an. Only that in the original Arabic is accepted. So there can be no differing text or Gospels or versions which can result in differences in the messages or teachings of Islam. Yet, clearly there are differences, serious differences, so serious that Muslims are divided sometimes into warring sects. One of the reasons that paved the way of misunderstanding the true nature of Islam among non-Muslims and even Musli ms are the media.Media is the gr exhaustest factor on how people view their surroundings. Somehow, criticizing the Islam brings them more readers/viewers. We tend to judge and generalize things without knowing the exact story behind those issues. Infact, the worl Islam means peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law. Yes, we can use the term Muslim in its universal implication to include all believers in One God, as well as, to any person (irrespective of religions) who strives sincerely to submit to the will of God in his life because Muslim believe that God is eternal, transcendent, utterly one (the doctrine of tawhid, or strict or simple monotheism), and incomparable that he is self-sustaining, who begets not nor was begotten.3.) Write a reflective synthesizing essay that answers the following questions In the future prospect, will the Asian religions move from rhetoric unity and act as one to solve the common problems affecting humanity? As for Asian countries, will they achieve political independence from the clutches of Western neo-colonialism? Is there a need to abandon our cherished worldview and values in the name of using? How will the Asians reconcile their adherence to Asian ethos and at the same time open to the demands of globalization? How will the differing Asian worldviews and religions be properly harnessed to press nationalism among Asians and global cooperation among countries in the world? (30 points)Yes. In the future, the Asian religions will move from rhetoric unity and act as one to solve the common problems affecting humanity to have a better nation, to have a respect on one another, to fix the unjust and destructive situations. There is no need to abandon our cherished worldview and values in the name of development but rather preserve it and continue following those values to build a progressive and advance nation. With their differing Asian worldviews and religions they can create different ideas and new innovations but with respect with one anothers point of view, and to accept what other countries have made, to promote nationalism among Asians and global cooperation among countries in the world.4.) Explain what made Japanese cultivation unique in its approach to establishing a pro-active Asian civilization capable of having positive ethical patterns as fountainhead of their development? Explain why it is not just enough to alone support ones parents for one to be called filial what are therefore the other requirements to be able to truly say that one has completely conducted oneself as filial son/daughter to ones parents? What makes Indian civilization stuck into conservatism? What are some of the positive role that the rank-system plays in Indian civilization? What are also the negative aspects of the caste system to Indian civilization? Explain in what way did Japan show a purposive and planned-out blueprint fo r development in their history? (30 points)It is not just enough to simply support ones parents for one to be called filial because we owe our parents a lot- because of them we able to eat three meals a day, sometimes even more. They extend us clothes and sometimes the things that are beyond our needs. They send us to school. But more than simply supporting us in the most basic sense of supporting, our parents loves us. It now becomes something different because when we love them back, we do not do so out of indebtedness. We give our love freely, and not as a payment with a certain interest. Most of all, because of this special filial relationship with them that we had since birth, we also respect and obey them. We not only support our parents, but serve them.The Indian caste system made it stuck into conservatism. The positive roles that the caste-system plays in Indian civilization, provides a sense of community and belongingness. And the 2 main strands of thought Divine will- t he belief that a hierarchical social structure is part of the divine intention for natural order, and the Purity- the need to emphasize the vastness of ritual purity and impurity. But there is also a negative aspect of caste-system to Indian civilization. For example, marrying someone from a different caste, whilst not officially outlawed, is in general discouraged. They only lived, ate, and worked within their group. This was based on the idea that people are different and should have different roles. And a person born into one caste never changed castes and very seldom mixed with members of other castes. Castes were unchanging groups but people from the lowest caste were told that they have to serve the other castes so that they can be reborn into a higher caste in their next life.

Putting India to Work Legally Essay

In order to remain Indias largest employer, they had to keep up with the explosive harvest-festival and competition in the telecommunications, financial services, and retail sectors. 2. ) Going forward, TeamLease has faced a few challenges along the road. First, TeamLease decided to move from a decentralised to a centralized structure for operations, causing fear and resistance from customers who were afraid of the loss of personalized services and fear from TeamLease employees who disliked the idea of relocating.TeamLease also had a difficult measure filling open positions. Many people were registered with the government-run employment exchanges and many of these people were not fully qualified for the job. TeamLease also tried to partner with training companies further there was no training company that would accept their concept of paying for their services only after their trainee has been placed with a job. They also took a hulking hit during the 2009 recession causing the open job market to drop dramatically and as well as a decrease in client support. . ) The competitors that worry me the most ar Addeco and Randstad. Addeco seems to be the largest HR staffing service company followed by Randstad. Addeco is a major threat with over 33,000 employees and 5,500 branches, in over 60 countries. Randstad has 28,700 employees, 3,500 branches, in over 40 countries. TeamLease on the other hand has 75,000 employees in 600 branches. TeamLease may have much employees, but Randstad and Adecco seems to have more qualified employees and are more spread bulge worldwide.TeamLeast has the least amount of branches among its top competitors.I believe that TeamLease should put more money into staffing and training in order to have more suitable and a more experienced staff in order to maintain competitive advantage. They should also try to increase or spread out more of their branches to other countries. TeamLease should also put more effort into marketing and their a dvertising campaign. Last, they should consider offering employee incentives such as days off or bonuses.

Non Objective Art, Impressionism and American Art Essay

historical BACKGROUND* The art movement that Composition with red, yellow and blue was created in was Surrealism. * After returning to Holland in 1914, Mondrian was matter to by abstract paintings. * With the war outbreak in Holland, Mondrian was forced to stay in Holland, where in 1916-1917, he helped form the Neo-Plasticism movement. Neo-plasticism impacted and brought out the best in a number of people, where it broke down the forms of nature, reducing the form to a pure, abstract design.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ART WORLD* Mondrian attempted to represent the world finished vertical and horizontal lines which to him represented the two opposing forces the positive and the negative, the masculine and the feminine, the dynamic and the static. * possesses a sense of simplicity whilst simultaneously comprises of complexity trifle* Mondrian has utilise oil on canvas as his materials and has created the artwork to a size of 72.7 cm by 69.2 cm. * Composition with red, yellow and blue is cu rrently located at the Tate Gallery. * Mondrian painted for thirty years and never made a curved line.http//pto.hawthorn73.org/downloads/PTO_Art_Adventure_Grade4_Lesson1.pdf http//www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/art/composition-with-red-yellow-and-blue-composed-by-piet-mondrian-from-1937-1942-possesses-a-sense-of-simplicity-whilst-simultaneously-comprises-of-complexity.htmlhttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_MondrianIMPRESSIONISMHISTORICAL BACKGROUND* Claude Monet worked on WaterlilyPond from 1904 to 1905. * In 1883 Monet moved from the north-west of genus Paris to Giverny where he lived until his death. Adjacent to his property was a small pond which he acquired in 1893, where he created a water garden with an arched bridge in the Japanese style.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ARTWORK* The meaning of the painting is to inspire nature and give great beauty to whoever views it. * It is one of Monets larger paintings, meant to show come to the beauty of the scene it captures. * The sunset color refle cting off the water is one of the many aspects of his choice to make the meaning of this painting beauty and inspirationTRIVIA* Monets brush stroke precise and pristine in the paintings of 1899 took on an expressive vitality that was unprecedented in any of the earlier works. * In 1900 he exhibited a series of ten canvases of the pond, showing a single subject in differing light conditions.http//www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-oscar-monet-the-water-lily-pond http//www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110001575 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Lilies_(1919)http//entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/artwork/claude-monet-giverny-paintings11.htmAMERICAN ARTCliff DwellersHISTORICAL BACKGROUND* In 1913 George Bellows painted a work titled Cliff Dwellers. Bellows was part of the Ash Can School, a group of artists who were influenced by every-day livelihood and often depicted scenes in urban centers. *SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ARTWORK* Cliff Dwellers is the name As h Can School painter George Bellowsgave his 1913 depiction of unhorse Manhattan tenement life. * depicted the crudity and chaos of city life in the immigrant neighborhoods. TRIVIA* The name of the painting comes from the title of a book about life in the new tall apartment buildings popping up in big cities. * The people were called Cliff Dwellers because they lived high up in small, cramped accommodate like the ancient Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest. http//secondat.blogspot.com/2010/08/cliff-dwellers.htmlhttp//ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/george-bellows/http//collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=recordid=12254type=101

Does It Affect Culture as Much as Culture Affects It?

Semiotics in Fashion Photography Does it affect culture as much as culture affects it? Introduction Fashion Photography has taken quite the belittling from the conventional domain of a function of photography. Where early(a) forms of photography naturally capture beauty, path photography is have said to be too punctilious in setting up the photograph.. Brooked states that, fashion advertising, in activateicular, is seen as negating the purity of the bibliographic image. We see the typical in fashion photography instead of the unique moment or event. Despite such an outlook on fashion photography, it has true innate analysis and academic attention from the likes of Breathes, Wilson, Anderson, Brooked and Kumara. Breathes has taken fashion photography and placed it within a seismological framework, where he applies the semiology into fashion photography as a meaner of communication through the signs and symbols for any photographs. Culture revolves around fashion photography. Or is it the other way round? It has become apparent that semioticals is greatly relevant to fashion photography, and assign is an excellent example off identity-image producing media.Fashion is an incredibly distinct linguistic communication itself, and emblematic the essence of its social context. With that, is culture affected, or is the fashion photography affected by culture? With this essay I entrust be investigating the idea of whether culture is affected by fashion photography, or does fashion photography dictate our culture. Enquiry Outcomes I will be exploring the world of semiotics and how relevant it is to fashion photography and using it to solve the question of whether fashion photography give up culture or dictates it.We take it for granted that fashion photography is something we pass by everyday, something that we do not pay very much attention to detail in our everyday lives and we dont know how much it real affects our culture to a certain degree. With this es say I will propose the idea of culture either being the one affected and dictated by fashion photography or the vice versa. feasibility of proposed enquiry Fashion is constantly everywhere around us, and I will take advantage of the detail that I live in a world surrounded by fashion.For my research I will be gathering with child(p) amounts of my facts and data from online sources, Journals and e-books, and if possible from books, and my sustain observational analysis from fashion magazines and opinions of audiences. My resolve for this essay is to analyses and conceptualize the semiotics in fashion photography, coming to the conclusion of how much it affects society and culture. With my own analysis of fashion photography I will come to the conclusion of either end of the spectrum. relevance of enquiry to personal practiceThrough the research that I acquire and what I learn, I think it is important to pass my tantrums of skill to other industries. The fashion industry is no t too far from the design, and I think as being one of the most communicative languages through visual meaner, fashion is an important step to accord wholly of what makes the world tick through visuals. As an inspiring designer and photographer, I would like to wont this practice to benefit me in constructing my own meanings in works and to conceptualize them on my own in the future. Bibliography 1 . Jacobsen, M. 008) Semiotics, Fashion and Cognition. Unknown. A paper that concentrates on Rolando Breathes early cosmologically inspired theory of fashion and discusses how this theory can be revised to fit later cognitive theories of language and semiotics. Has a considerate large amount of relevant information pertaining to my essay. 2. Breathes, R. (2006). The Language of Fashion. Oxford Berg Publishers. The original source of placing fashion photography into a semiotic framework, I will base most of my essay towards Breathes theories of semiotics in fashion. 3. Rhodes, A & Galoo t, R.A semiotic analysis of high fashion advertising. Http// www. Garrotes. Com/Semiotics andafashionF Though I will be focusing more than of fashion photography, advertising does play a great role, and fashion photography is basically the significant part of fahsfashionertising. Through this source it concentrates more on a fashion advertising aspect and describes the art of it. 4. httpHttpews. mongMonogamym/Com5/0507chicaTinaler. htmlHTMLs is a paper done by Tina Butler on BartBreathesshion Photography as semiotics BartBreathes the limitations of classification.Here Butler describes the exposit of semiotics, how they work in fashion photography and analyzes BartBreathesory in such a framework. 5. Stone, R. A Semiotic analysis of Four Designer Clothing Advertisements http// www. aberBaber. AC/mUKia/SstuStudents9robbersmlHTMLpite this source focusing more on an advertising aspect rather than photography, ultimately those two will always go together. Through a more thorough and fo cused analysis of brands, ads and the semiotics they present I can further contconceptualizehion photography in a semiotic framework.

Negotiation Situation Essay

In the talks of a mortgage refinance, you can run into many different types of situations that you have to be prepared for. How we act during a talks can charter or break an agreement. Successful use of communication tools and preparing yourself to worry personalities will contribute to the outcome.Analyzing the economic consumptions of CommunicationIn this situation the initial state of the negotiation was not go in the lead in a positive direction. The depone was dealing with many customers with mortgages that were months behind due to the sparing crash at the time. We were ane of those affected the construction boom took a turn for the worse and bet slowed down. Although we kept in contact with our bank regarding our situation, they were not instinctive to negotiate new terms to our agreement. As a home owner you n forever want to get behind on your payments, so we act to make partial payments. The bank continued to accept the partial payments, yet didnt want to sca t with us to reassess our situation. Discussion does not mean fighting and shouting, instead it is simply the exchange of ones ideas, thoughts and opinions with each other. One chooses to have excellent communication skills for a healthy and an efficient discussion. (Role of Communication in Negotiation, 2012) The bank acted with diplomacy and tactfulness.After speaking with realtors and obtaining consultations from acquaintances, we realized for the bank to take action, we had no choice but to stop paying the mortgage. We knew at that moment that it became a game of the bank vs. the homeowners. The mood you communicate varies according the formality of the situation. ( recognize Aspects of Communication in Negotiation) By making partial payments, the bank was study with us. We were getting further behind, and incurring penalties towards our mortgage. Taking action did get the attention of the other party. The impact of the communication, do the bank realize they needed to have more meaningful conversations with us. We finally were able to alter their perceptions and expectations concerning the situation, kindred and outcome.Through many discussions with the bank, we came to an agreement to attempt to sell the house this course to avoid foreclosure and or a short-sale. The mortgage payments were frozen during this period. We knew we were treading water, since the housing market was at a virtual themestill. After exhausting conversations with the bank, we were at the point where we were going to have to walk away from the house. Our emotions at this point, were wearing thin.This process was taking months, and in like manner taking its toll on our patience with the bank. We wanted to be responsible for our decisions, but we were being coerce to make a decision that would hurt our credibility for the future. Our sincerity was our most important personality traits exhibited in this negotiation. We had to show our sincerity for an effective negotiation. W e never took the situation casually. In the eleventh hour of negotiations, the bank was willing to refinance with a co-signer. Luckily, our relatives were willing to assist, and were kind enough to co-sign. The bank was very cooperative and we were moving forward in a positive way.Analyzing PersonalityFailures and distortions in perception, cognition, and communication are the paramount contributors to breakdowns and failures in negotiation (LewickiSaundersBarry, 2005). Negotiators use information to challenge the other partys position or desired outcomes or to undermine the effectiveness of the others negotiating arguments. Even in the simplest negotiation, the parties take a position and then(prenominal) present arguments and facts to support that position. As the homeowners, we argued to gain terms that were within our devote to be able to give way the home and avoid a foreclosure. The bank had a different set of terms, that would stretch our ability to make ends meet, and we had to stand firm with our decision to adhere to our end goal. For us, our personality in this situation varied.At generation we were very cooperative, as was the bank. But at times, the bank exhibited an aggressive behavior, and made us think we only if had one option to explore. The bank exhibited a power position, to intimidate and instill fear. As homeowners, we were emotionally attached to the home. We knew that we had to remove our emotions, and treat this as a business deal. That was difficult. We were able to neutralize our emotions, and handle the situation in the most professional way. Personalities in such a high-stake situation can get intense. We viewed the bank as goliath and us as David. The bank was responsive, but we found when we got upset and put them under pressure, the bank became uncomfortable and worried about damaging the relationship with us as the customer.Contributions of those Roles to the OutcomeOur ability to stand our ground and be vigilant with our information upfront, aided our ability to work with the bank to come to an agreement. To reach this agreement a third party did have to enter the discussions. This third party assisted both sides in reaching a final agreement. The process was a roller coaster it was also a teaching experience for both sides. In the end, we were happy with the final terms. The bank did make some small mistakes end-to-end the whole process, and due to their mistakes being presenting in writing, had to honor those terms in the paperwork. We were able to avoid a 5-year ARM agreement, and were able to secure a 30 year fixed mortgage at a very low rate, due to their mismanagement of information.The point is to never quit with a bank. As pertinacious as they keep coming back with counter offers, you do the same. At some point, youll make a deal, and it might be better than you ever expected. Looking back, it is very important to remove your personal emotions from the negotiations. Emotions need to be u nder control on both sides to achieve a successful end. If you have ever felt like you were stuck in a burning high rise with only one way out at times, we know that if you work with the right people, your chances of success increase with every option you have.BibliographyKey Aspects of Communication in Negotiation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http//oregonstate.edu/instruct/comm440-540/commfactors.htm (2005). How to Improve Communication in Negotiation. In LewickiSaundersBarry, Negotiation, Fifth Edition (p. 175). The McGrawHill. Role of Communication in Negotiation. (2012). Retrieved January 19, 2013, from Management Study Guide Pave your way to Success http//www.managementstudyguide.com/role-of-communication-in-negotiation.htm

Nau company

Ana Innovating for Social Consciousness By Alex Claws Can a for- attain enterprise succeed if its main fundament is valuing social consciousness as much as stockholder returns? The question is particularly relevant in a time of gamy gas values and a revealgrowth sense that our current consumption of natural resources is simply unsustainable. The founders of Ana, a fledgling retail come inerwear company, believed the react to this question to be a resounding mimes. Built with an unprecedented level of environmental, social, and human-rights unconsciousness, by April 2008 Ana was an underground victory on the West Coast, stretch outing v broths and a website exchange critic companion acclaimed vesture accruals. Then, at the come out of the closetle of May, Nans board of directors voted to shut down the company. Viewed through acutenesss lenses, Nans promise becomes clear-?along with the perils that led to its downfall. Ana had a reasonable credit line fabric built ar ound a well-defined Job-to-be-d nonp atomic number 18il. But as will become clear, Ana didnt keep an sudden strategy.And Nans emphasising disc overed that a melodic line model that looks good on paper doesnt of all time transformer(a) into immediate profits. Ultimately, a lack of conscientious execution and a push for quick expanding upon doomed Nans first incarnation. But the story of Ana is still unfolding. Ana 2. 0 is currently under carriage, and that venture appears to have a better chance of success. The Launch Ana (Maori for welcome) began with the dream of Eric Reynolds, an outdoor enthusiast entrepreneur, co-founder (in 1974) of outerwear brand Marmot, and reviewer to the belief that a single individual sess have an impact on the world.In the summer of 2003, Reynolds conceived of Ana, a sustainable robes company that would donate a meaningful portion of its revenue to nonprofit organizations. Specifically, Reynolds visualize clients presented with a unique quest ion at point-of-sale To which organization should my five percentage go? By handsome five percent of its revenue to nonprofits, Ana would break forward-looking-sprung(prenominal) ground. (For comparison, the most generous corporations give away one percent of revenue, with the average corporation giving less than . 05 percent. ) In the summer of 2004, Reynolds began recruiting a management squad.In 2005, he hired a number of individuals away from Patagonia, a firm comm provided considered a softener in outerwear, social consciousness, ND charitable giving. Chris Van Dyke (son of actor Dick Van Dyke), an ex-Nikkei employee 1 and ex-Patagonia transgression president of branding and merchandising, was hired as CEO. Mark Calibrating, a successful Patagonia designer, Joined Ana as lead designer. Patagonians director of marketing, Ian Yells, Joined as vice president of marketing. Nans trueness to sustainability framed the constraints within which Calibrating worked as he designe d Nans garb collection.Calibrating avoided any materials that werent renewable or recyclable while seeking a correspondence between performance, sustainability, and style. As a result, more or less all of the 30 fabrics utilized in Nans clothing collection were custom materials developed specifically for Ana. The fabrics -? do from corn, recycled plastic bottles, 100 percent organic wool, and recycled synthetics-?set a new standard for sustainability. Nans clothing creation process led to a number of innovations, including the elimination of solvent-based adhesives.The efforts of Calibrating and his aggroup were rewarded-?Nans first collection received critical praise from such disparate sources as Mens elan and Rock and Ice magazines. One downside The fabric choices greatly constrained the range of tints possible, resulting in broadly drab hues. Nans custom fabrics also infallible that customers pay a substantial premium for their clothing, but Nans management team did not see this as a problem for its target customer segments the affluent multidimensional outdoor athlete, the new activist, and creative. The Ana team expected that their customers passion for sustainability would overcome any price resistance. Nans consignment to sustainability was obligate as carefully in its lines as in its clothing. The company eschewed traditional 4,000-square-foot retail gunstocks for a 2,000-square-foot Webfoot concept. The store spaces were long and narrow, designed purposefully with limited space for inventory that would be restocked twice weekly. Ana also offered customers a 10 percent discount and free shipping if they were willing to try clothing in the store, and therefore purchase it online.Assembled from a modular, prefabricated design, each store featured energy-saving lighting and leveraged materials such as reclaimed timber, toxin-free fiberboard, and recycled rosin (for mannequins). Customers were offered a choice of 12 carefully selected enviro nmental, social, and humanitarian nonprofit organizations, and five percent of the purchase price was donated to the chosen group. Nans values extended to its trustworthy estate leasing strategy as well-?Ana and leased store space that was LED-certified (LED certification indicates environmental- and health-consciousness standards).The company also set a minimum age limit for the workers at its overseas material suppliers. Nans principles include the constraint that the highest-paid worker within the company could only cause a maximum of 12 mimes the lowest-paid employees salary. Finally, Ana did not invest in marketing or public relations beyond a series of websites, choosing sort of to rely on word-of- mouth, a more(prenominal) sustainable form of marketing in the eyeball of Yells and his team.While Ana managed to be remarkably unchanging in the infusion of its values into its processes, one of the samara factors in its eventual downfall was that the company had a difficult time securing financing. At least one investors legal counsel balked at a contract clause that placed the take of society equal to the needs of shareholders, but Ana held firm. 2 Nans personal line of credit plan called for it to earn more than $250 million in revenue in 2010 and to achieve profitability in 2009 or 2010, figures based on opening four stores in 2007, 20 stores in 2008, and 150 stores by 2010.To induce the necessary momentum toward these inclinations, Ana needed at least $51 million in funding. By the end of 2006, Ana had raised $24 million, largely from super angels, individual investors who included the chairman of Seagate Technology, Steve Lucid, and Stephen Gomez, Nans chairman and a former Nikkei corporate vice president. Despite the fact that Ana had only reached half(a) of its funding goal, the first Ana store penned in Boulder, Colorado, in January 2007, with three more successful store openings adjacent during the year in Adulating, Oregon Chicago and Bellevue, Washington.Ana completed its first year of operation in 2007 with 92 employees, four clothing collections, and four stores. In March 2008, Ana donated $223,000 to its 12 nonprofit organizations, implying 2007 sales of around $4. 5 million. In mid-April, Ana opened its fifth store in Los Angels. In late April 2008, despite raising an redundant $10 million in funding, Ana announced that it would scale back its store- peeing plans to a total of five in 2008, down from an already-reduced projection of 10.Finally, on May 1, Nans board of directors voted to wind down its business operations, citing unconquerable financial obstacles. All inventory was liquidated at 50 percent off and the stores were closed. Post-mortem interviews with Nans executives advise that the company was just roughly $5 million to $10 million short of the funds needed to sustain its operations and open additional stores towards its goal of profitability.In the days following the decision, many custom ers commented on Nans blob, expressing sadness, frustration, and anger and questioning why Ana had failed. Ana The Post-Mortem look at Ana through Insights business model innovation framework and a number of Insight lenses offers sharpness into how Ana developed such a devoted following as well as how the management team might have been able to ensure a brighter future for their company. Insight believes that business model innovation is one of the most powerful shipway for organizations to achieve new growth.By carefully adjusting business model components-?the customer value proposition (the offering itself), the profit system (how the company creates value for itself), key resources (the critical things required to lay aside on the value proposition), and key processes (how the company organizes and acts to deliver on the value proposition) -?organizations can build the type of competitive advantage necessary to create truly transformation growth. Nans business model looked g ood-?on paper, at least.But Nans impatient push for profits do it hard to really validate whether the business model would in fact work, and shut all opportunities for learning. Ana pulled the customer value proposition lever expertly. The company created powerfully positive solutions to a number of aflame, social, and functional Jobs-to- be-done. The sustainability of Nans operations and crossways set a new standard of rapture for the emotional Job Feel good about 3 the environmental and social consciousness of my clothing. Nans clothing also satisfied the social Job Convey to former(a)s that I prioritize the sustainability of my clothing over its color and flash. And, as lauded by Rock and Ice magazine, Nans clothing also satisfied myriad functional Jobs cerebrate to comfort and technical performance. Since its sustainable materials carried up to a 20-percent price premium over more commercially accessible materials, Ana had to pass the premium along to customers.But Nans m anagement team was correct in assuming that the high quality and the redeeming social and environmental value of its clothing Justified that premium in the eyes of customers -?as long as the miserliness was robust enough that sufficient customers could afford it. And Ana broke new ground with its Webfoot stores by implementing a retail business model that required lower capital and running(a) expenditures than a traditional retail store model. But there was a significant downside to Nans profit-system choices.Insight recommends that new ventures be patient for growth, impatient for profit. Nans management expected the company to have 150 stores in operation by 2010, but did not expect profitability until 2009 at the earliest. Growth was thus essential to profitability, creating a significant risk of failure if the company could not reach its early-stage funding goals. Insight also recommends that new ventures be an emergent strategy, to take small move by conducting inexpensive footraces of its key assumptions about the new racket.When the test results are in, the venture can analyze the results, adjust its strategy accordingly, and then conduct additional tests. This careful approach helps new ventures optimize for success while avoiding huge, potentially fatal resource commitments. In Nans case, an emergent strategy might have enabled the firm to consume its funding more slowly while ontogenesis an optimal strategy. Instead, the team decided to go straight to launching full Webfoots rather than testing the clothing line in a department store or opening a single, test-store concept.The root event for the failure of Ana 1. 0 seems to have been that Nans business strategy and some of its business model decisions proved questionable. By following a more careful, emergent strategy and by focusing on profitability originally growth, Nans executives might have been able to strike a better balance between vision and execution. Ana 2. 0 On June 24, 2008, Nans fortunes turned around. hornlike frog Activities, a Santa Barbara-based lifestyle clothing company, stepped in to buy Nans assets with the goal of re-launching a modified version of Ana by late summer. While Ana 2. Is gust beginning to emerge, early signs suggest that the re-launch will follow a strategy more nearly aligned to that which Insight would recommend for success. Horny frog creates and sells mens and womens lifestyle and outerwear clothing. Horny Toads tagging, every day is an adventure, introduces a humorous, irreverent, socially-conscious approach that lies at the spunk of everything the company does. Indeed, Horny Toad and Ana have much in common. Horny Toads stated commitment to lightening its environmental footprint and to 4 backup both the community and organizations that improve the world at a time suggest synergies.Much as Ana showcased the organizations chosen for customer donations, the Horny Toad website highlights its behave for causes ranging from helping adults with developmental disabilities to controling clean energy, with a wide range of other environmental and community-activist organizations in between. However, in contrast to Nans commitment to sell its clothing solely through a growing number of its own stores, Horny Toad has only two stores and sells its clothing in a wide variety of online and brick-and-mortar retailers. In addition to a store inFreeport, Maine, Horny Toad runs the lounge lizard Lounge in Portland, Oregon, complete with music, wireless access, coffee, and ping-pong. Horny Toad clothing has been lauded for its hip funkiness by print publications and blobs alike. Recognizing the similarities between Ana and Horny Toad, Horny Toad felt that it would support its motto do well by doing good by purchasing Nans assets and hiring its leadership to help re-launch the clothing line. In addition to providing financial support, Horny Toad will sell Ana clothing in the Lizard Lounge and, in a break from Nans o riginal treated, through other retailers as well.And, with Horny Toads support, a percentage of Ana sales will continue to go to worthy non-profits. According to Nans Thought Kitchen blob, shortly afterward the relationship was finalized Ana leadership began working to resurrect relationships with company partners and to put together a Fall/vacation clothing collection in time for October availability. While the Ana clothing line will continue to deliver on the Beauty, Performance, and Sustainability commitment through the use of environmentally friendly and socially conscious trials and methods, a acknowledgment from Nans website gets to the heart of why Ana 2. May very well succeed while 1. 0 failed As we displace forward with the re-launch of Ana, youll definitely recognize us, but we intend to do some things differently Were going to start small and grow the business organically in relationship to the demand for our product. Well continue to sell our product at Ana. Com, but were also going to partner with select retailers who share our common goals. We will not be operating our own retail stores, at least not in the near margin So stay tuned. Were coming back. Smaller and a little wiser, our ambitions tempered a bit by the experience, but our passions most definitely intact. Ana 2. Gs strategy will most plausibly enable the brand to focus more closely on identifying the product, marketing, and channel mix that appeals most to customers, without worrying about the pressures of rapid expansion. in particular in a new venture, vision and passion tempered by patience and pragmatism is the way to go. This approach is also particularly appropriate in these tough economic times. Satisfying social and emotional Jobs-to-be-done around environmental friendliness ND social consciousness may be enough to earn significant premiums for clothing in a strong economy.However, during an economic downturn, financial reality frequently wins out as consumers prioritize value over the satisfaction of some social and emotional Jobs. 5 For example, since the economy began to sour, Whole Foods Market has seen some of its consumers move their food spending to more budget-friendly alternatives. Whole Foods has responded by unfirm its marketing strategy from a focus on quality and environmental friendliness to an emphasis on discounts, store brands, and reduce value as it attempts to keep its customers.Even if Ana 1. 0 had received enough funding primitively in 2008 to continue operations, economic conditions would liable(predicate) have pushed the enterprise to the breaking point, as has happened with many other fledgling clothing boutiques. When Ana 1. 0 launched, its management team made an impressive commitment to the companys values, taking steps such as tracing the wool used in its clothing back to the sheep to ensure that they were well-treated and implementing a sustainable word-of-mouth marketing strategy.To launch the new Ana, it is clear t hat the team as had to compromise on some of its values, such as the control provided by company-owned storefronts, a grassroots-only marketing effort, and potentially the level of contribution to nonprofits. In the end, however, the Ana 2. 0 strategy, with the help of Horny Toad, may be the key to enabling the companys sustainable operation. reservation their operations as sustainable as their values will help ensure that Ana is able to be a force for good in the world for a long time to come. For more data http//www. Ana. Com/coming-this-fall. HTML (Accessed 8/29/08, 1 41 pm) http// www. Gibbousness. Com/CGI-bin/magma/article. Pl? Articled=30412 http// gratifiers. Com/content/fullest/? Acid=50781 6 Innovators Insight In Need of an Innovation Fill-up By Stephen Hunker Recent news that Consulships will be marketing all 600 of its U. S. Service blank spaces for $800 million comes as little surprise. Oil companies are facing inordinately showy investment opportunities in explora tion and production, and the divine service station business has been tightly squeezed between uphill wholesale costs, inability to pass along those cost increases, and falling demand as driving declines.Clearly the stations buyer-?closely held Peterson Fuel-?sees it differently. We do too. In our view, Peterson Fuel is purchase cheap assets with lots of innovation head inhabit. While stick to your create from raw material is a popular business maxim, it is of course common to find diversified businesses. There are some(prenominal) reasons diversification can make sense If the new business can share costs and customers with the core business-? in this case, owning both enterprises can provide scale economies, improve distribution, create a better buying experience, and other advantages.This is why many European parameters have service stations outside their doors, for example. If the new business provides a useful hedge against a core with volatile returns but a need for consi stent investment. This explains why many pharmaceutical firms own over-the-counter consumer healthcare brands. By diversifying, a firm can hold on to a seemingly unrelated business because it sees substantial headroom for growth and a right to triumph in that arena. This is one reason News Corporation bought Namespace. Historically, oil companies owned service stations for each of these reasons.The end nonuser drove demand, and having direct access to that consumer allowed firms to exercise some control over demand levels while also gaining precise information about what products were demanded where. Profits from service stations could number 1 volatility in exploration and production. Also, the advent of convenience stores at service stations created a new high-margin business. Each of these Justifications for integration now seems threatened by changes such as improved information technology, more efficient capital markets, and communication of the service station experience.Wit h supermarket-owned service stations now coming to the unify States, oil companies face new competitors who may even sell gasoline at a departure in order to drive traffic into their stores. In the I-J, pressure from supermarkets is a factor leading to the loot closure of 600 service stations per year. The service station business is looking much less attractive than it used to. So, what might Peterson Fuel be thinking? We imagine two major Justifications for the investment. First, if oil prices decline, the profit margins on service stations may rise, and Peterson will have bought valuable assets for a song.Second, there may be much more innovation headroom in this business than oil companies have traditionally assumed. For instance, voluminosity Media International offers local news, weather, and sports on screens at pumps at a few hundred stations. Fullness pays the retailer and shows ads to this highly captive audience. Shell is experimenting with fuel pumps that are activat ed simply by a swipe of a fingerprint. Dutch inventors have created a robotic arm that finds a cars fuel cap, unscrews it, and automatically pumps gas. regional fuel retailer Sheets differentiates itself through premium coffee and made- o-order sandwiches.Another retailer, Valier, is piloting 5,000-square-foot convenience stores with fully nonwhite of the space sanctified to fresh food and other perishables. Oil companies would be well-served by thinking through how well the jobs of their customers are getting done, and whether they can De-commoditized the service station business through new propositions or re-definition of the competitive set. spirit through this lens, we can imagine how a mother could favour a certain service station because it offers very fast, targeted entertainment for bored children n the back seat, or how a senior might prefer one with very brightly lit displays.The advent of electric- and fuel-cell-powered vehicles opens further possibilities for using s ervice station real estate in new ways. Look at how Best Buy reconciled what an electronics retailer could be, and how it fly manufacture communication in the process. While surround-Mart and others cut prices ruthlessly, Best Buy rolled out geek Squad-?a service tightly integrated with its retailing business that addressed a wide smash of unsatisfied Jobs its customers faced post-sale. It also became a place to try new videotapes. The store is even act to become a hub for musicians buying electric guitars and other gear.In the process, the company increased revenue 92 percent over five years, almost entirely through internally generated growth. It turned out that electronics retailing wasnt a commodity business at all. almosttimes a dog business is Just a dog business. MM spun off its floppy disk and magnetic tape business in 1996, and that turned out to be a smart move. But we find it hard to believe that there is little room for profitable innovation in a retail business that hundreds of millions consumers have to visit on a regular basis.When the finance people come knocking, looking to sell downtrodden assets and invest the proceeds in high-flying businesses, lace the doors for a bit. The business may indeed have few prospects. On the other hand, it may support the core business in many oblique but important ways, and it may have farthest more innovation headroom left to exploit. Consulships Will Sell Its Company-owned Service Stations, by Brett Clayton, Houston Chronicle, shocking 27, 2008 (http//www. Chronic. Com/disk/story. Ml/business/energy/5969574. HTML) 8 Finding the Right Job for your Product, by Clayton Christensen, Scott Anthony, Gerald Brewster and Denies Meetinghouse, Sloan Management Review, Spring 2007 (http//www. Insight. Com/innovation_resources/research. HTML? Id=167) 9 Innovators Update A Good Start for amazon axerophthol amazons digital music store keeps sailing on the winds of industry changes Insight 98 from October 200 7, Handicapping Amazons Low-Cost music Store, suggested that Amazon might find the results of its then newly launched music download store disappointing. What has happened since?By Renee Hopkins Callahan When Amazon launched its Amazon antiophthalmic factor online music download store in September 007, we were skeptical. At the time, Apple had change more than 100 million pods and tunes had a lock on the online music market. Amazon AMP be after to sell music free of Digital Rights Management (DORM) protection-?a limited supply, since at the time only one of the four major music labels had agreed to make its music available without DORM protection. Amazon AMP seemed unlikely to succeed with a business model focused on undercutting tunes on price, selling songs for 89 cents instead of 99 cents.We were right that the low-cost strategy would not put much of a dent in the popularity of Tunes. Yet circumstances in the year since its launch have helped Amazon enlarge its strategy and offer a preview of possible success. According to NYPD Group research released in late July, tunes remains on top of the music retail pack. It is the largest music retailer in the world and it sells at least 90 percent of digital downloads in the U. S. However, the same research showed that Amazon AMP has self-aggrandizing to be the fourth-largest retailer of music in the U. S. , behind tunes, Walter, and Best Buy.That puts Amazon AMP in moment place for online music download sales. And while heres still a huge gap in intensity level between tunes and Amazon AMP-?with Amazons share of the market in single digits-?Amazon is in the game. However, Amazon hasnt effected that by stealing tunes customers. Russ Cropping, an entertainment industry analyst for NYPD, said in an April 2008 report that only about 10 percent of Amazon AMP customers used to be tunes users, with the other 90 percent likely to be people who had been using other services or were new to digital downloading.Amazon AMP attracts youthful adults age 18 to 25, while tunes strongest demographic is teens age 13 to 17, another April 2008 study said. Amazon has likely valueed from winds of change blowing in the music industry. A number of analysts have speculated that the industry sees Amazon as an ally in an effort to break Apples dominance in digital music. It would seem counterintuitive that the music industry would lack to bypass its richest retail channel. But some of Apples practices cut profits for the major labels.In late August, the Wall Street Journal reported on a growing trend in the music business labels deliberately withholding some of their music from tunes. The article cites several cases in which albums were either not made available on Tunes or were pulled. Why? While consumers strongly prefer purchasing music by song, music label executives, managers and even some artists dislike the tunes policy that requires that music be made available by the song as well 10 as by the album, because profit margins for single-song sales arent nearly as good as the margins for album sales.Meanwhile, Amazon AMP lets labels sell music the way they want to. If a label wishes to make an artists work available only by the album, Amazon AMP allows it. Some of the music that the labels have been withholding from tunes is ending up on Amazon AMP. The DORM issue has worked to Amazons benefit as well. Apples tunes has historically sold Deteriorated downloads. Such encoding means that songs downloaded on tunes cannot be played on other AMP devices. Apple has worked to persuade the major labels to drop DORM, though it still seeks to keep tunes the only source of song downloads for the pod.At the time that Amazon AMP launched, only MIME, one of the four major music labels, had announced it would drop DORM protection on its music. By early January 2008, a few months after Amazon AMP launched, the three other major labels-universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMW- dropped DORM. That meant their music could be made available on Amazon AMP, which does not use DORM, and which features free software that delivers a customers AMP agitate directly to their tunes library.Meanwhile, according to a May 30 Macdonald magazine story, Sony, Universal, and Warner continue to withhold the unencumbered tracks from Apple, choosing instead to back tuners rivals. Amazon may have more surprises up its virtual sleeve. In late July, draw magazine reported that Amazon was in talks with Namespace about becoming the social networking giants download store partner hen it rolls out its highly anticipated Joint venture with Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMW in September.If the comport goes through, it puts Amazon in a good position to continue nipping at Apples heels. According to the serving report, Namespace plans to let its 120 million users stream entire songs before downloading them. That potentially changes the convenience trade-off for the Namespace customers in Amazons favor, because they would be able to buy a song and get it into their computers music manager, even tunes, with one riddle using Amazons software. Those who wanted to use tunes would have to leave Namespace and physically go to Tunes to accomplish the same end.Clearly, we underestimated the proclivity of other companies to develop a reasonable Number Two to Apple, a position that Amazon AMP seems to have grown into in the last year. If Amazon can figure out more ways to capitalize on its toehold position in the digital music business,