Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Essay -- creativity, liveliness of m

Grappling with "Creative Block" My mind is at times a broken record devoid of nuance. But when I walk outside into the morning sunlight today, the air tastes like smoke. That minute difference jostles my mind. In that moment, I, no longer preoccupied with internal tensions, savor the spirited atmosphere of people hurrying about, the underlying brick road and overlying partly cloudy sky. I hurry to preserve these thoughts, as I feel the inspiration already evaporating from my grasp. Dong! Dong! Dong! The gong reverberates to rhythmic drum beats. The majestic lions' eyes slowly open, and their ears and feet twitch languidly. Da-da dum. Da-da dum. Da-da dum... Da, Da da, Da dum, Da Dum, DA DUM! Inside each lion, two dancers spring to life and explode with power and energy. In the background, instrumentalists conduct drums, cymbals, and a gong into an unstoppable, steady rhythm that elicit the lions' liveliness. Da, Da, Dum. Da, Da da, Dum. The lion heads sweep down toward the floor in a circular motion and punctuate the air with its presence, warding away evil spirits. Acrobatic martial arts moves, such as "towers" that involve one dancer lifted on top of another, elicit excited gasps from the audience. Lions then prowl among audience members in "low walk," their noses muzzling surprised faces and eyes blinking ferociously. To summon good luck and fortune, lion dancers shower the audience with lettuce at the end of the performance. Even as the lions run across the stage in "high walk" and crumble into sleepiness once more, the energy of the performance still lingers in the air—as lion dance has done since its inception approximately 1,500 years ago (Hulsbosch 112). April 5, 2014. 10:00 AM. I and two fellow Columbia Lion Dance ... ... Kaufman, Scott Barry. "The Real Neuroscience of Creativity." Scientific American. Scientific American, 19 Aug 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. . Khatchadourian, Raffi. "Onward and Upward with the Arts in the Picture: An Artist's Global Experiment to Help People be Seen." New Yorker. 28 Nov 2011: 58-63. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. Montaigne, Michel De. Translated by J. M. Cohen. Essays. London, England. Penguin Books. 1958. Print. Taylor, Diana. "'You Are Here': H.I.J.O.S. and the DNA of Performance." The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. 161-189. Print.

“Meditation 17” by John Donne Essay

In â€Å"Meditation 17† by John Donne, Donne uses many different methods of trying to get his message out. By using metaphors, images, and paradoxes Donne gets his message out but in a perplexing way. In order to understand what Donne is saying, this passage must read over and analyzed sentence by sentence to really see the true meaning of the excerpt. Donne uses a book as a metaphor, with man as a chapter for every part of the book and God is the author. Donne believes God controls everything and everything happens for a reason. Donne then states, â€Å"God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation.† The translations of age, sickness, war, and justice are all things that can cause death. In that case, these elements can translate human beings into spirits of heaven or to anywhere else God chooses to send them. One of the most popular metaphors Donne uses is â€Å"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.† Here Donne is trying to say that one person cannot stand-alone. Human beings need each other for survival and support. Donne then starts to talk about the death bell. He says whenever the bell tolls it is tolling for more than the one person who has died but it also is tolling for those who have been left behind to grieve over the death. Also in order to get the message across Donne uses a paradox by saying, â€Å"For affliction is a treasure.† This is a paradox because generally when you think of a treasure you don’t think of it hurting you but you think of it making you wealthy or better off but instead he uses treasure as a source of suffering. But suffering is a treasure because it can teach you things, since you suffer from mistakes; you learn from them and don’t make the same mistake twice. By saying this Donne makes suffering sometimes seem like a  good thing to have in your life. Imagery is another device used to get Donne’s message across. â€Å"One chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated† This is an image for the reason that he is presenting mankind and the death of mankind like a book. He is saying when a man dies he is not ripped away from society and forgotten but just thought of differently and every man dies (translated) in a different way although some may seem to be the same such as too people may have cancer yet it is still different because God has a unique death (translation) made out for each and every person. By using many different methods John Donne gets his message across in a complicated way that seems to draw the readers into his writing. By breaking down the passage it can be smoothly translated into an easy to read text. Not only does this make it enjoyable to read but also it has given people something to read for years and most defiantly will in the years to come.

Week Term Paper

What Is the vision/Nilsson behind the Good Hotel concept? The vision/mission behind the Good Hotel concept is to maintain its identity as a â€Å"hotel with a conscience† – encompassing a positive attitude, environmental sensitive, and philanthropy. The intent of the vision is to inspire the â€Å"good in us all†. (Pearce, 2012 p. 10-1, 10-2) 2. What three alternatives Is Pan Cajuns considering for her recommendation to the new ownership of Good Hotel? Provide pros and cons of each.General Manager of Good Hotel, Pam Cajuns has made great strides in getting to know her staff, guests, ND neighborhood over the last six months. She has beat financial forecasts for the first quarter 201 0 and guest service is on the rise. (Pearce, 2012, p. 10-2) With these accomplishments, Pam is faced with a challenge. Good Hotel, owned and operated by Joel De Veer Hotels has decided to sell and Pam Cajuns Is charged with preparing an evaluation and recommendation to the new ownershi p.Pam's recommendation considerations are to continue, expand or discontinue the current concept of Good Hotel. Continue the current concept: Good Hotel branded as a boutique hotel, one which â€Å"provides personalized accommodations and services and facilities†, (Pearce, 2012, p. 10-6) has established itself in the $77-billion market. With demonstrated Increased occupancy and revenue from November 2008 through March 2010, Good Hotel has a positive track record to continue its current concept.The downside to this decision Is Good Hotel's position as a green hotel may be perceived to be trendy and trends can change. Customers may no longer be willing to pay a higher price if the Green â€Å"wave† changes. To prevent this, Good Hotel must strive for more innovative ways to attract customers. Judd senior vice president of operations and green committee chair, Carlen Holman, launched the company's Green Dreams portal, a dedicated page on Its Web site where consumers could track the company's ongoing efforts to preserve the environment. † (Pearce, 2012, p. 0-8, 10;9) Ideas Like this are paramount in keeping the consumer base informed of Good Hotel's dedication to its mission and vision. Expand Current Operations: Because Good Hotel has demonstrated positive gains and performance I do not feel expansion is a wise decision. Though the current trends show increases, the data rend Is only 17 months, not long enough to support this decision. Discontinue Current Operations: Lastly, there is sufficient data to support continued operations therefore: to discontinue operations I feel would not be wise.JDK has found a niche market who is willing to pay the increased cost to visit Good Hotel. 3. How would you characterize Good Hotel's target customers? American sociologist Paul Ray coined the phrase â€Å"Cultural Creative† or Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (ALOHAS)†. (Pearce, 2012, p. 10-5) This Is a population of demonstrates the h ousehold income for the target audience at $65,700 (Brooks, S) not allowing enough expendable income to support frequent stays at Good Hotel.However, this is only a segment of a customer base consisting of 38 million people with the spending power of $209 billion annually according to the Natural Marketing Institute. (Pearce, 2012, p. 10-5) 4. What is Judd marketing strategy to promote Good Hotel? Joe De Viewer's marketing strategy for Good Hotel is social media and word of mouth. The strategy of word of mouth is most effective through positive execution of the mission and vision. Effective execution results in enhanced customer satisfaction which yields positive word of mouth advertisement.The use of social media is also an effective marketing tool when targeting this age group. The primary form of media for this age group is the computer. However, additional use of other forms of media (television and/or radio) would reach a larger market. 5. How would you competitively position G ood Hotel relative to its rivals? Good Hotel has established itself as a Green hotel and targeted the correct audience. There exists a tremendous trend now with being environmentally conscious and leaving things better than the way we found them.

Is King Lear Nihilistic or Hopeful?

Is King Lear nihilistic or hopeful? Satisfying, hopeful, and redemptive: some critics would say that these adjectives belong nowhere near a description of King Lear. One critic, Thomas Roche, even states that the play’s ending is â€Å"as bleak and unrewarding as man can reach outside the gates of hell† (164). Certainly, Roche’s pessimistic interpretation has merit; after all, Lear has seen nearly everyone he once cared for die before dying himself. Although this aspect of the play is true, agreeing with this negative view requires a person to believe that Lear learns nothing and that he suffers and dies in vain.Indeed, this is exactly what Roche believes when he states that at the play’s end, â€Å"Lear still cannot tell good from evil . . . or true from false† (164). This nihilistic approach, however, not only disregards many of the play’s moments of philosophical insight, but it also completely misinterprets Shakespeare’s intent. Th at is not to say that Lear is without fault at the end of the play; as Shakespeare surely understood, Lear is still human, and as such, he is subject to human frailty. What is most important about Lear, however, is not that he dies a flawed man but that he dies an improved man.Therefore, although King Lear might first appear â€Å"bleak,† Shakespeare suggests that Lear’s life, and human life in general, is worth all of its misery because it is often through suffering that people gain knowledge about the true nature of their individual selves and about the nature of all humanity (Roche 164). From the very beginning of the play, Shakespeare suggests that King Lear has much to learn. As Maynard Mack explains in his essay â€Å"Action and World in King Lear,† the reader/audience is immediately invited to sense that Lear is â€Å"too deeply . . . omfortable and secure in his ‘robes and furr’d gowns’, in his rituals of authority and deference . . . and in his childish charades† (170). In other words, there is an immediate sense that Lear is not truly aware of the harsh realities of human life. For instance, when Lear says that he has divided his kingdom into thirds for each daughter so that he can retire and â€Å"Unburthened crawl toward death,† he shows that he is completely lacking in common sense by assuming that his plan will go according to his will and that the transition of power will run smoothly (1. . 43). Almost instantly, Lear is proven foolish when Regan and Goneril â€Å"hit together† and agree to â€Å"do something, and in the heat† to strip their father of any power that he has remaining (1. 1. 306, 311). Mack calls this rapid string of events that follow Lear’s hasty abdication â€Å"the waiting coil of consequences [that] leaps into threatening life,† bringing with it the unmistakable message that Lear was terribly wrong in choosing to reward his false-flattering dau ghters with the gift of his kingdom (170).Lear’s gift to Goneril and Regan, whose quick deception shows the falseness of their affections toward their father, proves that Lear is unable to see the love, or lack thereof, that others have for him. Likewise, when he becomes enraged at Cordelia after she refuses to flatter him, Lear reveals that he, like Goneril and Regan, is unable to have altruistic love for another person when he says to Cordelia that it would have been â€Å"Better thou/ Hadst not been born than not t’ have pleased me† (1. . 235-236). In essence, his â€Å". . . power [and his love] to flattery bows† and he is only able to love another person when that person appeals to his sense of vanity, so when those who truly do love Lear, namely Cordelia and Kent, refuse to appease his vain nature, Lear banishes them, â€Å"Without grace . . . love . . . or benison† (1. 1. 149, 266). This inability to accept love and relationships â€Å"as t heir own reward,† Mack states, is Lear’s fatal flaw (170).Mack argues that relationships can lead to happiness but that they lead to heartache and despair equally as often; in order to have any good relationships, then, a person must accept others for who they are, which is something that Lear is unable and unwilling to do (Mack 170). Indeed, Lear would have been very happy living his remaining years without any meaningful knowledge about love or relationships, surrounding himself in a â€Å"childish charade† of false love and false truth; from this point forward, however, Lear will have to learn the consequences of his blindingly ignorant actions (Mack 170).The ignorance about life and human nature that Lear demonstrates in the play’s first scene, then, leads to his largest mistake, the mistake that serves as a turning point from which all other actions are the direct consequence. As Mack explains, because Shakespeare put the turning point at the beginnin g of the play, â€Å"The meaning of action [in Lear] lies rather in effects than in antecedents, and particularly in its capacity, as with Lear in the opening scene, to generate energies that will hurl themselves . . . in reverberations of disorder† (170). That is, because Lear’s fatal flaw resents itself early rather than later on in the play—as is customary for Shakespearean tragedy—the meanings and consequences of his actions, as well as Lear’s own thoughts/awareness, have a longer time to evolve. How the early turning point in Lear helps to emphasize Lear’s learning experience is clarified by comparing the play with another Shakespearean tragedy; the turning point in Othello, for example, occurs in act 3, scene 3 when the seeds of jealousy that Iago has planted throughout the first three acts finally take root inside of Othello’s mind.It is not until this time that Othello’s fatal flaw emerges, when, in a jealous rage, he v ows that his bloody thoughts â€Å"Shall nev’r look back . . . / Till a capable and wide revenge / Swallow them [Desdemona and Cassio] up† (3. 3. 454-457). The play is already half over before Shakespeare reveals Othello’s fatal flaw, and it is not until the final scene that Othello learns how gullible he has been. In essence, Othello learns nothing from his experience; he dies in vain, humiliated and heartbroken.In Lear, on the other hand, the main action throughout the entire play revolves around Lear’s painful suffering and his purgatorial learning experience, all stemming, of course, from his rash, ignorant behavior in the first act. In order for Lear to learn from his selfish and ignorant ways, he must first realize that he has been blind to the truth. Lear is served a cold dish of reality when Goneril and Regan disrespectfully refuse to allow their father the privilege of his noble knights, which of course, are the last symbol of his past authority and his kingly pride: GONERIL. Hear me, my lord.What needs you five and twenty? Ten? Or five? To follow in a house where twice so many   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Have a command to tend you? REGAN. What need one? (2. 4. 259-263) Not only do these lines represent how Lear’s daughters have contemptuously taken away his remaining power, but they also represent the loss of Lear’s dignity by leaving him a shell of his former self, without a single conciliatory knight left to appease his sense of self-importance. Once this happens, Lear is left enraged and desperate, pridefully stating that even â€Å"our basest beggars / Are in the poorest superfluous† and that he needs â€Å". . . ore than nature needs,† else â€Å"Man’s life is cheap as beast’s† (2. 4. 263-266). In other words, Lear feels that his daughters are treating him like an animal by depriving him of his royal train. Clearly, Lear still clings to t he pompous supposition that his needs are above the needs of the â€Å"basest beggar†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and he still feels like the innocent victim of his daughters’ cruel behavior (2. 4. 263). Even with all of Lear’s continuing faults, however, the seeds of knowledge are beginning to grab hold; it has been painful, but he finally sees that Goneril and Regan’s false tongues had blinded him from their true, unloving natures.That is, when he calls them â€Å"unnatural hags† and  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å". . . a disease that’s in my flesh,† he finally sees what love is not (2. 4. 277, 221). In this way, Lear has had his idealized vision of the truth—one where he is flattered, pampered, and adored—painfully stripped away from him; even still, it will take a purgatorial storm and subsequent repentance before Lear learns what the true meaning of love is. Fittingly, as Lear storms out of the castle and into the harsh weather, Regan states tha t â€Å"the injuries† that â€Å"willful men† do â€Å"themselves procure / Must be their own schoolmasters† (2. . 301-303). What Regan means by this is that the storm will teach Lear that he must swallow his pride, but the statement also foreshadows how Lear will learn something much more important about human nature while he suffers from the elements. In fact, it is in the rage of the storm, interspersed with his own rage, that Lear has his first unselfish thoughts, as is evident when he asks the Fool â€Å"How dost my boy? Art cold? † and he (Lear) says to him â€Å"Poor Fool and knave, I have one part in my heart / That’s sorry for you yet† (3. 2. 68, 72-73).Lear further portrays the empathy that he has for others when he stands alone on the heath and, in a moment of heartfelt lucidness, laments over the houseless masses:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless s torm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From seasons such as these? (3. 4. 28-33) Not only does Lear express sincere concern for others during this soliloquy, but he also expresses regret for the way that he has treated his subjects when he says that â€Å"O, I have ta’en / Too little care of this! (3. 4. 33-34). Indeed, this is the first time in the play that Lear admits any kind of wrongdoing, and as such, it is the first time that he looks inside himself at his own soul and sees that it, like his eldest daughters’ souls, is far from spotless. Following Lear’s profound insight on the heath, he moves into the hovel where, after meeting Edgar, who is disguised as the beggar Poor Tom, he begins to question the nature of all humanity.When Lear sees Edgar’s cold, shivering, and â€Å"uncovered body,† he asks the eternal question †Å"Is man no more than this? † (3. 4. 105). When Lear says that â€Å"The unaccomodated man is no more / but such a poor, bare, forked animal,† he is essentially saying that human beings, like their naked bodies, are pitiable creatures (3. 4. 109-110). Likewise, when he proceeds to strip of his garments, he is making the symbolic gesture that he is no better than Poor Tom; that is, he realizes that he, too, is pitiable.Lear’s recognition that his own body is pathetic, the literary critic Paul Jorgensen argues in his book Lear’s Self-Discovery, is Lear’s first insight. Jorgensen argues, â€Å"self-knowledge means understanding the vileness of the flesh†; in order to attain wisdom, he asserts, people must be willing to recognize that they â€Å"are born of the seed of Adam† and as such, are â€Å"impure . . . and abominable before God† (26). Shakespeare, however, does not suggest that Lear is necessarily doomed because he is the So n of Adam.Rather, the episode with Poor Tom in the hovel simply suggests that all of humanity, including its royalty, is flawed; using Lear’s insight as an example, Shakespeare suggests that in order for people to be redeemed by God, they must first realize humankind’s shortcomings and learn to pity one and all. Lear’s compassion toward Edgar’s frailty and his insistence that he have the company of the naked, â€Å"noble philosopher† proves that he has learned more than just empathy and self-awareness; he has also learned to value his relationships with people despite their flaws, regardless of what he might gain from these relationships (3. . 175). Another example of Lear learning altruistic acceptance comes from his relationship with the Fool, who, as A. C. Bradley explains, makes â€Å"incessant and cutting reminders of [Lear’s] folly and wrong†; indeed, Lear gets nothing from the Fool other than insults, such as when the Fool sugg ests that Lear has â€Å"a little tiny wit† (Bradley 24; 3. 2. 74). Yet despite his lack of reward, Bradley argues, â€Å"Lear comes in his affliction to think of others first, and to seek, in tender solicitude for his ‘poor boy,’ the shelter he scorns for his own bare head† (24).In essence, Lear has learned how to accept his relationships as â€Å"their own reward,† which, as surely Mack would agree, is the first step in learning how to love (Mack 170). Clearly, the relationship that Lear has with his Fool is unusual; in fact, the Fool’s role in the play is so unusual that one critic, Jan Kott, argues in his essay â€Å"King Lear, or Endgame† that the Fool’s character represents the theme of the entire play, namely, â€Å"the decay and fall of the world† (152).In an absurd world where no action has any real meaning, Kott states, the Fool is the only character to realize that â€Å"the only true madness is to regard this world as rational† (167). Certainly, what Kott says about the Fool is correct, to a point. The soliloquy he gives while in the hovel in which he prophesizes that â€Å"the realm of Albion† will â€Å"come to great confusion† certainly proves that the Fool does represent an absurdist viewpoint, but Kott misinterprets Shakespeare’s intent when he states that the play is itself absurd (3. 2. 91-92). One must remember that Shakespeare makes the Fool disappear at the end of act 3 for a reason.Surely, life is meaningless during the first half of the play when Lear blindly lives his life without truly learning anything about the nature of humanity, but as Lear suffers in the third act, he also learns how to feel for the weak and houseless poor, to â€Å"discern the falseness of flattery and the brutality of authority,† and to â€Å"pierce through rank and raiment to the common humanity beneath† (Bradley 24). As a result of learning, Shakespeare sug gests, the world—and Lear’s part in it—ceases to be absurd; consequently, the Fool, and his philosophy, quietly disappear.It is by no coincidence that Lear’s suffering and subsequent learning in the third act occur during a miserable storm. In fact, Shakespeare uses the storm as a physical representation of the raging storm of emotions that occurs in Lear’s mind; that is, the â€Å"contentious storm† symbolizes and embellishes what Lear himself calls â€Å"The tempest in my mind† (3. 4. 6,12). Likewise, it is by no coincidence that Goneril, Regan and Cornwall grow worse from their success; they all remain warm, dry, and comfortable during the storm and they have all gained great power, but not one of them learns anything during the course of the play.Indeed, as Bradley explains, â€Å"The warm castle becomes a room in hell and the storm swept heath a sanctuary† (33). The power of comfort to corrupt is apparent several times dur ing the play, but it is perhaps most shocking when Cornwall gouges out Gloucester’s eyes and proceeds to stomp on them, telling the old man that â€Å"Upon these eyes of thine I’ll set my foot† (3. 7. 69). It is in these lines that the reader/audience sees how powerful, and indeed untouchable, people feel when they have all of the comforts of the world to support them (3. . 69). Cornwall, like Lear at the beginning of the play, feels invincible, but unlike Lear, he never learns that he is â€Å"not ague / proof† (4. 6. 105-106). Therefore, by contrasting Cornwall, and the other â€Å"bad† characters, to Lear, Shakespeare not only reinforces the idea that knowledge and redemption come to those who suffer through physical and emotional storms, but he also suggests that people who have power and comfort often feel that they are superhuman and have nothing left to learn (Bradley 33).Of course, the eventual demise of all of the wickedly comfortable prov es otherwise. In addition to the evil characters acting as foils to Lear, Gloucester’s symbolic blindness and subsequent literal blindness also help to emphasize how Lear gains knowledge through suffering. Indeed, Gloucester acts as a foil to Lear throughout the play: both are initially blind to the actions of their wicked children, both disown their loyal children, and, in turn, both learn the truth in very painful ways.Until his blinding, Gloucester believes that Edgar is a â€Å"strange and fastened villain† who has betrayed him and that Edmund is a â€Å"loyal . . . boy,† but the quickness with which Gloucester realizes Edmund’s true intent after Cornwall has blinded him, screaming â€Å"O my follies! Then Edgar was abused† strongly implies that, like Lear, Gloucester had to suffer in order to see the light (2. 1. 79-86; 3. 7. 92-93). In this way, Shakespeare uses irony to reinforce the idea that those who have eyes are often blind to the truth and those who suffer often see more truth than their bodies and minds can handle.Yet another person one might compare Lear to is his loving and loyal daughter, Cordelia, who is so angelic that her tears are like â€Å"holy water† that from â€Å"heavenly eyes† flow (4. 3. 31). In essence, she is the â€Å"goodliest† of human figures and a model to which Lear can aspire to become more like (4. 3. 17). Indeed, Lear shows that he has become more like his blessed daughter after he reconciles with her and tells her that â€Å"When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down / And ask of thee forgiveness . . .† (5. 3. 10-11).This humble, indeed shameful statement seems not to have come from the same selfish, egotistical king who banishes his daughter for not proving her love to him, and in fact, it does not. Lear is a changed man. What his purgatory has prepared him for, his reunion with Cordelia, the play’s Christ-figure, has set in stone. Lear h as finally and completely learned how to love, and for that, he is forgiven and completely redeemed. There are some critics, of course, who believe that Lear does not learn how to love, or learn anything else for that matter.In his essay â€Å"‘Nothing Almost Sees Miracles’: Tragic Knowledge in King Lear,† Roche even argues that Shakespeare intended Lear to be a â€Å"total failure, in fact and in vision† (168). Roche continues by stating that at the end of the play, Lear â€Å"sees nothing† because â€Å"every gesture of his love is countered by an equal and opposite gesture of hatred† (164). Indeed, Roche is correct when he states that Lear is still flawed at the end of the play.After all, he still feels like a victim to Goneril and Regan’s cruel behavior and he is still vengeful, as is evident when he proudly states to Cordelia’s corpse that â€Å"I killed the slave that was a-hanging thee† (5. 3. 276). Even in his def ense of Lear’s knowledge, Jorgensen states that â€Å"Lear is still pathetically unwise in worldly matters at the end of the play,† but he continues by stating that none of this matters because Lear â€Å"has learned that which, especially for a dying man, is all-important† (7).That is, Lear has learned about the meaning of love, the pitiable frailty of the human form, and the miseries of the unfortunate. In essence, he has learned what it means to be a human instead of a king. Therefore, it does not matter that Lear still has faults because his suffering has taught him eternal truths—truths that are worthy of his redemption. In the end, King Lear almost ceases to be tragic (Bradley 32). Certainly, Lear’s suffering is severe, but Shakespeare shows that it is Lear’s suffering that leads to his learning and his subsequent redemption.Prior to Lear’s painful banishment, he is a pampered, flattered king living a false life, full of false l ove. It is excruciating for Lear to face that his life has been 80 years of lies, but in order to learn the truth, he must first suffer through the pain, and as Shakespeare clearly shows, it is better to learn through suffering than to remain comfortable and ignorant. Therefore, Lear’s life is worth all of the agonies it incurs; after all, it is only after Lear begins to suffer that he truly begins to live.

Beach water

The beaches are considered as important recreational resources. The recreational activities performed at beaches involve a physical contact with water, such as sail-boarding and swimming. There is always a risk of having an accidental injury but apart from that people also face major health problems because of the contamination the beach water. The biggest concern is the microbial contamination by microorganisms such as protozoa viruses and bacteria. The extremely dangerous sewage that comes from urban areas has a number of disease causing organisms in it.Storm drains also contribute to microbial contamination because they sometimes bring the pet waste with them and deposit it into the beaches. Humans are exposed to bacteria and dangerous viruses through the ingestion of the contaminated water which occurs through the entry of water from nose, eyes or ears. Some types of illnesses that are associated with the contamination of the water are some respiratory illnesses that are caused b y the entry of contaminated water into the lungs and Gastro-intestinal disorders; caused by the entry of contaminated water into stomach.There are also some infection associated with the beach water contamination which are minor and are caused through the contact of contaminated water with eyes, nose and ears. Fecal Coli-form bacteria are found in the intestinal tracts of animals and are passed out of the body through fecal waste. Fecal waste is present in the sewage and when that poorly treated sewage is drained into the beaches, it contaminates the water. Swimming in the water in which coli-form bacteria is already present, increases the chances for human to develop certain illnesses such as nausea, stomach cramps, hepatitis and typhoid fever.One way to fight with the fecal coli-form bacteria is to wash with soap after swimming in the contaminated water. In order to save people from the contaminated water there was a treaty signed by the United States and Canada, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. It argues that â€Å"recreational waters should be substantially free from bacteria, fungi, and viruses that may produce enteric disorders or eye, ear, nose, throat and skin infections or other human diseases and infections† (EPA, Para. 5). To prevent the recreational water from being contaminated, there are many water quality control programs conducted in every state.Microbial standard exceedances are used to measure the risks associated with the contaminated recreational water but â€Å"due to the limitations in frequency comparison of exceedances it’s been a challenge to evaluate the recreational water quality† (EPA, Para. 9). (NRDC) National Resources Defense Council’s watch dog monitors the quality of beach water and warns the authorities to take actions. â€Å"NRDC identified 131 beaches in 23 states that violated public health standards† (NRDC, Para. 4). The most important challenge that we face is that the water quality standards recommended by EPA are said to be 20 years old.They do not meet today’s health standards because there are many other diseases identified now. There is an annual report by NRDC's annual watchdog, â€Å"Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches,† which has called for several improvements in monitoring beach water† (NRDC, Para. 3). Improvement in the treatment of sewage also will help in avoiding the health risks. Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved on 08/22/08 from http://www. great-lakes. net/humanhealth/other/bacteria. html National Resources Defense Council, retrieved on 08/22/08 from http://www. nrdc. org/water/oceans/nttw. asp? gclid=CIer1c-KpJUCFROA1QodGBoJjw

Narrative Essays

1 †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Generic application software Software Software refers to computer programs. A program is a sequence of instructions that tells the computer’s processor what to do. There are two types of software: †¢ system software †¢ application software. System software: manages the computer hardware provides a uniform environment for application programs to run performs housekeeping and monitoring tasks.Application software: allows the user to do useful tasks with the computer such as playing games, writing a letter or monitoring hospital patients †¢ is often supplied as a package †¢ can be generic (off-the-shelf) and is general purpose †¢ can be bespoke, where it is custom-written for a specific task. Application programsApplication programs commonly have facilities for: †¢ working in a graphical user interface (GUI) †¢ managing data files and working on multiple files †¢ navigating through the work and changing the ‘zoom level’ †¢ importing files and inserting embedded objects †¢ creating and editing drawings †¢ formatting text and graphics and editing content using insertion, deletion, cut-and-paste, copyand-paste and find-and-replace and Undo and Redo commands †¢ language checking †¢ saving and using templates †¢ viewing a file as it will be printed (WYSIWYG) †¢ creating macros and assigning them to buttons and images †¢ hyperlinking †¢ exporting files in other formats †¢ printing files. Generic application programs You may be asked to justify your choice of a type of generic application software (no brand names) for a particular purpose. For the particular features of each type of software, refer to the  coursebook, especially if you do not have practical experience of it. Cambridge IGCSE Computer Studies  © Cambridge University Press 2011 Revision notes: 1 Generic application software 1 Generic Application software desktop publishing (DTP) word processing spreadsheet General use of software ublications with complex layout, e. g. posters, newsletters and magazines text-intensive material, e. g. letters, business/legal documents, and mail merges repeatable financial, scientific and engineering calculations, mathematical modelling and simple databases input, storage and retrieval of records to provide useful information on screen and in printed reports fax, telephony, video-conferencing, email and instant messaging web authoring, for producing HTML and scripting code for interactive web pages database management system (DBMS) communication web browser search engine graphics computer-aided design (CAD) computer-aided manufacture (CAM) multimedia authoring or interactively accessing information in the form of text and other media from remote web servers a web application for finding information available on Internet servers drawing and editing images, both bitmap and vector for drawing product designs for manufacturing products from CAD designs producing multimedia ‘movie files’ for animated advertisements and games within web pages or presentations, whole websites, or cinema films for creating slideshows (successions of multimedia pages), or multimedia or printed posters for recording data automatically for scientific, engineering and statistical purposes writing, compiling and debugging computer programs presentation data-logging programming Customising generic application programs Off-the-shelf generic application programs are readily available, relatively cheap and well tested. They can be customised to the purchaser’s requirements by: †¢ hiding the standard menus and toolbars †¢ creating new menus or toolbars with just the essential requirements †¢ making cosmetic changes to the colour scheme and logo †¢ creating macros run by toolbar buttons or keyboard shortcuts.A macro is program code recorded automatically or written in a scripting la nguage to improve access to existing commands or to create new ones. Bespoke software Bespoke software (custom-written) is software specially written to suit the needs of a particular customer. It is often very efficient because it does exactly what is required, is easy to learn and has good customer support and maintenance. Cambridge IGCSE Computer Studies  © Cambridge University Press 2011 Revision notes: 1 Generic application software 2 Comparing off-the-shelf with bespoke software Off-the-shelf software has a number of advantages and disadvantages relative to bespoke software. Off-the-shelf software’s advantages t is immediately available it is usually much cheaper to buy it may have many powerful features developed  over many years if it belongs to a suite, it is likely to be able to exchange data and files easily with other programs in the suite it is well tested by previous users there is support available from experienced trainers and user groups Off-the-shelf sof tware’s disadvantages it may be overly complex and difficult to learn it may be a compromise between the requirements of different types of users an organisation may be forced to adapt its business procedures to the software errors may not be fixed rapidly Cambridge IGCSE Computer Studies  © Cambridge University Press 2011 Revision notes: 1 Generic application software 3

Prepare a Strategic Plan Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Prepare a Strategic Plan - Term Paper Example Hence, considering the current scenario of the business environment, it is important for every company to carry out strategic planning before functioning in the market place. In this paper, the strategic planning process of Vodafone will be presented. This project is not only aimed at studying the existing strategic planning of Vodafone, but the aim is also to formulate a strategic plan for the business to grow over the next three years. The company chosen for this assignment is Vodafone. Thus, a brief overview of Vodafone, prior to recommending the strategic plan for the forthcoming years, will be important. This will enable the readers to gather better understanding of the scenario. Vodafone Group PLC, commonly known as Vodafone, is a UK based global telecommunication firm. The company had started its operation from 1991 and before that, Vodafone used to function as Racal Telecom. Vodafone has its registered office at Newbury, Berkshire and is headquartered at London, UK. The company is adjudged as the third largest telecommunication company of the world, in terms of revenue and number of subscribers. The global telecommunication industry is led by China Mobile with a staggering 453 million subscribers (Vodafone, 2013). At present, the company operates in more than 21 countries and has licensed partners in 40 other countries. It is noticed that the Vodafone Global Enterprise division alone offers IT and telecommunication services catering to corporate clients in more than 65 countries of the world. The total employee strength of the company is 91,272. The company is listed at London Stock Exchange and is a London Stock Exchange constituent. In the financial yea r 2012-13, the company has earned revenue of  £44.445 billion and made a profit of  £429 million (Vodafone, 2013). Some of the important products of the company, apart from core service offerings (telecommunication and IT services), are Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem,