Tuesday, December 24, 2019

What We Don t Talk About Service - 1324 Words

As one of the fundamental texts in the discussion of ethics, Nicomachean Ethics outlines Aristotle’s idea of eudaimonia, as the ultimate goal of a good and successful human life, achieved through habitual practices of moral virtues. Unlike a contemporary understanding of happiness (a type of feeling), happiness to the Greeks was an â€Å"activity of soul† - a reflection of a person’s position in the community and mindfully acting to live in a good way (happiness as an action). In â€Å"What We Don’t Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Service,† Adam Davis discusses a modern application of these â€Å"good† actions using the topic of service. Similar to Aristotle’s concern of the motivations behind human happiness and striving to reach a state of†¦show more content†¦Aristotle argues, however, that to reach this final state of happiness, a person must live in accordance with appropriate virtues, so happiness cannot be fo und in vulgar and political lives but only in a contemplative life. He explains this idea by isolating humans to their special roles. Just like objects have specific functions (i.e. knives are used to cut things), â€Å"for all things that have a function or activity, the good and the â€Å"well† is thought to reside in the function, so would it seem to be for man, if he has a function.† Aristotle claims that humans, too, have a specific function: to exercise rational thought, which is a uniquely human quality. Thus, people are only able to achieve their final state of happiness through a habitual practice of aretà © or virtue, which is a person’s ability to actively contribute to society by using his or her individual capacity for reasoning. Only through this practice of excellence, then, can humans flourish to eudaimonia. In modern society, acts of service can be considered an example of a â€Å"good† that Aristotle describes - one that fulfills a pers on’s role in the society and contributes to the thriving of the community. People usually say

Monday, December 16, 2019

Belonging Past Hsc Student’s Draft Free Essays

string(125) " misfits who form a brotherhood of drunken antics that centre around the home they all share in Tortilla Flat in California\." The need to belong is a human phenomenon that is the underlying cause of our actions. As humans, we search for like-minded people with whom we can find a sense of ourselves as people. This is a product of the fact that belonging is integral to the formation of one’s identity. We will write a custom essay sample on Belonging: Past Hsc Student’s Draft or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, a sense of belonging is often achieved by following a path of alienation. Similarly, alienation leads to disillusionment with that (verbose line) which one once believed in. Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Coppola, John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat and Peter Skrzynecki’s poetry all deal with these three dimensions of belonging. Belonging and acceptance is integral to the formation of one’s identity. Peter Skrzynecki’s poem 10 Mary Street illustrates the security and comfort that is a product of a sense of belonging. In this case, it is a sense of belonging to a family routine that occurs daily at number 10 Mary Street. The mundanity of the routine provides stability and familiarity. Skrzynecki uses time frames such as â€Å"5pm† and â€Å"For nineteen years† to establish a sense of repetition and order in the reader’s mind. Collective pronouns such as â€Å"we† connote collaboration and inclusion in the family sphere. This family inclusivity allows the poet to establish his identity at an early age in a place in which he belongs, as shown when he describes him wandering in the garden after school. The simile â€Å"like a hungry bird† shows (avoid using ‘show’ repetitively) him to be curious and boisterous. It connotes a healthy organic childhood. In the second stanza of the poem, Skrzynecki uses images of growth and nurturing to suggest a loving family environment and a sense of belonging to the land. The quiet â€Å"hum-drum† of daily routines, such as washing clothes and gardening, suggests that the house and Skrzynecki’s parents rarely change. This conjures an image of immense strength and solidarity. Skrzynecki establishes his childhood home as an enduring sphere of safety. He does this by personifying the house â€Å"in its china-blue coat† as a friend and part of the family. The home is a place in which to remember their Polish heritage. The repetition of the line â€Å"for nineteen years† illustrates the length of time that his family have been paying homage to their ancestry to as they â€Å"kept pre-war Europe alive. The use of the Polish word â€Å"Kielbasa† not only adds authenticity and depth to the poem but reinforces the idea that, though Skrzynecki’s family has moved away from war-torn Poland to Australia, they still firmly belong to their Polish heritage and there is a link for them and their family through which to establ ish their identities in their new land. The poet mourns the passing of his childhood and the destruction of the home in which he learnt the nature of growing up caught between two cultures and the rift between the past and the future. This notion is further explored in Apocalypse Now. Colonel Kurtz was the pride of the American Military Command. Having broken from the decrepit and corrupt school of thought that was the US army, Kurtz establishes his god-like rule over a clan of like-minded natives in the jungles of Cambodia. His character extrapolates all issues surrounding America as a nation, from war crimes to environmental stability. In one of the most compelling scenes of the film, Kurtz expresses his thoughts to Willard, one of the first Americans he has encountered since his dissent. He speaks of his son at home and his fear that if he were to be killed, his son would not understand his father’s actions. At this point, the extended close up shot of Kurtz’s face, half shrouded in darkness, changes slightly as he moves further into the light. This conveys that Kurtz still holds onto the hope that his son will one day come to understand his identity and why he acted in the way that he did. Kurtz is not ashamed of his actions because ultimately, he has fully formed his identity. First he was transformed on the battlefields of Vietnam by the death and ignorance he encountered/witnessed and then again in the jungles of Cambodia amongst the natives and free thought. Therefore, both 10 Mary Street and Apocalypse Now effectively explore the concept that acceptance and belonging are integral to the formation of one’s identity. A sense of belonging is achieved by following a path of alienation. In Migrant Hostel, Skrzynecki’s family struggle to establish themselves in a new land. Skrzynecki delineates the sense of alienation that the migrants have towards the rest of Australia. The â€Å"sealed off highway† demonstrates the separation they feel from the rest of the country. The simile of â€Å"rose and fell like a finger† demonstrates that they do not feel welcomed or accepted in their new land, but are constantly reprimanded, like a naughty child. The line â€Å"needing its sanction† demonstrates how the migrants are enslaved to the entrapment they feel in the hostel. They need permission to continue living in a manner that doesn’t reflect their culture or beliefs. This alienation from their culture and freedom renders each migrant unimportant and attempts to destroy their sense of personal identity and belonging. However, it is because of this alienation that they achieve a sense of belonging and identity. Nationalities ‘found each other’ based on their accents and the town they came from. Inside the hostel, they keep the memory of their home and culture alive though they are haunted by the â€Å"memories of hunger and hate† that destroyed their countries. Skrzynecki uses the simile â€Å"like a homing pigeon† to connote the strong sense of survival and solidarity shared by the migrants. The homing pigeon is a survivor that travels great distances. Skrzynecki uses a reoccurring motif of birds throughout this poem as they have connotations of freedom and migration. This dimension of belonging is further explored in John Steinbeck’s novel Tortilla Flat. Danny, Pilon, Jesus Maria, Pablo, Pirate and Big Joe Portagee are half Spanish- Mexican, misfits who form a brotherhood of drunken antics that centre around the home they all share in Tortilla Flat in California. You read "Belonging: Past Hsc Student’s Draft" in category "Essay examples" The book is written in an entirely episodic fashion to fit with the allegory that Steinbeck creates, comparing the six men to King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. However, instead of knights in shining armour, they are the unruly and boisterous men upon whom the community of Monterey frown upon. Therefore Steinbeck creates a paradox within this novel because whilst this brotherhood is the only place that the men find a sense of belonging, it is also their association with each other that renders them unacceptable to normal society. Steinbeck quite obviously uses the technique of having his characters speak in language befitting the Elizabethan era. This reinforces the notion that they are all fallen from the grace of a former life not mentioned in the novel, but they are fallen together. It is also a distinguishable way from separating the adopted brothers from those in normal society. It heightens not only the sense of unreality that permeates the whole book but also the sense of alienation from the outside world. The brothers eat, drink wine, sleep and occasionally venture out to do good deeds for those around them. They live by an entirely alternative concept of time, space, possession and love. The growing sense of belonging that develops through the novel is conveyed through the slow gathering of the six men to form the brotherhood and the corresponding rising action. Once they are all convened under a banner of bemused freedom, Danny states, â€Å"we are now as one, as never such men have been before. Each member is crucial to the group’s dynamic and therefore to each individual member’s sense of belonging. This is conveyed at the conclusion of the novel when, after Danny’s funeral, the house that was their home accidentally catches fire but instead of trying to save their one worldly possession, the men allow it to burn to the ground an d then go their separate ways. The last words of the novel are â€Å"no two walked together† conveying that the bonds of brotherhood had been broken and that it was only with each other that they belonged. Therefore, both Migrant Hostel and Tortilla Flat effectively convey the idea that belonging is reached by a path of alienation. Alienation leads to disillusionment with that which one once believed in (is there a different way to express this? ). Skrzynecki’s poem In The Folk Museum describes the experiences of the poet as he becomes increasingly alienated from his heritage. After describing his parent’s typical migrant experience in Migrant Hostel, the poet now finds himself unable to empathise with a past that is not his own. The use of first person not only allows the responder to connect on a deeper level with Skrzynecki, but also highlights the fact that he is alone in his musings about a past that he does not fully comprehend. In turn, this adds to the bleakness of an already melancholic poem. The caretaker of the museum represents everything that alienates Skrzynecki from his Polish heritage. She is knitting and has grey hair demonstrating that she is a relic herself and incongruent to contemporary society, just as Skrzynecki views his dying past. The simile of â€Å"cold as water† further illustrates that the poet no longer empathises or has any emotional connection to the events of his past. Although it is not as directly referred to in this poem(weak expression) as in others, In The Folk Museum also conveys how the poet’s disillusionment with his past leads to a sense of belonging with his present. The use of personification in â€Å"the wind taps hurriedly† communicates not only the poet’s frustration but also the determination of the outside world to remind him of the pointlessness of his reminiscing about his Polish heritage. The use of alliteration in â€Å"I leave without wanting a final look† conveys his speedy exit as well as his eagerness to regain the world outside of the museum, where he belongs. This notion of disillusionment is further explored in Francis Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now. Captain Willard, an American officer fighting in the Vietnam War, believes wholeheartedly in the US army and Western Civilisation as a whole. He belongs to war. At the beginning of the film, Willard is off duty in Saigon and recounts one of his trips home. The use of direct speech narration adds depth and authenticity to Willard’s character. He states â€Å"I’d wake up and there’d be nothing. Every minute I spend in this room, I get weaker and Charlie gets stronger. † The reference to the Vietcong warriors implies that Willard is more at ease when he is fighting in Vietnam. His alienation from normal society is further conveyed by a montage of images of war superimposed with Willard’s face. The non-digetic music of The End by The Doors plays, with lyrics such as â€Å"the west is the best† that further illustrates Willard’s faith in the American way of life and war. However, at the conclusion of this montage, Willard is left naked and bleeding, wrapped in a torn sheet and screaming on his hotel room floor, a high angle shot highlighting his vulnerability. This scene is purposely designed to alienate the audience from the character and connotes the detrimental effect that Western civilisation is having on him. The repetitious rigmarole of a soldier’s life is communicated through the undershot of the turning fan in Willard’s room. He stares up at it from the bed, implying that he is physically and mentally dominated by his life and routine as a soldier. As Willard travels further and further up river in search of Colonel Kurtz, he reads increasingly on Kurtz’s life and the events that have led him to the insanity that the US army now deems dangerous. Willard experiences more of the US army’s arrogance, blood-lust and drug use and becomes steadily disillusioned with the entity that he placed his faith in. Everything that is wrong with Western civilisation is represented through the arrogant Bill Kilgore who infamously states â€Å"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. As the boat travels further up river, there is a distinct change in lighting. Before Willard boards the boat, there is a reoccurring motif of brightly coloured flares. The camera pans directly in front of the plumes of red, green and yellow smoke so that they form a veil over the scenes of battles and civilian deaths. However, once up river, the lighting becomes softer, greener and more defined. There is a distinct lack of smoke. This implies that Wi llard is travelling both physically and mentally away from the chaos of Western civilisation and heading deeper into Kurtz’s state of mind. Finally, Coppola uses the reoccurring motif of extreme close up shots on the faces of Willard and Kurtz. He does this to communicate that these two men are not necessarily similar but that they represent contrary facets of one human entity. The extreme close up shots of Willard and Kurtz reveal them to both be acutely serious men who have come to empathise with the same point of view. However, they are distinctly contrasted. Willard is often sweaty, dirty, constantly smoking whereas Kurtz is pristine, unchanging and aloof. This signifies that they will never be able to emulate the virtues of the other’s character that they themselves are deficient. Therefore, both In The Folk Museum and Apocalypse Now reveal themselves to be texts in which the view that alienation leads to disillusionment is explored. For humans to find where they truly belong, they must be placed outside of their comfort zone. They must travel beyond what they have before and thereby find something in the world, in others or in themselves that gives them a sense of belonging. Peter Skrzynecki’s poetry, Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Coppola and John Steinbeck’s novel Tortilla Flat all successfully explore differing dimensions of belonging such as the necessity of belonging to shaping ones identity, that belonging is reached by a path of alienation and that alienation leads to disillusionment. (just check over your section on Apoc Now – it is very good, however ensure you are explicitly referring to belonging – I would suggest that at the moment it is implicit – and of course make sure you use the words of the question in your answer) How to cite Belonging: Past Hsc Student’s Draft, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Corporate Accounting Standard Board Method

Question: Discuss about the Corporate Accounting Standard Board Method. Answer: Introduction: As per an accounting concept, an asset should always be shown at a value that shows the value of upcoming financial welfares that will be derived within the asset. Another concept of true fair view states that all the items of financial statement should be stated at a value that give a real picture of the monetary position of the organisation. Thus all the possessions obligations should be valued fairly to give a factual reasonable view to the users of financial statement. Thus in order to find out whether all the assets are carried at a fair value or not, we need to conduct the impairment test. The purpose of conducting the impairment test is to find whether all the items appearing in the balance sheet are worth the amount that they are being carried at in the balance sheet. It comprises classifying damage pointers, measuring or reconsidering the money movements, decisive the reduction charges, challenging the sensibleness of the expectations with the market. Nobody likes surprises or anything new at the end of the day. Effect of Goodwill on Impairment Test: Goodwill is treated as a resource or in simple words we can say is an asset which actually gives us the future benefits which gives us benefits all the way till the business exists. It is seen that the amount which can be recovered from the sale of goodwill cant be easily identified and are not measurable and it does not generate or obtain money movements independently. Subsequent to a commercial gaining in which the resource recording was the goodwill. Post-acquisition accounting wants the asset goodwill to be purely identifies and tested to check if any loss needs to be impaired as proper treatment is required as the financial accounts wants proper value at the end and any asset or liabilities should not be overvalued or undervalued and should be properly disclosed in the statements of accounts. It is not necessary for goodwill to test at the end of the year, it can actually be tested anyway of the year. But certain exceptions exist that if any loss arises between the balance sheet date and the date of the test then proper updating should be there to avoid confrontation. Normally impairment test is undertaken when there are certain indicators present which shows that there are chances of assets of the organisation being impaired However in case of Goodwill (being intangible asset), goodwill needs to be annually tested for impairment even if there are no indicators present that hint towards impairment. There is an impairment if (and to the extent) the carrying value of goodwill exceeds its implied fair value. An impairment loss reduces the recorded goodwill and cannot subsequently be reversed. But certain exceptions exist that if any loss arises between the balance sheet date and the date of the test then proper updating should be there to avoid confrontation. Normally impairment test is undertaken when there are certain indicators present which shows that there are chances of assets of the organisation being impaired Second important thing about goodwill is that in case of an organisation where goodwill is present in the books, any impairment loss that arises is firstly assigned to these intangible assets, in the present case the same is goodwill (Australian accounting standard board, 2014) The first step for carrying out an impairment test is that we need to find out the Carrying amount of the asset for which we desire to carry out the impairment test, where the carrying sum of an advantage or the asset is nothing but the book worth of the advantage or asset after deducting the value of provision for depreciation created for that particular asset. Carrying Amount = Cost of the Asset Prov. for depreciation* created for the particular assets *NB: Amortisation in case of an intangible Asset (Television education network, 2004) Step 2: Recoverable Value Recoverable Value of an Asset is the upper of following: Fair Worth minus cost incurred for selling the product, Where Fair Value Mean the price that the asset will fetch when sold in an open market. Worth in use means the present value of all future cash flows generated from the asset that is being tested. Step 3 Computation of Impairment Loss: Impairment Loss is calculated as follows: Impairment needs to be checked and tested to know the accuracy of the asset and to know whether it is giving accurate value. Balance sheet needs to have accurate and carrying value of the asset. Carrying value, value in use and recoverable value are to be properly calculated to know the desired result. As evident, Crossbow Ltd. operates under a highly competitive environment wherein e-purchase is more preferred than the face to face store purchases. Thus, even after specialisation as a leather manufacturer and the aggressive strategy of buying out other companies that had competing productsit still faced difficulties. For an organisation, the indicators of impairment may arise from external or internal sources. Some of the examples of external sources being, decline in the bazaar price of the asset, technological obsolesce, alteration in the market interest rate, etc. On the contrary internal indicators would be like, physical deterioration of the asset, antiquity of sustained strength sufferers or losses of the cash flow, important change in the pattern of the use of the asset, etc. A loss is identified in the books when the amount prevailing of the asset in the books is more than its Amount which can be taken out from the sale of the asset (RA). RA or in other words the recovered amount is higher of Value-in Use and Net selling price of the asset. In calculating value that is been use, upcoming money movements should be projected for resources in their present state (Queensland treasury and trade, 2014) For future rearrangement, the costs and the profits associated with it should not be recognised or identified unless and until proper provisions are made in respect to that. The benefits that arise from the expenditure should not be recognised in the cash flows for the future. The flow of cash for the value in use test can actually does not match with the cash flow forecasts with the board acknowledged moneys in the upcoming years Now as given in the sum, the recoverable amount as calculated for Crossbow Ltd. assets turns out to be $1 420 000 (given) against the Carrying Amount of $1 680 000 fixing the impairment loss to $260 000 Intangible Assets (incl. Goodwill) are considered to the fastest impairing assets as per AASB 136, thus Brand and Goodwill of $160 000 $40 000 respectively are impaired @ 100%. There is a difference of $29 000 in the Carrying Amount of Land of $200 000 and the Fair Value of $171 000, thus $29 000 turns out to be the impairment loss for Land. The remaining loss of $31 000 is proportionately bifurcated to Inventory, Shoe Factory Machinery as per their carrying amounts in the ratio 12 : 70 : 40 Journal Entry Date Particulars Debit Amount ($) Credit Amount ($) 30th June 2015 Provision for Impairment loss A/c Dr To Brand Account . To Goodwill Account To Land Account To Factory Account To Plant Machinery Account To Inventory Account (Being Provision for impairment loss booked) 260,000 160,000 40,000 29,000 16,953 9,688 4,359 Total 260,000 260,000 Calculation of Impairment loss for the CUG as a whole Amount of the asset till date: $ 1,680,000 Less: amount that can be recovered: $ 1,420,000 Loss that needs to be impaired: $ 260,000 Impairment loss of Land: Carrying amount: $ 200,000 Less: Recoverable Amount: $ 171,000 Impairment Loss: $ 2900 References: Australian accounting standard board (2014).Impairment of asset. Retrieved 27December 2016 from https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB136_07-04_COMPapr07_07-07.pdf Television Education network (2004).Impairment of asset. Retrieved 27December 2016 from https://www.tved.net.au/index.cfm?SimpleDisplay=PaperDisplay.cfmPaperDisplay=https://www.tved.net.au/PublicPapers/July_2004,_Corporate_Education_Channel,_Accounting_for_Impairment_of_Assets___Part_1.html Queensland tresury and trade (2014).Impairment of asset. Retrieved 27December 2016 from https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/publications-resources/non-current-asset-policies/ncap-4-impairment-of-assets.pdf Krueger, R. (2002).International standards for Impairment. Retrieved 27December 2016 from https://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/npl/eng/2002/rk0702.pdf