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

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

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

Indian V/S Western Culture Essay Example

Indian V/S Western Culture Essay Difference between Indian culture and Western culture Many debates     surround the Indian and the western cultures. It   is   true   that   that   these cultures   differ   in  Ã‚   many  Ã‚   ways   ranging   from   eating   habits ,the way   of   dressing ,marriage   and   even   on   socio –economic   lives . The   western   culture   has   gone   through   a series   of   transformations   assuming   different   philosophies   and   civilizations   throughout   the   ages   whereas   the   Indian   culture   has been   seen   to   be   more   conservative   on   their   way   of   life. Looking   at   a   subject   like   the   feeding   habits   you   are   suddenly  Ã‚   met   by   a   very   cutting  Ã‚   difference   between  Ã‚   the   two   cultures   where   the Indians   would   prefer a   heavy   lunch   and   not   much   fascinated   with   the   idea   of  Ã‚   having   dinner , on   the   other   hand   their   western   counterparts   go   the opposite   direction  Ã‚   having   a   superior   appetite   for   dinner   over   lunch   . The   Indians   are   more   keen   with   how   they  Ã‚   wear   making  Ã‚   sure   they   avoid   exposure   of   body   but   their   brothers   in   the   west   are   not   bothered   with   whatever   style   you   use , in other   words   the   western   culture   is   quite liberal   on   dressing   habits. Indians   are   one   group   of   people   who   value   family   a lot   but   as   for   the   western   world   that   much   brotherhood   is   not   there . Dating   and   marriage   is   another   very   controversial   issue   everywhere in the   world . We will write a custom essay sample on Indian V/S Western Culture specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Indian V/S Western Culture specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Indian V/S Western Culture specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In   the   west   though   the   culture   is considerably   lenient   but   in  Ã‚   the  Ã‚   Indian   world   it   is   one   sphere   of   live   where   strict   morals   are   observed . Multiple   affairs   as   well   as nudity   are   highly   discouraged   in   the   Indian   culture , while   the   western   culture   remains silent   about   it . Places   of   fun   and   social   interactions   such   as   night   clubs , casinos , discos   are very   common   in   the west   where   they   are  Ã‚   accompanied   by   many   morally   unacceptable   indulgences   but   the   Indians   are not   equally   fascinated   by them   but  Ã‚   they   outdo   the   westerners   in   costume   varieties .

The US legislative system Essay Example

The US legislative system Essay Example The US legislative system Essay The US legislative system Essay The US legislative system is a wonderful source of fabulous cases. It seems that no other state has had so many bizarre lawsuits during the all history of legislative system existence. One of the most known cases of modern times is Stella Liebeck vs. McDonalds. It’s incredible but a simple woman managed to sue large corporation, win the case while most contemporaries considered her claim to be hopeless. In this essay we will overview the core of the case and how decision on it influenced the US tort law.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã ‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In February 1992, Mrs. Stella Liebeck bought a cup of coffee at a drive-through window of a McDonalds in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was not the driver of the car and the coffee was spilled while the car was parked. That is, Ms. Liebecks grandson had pulled the car to the curb so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee and the vehicle was stationary before she placed the cup of coffee between her knees and attempted to remove the lid for the purpose of adding cream and sugar. As she lifted one side of the lid, the coffee spilled onto her lap. Immediately, the coffee was absorbed by her sweatpants. Her clothing forced what was later learned to be â€Å"super-heated coffee† against her skin.  Ã‚  Ã‚   (zurich.com/main/productsandsolutions/industryinsight/2004/march2004/industryinsight20040318_005.htm)The McDonalds coffee Ms. Liebeck purchased was served at a temperature of between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenh eit. For home use, coffee is generally brewed at 135 to 140 degrees. If spilled on skin, any beverage heated to between 180 and 190 degrees will cause third-degree burns in two to seven seconds Ms. Liebecks injuries were severe. She suffered full thickness burns (third-degree burns) and scalding to her inner thighs, groin and buttocks. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns over 6 percent of her body. She was in the hospital for eight days and had to undergo extremely painful procedures to remove layers of dead skin, as well as several skin grafting and debridement treatments (the surgical removal of tissue).Ms. Liebecks original intention was to obtain legal help in order to be reimbursed for her medical expenses, which were said to have totaled nearly $20,000. However, McDonalds refused to pay her medical bills. This led Ms. Liebeck to file a product-liability suit.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (canf.bc.ca/briefs/mcdonalds.html)The case was considerd as a tort one. Tort law is easy to describe at a general level and hard to define more precisely. Tort comes from a Latin word meaning twisted or turned aside, so a tort is an act that is turned aside from the standard of proper conducta wrongful act. If you punch your neighbor in the nose, run over a pedestrian by driving carelessly, or injure a customer by serving burning hot coffee, you have committed a tort. (Some torts involve only economic harm and not physical injury, such as falsely accusing someone of being a crook or using fraud to induce them to enter into a financial transaction.) All of these are wrongful acts for which the victim can receive an award of money damages. Tort law permits private persons to take the lead in implementing its policies. All torts cases are brought by private individuals or businesses, not by the government acting as the prosecutor. (Sometimes the government is a party to tort cases, but then it is in the same position as any other plaintiff or def endant.) The federal and state governments establish court systems to referee disputes, but private parties drive the tort system by their complaints and defenses.Thus, the tort system does not require a sons. Stella Liebeck and McDonalds, for example, not the Food and Drug Administration or the Consumer Products Safety Commission, drive the debate about how hot is too hot for coffee. Second, tort law is made up of relatively general rules, such as a rule that an auto manufacturer has to make a car in such a way that it does not contain a defect rendering it unreasonably dangerous. What that means is fleshed out in the context of individual cases and can be hotly contested, but it does not require the law to specify in advance, in tedious detail, how a car must be built and what safety devices it must containThird, tort law links the deterrence and compensation policies to the objective of fairness by requiring that the compensation to the victim come from the wrongdoer. Once an inj ury has occurred, it seems right that the wrongdoer should be punished and the victim should be compensated. There is a neat symmetry to the mechanism that accomplishes both objectives at the same time. If the wrongdoer is criminally prosecuted, the victim still bears her loss; if the victim has her bills paid by insurance, her loss is compensated but the wrongdoer gets away without taking responsibility.During the trial process, McDonalds produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebecks. This history documented McDonalds knowledge about the extent and nature of this hazard. McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultants advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain optimum taste. McDonalds own quality assurance manager testified that a burn hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or a bove and that McDonalds coffee was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat.The quality assurance manager further testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that while burns would occur, McDonalds had no intention of reducing the holding temperature of its coffee. Plaintiffs expert, a scholar in thermodynamics as applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids at 180 degrees will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebecks spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn. McDonalds also argued that consumers know coffee is hot and that its customers want it that way. The company admitted its customers were unaware that they could suffer third-degree burns from the coffee and that a statement on the side of the cup was not a warning but a reminder since the location of the writing would not warn customers of the hazard.A jury awarded Ms. Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This sum was reduced to $160,000 because, appropriately, she was found to be partially responsible for the incident. More significantly, the jury members saw fit to punish McDonalds. The jury awarded Ms. Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages. This amount represented approximately two days of profit for the restaurant chain. It also represented the single most publicized aspect of this case. The trial court subsequently reduced the punitive award to $480,000- or three times compensatory damages- even though the judge called McDonalds conduct reckless, callous and willful. Subsequent to remittitur, the parties entered a post-verdict settlement. Post-verdict investigation found that the temperat ure of coffee at the local Albuquerque McDonalds had dropped to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  That was a slight description of the case. One can have his own opinion concerning the case but the jury decision can’t be changed.  Ã‚   (atlanet.org/ConsumerMediaResources/Tier3/press_room/FACTS/frivolous/McdonaldsCoffeecase.aspx)To my mind the jury made right decision basing on the appropriate law. Tort law is desiganted to protect consumer from unprincipled producer. In our case McDonald appeared to be careless as it many times before received claims r egarding the temperature of coffee. And as a result of McDonald’s negligence Ms. Liebeck burnt herself with too hot coffee. At the same time there is one point that makes this case bizarre. Everybody who buys coffee at McDonald’s knows that coffee is hot, very hot. This fact might have been the core of McDonald’s defense but it was neglected by the quantity of previous cases and awareness of the company management about such harmful facts.I must admit that the jury, after hearing all the facts and arguments taught McDonalds and other corporations a lesson: If you recklessly make or sell a dangerous product, you will be held accountable. McDonalds suffered substantial, but hardly outrageous, financial punishment for its irresponsible practices. Mrs. Liebeck was compensated for her injuries. And folks like me are less likely to get burned. That’s exactly how our legal system is supposed to work. Thats also why the insurance, tobacco, and other major industr ies want to change it. They think it works too well. The age and consequences of the plaintiff’s burn influenced the decision of the jury first of all. The same would happen if a child had been burnt though the decision may have differed if it were middle-age person. The jury is always more eager to defend unprotected people such as old age, children, diasabled and so on.The jury’s decision helped not only Ms. Liebeck, after trial investigation discovered that McDonald’s reduced temperature of served coffee to 155 degrees; the case also influenced other potentially dangerous conduct: The Wendys chain reduced the temperature of its hot chocolate, served mostly to children. While critics of the tort system say that Liebeck vs MsDonald’s case was harmful to business, they claim that consumer shall be also responsible for the actions that lead to traumatizing. They say if, for example, a person burn himself preparing tea according to the instruction on the te a box, will he have reason to sue the Tea Company? It seems to be insane but it’d be the tea of the company that result burns. The only way to prevent such fabulous cases is developing of detailed instructions or warning for the customers to shift all preparation and consumption responsibility on them.If I were an owner of a small restaurant I would definitely change my serving policies. I would ask my waiters to warn customers that coffee, tea or other beverages are too hot, or I would decrease the temperature of serving beverages. Also I would add notices to the menu, like, caution: tea is very hot or chilly is very spicy.

How to Put Together a Poetry Manuscript for Publication

How to Put Together a Poetry Manuscript for Publication Putting together a poetry manuscript to submit to contests or publishers is not a walk in the park. Expect it to take an hour or two a day over the span of a week, month, or even a year, depending on how much work you have, how polished the pieces are, and how much time you can afford to spend on the project.   Despite that, creating a poetry manuscript for publication is an important next step in a writers career. Heres a step-by-step guide on how to make this goal a reality. Step 1: Choose Your Poems Begin by typing (or printing from your computer files) all the poems you want to consider putting into your book, one per page (unless of course, the poem is longer than a single page). This is a chance to make any small revisions you want to make to individual poems so that you can concentrate on the shape of the book as a whole. Step 2: Plan the Book Size To get started, decide how big of a book you want to create- 20 to 30 pages for a typical chapbook, 50 or more for a full-length collection (more on exact page amounts later). You may well change your mind about this when you are actually selecting and ordering the poems, but this will give you a starting point. Step 3: Organize the Poems With the length of your book in mind, sift through all the pages you have typed or printed up, and put the poems into piles that you feel belong together in some way- a series of poems on related themes, a group of poems written using a particular form, or a chronological sequence of poems written in the voice of a single character. Step 4: Take a Step Back Let your piles sit at least overnight without thinking about them. Then pick up each pile and read through the poems, trying to see them as a reader and not as their author. If you know your poems well and find your eyes skipping ahead, read them out loud to yourself to make sure you take the time to listen to them. Step 5: Be Selective When you’ve read through a stack of poems, pull out any poems that no longer seem to fit in that particular pile or seem redundant, and put the poems you want to keep together in the order you want your readers to experience them. You may find yourself doing lots of reshuffling over time, moving poems from one stack into another, melding whole groups of poems together by combining stacks, or discovering new groupings that need to be separate and on their own. Don’t worry about it. You will likely come across new ideas for books or chapbooks and also change your mind a number of times before the poems settle into the shape of a finished book manuscript. Step 6: Take a Breather After you’ve pared down and reordered each pile of poems, let them sit again at least overnight. You can use this time to mull over your reading, listening for the poems that stand out in each stack and how they sound together. Pay attention to other poems that may have popped into your mind when you were reading a certain stack to see if you should add them or replace similar poems. Step 7: Reevaluate Book Length Think again about the length of the book you want to create. You may decide that one stack of related poems would make a good short chapbook. You may have a really large pile of poems that will all go together into a long collection. Or you may want to combine several of your piles to create sections within a full-length book. Step 8: Create an Actual Book Next, try actually making the manuscript into a book that you can live with and leaf through. Staple or tape your pages together put them into a three-ring notebook, or use your computer to print them out in book format. If you’re preparing an email or online submission, you may still want to print up the poems you’re considering- shuffling paper pages is easier than editing a computer file. If you have several long pieces, you may wish to lay everything out in a word processing document with the correct margins for the completed book size, to see how more exactly how many pages the collection will consume. For a typical 6-by-9-inch printed book, youll want the final page count to be divisible by four (include room for a title page, dedication page, table of contents, copyright page, and acknowledgments page in your count as well). For ebooks, the page count can be any number. If you want your document to look like a finished book when printed out, use your software to make mirror image pages when setting up your page size so that the left and right pages will face each other as they would when professionally bound, and add page numbers in a footer or header. That said, don’t think too much about typography or design at this point. You want simply to put the poems together so that you can read through the book and see how they interact in that order. Step 9: Choose a Title After you’ve decided on the length and general shape of your manuscript, choose a title for your collection. A title may have suggested itself during your sifting and ordering of the poems, or you may want to read through them again to find one- perhaps the title of a central poem, a phrase taken from one of the poems, or something completely different. Step 10: Proofread Carefully proofread your entire manuscript from beginning to end after you’ve put it in order. If you’ve spent a lot of time with the book, you may be tempted to give it only a cursory read-through. In this case, you need to set it aside for a few days or weeks so that when you come back to it you can pay close attention to each poem, each title, each line break, and each punctuation mark. You will likely find yourself making additional revisions to the poems at this point- don’t hold back, as this final reading may be your last chance to make changes before you send the book out into the world. Proofreading your own work is difficult- ask a friend, or two, to proofread the manuscript for you, and go through all their notes carefully. Fresh eyes will likely spot some errors that slid right by you but do not feel that you must accept every editorial change they may suggest. When in doubt about punctuation or line breaks, read the poem aloud. Step 11: Research Venues for Submission Next, it’s time to seek appropriate venues for submission. Use a list of poetry publishers or links to poetry contests to identify places you want to submit your manuscript. It’s important to read the poetry books they’ve published or the previous winners of their competitions in order to decide if you want them to publish your work. Targeting your submissions to publishers of like works can also save you time and money on submissions that would have been rejected for not being appropriate to their current catalog. Publishing is a business, and if a manuscript wouldnt fit in with others in the companys catalog, its marketing department wouldnt know what to do with it, regardless of its quality. Weed those publishers out before sending the manuscript anywhere. Keep notes on why a publisher is a good fit, to mention in your submission cover letter. Step 12: Apply! After you have selected a publisher or a contest, reread its guidelines and follow them exactly. Print a fresh copy of your manuscript in the format requested, use the submission form if there is one, and enclose the applicable reading fee. Try to let go of your manuscript after you’ve mailed it off- it may take a long time for you to get a response, and obsessing over one manuscript submission will only set you up for disappointment. It never hurts, however, to keep thinking about the order and title of your book and to submit it to other contests and publishers in the meantime (so long as the companies you’ve sent it to accept simultaneous submissions).

Cost Management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cost Management - Term Paper Example Defense organization of the US government manages many production facilities that operate similar to industries. The chief strategies employed by Defense Department are to reduce permanent positions for staff and workers, outsource some of the jobs and depend more on temporary workers. Authors argue that the organizations have to strike a balance while reducing fixed costs permanently. Elaborating further, they argue that Honda Motor Company reduced permanent engineering staff, which was dedicated to the design functions during 1980s; however, that went against the company when its competitors came out with new designs in automobiles. This eventually resulted into the reduced market share for Honda impacting its profitability. Honda had a great difficulty to catch up with new innovative features that competitors released time to time in the market place. Thus, a strategy to reduce fixed cost may appear lucrative in the beginning but could be detrimental to the future growth. Currentl y, similar situation exists in the Defense Department of the government. ... The impact of fixed cost is huge in any organization. Higher fixed cost compels firms to operate at higher levels of operations and sales volume to meet those fixed costs. That is why in difficult market conditions, the firms with higher fixed costs are often found in trouble. The firms with higher operating leverages are always at risk during unpredictable sales environment. Moreover, sales volatility is rampant in the industries where technology has been changing rapidly. In these kinds of industries, it becomes important to assess fixed-cost involvement and possible sales volume that are achievable. No wonder that many large sized computer firms reduced their fixed-cost commitment in recent years. IBM reduced their permanent staff by 100,000 between 1990 and 1994. Not only that the company outsourced many of its parts and products in these years; that reduced the requirement on plant and machinery to a great extent. This further reduced fixed-cost burden on the company. That is ho w IBM could adapt to changing market environment and survive. That surely is a good strategy in unpredictable and difficult market situation (Ciccotello & Green 1995). Exercising Caution in Reducing Operating Leverage Contrary to this, many private firms have been operating in the industries where market demand of their products is quite steady and predictable. With the predictable sales volume, fixed-cost commitment is easy to make and it makes absolutely no sense to reduce permanent staff compromising the future business prospects and efficiency factors. Authors further emphasize that reducing permanent employees is an expensive preposition and once removed they are very costly