Of Mice and Men - the Crisis of Drama free essay sample

The Drama Based on Peter Szondi’s studies, the Drama of modernity had its beginning in Renaissance. After the collapse of the medieval worldview, an artistic reality in which a human being could fix and mirror himself on the basis of interpersonal relationships was created. Man disclosed himself to his contemporary world: nothing outside the interpersonal relationships was accepted in the drama. Drama is absolute and unique for it is separate from everything outside itself and it is constructed by dialogue, which is dominant. The author cannot appear anywhere in drama – referred to what is spoken – but it belongs to him just as a whole and everything spoken cannot be out of context. Also, the absoluteness of this artistic reality regards to the spectator that has to be passive: â€Å"silent, with hands tied, lamed by the impact of this other world†(p. 8)?. The relationship between actor and role cannot be visible, since no things can exist besides those demonstrated in the drama – actor and character become one. We will write a custom essay sample on Of Mice and Men the Crisis of Drama or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The drama is always primary, which means that it represents only itself. It is not related to some historical event, or to something that is happening in the contemporary world, and these both characteristics always leads to the â€Å"present† as Drama’s internal time. The internal time, or present, is constructed through dialogue – as the dialogues pass, the action pass and the present is dressed by a new present. As Szondi affirms, â€Å"every moment must contain the seeds of future† (p. 9), otherwise, the linearity and the principle of absolute presence in Drama would be subverted. From this point of view, the temporal fragmentation of the scenes would result in the break of unity of time. Another aspect of drama consists on its unity of place. The spatial context should not be large, since the larger the scene, the more difficult it is to the spectators to follow it. Then, with Drama’s characteristics mentioned above, this paper will analyze one of the novels that symbolized the beginning of the crisis of drama. The novel is Of Mice and Men, and some of its aspects that can be considered opposite to what was preached by Drama’s theory will be observed. The Crisis in Of mice and Men As said in introduction, the Drama consists in unity. Nothing outside the interpersonal relationships was accepted in it. As Szondi says, â€Å"real dramatic action does not present human existence in terms of some specific cause. If it did, the action would point beyond itself (†¦) The existence of the dramatis personae should not reach beyond the temporal borders of the Drama† (p. 38), which means that the characters presented in the Drama are not created as a mirror of subjects in the exterior world. This kind of dramatic presentation is called by Szondi as â€Å"transformation of alienated conditionality into interpersonal actuality† and it means that a single dramatic personae represents thousands of people living in the same condition. However, in Of Mice and Men, of John Steinbeck, an undramatic element is seen the characters do represent subjects inserted in a certain period of human history. In this case, the period remits to the Great Depression, which happened after World War I and had devastating effects in many countries. This crisis led many rural poor and hand workers to produce even more goods, but for the same amount of money and many rich farmers bought more lands and expensive agricultural equipments in order to support the new demand, and this made them broke. It is in this context that Steinbeck writes Of Mice and Men. One of the main characters, Lennie, is as mindless as a mice, and he may represent the life that the low society in this particular case, hand workers had in this period. Lennie can also be a stereotype of people that simply accept and obey what others tell them to do and this can be noticed in the 2nd act, 1st scene, when Curley starts beating Lennie and the last fights back only when George asks him to do so. A character as Lennie cannot be accepted in society, since he is not capable to, at least, try to improve his conditions in the world – he is not even able to reason about himself. He only obey orders without being able to think about what is his real role in society and every action he does by his will ends in great trouble. Curley, the boss’ son, symbolizes the oppressive system. He many times acts irrationally and wants to demonstrate his power by showing his physical strength – although minimal. This character could be sometimes considered as stupid as Lennie, but the difference is that he is the son of the ranch’s owner, and knows the difference between evil and good, and that means he is conscious of his wrong doings. Opposite to Curley, there are characters as George, Curley’s wife, Crooks and Candy that are victims of the system, but, at the same time, dream about changing their lives to a better condition, even though the oppressive system hinders them to fulfill their dream. George dreams about owning a land, Curley’s wife desires to be a movie star but renounces it by marrying Curley. Crooks wants to have his own mules and also hoeing a patch of garden on Lennie’s farm one day. Candy gets excited about George’s idea to have a piece of land and wants to take part in it. All of these dreams represent for these characters the possibility of real happiness, but the realization of these fantasies is not tangible for them. These dreams are an allegory of the impossibility of reaching the American Dream. Such impossibility is another undramatic element in Of Mice and Men, since it is a way of the epic I to expose to the audience one idea, or, as Anatol Rosenfeld in his essay â€Å"O Teatro Epico† indicates, it is a way to present a â€Å"palco cientifico capaz de esclarecer ao publico sobre a sociedade e a necessidade de transforma-la† (p. 48). The epic I consists in a subject which stands above the play and shows the social determinants and forces the spectators to reflect about society and to make decisions in order to improve it. In Of Mice and Men, the epic I exposes several issues in human society. Among these issues there are the already mentioned impossibility to reach the American Dream, the brutality that men with certain power can exercise upon men humans of lower classes and the necessity of not take an action just when someone else demands it. However there are other conceptions presented in the play, as the imponderability of life that acts upon all men, not just upon those of a low condition – although a boss, Curley has his wife killed by Lennie. It demonstrates that, metaphorically, there are wealthy and non-wealthy mices, but both suffer from superior forces that submit them to uncontrolled situations the repressive human elite, the death, the mental incapability and so forth. It remits to the title of the play, which means humans and mices share the fragility they possess before something bigger than them. Also, there is the conception of friendship which is pointed by the relationship between Lennie and George. The spectator notices that George seems to look after his friend, for Lennie has a mental disability. Their relationship is established within the first pages of the first act, and although they are uneducated laborers, they have a mutual devotion that persists until George kills Lennie, mercifully, with a shot to the back of his head just as Candy’s dog is killed by Carlson, retracting, therefore, the similarity between the dog and Lennie – the dog’s murder was a prelude of what would happen further to Lennie. Finally, the last undramatic aspect to be considered in Of Mice and Men is based on Szondi’s affirmation that, in social Drama, â€Å"The play’s unity is not rooted in the continuity of action but rather in the invisible epic I who presents the conditions and events† (p. 40). This aspect consists in the rubric, that is an instrument through which guidelines are given to the reader regarding the scenario, the time, and the character’s features, lines and actions. In the 18th century, the rubric gained importance as the characters became more psychologized. As they are introduced, the rubrics function as a device that helps not only to construct the characters but to reveal the complexity of their relation by indicating the nature of their interaction, the way they react to each other and to the faced circumstances. In the very first act, Lennie’s manners are described by the epic I through adverbs as â€Å"irritably†, â€Å"furiously†, â€Å"sternly†, â€Å"disgustedly† and â€Å"violently†. On the other hand, George seems to assume a rationalist position with more security, which allows him to ponder and doubt about the circumstances, present in the second scene of the act one, when he â€Å"inspects†, acts â€Å"skeptically†, â€Å"on guard†, â€Å"thoughtfully† and â€Å"pensively†. These rubrics show the difference between both main characters. During all the play, rubrics are presented indicating the feelings and situations of characters. Also, rubrics in Of Mice and Men present the scenario: â€Å"Outside the sound of the horseshoe game goes on† (p. 331), â€Å"They take places opposite each other at the table† (p. 339), â€Å"Candy turns over and watches George† (p. 345). Even more, in the very beginning of each act, the epic I narrates the hours, the places and the situation to be further developed through the character’s dialogue. All the characteristics mentioned in this paragraph prove that there is an explicit appearance of the epic I, although his identity is not exposed, and this is once more an aspect of the crisis of Drama. As a conclusion, it can be said that with society’s crisis, the Drama also entered in crisis, and the necessity of transformation in plays appeared. This necessity implied in making the spectator an observer, obligating him to make decisions and to face his troubles.

The three classic gangster movies

The three classic gangster movies: Little Caesar (LeRoy, 1930), Public Enemy (Wellman, 1931), and Scarface (Hawks, 1932) usually took place at night in speakeasies, night clubs, elaborate apartments of the gangsters, and back rooms during the time of prohibition. Prohibition is believed to be the lead cause of the development of gangsters throughout the United States and the beginning of inter gang conflict involving territory among enemies. Each classic was said to have been based on a real life gangster of the 1930's and characters were created to depict the life of crime on the streets drawn from actual newspaper headlines. Actors such as Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were cast to portray the life of infamous gang leaders Al Capone, Bugsy Siegel, and Hymie Weiss. It has been stated that their screen portrayals bore little resemblance to the actual criminal. In fact, many critics have argued that just the reverse is true, that "real" criminals tended to adjust th! eir dress and demeanor so that they might resemble their depiction in the movies. (Shatz 84) Two of the three most popular films begin and end in the same manner. Little Caesar opens with an off screen robbery and murder of a gas station attendant by a small time crook, Rico, who eventually makes his way to the top in the big city with the help of his right hand man, Joe. After he achieves his "overly ambitious goal of becoming a crime lord, Rico is machined gunned down in the final scene." (Dirks 2) The same holds true for Scarface. Tony Camonte, the former body guard of "Big Louis" Costillo- the last of the old fashioned leaders-sets the stage for what is to come when he viciously murders Costillo in his own night club. This begins Tony's relentless pursuit in his quest for power and fortune. Tony, like Rico, is killed by police sending him back to the gutter where they came from. The third of the classic gangster films, Public Enemy, opens not wi...

Project 3 Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Project 3 Research Paper - Essay Example The different proportions of the ages engaged in the sites coupled with the geographical representation of the popular sites are also looked into. There is also a discussion of how the relation of the youths as a demographic group is affected by the social sites and in this case, the social aspects as well as the ethical and moral turpitude as influenced by the sites are considered. Further to this, the advantages and the disadvantages of the sites to the youths is discussed to give a better understanding on how these sites builds or breaks the social fiber in the society that goes in tandem with the ethical part of the society. The paper also give an explanation of the occurrence of how the society has made a perfect person that is played out in the sites with a conclusion that gives remedy and precautionary measures that should be considered to avert possible negative impacts imminent in the social sites. Introduction With the development of the digital media, the contemporary soci ety enjoys much more features from the digital media than before, today, through the social networking sites, information can be retrieved in seconds; there are millions of information that is relayed second by seconds and all this information reaches those who are in the social networking sites. ... To some extent, digital media that is the social networking sites provides educative and explorative avenues through which users can grow intellectually. We have YouTube that has a plethora of videos captured and that can be down loaded for intellectual enrichment, these videos includes lectures and instructions that can be used by students and specialist to improve their intellectual acumen (Lenhart, 2007). This is not the only provision of the digital media, they can also be a platform for moral decay, and most of the sites are equally not morally upgrading and have been the contributing factor on the moral degradation in the society. It is thus important to sieve and know the digital sites that are good for consumption and those that are not lest you be a slave of those sites that adds no value to life. Research As indicated in the introductory part above, this paper seeks to research on the effect of digital media through social sites on youths. Today, many digital social sites a re available for consumption by unlimited people around the world, the social sites provides a conduit through which information can flow, people can interact, and learn through one another. It also provides a platform through which new friendship could be made virtually by associating online with those people who are in the far-flung areas (Kiesbye, 2011). Ideally, it makes the world to be a small village through which we can easily get to learn several things that are going on around the world in a snapshot. Given this background, corroborated with the fact that about 900 million people visits the social networking sites every month recording about 7 billion

Individual term paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Individual term paper - Essay Example tinies of these huge corporations which in some cases have replaced national ruling classes as the determinants of what goes on nationally and internationally. Businesses that are able to control these factors are advantaged in expansion of market share and size, profit maximization and cost minimization, not to mention the increased efficiency among other competitive and comparative advantages. The main factors are the: objectives of the MNC, means of achieving those objectives, societal and physical influences on that society, and market or competitive influences. These main factors vary from one country to the other, and hence the MNCs have to tailor their strategies and operations to meet the specifics of each individual country. Such multinationals include giants in the service industries like McDonalds, banking institutions like Standard Chartered Bank, and manufacturers like Toyota. The consumer electronics company, Samsung will be used as a case study to illustrate how these factors determine the failure or success of MNC operations in countries other than their home countries. A multinational corporation is a business entity that operates across multiple countries and markets. Also known as transnational companies, they are conglomerates of business with branches in different regions of the world, most of them straddle different industries. It can either operate one core business throughout the world such as manufacturing, or it has diversified in different sectors such as operating in both manufacturing and service industry (Gooderham & Nordhaug 2003). Globalization has promoted the emergence of large companies that are able to take advantage of the opportunities by undertaking huge operations across national boundaries. Globalization is due to convergence of consumers’ tastes, thus creating a global market. Worldwide production of goods is sourced and manufactured globally, and with the technological advances connecting the world, employees are

Hedging An Equity Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hedging An Equity Portfolio - Essay Example 7 Reference: 9 1.0 Introduction A US equity fund manager holds â‚ ¬100m in a portfolio comprising the largest US stocks which perfectly replicates and benchmarks the S&P 500 index. The US Federal Reserve indicated that the programmed quantitative easing of purchasing $85 billion is not going to be carried out. The quantitative easing is used to stimulate the price when the corresponding interest rate decreases to 0%. The non execution of the quantitative easing is set to correct the equity market. The fund manager predicts that the reluctance of the US Federal Reserve to perform a quantitative easing is going have a profound effect on the performance of the portfolio. For this reason the fund manager as such wants to hedge the portfolio using option instead of futures. 2.0 Advantages and disadvantages of using options to hedge this scenario compared to using futures only Fund managers use both futures and options to order to hedge their portfolio. Though there are some marked diff erences in the two types of hedging tools. The choices of the hedging tools depend on the fund manager as well as the objective to hedge. In the present scenario, the fund manager has decided to use the options instead of futures (Reilly and Brown, 2000). This is because of the reason that the options provide certain leverage in comparison to futures. The most basic advantage is that an option gives the option holder the right and not an obligation. In case of the futures both the parties have equal obligations. The second advantage is that the amount of loss is limited to the buyer of option while in futures the losses can be unlimited. Option and future both provides same opportunity to the holder to minimize loss and at same time make profit. The US Federal Reserve has decided to stop quantitative easing. The quantitative easing techniques are supposed to create a stimulant which helps to ease the pressure on prices of funds. The price decreases when the interest falls or drops s harply. The sharp drop of interest is associated with a corresponding decrease in the price level. This means if the fund manager wants to invest in various funds, then the increase in the price of the various funds will limit the ability of the fund manager to invest effectively (Hearth and Zaima, 1998). The fund manager is not sure what will happen in the future but the non execution of the quantitative easing program indicates that the fund manager can only invest in limited fund with the present value of the equity portfolio, since the price of the funds have increased. If the fund manager anticipates that the share price will increase then he can buy a future. The sudden growth in the share price of equity may not find enough buyers. The problem with buying a future contract is that if the price of the funds drop then the fund manager is obliged to sell the future at the decreased price. So the future holder is in a risk, if the anticipated increase in price does not take place and instead of that the price actually decreases. So on one hand there is chance to make profit while on the other hand there is chance to incur loss. There are no restrictions to the limit of profit or loss. This is one of the greatest disadvantages of using the future contract. The advantage of the options with respect to future can be explained with the help of an example. As already explained the find manager is anticipating in increase in the p

Breaking The Television Watching Habit

Breaking The Television Watching Habit For most of you, as it was for me, I grew up watching three, four and even five hours of television a day. It was a part of my daily routine and it wasnt easy for me to break. I managed to do it when my family and I moved to a small city in the west. After we moved in we found out that you had to buy cable if you wanted to have television. So we attempted a little experiment. We decided that we were not going to get cable and just tough it like the good old pioneers. This was partly because we couldnt afford it after the great expense of buying a new house and out of the wishes of my wise mother. So the family tuned out and switched off. It was nuts for a while but then I began to notice some changes taking place in my family and myself. I started to realize that television increased violence and aggression in my siblings and I, detracted from the way our family interacted and finally I noticed its adverse effects on all of our school scores. I plan to show that these adverse effects of television are reason enough to give your TV to the neighbor. Now your probley saying that people are naturally violent. Look at Gengis Kahn and Adolph Hitler . None of them grew up with television and they were still killing innocent people. From what I can tell if TV had been around they would have been a whole lot worse. In the book Televisions Effects, a government study compiled by George A Comstock , It states on page twenty five, that children who had viewed violent programming exhibited more aggressive behavior than children who had viewed a sports program. In the study they were able to tell which children would exhibit this behavior this shows a correlation between violent programming and violent behavior. Even if a naturally violent nature is the root of the problem we also need to recognize that the television is making those naturally aggressive and violent children even more so. We need to realize that these people have a hard time distinguishing between right and wrong. We need to help correct this problem by total abstinence to television. In the book The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn, a book about the ill effects of television on the different aspects of human life, it states It is particularly hard for parents to buy the Idea that television instigates aggressive behavior when its function in the home is so different, television keeps children quiet and passive, cuts down on loud and boisterous play, prevents outbursts between brothers and sisters. The sad fact of the matter is, parents sometimes have to work and are not able to spend nebulous amounts of time with their children. We need to stop allowing our children to be exposed to the violent distortion of reality that TV proje cts, Our children should be out playing sports or just romping around in the backyard. Activities that are proven to wear kids out and dont bombard them with all kinds of extremely violent stimuli. By destroying TV we can increase productive family time. Stop desensitizing our children to violence and begin to reteach our children good manners and good morals simply by our example. In a story by Ray Bradbury called The Veldt. We see the extreme end of this TV addiction when the existence of the childrens parents is of less importance than continued access to the TV room. Parents you need to let TV be a tool instead of a replacement. We must take up the reigns again raise our future generations the right way, by good old human contact. Now youre probably thinking to yourself, how am I supposed to live without television. Its the peacemaker in our home. When its on the children stay out of my hair and they stop fighting with each other. Anyway its the only time that the family really gets together. It really helps our family get along. You see not only have we replaced the parent with TV we have replaced the good old-fashioned family as well. I think the effects of television on the family and person are best stated in a quote by Urie Brofenbrenner Like the sorcerer of old the television set casts its magic spell , freezing speech and action, turning the living into silent statues so long as the enchantment lasts. The primary danger of the television screen lies not so much in the behavior it produces although there is danger there as in the behavior that it prevents: the talks, the games, the family festivities and arguments through which much of a childs learning takes place and trough which his character is formed. Turning on the television set can turn off the process that transforms children into people. We neglect our responsibilities as parents and families to build children and future generations with character and moral values. When the TV is on we subject our children to the values of the world. We see TV as the fix all for the evening problem. Instead of playing, nurturing and loving we use the TV as the escape hatch. It lets the adults, the rolemodels, have their time and gives the children the necessary attention that they need. While at the same time allowing the parents to keep some semblance of sanity. You see why it is so easy for us to justify TV as a necessity. The bad thing about this is that children spend very little time interacting with adults and their other family members. All they ever see are two-dimensional flashes of lights and sound, merely impressions of a human soul. So good is TV at tricking the mind that we dont even realize that children are lacking something they desperately need, a strong family. In the LDS church families are a very important thing. The LDS church encourages families to take at least one night of the week and set it aside for just the family. This time is spent singing songs, playing games, and doing small acts of service. A lot of good television free family time results on this night and many needed skills like cooking and cleaning are taught to sons and daughters. We need to stop letting TV be our social outlet. It just isnt the same. We are so addicted that without it for even a short period of time we go stir crazy and have no idea how to entertain ourselves. We have forgotten how to enjoy ourselves and our own family members. We need to unplug and tune out. Read a book or even play a game of Monopoly with a younger sibling. We have lost the arts of interaction. We waste our lives away trying to escape, not realizing what we have around us, always wanting the next Scooby Snack, exploding truck or funniest home video. The worst place that TV beats us upside the head is in the learning department. Its like letting Dirty Harry put a big 44 round trough your skull. Now your probley going to try and tell me about good educational programs like Bill Nye and Sesame Street. We cant forget the Discovery channel. Yes, these are the rare jewels of television programming. We need to concentrate our viewing time in these areas. Television despite what programming may be on is an inefficient way to learn. TV is so easy to use and it is so easy to change to a totally different program if it becomes disinteresting or boring. I personally have noticed that whenever I get the remote in my hand I have to switch channels constantly. I think if you asked me what I saw on TV I could only tell you selected parts of the last five minutes. In a study conducted by Canadian researchers three towns were surveyed. One had no TV capabilities. The second city had only one channel. The third city had many channels. When reading score were compared between the three town they found that the highest scores were from the city with no TV. The next highest from the city with one channel and tailing closely behind the second city was the third in last place with many TV stations. Now you might be thinking that this study is not so great because they didnt take into account income and education of the people studied. The thing that make this study so intriguing is that the same group was able to go back into the city that had no TV after it had television for about two years. They found that the scores in the first city had dropped down with the scores of the other two cities. A sad testimony to the ill effects of television. One thing we fail to realize is that little things count when it comes to TV and how it relates to school performance. Things like reduced sleep time caused by late television viewing. Loss of productive play and self-learning time and a reduction of time spent on school work and studying. TV is like a drug, it acts like a good emotional and mental laxative. It lets us forget the things that we dont want to deal with and allows us to take the back seat and partake of the action guilt free. All the while we let our school books rot and our lessons pile up until we have no way to make up for the lost time. This wasted time is hard to fathom. Millions of man-hours wasted on what, a useless story, a few loud explosions and a dead policeman. We should be spending this time on reading, writing, arithmetic, and maybe even some thing we could turn into a career. You dont see an awful lot of people getting paid to watch television. An interesting comparison was done of SAT test score before and after the introduction of television. They found that between the years of 1964 and 1981, The exact years when children who had been exposed to large doses of television during their language learning years came up to take the SAT challenge the researchers witnessed a steep decline from the years before television. I can see how this wasted time that was before used on studying and hobbies was now channeled into six and seven hours of viewing a day. (Plug-In Drug) Could mean the difference between Harvard University and Southern Utah University. Television has proven to be one of the most effective drugs in human history. We can learn to live without it and we can learn to enjoy our families more. We must separate ourselves from that great monster. We must do as my family did and eliminate the need for television. I can honestly say that my grades went up. I had more time to read. We started to do things together as brothers and sister. Now we just have long conversations with each other. If you would like to see the good changes it can make in your life and the numerous benefits that abstinence provides then join me. Throw you TVs in the street.

Individuals Entering Non-Traditional Roles in Sports :: Sports Sociology Social Norms Essays

Individuals Entering Non-Traditional Roles in Sports Sports provide an amazing outlet for people of all ages. It has been proven that sports help focus and concentration as well as improving ones physical state. It is a beneficial pastime that all should be allowed to enjoy. Up until that age of 12-13 both genders are invited and welcomed to play sports. After this point something changes, it is not really talked about but pressure is effectively applied and society somehow manages to push people into very gender orientated and gender specific sports. The question is, what happens when someone doesn't succumb to the pressure and actively participates in what it referred to as a non-traditional role in a particular sport? This idea applies to both sexes, not just females. We are talking about how society reacts when women compete in body building competitions and when men become figure skaters. I believe that the root of our problem lies within the biases of our society. The first major question that should be answered is why does society believe that people entering non-traditional roles as such a negative occurrence? I think that the root of this belief is buried in the past and has matriculated down through the generations. In the early history of sports it was believed that women were too delicate to participate in sports. The thought was that if women participated in strenuous activity that they would damage their reproductive organs, which would ultimately not fulfill an absurd belief that the primary role of women in society was to have children and care for the men. Back then sports were also used as an arena for men to test and publicly display their masculinity. Open acceptance of women in sports at that time would have posed as too much of a threat to the men's masculinity, therefore many years went by which allowed the practice of only traditional roles being witnessed and accepted. On a more personal level, it has been my observation that up until the junior high level both boys and girls are actively engaged in sports, but once the boys start to get bigger, the adults in the society become apprehensive about allowing mixed gender play. I feel as though society has a tough time embracing the possibility that women might get hurt if they play sports. It is at this point in a student's career that a great division occurs, all of a sudden innocent games become strictly regulated and boys and girls are separated.

Product analysis Samsung Galaxy S4 Essay

Nowadays, it is a common scene to see everybody keeps his /her ear attached to a cell phone. Often, they are doing it at the risk of an accident, loss of human relationship or studies. Intimate friendships of our parents’ younger days are now lost and it is now reduced to an SMS or mobile talk. Keeping addresses of our intimates is now lost. Writing letters is given up. Human relationship and mental concentration are now replaced by electronic connections. It is a fact that having a mobile phone now a days is a sort of necessity and it is an inevitable truth that mobile industry is taking everyone’s mind by a storm. From the very basic thing of making a call, texting, and now Internet access for just a touch of your fingertips. Do you have one of these? I do have one of those too and I won’t deny the fact that I enjoy using them. So as one of the million subscribers of this technology I will share you some of the advantages and disadvantages I found, out of having a mobile phone. A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone, and a hand phone) is a device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the short range of a single, private base station. In addition to telephone, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming and photography. Mobile phones that offer these and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones. The first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 2.2 pounds (1 kg). In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first to be commercially available. From 1990 to 2011, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6 billion, penetrating about 87% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid. II. The Company Background Samsung Group (Hangul: ì‚ ¼Ã¬â€ž ±Ãª · ¸Ã« £ ¹; Hanja: ä ¸â€°Ã¦ËœÅ¸Ãª · ¸Ã« £ ¹; Korean pronunciation: [sam.sÊÅ'Å‹ É ¡Ã‰ ¯Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã‰ ¾upÌš]) is a South Korean multinationalconglomerate company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It comprises numerous subsidiaries and affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, and is the largest South Korean chaebol. Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chull in 1938 as a trading company. Over the next three decades the group diversified into areas including food processing, textiles, insurance, securities and retail. Samsung entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding industries in the mid-1970s; these areas would drive its subsequent growth. Following Lee’s death in 1987, Samsung was separated into four business groups – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group. Since the 1990s Samsung has increasingly globalised its activities, and electronics, particularly mobile phones and semiconductors, has become its most important source of income. Notable Samsung industrial subsidiaries include Samsung Electronics (the world’s largest information technology company measured by 2012 revenues), Samsung Heavy Industries (the world’s second-largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues), and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T (respectively the world’s 35th- and 72nd-largest construction companies). Other notable subsidiaries include Samsung Life Insurance (the world’s 14th-largest life insurance company), Samsung Everland (operator of Everland Resort, the oldest theme park in South Korea), Samsung Techwin (an aerospace and defence company) and Cheil Worldwide (the world’s 19th-largest advertising agency measured by 2010 revenues). Samsung has a powerful influence on South Korea’s economic development, politics, media and culture, and has been a major driving force behind the â€Å"Miracle on the Han River†. Its affiliate companies produce around a fifth of South Korea’s total exports. Samsung’s revenue was equal to 17% of the South Korea’s $1082 billion GDP. Name According to the founder of Samsung Group, the meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung (ä ¸â€°Ã¦ËœÅ¸) is â€Å"tristar† or â€Å"three stars†. The word â€Å"three† represents something â€Å"big, numerous and powerful†; the â€Å"stars† mean eternity. History 1938 to 1970 The headquarters of Samsung Sanghoesin Daegu in the late 1930s In 1938, Lee Byung-chull (1910–1987) of a large landowning family in the Uiryeong county came to the nearby Daegu city and founded Samsung Sanghoe (ì‚ ¼Ã¬â€ž ±Ã¬Æ' Ã­Å¡Å', ä ¸â€°Ã¦ËœÅ¸Ã¥â€¢â€ Ã¦Å"Æ'), a small trading company with forty employees located in Su-dong (now Ingyo-dong). It dealt in groceries produced in and around the city and produced its own noodles. The company prospered and Lee moved its head office to Seoul in 1947. When the Korean War broke out, however, he was forced to leave Seoul and started a sugar refinery in Busan named Cheil Jedang. After the war, in 1954, Lee founded Cheil Mojik and built the plant in Chimsan-dong, Daegu. It was the largest woollen mill ever in the country and the company took on the aspect of a major company. Samsung diversified into many areas and Lee sought to help establish Samsung as an industry leader in a wide range of enterprises, moving into businesses such as insurance, securities, and retail. Lee placed great importance on industrialization, and focused his economic development strategy on a handful of large domestic conglomerates, protecting them from competition and assisting them financially. In 1948, Cho Hong-jai (the Hyosung group’s founder) jointly invested in a new company called Samsung Mulsan Gongsa (ì‚ ¼Ã¬â€ž ±Ã« ¬ ¼Ã¬â€š °Ãª ³ µÃ¬â€š ¬), or the Samsung Trading Corporation, with the Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull. The trading firm grew to become the present-day Samsung C&T Corporation. But after some years Cho and Lee separated due to differences in management between them. He wanted to get up to a 30% group share. After settlement, Samsung Group was separated into Samsung Group and Hyosung Group, Hankook Tire, and others. In the late 1960s, Samsung Group entered into the electronics industry. It formed several electronics-related divisions, such as Samsung Electronics Devices Co., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Samsung Corning Co., and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co., and made the facility in Suwon. Its first product was a black-and-white television set. 1970 to 1990 The SPC-1000, introduced in 1982, was Samsung’s first personal computer (Korean market only) and uses an audio cassette tape to load and save data – the floppy drivewas optional. In 1980, Samsung acquired the Gumi-based Hanguk Jeonja Tongsin and entered the telecommunications hardware industry. Its early products were switchboards. The facility were developed into the telephone and fax manufacturing systems and became the centre of Samsung’s mobile phone manufacturing. They have produced over 800 million mobile phones to date. The company grouped them together under Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in the 1980s. After the founder’s death in 1987, Samsung Group was separated into four business groups – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group. Shinsegae (discount store, department store) was originally part of Samsung Group, separated in the 1990s from the Samsung Group along with CJ Group (Food/Chemicals/Entertainment/logistics) and the Hansol Group (Paper/Telecom). Today these separated groups are independent and they are not part of or connected to the Samsung Group. One Hansol Group representative said, â€Å"Only people ignorant of the laws governing the business world could believe something so absurd,† adding, â€Å"When Hansol separated from the Samsung Group in 1991, it severed all payment guarantees and share-holding ties with Samsung affiliates.† One Hansol Group source asserted, â€Å"Hansol, Shinsegae, and CJ have been under independent management since their respective separations from the Samsung Group.† One Shinsegae Department Store executive director said, â€Å"Shinsegae has no payment guarantees associated with the Samsung Group.† In the 1980s, Samsung Electronics began to invest heavily in research and development, investments that were pivotal in pushing the company to the forefront of the global electronics industry. In 1982, it built a television assembly plant in Portugal; in 1984, a plant in New York; in 1985, a plant in Tokyo; in 1987, a facility in England; and another facility in Austin in 1996. As of 2012, Samsung has invested more than US$13 billion in the Austin facility, which operates under the name Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC. This makes the Austin location the largest foreign investment in Texas and one of the largest singleforeign investments in the United States. 1990 to 2000 Samsung Group headquarters at Samsung Town, Seoul Samsung started to rise as an international corporation in the 1990s. Samsung’s construction branch was awarded a contract to build one of the two Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the Burj Khalifa in United Arab Emirates. In 1993, Lee Kun-heesold off ten of Samsung Group’s subsidiaries, downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three industries: electronics, engineering, and chemicals. In 1996, the Samsung Group reacquired the Sungkyunkwan University foundation. Samsung became the largest producer of memory chips in the world in 1992, and is the world’s second-largest chipmaker after Intel (seeWorldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year). In 1995, it created its first liquid-crystal display screen. Ten years later, Samsung grew to be the world’s largest manufacturer of liquid-crystal display panels. Sony, which had not invested in large-size TFT-LCDs, contacted Samsung to cooperate, and, in 2006, S-LCD was established as a joint venture between Samsung and Sony in order to provide a stable supply of LCD panels for both manufacturers. S-LCD was owned by Samsung (50% plus 1 share) and Sony (50% minus 1 share) and operates its factories and facilities in Tangjung, South Korea. As on 26 December 2011 it was announced that Samsung had acquired the stake of Sony in this joint venture. Compared to other major Korean companies, Samsung survived the 1997 Asian financial crisis relatively unharmed. However, Samsung Motor was sold to Renault at a significant loss. As of 2010, Renault Samsung is 80.1 percent owned by Renault and 19.9 percent owned by Samsung. Additionally, Samsung manufactured a range of aircraft from the 1980s to 1990s. The company was founded in 1999 as Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the result of merger between then three domestic major aerospace divisions of Samsung Aerospace, Daewoo Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Space and Aircraft Company. However, Samsung still manufactures aircraft engines and gas turbines. 2000 to 2013 The Samsung pavilion at Expo 2012 In 2001 Samsung Techwin became the sole supplier of a combustor module for the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 used by the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner. Samsung Techwin is also a revenue-sharing participant in the Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner GEnx engine program. In 2010, Samsung announced a 10-year growth strategy centred around five businesses. One of these  businesses was to be focused on biopharmaceuticals, to which the Company has committed â‚ ©2.1 trillion. In December 2011, Samsung Electronics sold its hard disk drive (HDD) business to Seagate. In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung Electronics became the world’s largest mobile phone maker by unit sales, overtaking Nokia, which had been the market leader since 1998. In the August 21st edition of the Austin American-Statesman, Samsung confirmed plans to spend 3 to 4 billion dollars converting half of its Austin chip manufacturing plant to a more profitable chip. The conversion should start in early 2013 with production on line by the end of 2013. On August 24, 2012, 9 U.S jurors ruled that Samsung had to pay Apple Incorporated US$1.05 billion dollars in damages for violating six of its patents on smartphone technology. The award was still less than the US$2.5 billion dollars requested by Apple. The decision also ruled that Apple didn’t violate 5 Samsung patents that were in the caseSamsung decried the decision saying that the move could harm innovation in the sector. It also followed a South Korean ruling that said both companies were guilty of infringing on each other’s intellectual property. In the first trading after the ruling, Samsung shares on the Kospi index fell 7.7%, the largest fall since October 24, 2008, to 1,177,000 Korean won. Apple then sought to ban the sales of eight Samsung phones (Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail) in the United States[ which has been denied by the court. On September 4, 2012, Samsung announced it plans to examine all of its Chinese suppliers for possible violations of labor policies. The company said it will carry out audits of 250 Chinese companies that are its exclusive suppliers to see if children under the age of 16 are being used in their factories. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Korean: ì‚ ¼Ã¬â€ž ±Ã¬  â€žÃ¬Å¾ ) is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Suwon, South Korea. It is the flagship subsidiary of the Samsung Group and has been the world’s largest information technology company by revenues since 2009. Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 61 countries and employs around 221,000 people. Samsung has previously been known for its position as a manufacturer for many electrical components such  as semiconductors,chips, flash memory and hard drive devices. Samsung Electronics has actively expanded in consumer markets moving away from its manufacturing roots. It has been the world’s largest television manufacturer since 2006 and the world’s largest maker of LCD panels for eight consecutive years. In recent years, Samsung has gained prominent position in the mobile phone and tablet market, fuelled by its flagship Samsung Galaxy line of devices. The company is the world’s largest vendor of smartphones since 2011. Samsung has also established a prominent position in the tablet computer market, with the release of the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab and Note 10.1. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://smartphones2013.org/samsung-galaxy-s4-pros-cons/ http://www.managementstudyguide.com/market-segmentation.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S4 http://gadgetan.com/inilah-uniknya-acara-perilisan-samsung-galaxy-s-4/42162 http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s_iv-5125.php Samsung official website (http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/galaxy-S4/ ) http://www.isuppli.com www.wikipedia.org www.google.com www.valas.com www.mysmartprice.in www.xe.com http://www.indotrading.com http://searchfunmoods.com http://www.knoc.co.kr www.phoneArena.com http://EzineArticles.com/

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources Start with the biggest deposit of gold ever reported, in the headwaters of the Busang River in the steaming jungle of Borneo. The Canadian company Bre-X Minerals Ltd. didnt know about that when it bought rights to the site in 1993. But after Bre-X hired a high-living geologist to map the ore body, the deposit, along with the fever dreams that accompany gold, grew to monster size- by March 1997 that geologist was talking about a 200-million-ounce resource. You do the math at, say US$500 per ounce in mid-1990s dollars. Bre-X prepared for big times ahead by building a gold-plated website, where you could generate your own Bre-X stock chart to follow its meteoric rise. It also had a chart showing the equally meteoric rise of the estimated gold resource: together, those two pages could infect anyone with gold fever. The Sharks Arrive Bigger mineral companies took notice. Some made takeover offers. So did the Indonesian government, in the person of president Suharto and his powerful family. Bre-X owned more of this lode than seemed prudent for such a small, inexperienced foreign firm. Suharto suggested that Bre-X share its fortunate surplus with the people of Indonesia and with Barrick, a firm tied to Suhartos ambitious daughter Siti Rukmana. (Barricks advisors, among them George H. W. Bush and ex-prime minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, also favored this scheme.) Bre-X responded by enlisting Suhartos son Sigit Hardjojudanto on its side. An impasse loomed. To end the contretemps, family friend Mohamad Bob Hasan stepped in to offer all sides a deal. The American firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper Gold, led by another old Suharto friend, would run the mine and Indonesian interests would share the wealth. Bre-X would keep 45 percent of the ownership and Hasan for his pains would accept a share possibly worth a billion or so. Asked what he was paying for this stake, Hasan said, There is no payment, no nothing. It is a very clean deal. Trouble Arises The deal was announced on 17 February 1997. Freeport went to Borneo to start its own due-diligence drilling. Suharto was ready to sign a contract after this step, locking in Bre-Xs land rights for 30 years and starting the flood of gold. But just four weeks later, Bre-Xs geologist at Busang, Michael de Guzman, exited his helicopter that was 250 meters in the air at the time- an evident suicide. On March 26 Freeport reported that its due-diligence cores, drilled only a meter and a half from Bre-Xs, showed insignificant amounts of gold. The next day Bre-X stock lost almost all of its value. Freeport brought more rock samples to its American headquarters under armed guard. Bre-X commissioned a review of Freeports drilling; the review recommended more drilling. Another review focusing on the chemical assays caused Bre-X to clam up completely on 1 April, and Suhartos signature was postponed. Bre-X, in a novel strategy for the time, blamed the Web. CEO David Walsh told a fawning Calgary Herald reporter that the meltdown began when scurrilous local rumors in Indonesia were picked up by one of the ghostwriters on the Internet on the chat page or whatever. Further reviews took the rest of April. Meanwhile, disquieting details began to arise. Industry journalists soon found evidence that the Busang ore samples had been salted with gold dust. Salting of the Earth On Friday 11 April, Northern Miner magazine put a news flash on its site laying out three lines of evidence that Bre-X had been duped. First, contrary to company statements, the Busang core samples had been prepared for assay in the jungle, not in the testing lab. A videotape made by a visitor to the field site showed the humble machines common in assay labs- hammer mills, crushers, and sample splitters. Well-labeled sample bags clearly had finely crushed ore in them. Security was lax enough that samples could easily have been spiked with gold.Second, the local inhabitants had begun panning for gold in the Busang River, but in two years they never found any. Yet Bre-X claimed that gold was visible, a sign of unusually rich ore. And de Guzmans technical report, confusingly, called the gold submicroscopic, which is typical of hard-rock gold ore.Third, the assayer that tested the samples said the gold was predominantly in visible-sized grains. Also, the grains showed signs consistent with being typical river-panned gold dust, such as rounded outlines and rims depleted in silver. The assayer dodged the 64-billion-dollar question, saying that there were indeed ways for hard-rock gold grains to acquire rounded edges- but that argument was a fig leaf. The Curtain Falls Meanwhile, a storm of securities lawsuits arose around Bre-X, which vigorously protested that this was just an unfortunate series of misunderstandings. But it was too late. The collapse of Bre-X cast a cloud over the gold mining industry that lasted into the next century. David Walsh decamped to the Bahamas, where he died of an aneurysm in 1998. Bre-Xs chief geologist, John Felderhof, eventually went on trial in Canada but was acquitted of securities fraud in July 2007. Apparently in selling part of his stock holdings for $84 million in the months before the scandal hit he had not been criminal, just too stupid to catch the fraud. And I have been told that Michael de Guzman has been seen in Canada, years after the scandal. The explanation would be that, as was rumored at the time, an anonymous corpse was thrown from the helicopter. You could say the very jungle had been salted as well as the ore bags.

Cellulose Essay Example

Cellulose Essay Example Cellulose Essay Cellulose Essay Discuss in my forum What is Cellulose? What is Cellulose and how is it used in food? By Bethany Moncel, About. com Guide Ads: Cellulose Foods with Starch Carbon Fiber Manufacturer Starch Oil and Water Cellulose is sometimes made from cotton. Photo by Kimberly Vardeman Ads Carbon Fiber Production www. harperintl. com Energy Efficiency Lower Operating Costs for Optimized Manufacturing Carbon Fabrics www. hindoostantech. com Carbon Woven and Unidirectional 3K-50K Plain, Twill SatinLipids for Research www. larodan. com We provide unique ranges of lipids for research, i. e Labelled Lipids See More About low-carb kitchen science food terminology Cellulose is a molecule comprised of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and is found in the cellular structure of virtually all plant matter. This organic compound, which is considered the most abundant on earth, is even excreted by some bacteria. Cellulose provides structure and strength to the cell walls of plants and provides fiber in our diets. Al though some animals, such as ruminants, can digest cellulose, humans cannot.Cellulose falls into the category of indigestible carbohydrates known as dietary fiber. In recent years, cellulose has become a popular food additive due to its unique chemical and physical properties when combined with water. Although cellulose can be found in most plant matter, the most economical sources for industrial cellulose are cotton and wood pulp. How is Cellulose Used in Food? Fiber Supplement With rising awareness about fiber intake, cellulose has become one of the most popular food additives. Adding cellulose to food allows an increase in bulk and fiber content without a major impact on flavor.Because cellulose binds and dissolves into water, it is often added to increase the fiber content of drinks and other liquid items when the gritty texture of regular fiber supplements would be undesirable. Calorie Reducer – Cellulose provides a lot of volume or bulk in food but because it is indige stible to humans, it has no caloric value. For this reason, cellulose has become a popular bulking agent in diet foods. Consumers who eat foods with a high cellulose content feel full physically and psychologically without having consumed many calories.Thickening/Emulsifying The gelling action of cellulose when combined with water provides both thickening and stabilizing qualities in the food to which it is added. Cellulose gel acts similarly to an emulsion, suspending ingredients within a solution and preventing water from separating out. Cellulose is often added to sauces for both the thickening and emulsifying action. The thickening power of cellulose also allows for more air to be whipped into products like ice cream, or whipped topping.Cellulose allows for the production of thick and creamy food items without the use of as much fat. Anti-caking – Cellulose’s ability to absorb moisture and coat ingredients in a fine powder make it the ingredient of choice for anti -caking applications. Shredded and grated cheeses, spice mixes, and powdered drink mixes are just a few of the many food items that take advantage of cellulose as an anti-caking agent. Forms of Cellulose Cellulose can be found on ingredient lists under a variety of names, depending on which form is used.Although cellulose has the same molecular structure regardless of the source (wood pulp, cotton, or other vegetable matter), how the molecules are bonded together and whether or not they are hydrated creates different â€Å"forms† of cellulose. Powdered cellulose is the most widely used in food products and is the form of choice for anti-caking applications. Cellulose gum or cellulose gel, which are hydrated forms of cellulose, are often used in sauces or other wet items like ice cream and frozen yogurt. Cellulose may also be found on ingredient lists under the names carboxymethyl cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, or MCC.

Compare and contrast the cultural expectations for women in Kincaids Essay

Compare and contrast the cultural expectations for women in Kincaids Girl and Faulkners A Rose for Emily - Essay Example tips from the trivial things (â€Å"Don’t walk barehead in the hot sun.† ) to the practical (â€Å"This is how you grow okra---far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants.†) to the profound (â€Å"This is how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up.†). The mood of the text is that of a sermon delivered to an unwilling audience. The narrator’s active oration is like a burst of thoughts and emotions that have long struggled to break free, like a tidal wave finally let out. Its maniacal pace seems as if the narrator does not have enough time to elaborate on each tip. It captivates the reader to keep reading, as if to hungrily devour tiny bits of appetizers without actually feeling full. One gets a taste of a chunk of wisdom, and before the reader even gets to swallow it, another is on the way. Its sarcasm at the redundant accusation that the girl is â€Å"bent on becoming a slut† loses its sting, as a barrage of information gets thrown at her. Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is a short story that holds the readers’ attention despite the fact that it tells of a rather boring tale of a woman who lives in a small town. The narrator effectively describes the characters in such a way that the readers clearly visualize them in their minds’ eye. It is about Emily, a white girl from an aristocratic family in the south, the Griersons. It chronicles Emily’s life from her girlhood, when her parents selfishly prohibit her from dating men, as it seems all men were beneath them. â€Å"the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were. None of the young men were quite good for Miss Emily and such.† Being so, Miss Emily has grown to believe that she occupies a special position in society, even to her old age when she refused to pay her taxes, having been privileged by a former Mayor who owed the Griersons favors. The narrator depicted a

Marketing presentation coninstar company PowerPoint

Marketing coninstar company - PowerPoint Presentation Example Meaning a significant change in price has little impact on quantity demanded. Therefore, a small change in prices does not affect such products (Coinstar, 2014). Queency juice can be priced the same as those of competitors; it can be priced at a reduces price as compared to other market competitors or can be priced at a higher price. Coinstar may also consider cost-based pricing in order to regain costs that have been incurred in coming up with new product. Three approaches may be used: Coinstar will introduce a new product, Queency juice, in the market by setting the prices to be high reason being the company offers a mystique and unique product that will be highly valued by customers. The product mainly targets affluent members of the society and is prestigious. The strategy is appropriate because it considers customers who are only willing to pay high prices hence potential customers will not be forced to buy the product (Smith, 2012). The culture of Coinstar in promoting a new product involves participating in charity events, that are not only unreliable but also expensive and time consuming as it involve distributing Queency juice for free despite the higher cost of producing it. During special events such as sports, the direct marketing executives will be involved in creating awareness about Queency drinks. The marketers will give free samples to the audience and the players so that the can have a test of the product. Customers will be taught about the new product free of charge. The Company will also create a new website where awareness of the new product can be created. Advertisement is a very vital tool that can be utilized in product promotion. It should be catchy in order to stimulate demand. Coinstar will also participate in special events such as sports as a way of promoting its new product where free samples of the new product will be given to the participants. Promotional