My Most Special Moment

Once I was training in my boxing gym and I was lifting 18kg weights. The other weights were set out on the floor for when I needed them. I was on my last set of ten when I fell back and the weight came crashing down and landed on my leg. I couldn’t feel my left leg. I twisted my ankle and then I was rolling around in excrushiating pain. My manager came in once he heard my call of pain. He sat me up and I hobuld over to the ring. He sat me down on the side of the ring and got me a glass of warter. Ten minutes later I gave my dad a call and he came straight to the gym.My dad and my manager took me to hospital. We arrived in an hours time. The traffic was bad and I hobuld over to a chair and sat there with my manager while my dad went to reseption. By the time we got to the hospital my leg had swollen up to the size of a baby elephants foot. I was called in, the doctor said ‘What is your name? ’ I said ‘Mark. ’ I was given an x-ray and sent to the emerge ncy room and was told some hart breaking news considering that I had a big fight coming up, they said, you have broken your tibia and sprained your ankle.I had to stay in a hospital bed for 2 to 3 months. Each day my leg was getting better, My family visited every day and my manager to. I was getting better pritty fast. My manager came in the room and gave me good and bad news. I said, ‘Can I hear the good news first? ’ ‘OK,’ he said. I was told that Joe Calzaghe, one of the best boxers in the world, was coming to see me in a few weeks time. And the bad news was that my boxing match was canceled but I wasn’t bothered about that. After a week, Joe came to see me. I was waiting with the door open.He came in and my dad and my manager left us to talk. We were just chatting about boxing and I was asking questions about how many fights he had won. He said just over 18 in his career. He asked me how any I had won and I told him six so far. We had a good cha t and a cuple of moments later he said, ‘Will you be able to make it to my match. I’ll get you front row seats. ’ I said, ‘I don’t have enough money. ’ But he produced tickets from his pocket and they were for the front row by his corner. I said, ‘Thank you so much. You have made my day. ’ I was out of hospital in no time.My dad came to pick me up and I was happy to see my street and most importantly my family. I was welcomed home with celebrations and we partied. The next day the boxing match was on and me and my family were ready to go. We got there in an hour and sat in our seats. Joe’s fight was over in three rounds with a clean knockout and the towel thrown in. I jumped up in excitment and after the match he called me and asked if I wanted to go clubbing. I said ‘yes. ’ So we went out together and had a good time. We kept in touch and we are good friends even now.

The Beauty of the Fictional World in Nabokov’s Bend Sinister

Since the writer himself claims that Bend Sinister is neither â€Å"serious fiction† nor â€Å"literature of social comment,† I will refrain from making something out of nothing (for, though Nabokov does this through his fiction, I would not wish to offend him, even if he cannot socially comment on my offense, just as Karl Marx perhaps disliked the ruin of his own piece). Rather, I shall make the argument that literature to Nabokov is like beauty to life. It is not the story that matters, but instead â€Å"it is for the sake of the pages about David and his father that the book was written and should be read† (xiv).Hence, let us examine what makes Nabokov’s novel so beautiful: What begins as â€Å"An oblong puddle inset in the coarse asphalt† transforms into Padukgrad, a fictional and totalitarian state somewhere in Europe that hosts two men of differing philosophies yet similar power (1). Krug, the protagonist, immediately surfaces as a danger to t he Ekwilist society, which Paduk rules as dictator. Although there is a tendency to classify Padukgrad as a dystopia, one must note that Nabokov was highly critical of â€Å"Orwell’s cliches,† calling him a â€Å"mediocre English [writer]† (2).Nabokov argues that he is â€Å"neither a didacticist nor an allegorizer,† both of which could describe Orwell’s anti-totalitarian voice in 1984 (2). Rather, Vladamir Nabokov’s first American novel, Bend Sinister, presents his fictional dictatorship not as an entity on a path to Armageddon, but as a metaphorical chess game, wherein the main character can be interpreted as the White King and the antagonist as the Black King. Eventually, Krug learns that he is in fact playing a live game of chess, and that—ironically—he is the White King in an Armageddon-style chess match for his life. For Krug, a philosopher and professor, there is no draw.Nabokov conscientiously places Krug in Padukgrad, for it is with precision that chess players both set and move their pieces. Whereas a king piece is safest in its initial location, beside the queen and behind a row of pawns, Bend Sinister begins with Krug’s observing â€Å"a fancy footprint filled to the brim with quicksilver . . . from a hospital window† (1-2). Nabokov details a rather wonderful scene of a puddle in November. Beauty, I argue, and the hospital are places of sanctuary, a place where one can reflect on â€Å"the beating of [his] loving heart† (xiv). The beauty ends, however.It becomes known that â€Å"the operation has not been successful and [Krug’s] wife will die† (2). In the first chapter, to alight on the metaphor of chess, Krug essentially loses his queen and is subsequently forced to play the rest of the game without what is generally the most powerful piece. Also, it is interesting that he loses his queen in the first person. Throughout most of the novel, Krug is written in the third-person-omniscient voice, and only when the writer intends to remind the reader that Bend Sinister is not a contemporary novel, that it is truly an apocryphal work meant for beauty, does he switch his point of view.Perhaps, Nabokov is presenting the dramatic moment (of the chess game) through Krug’s (the king’s) eyes to convey the move’s gravity. However, Nabokov again shifts to the first person perspective on the second to last page, just after â€Å"another and better bullet hit† Krug (240). In this sense, Nabokov utilizes the third person to communicate his story and the first person to denote the loss of White’s two most important pieces—the King and queen, respectively. It is also this style that categorizes Bend Sinister as post-post-modernism literature, for Nabokov clarifies that, â€Å"among the chaos of written and rewritten pages . . a big moth was clinging with furry feet† to his [the metafictional writer’s ] window (240). Moreover, I shall use this style to make my own points: Orwell’s dystopic world is made real—Nabokov’s world is made fictionally.This is the greatest distinction between the two books. Bend Sinister remains very much a board of pieces that move according to the novelist. And his characters, in turn, are â€Å"absurd images† and â€Å"illusions† both to himself and â€Å"to Krug† (xiv). In essence, the writer is calling the shots—the balls and strikes, and they ‘ain’t nothing till he calls them. By this, Nabokov creates Padukgrad, and in it, Krug and Paduk. Interestingly, Padukgrad’s Ekwilist philosophy of the everyman wishes to create a homogenous, clone-like society wherein each individual is equal and outliers are either integrated or removed. This society, like many totalitarian states, seeks unity through similarity. Thus, Nabokov presents Krug as the counterpart to Paduk—White King versu s Black King, good versus evil. For example, Adam Krug is depicted as a â€Å"philosopher . . . ith untidy, dusty, or faintly grizzled locks . . . suggestive of the uncouth chess master or of the morose composer, but more intelligent† and Paduk as someone who â€Å"never got over superficial neatness† (46, 80). This is important not only because of Nabokov’s explicit metaphor, but also because the Ekwilist philosophy preaches â€Å"a remoulding of human individuals in conformity with a well-balanced pattern,† the opposite philosophy of Krug [and Nabokov]. The duality is thusly created by Nabokov through philosophy—another ironic attribute.One pleasure of the book, as the writer would agree, is the humor. For instance, Paduk institutes â€Å"the Party of the Average Man as based on Skotoma’s book,† which argues that â€Å"a certain computable amount of human consciousness [is] distributed throughout the population of the world† and that â€Å"the proudest intellect and the humblest stupidity depended entirely upon the degree of â€Å"world consciousness† (75-76). In this, I find that philosophy kills philosophy, king kills king, and the entire purpose of this book arises.That is, if the sake of the pages are for David and his father (Krug), then the genesis of the Ekwilist philosophy and of Padukgrad are highly significant. David is, after all, killed by both. Nabokov includes in Bend Sinister, after describing the origins of Ekwilism, that Skotoma â€Å"omitted to define both the practical method to be pursued and the kind of person or persons responsible for planning and directing the process† (76). I find this quite humorous for several reasons other than those listed afore. First, Paduk breaks Nabokov’s first rule.Paduk not only takes Skotoma’s book to be â€Å"serious literature,† but then he also misinterprets it. To note, this is why I refrain in my introductory p aragraph from making something out of nothing and why I mention Marx, whose philosophy like Skotoma’s is essentially ruined by a lesser, more common man. It is also a reason perhaps for Nabokov’s distaste of George Orwell. Second, it is ironic that the â€Å"kind of person† who instills this philosophy in Paduk is actually Krug, for Krug drives Paduk in their youth to this uniform extreme.On page 36, for example, Nabokov reveals that Paduk, â€Å"the Ruler, colloquially known as the toad, had been a schoolmate† of Krug’s. Then later, on page 50, Krug reveals to his scholarly peers at the University that he â€Å"was something of a bully† and â€Å"used to trip [Paduk] up and sit upon his face . . . every blessed day for about five school years. † This treatment of Paduk eventually leads him to favor the Ekwilist philosophy and form a totalitarian state. It also leads the reader to understand Krug’s and Paduk’s duality, t heir chess match, and the way in which the White King is losing.Moreover, on the topic of irony and humor (which is beautiful), Bend Sinister is a reflection of Nabokov. One might draw comparison to heraldry whereby the novel derives its name. A sinister is in fact a colored band running from the upper right side of a shield to the lower left side; its opposite is the bend sinister, which runs from left top to right bottom. In the novel, Paduk represents the bend sinister of the shield and Krug represents the sinister, in that the Ekwilist philosophy (the extreme of socialism if you will) is a sinister (evil) bend to the left.Also worthwhile to point out is the name of the shield’s surface—the field. A chess match is a battle of kings and pawns on a battlefield. I make my final and daring argument here, as I still wish not to make something out of nothing, but I wish more to make something rather than nothing: Adam Krug is the metaphorical bend sinister to Nabokov. For instance, Adam Krug is â€Å"a non-smoker,† whereas Nabokov admits that his â€Å"daily consumption of cigarettes had reached the four-package mark† (36, xi). Also, the voice of the novel switches between the writer’s conscious thoughts and Krug’s story.In this way, Krug is Nabokov and Nabokov is Krug, but they are not entirely the same. They are the duality of the writer. Just as the protagonist is the king of the book, so too is the novelist. But because Krug is the non-conscientious half, at least in reality, he is the bend sinister of what is good. Literature is often taken out of context or made to be something out of nothing, and Nabokov hated this fact. I have drawn references to Orwell throughout because he, to the abhorrence of Nabokov, wrote in protest to leftist totalitarian states.By doing this, Orwell is upholding the greatest mistake of making something out of nothing because all totalitarian states, like Padukgrad with Ekwilism, take liter ature or philosophy out of context, and thus, to make a story from nothing results in nothing. Nabokov, a man of true genius, does not present Krug as one. For, although Krug is the greatest thinker in his own world, the fictional world is not real. The fictional world is merely aesthetics for the ‘real world. ’ And the sake of his presentation is merely for â€Å"David and his father,† Nabokov’s beautiful creations.

Kingship in Macbeth Essay

The theme of kingship is one which can be see constantly throughout the play. This makes sense as the play is ultimately a tribute to King James I, who was king when Macbeth was written in 1606. King James strongly believed that becoming king was a divine right and that they themselves, as kings, were God’s representatives on earth. All these aspects can be seen from beginning to end of Macbeth and we see how when this order of kings is changed by unnatural means, everyone suffers. During the course of the play we see the traits of four kings: Duncan, Macbeth, Edward and Malcolm. Through the reign of each of these kings, we are shown clearly how a country is only stable if the king is good and virtuous. In Shakespearean times, a king had absolute power and the welfare of the state depended strongly on him. All people were similar to King James in the belief that kings were appointed by divine right, and had to possess the king becoming graces of, ‘’justice, verity, temperance, bounty, perseverance, stableness, lowliness and devotion. ’’ When the play opens, we see Duncan as king. He himself admit that there ‘’is not art to finding the mind’s construction in the face. ’’ This inability to judge people well, ultimately leads to his downfall. The original Thane of Cowdor, ‘’a man in whom I [Duncan] placed upmost trust’’ rebelled against Scotland when under the reign of Duncan, something which Duncan could not foresee. Similar happened with Macbeth. Duncan trusted Macbeth and saw him as a ‘’brave and valiant cousin. ’’ Duncan’s trusting of Macbeth lead to his own untimely death. We can see clearly Duncan’s weakness as king; he trusts too easily. We can also see the traits of a good king in his character as his punishes those who commit treason (Thane of Cowdor), and rewards those who are brave and loyal (Banquo and Macbeth), ‘’go announce his present death and with his former title greet Macbeth. ’’ It is clear that people respected Duncan as king and his godliness can be seen in the words expressed by Macduff when he is murdered, ‘’ most sac religious murder hath broke ope’ the lord’s anointed temple and stolen the life hense. ’’ Ironically Macbeth himself praises and acknowledges Duncan’s qualities, ‘’ Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek. ’ When Macbeth becomes king, we see the opposite to Duncan. Macbeth reigns with terror and has constant feelings of paranoia, trusting no one, ‘’to be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus,’’ ‘’we have scorched the snake, not killed it,’’ ‘’our fears in Banquo stick deep. ’’ Macbeth’s reign cannot be succeeded by his children as he became king through a sinful and unnatural act of regicide, ‘’upon my head they placed a fruitless crown. ,’’ During this time, regiside was considered to be one of the most unforgivable crimes possible- the killing of God’s chosen representative on Earth. This act alone show that Macbeth will rule as a king of terror. His reign is characterised by instability, he has upset natural order and this can be seen reflected in the natural world around him, ’’thou seest the heavens as troubled with man’s act .. by the clock tis day and yet dark light stangles the travelling lamp. ’’ The chaos and disorder seen in Scotland under Macbeth’’s rule is reflected in the natural world. As king, Macbeth focuses on the wrong things, he tries to achieve strength and power and puts this ‘’vaulting ambition’’ before his duty to lead Scotland. Macbeth could in no way be considered divine, a clear contrast to ‘’meek’’ Duncan. The character of Macbeth is associated with evil and witch-craft and his is known to others as a ‘’tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues,’’ synonymous with power, although he has no legal or God-chosen right to have it. In Macbeth we see a king who deviates completely from all the ‘’king becoming graces’’ and qualities of a good king, and as a result, his country suffers greatly, ‘’every morn new widows howl, new orphans cry. ’ In the play, we never actually meet Edward the Confessor, King of England, but through descriptions from Malcolm we can see clearly that he embodies all that a true, virtuous king should. He is associated with ‘’heaven’’ and ‘’grace’’ and all things ‘’saintly. ’’ Edward is said to possess the a bility to foresee the future and to heal the sick, he does not abuse these powers like Macbeth, but instead puts them to good use, ‘’ he hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, and sundry blessings hang about his throne. ’’ We see in Edward a king who is a good judge of character, unlike Duncan. Edward welcomes Malcolm into his court and agrees to help him despite many thoughts that Malcolm is the one who murdered Duncan. Edward can see Malcolm innocence and kindly offers him a safe haven where he can regroup. The qualities of kingship seen in Edward are that of honesty, kindness and holiness, all adhering to the fore-mentioned ‘’king becoming graces. ’’ This example of a most excellent king would have impressed King James of England at the time as it was widely known that King James was a descendent of King Edward’s. Malcolm, Duncan’s son and rightful heir to the throne, does not become king until the final scene of the play but still we are left feeling Scotland is in safe hands. Malcolm shows his qualities earlier in the play and from this we can see just what kind of king he is going to be. The anointing of Malcolm as king of Scotland restores natural order after the hellish reign of Macbeth. We feel as if Malcolm will be fair and honest as king and we know he understands what is expected of him, as he was in fact the character who listed the ‘’king becoming graces such as justice, verity, temperance †¦ ’ We see he is a better judge of character than that of his late father as before trusting Macduff, he tests his loyalty to Scotland. He also understands how the power associated with being in king can easily go to one’s head, no matter how honest they may seem previous, ‘’ a good virtuous nature may recoil in an imperial charge. ’†™ Before we learn of any of this, we know Malcolm resides in the palace of King Edward, this association alone causes us to automatically characterise Malcolm with goodness and honesty. Malcolm is respected and liked by the people, this is show by the fact that he was able to bring together an army of ‘’ten thousand’’ to fight against the ‘’tyrant’’ Macbeth. With Malcolm as king, we see peace and unity once again being restored to Scotland, ‘’Hail king of Scotland. ’’ The only criticism I would have of Malcolm is the fact that he rewards directly, all those who have been loyal to him,’’ my thanes and kinsmen, hensforth be Earls. ’ This action reminds us of Duncan’s hasty reaction of appointing Macbeth as Thane of Cowdor. He rewarded immediately Macbeth’s seemed bravery but paid most dearly for it. I could not help but wonder if Malcolm may perhaps suffer a similar fate. We see in all the kings mentioned in Macbeth, many differences. These differences allow us to contrast the characters and explore deeply the theme of kingship in the play. In Macbeth, w e see an unnatural king which causes chaos in his country. He rules with terror and evil. Duncan was a king who rules with peace and honesty, but his trusting nature unfortunately lead to his untimely death. In both Malcolm and Edward, we see good kings who appear to possess and understand the qualities needed to be king. Although it can be said that a fault may be seen in Malcolm’s character, this is no more than a suggestion, and I feel that his positive traits as King overwrite this. At the end of the play we are left feeling satisfied that has been left in safe hands.

Business plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Business plan - Assignment Example Our exclusive patent pending oven provides the required high temperature baking environment for our pizza to develop the gourmet flavor profile, aroma, and level of caramelization that only a high temperature brick oven can provide. All our pies use the best natural ingredients, such as whole wheat in our flour blend and a 24 hour cold natural wild yeast fermenting process for our sourdough pizza dough utilizing our exclusive wild yeast sourdough starter. We also make our special recipe pizza sauce everyday fresh, using the best plum tomatoes from Italy and California and our pies use a special 4-cheese blend featuring, premium Provolone, Mozzarella, Muenster and genuine Italian Pecorino Romano cheese. Only a few high end pizza parlors in the United States actually use a real high temperature brick oven due to many operational factors, such as their huge size and weight, high purchase and operational costs. Quick Pizza has designed a fully equipped mobile Neapolitan style pizza parlor that incorporates three of our modular, lightweight, extremely efficient, high temperature patent pending gas hybrid brick ovens in a small custom designed modular pizzeria, all inside a 5’ x 6’ footprint trailer. The custom oven design of the exclusive pizza oven allow each unit to reach internal temperatures of over 1000F, while maintaining a extremely high level of thermal efficiency and very low operating costs due to our patent pending oven design. Our exclusive franchising concept will bring a world-class quality pizza experience at an affordable price for to all our customers. According to the 2011 Pizza Power Report, an annual analysis of the pizza industry published by the most respected trade publication in the industry PMQ magazine, over 90% of Americans on average eat pizza at least once a month with over 25% of Americans consuming pizza at least once a week. The latest count of pizza establishment determined

Why men exercise more than women Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Why men exercise more than women - Research Paper Example Further, boys tend to experiment a lot. They like emulating their parents, teachers, and other people surrounding them. The boys get themselves into trouble most of the time in school because they are more active than girls who play verbal games in smaller groups (News Staff, 2009). However, Parents experience more rough play with boys than girls during childhood. Parents have been experiencing more problems controlling boys than girls because of their active nature and experimentation. Boys form larger groups than girls and engage in active sports unlike girls who are interested in verbal and passive games. During puberty, boys tend to be more active than girls in that they exercise more often and vigorously than girls. In addition, men engage in activities that are more masculine. At this age, boys tend to explore and adventure for in activities such as camping, mountain climbing, bicycle racing, hunting, and playing football in larger groups. Consequently, single men are more acti ve than single women; most single men exercise more than single women who most of the times engage in passive leisure activities like going out with friends, gossiping, watching television, and chatting on social media. Single men exercise vigorously in the gym and even outside the gym. Married men exercise more than women, and they are more vigorous during their exercise. At this stage, men really exercise and they are less active than women. However, Parents experience more rough play with boys.

Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics MOD 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics MOD 3 - Essay Example If a person is not courageous, for instance, he will not overcome the difficulties inherent in the practice of any virtue† (Pury & Lopez, 2010). In simple words, it implies doing what one knows he has to do no matter how demanding or complicated it might seem. Courage takes a number of forms. Examples incorporate the courage to stand for what is true, the courage deal with a personal apprehension, the courage to admit disrespect, the courage to tolerate physical or emotional hurt for self-development, the courage to move ahead through disappointment, and many more. Virtue of Honesty The virtue of honesty is defined as the negation to false reality, that is, â€Å"to pretend that facts are other than they are† (Roberts & Woods, 2010). According to Peikoff, honesty consists of taking the procedure of cognition sincerely, creating an active psyche, and looking for knowledge because one wants it to proceed appropriately rather than making an impression on others. Honesty is linked with the value it tries to achieve because such value should symbolize truth, it cannot be faked. From this perspective, virtues are depicted with respect to what is better for individuals: Virtues are not their own incentive or a type of self-anguish, but a â€Å"selfish necessity in the process of achieving values† (Roberts & Woods, 2010). A virtue such as honesty is not only an inclination to do what is truthful, nor is it to be supportively identified as an advantageous or ethically important character’s attribute. It is certainly a character attribute - that is, a disposition that is deep-rooted within its owner. An honest individual's motives as well as preferences, with respect to honest and dishonest behavior, reveal his views regarding honesty and genuineness - but naturally such views manifest themselves with regard to other behaviors and to emotional responses also. Virtue of Justice While speaking of justice as a virtue, one is usually indicating tow ards a quality of individuals, even if considering the justice of individuals as having some indication towards social justice. Plato treats justice as an â€Å"overarching virtue† (Sandel, 2010) of people as well as of societies, signifying that more or less all issues he would consider as ethical appeared under the perception of justice. However, in contemporary practices, justice includes just a part of individual integrity, and one does not readily imagine people as unjust if they lie. Plato knows individual justice on equivalence with â€Å"justice writ large in the state† (Sandel, 2010), however, he considers the state, or democracy, as a form of organism or beehive, and the justice of people is not thought of as mainly involving orthodoxy to just organizations as well as regulations. Instead, the just person is someone whose psyche is directed by a revelation of the Good, someone in whom rationale rules enthusiasm and aspiration through this sort of a vision. Su ch a formation of individual justice is virtue ethical since it connects justice (or behaving in a just manner) to an inner condition of the person instead of the loyalty to social standards or to good outcomes. Plato and Aristotle both were rationalists because they consider human understanding and ethical causes; in addition, what they state

The Fair Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The Fair Family - Essay Example According to the discussion the central considerations are the medical, social and legal problems as a precursor to the relevant ethical considerations. As highlighted in the previous section, bioethics is inherently complex and there is no single correct approach. To this end, Kerridge et al propose the â€Å"space† paradigm in approaching ethical problems; which is essentially: â€Å"a region of turbulence where the space is defined by what is at stake – values relationships, behaviour and human flourishing† (p.6). As such, this â€Å"space† concept inherently depends on the nature of the discipline such as medical or nursing to determine the applicable ethics, which Kerridge et al suggest â€Å"means that ethics must ultimately be about discourse, communication, social relationships and politics†. Therefore ethics is rooted in social behaviour and culture as opposed to law or even clinical guidelines. From this study it is clear that in considering the model of ethical decision making in health care, Kerridge et al refer to the need to firstly state the problem within the ethical problem and other issues such as social, cultural and legal issues. If applied to the current factual scenario, in simple medical terms the problem is that failure to give Mr Fair and his daughter a blood transfusion will result in death, which clearly conflicts with the medical duty to act in the best interests of the patient. The medical problem in the current scenario is that Mr Fair has suffered serious chest injuries and a suspected lacerated/contusion of the spleen. In light of options available, the clinical team has determined that a blood transfusion is needed as a matter of emergency to save his life. Additionally, his daughter has sustained a lacerated liver, which also requires a blood transfusion to save her life.

Operation Iraqi Freedom Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Operation Iraqi Freedom - Research Paper Example Iraq had no link to terrorism, no weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and no legal rationale to attack. Despite this, Bush decided to invade the Republic of Iraq for causes deemed objectionable to the majority of other countries so he frequently relied on and utilized false information to rationalize it. He lied. This discussion will examine how the truth was a casualty early and often during the lead up to the war and outlines some of the consequences brought about by these far-reaching and deadly deceptions. Bush voiced his disagreement to the concept of ‘nation building’ during the 2000 presidential election debates but as president waged an undeclared war against a sovereign country that had neither attacked first nor threatened to. Immediately following and as a reactionary reply to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush stated the county’s intention to begin a ‘War on Terrorism’ which he portrayed as a protracted battle against those t hat would use terrorist actions in addition to the countries that enabled them. The eventual culmination of the selective legal reasoning and rhetoric concerning the ‘War on Terror’ was Bush’s order of the military to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq, an illegal action on many fronts. Bush had constantly claimed that these actions were legal. First, he argued, due to language existing within the UN Security Council Resolution 1441 regarding Iraq and secondly, the invasions were an act of self-defense which is permitted by international law. Conversely, according to Richard Perle, advisor to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and official of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, â€Å"international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone.† (Burkeman & Borger, 2003). However, this option would have been â€Å"morally unacceptable† according to the Bush administration. The United Nations Charter, Article 51, Chapter Seven stipulates à ¢â‚¬Å"nothing shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations† (United Nations Charter, 1945). Article 51 allows a country the justification to â€Å"deter an act, or acts of imminent or ongoing violence† but only as a transitory solution until the UN Security Council takes the appropriate actions to ensure the protection of the affected region. By precise interpretation of this Article, the rights of self-defense a country can exercise does not comprise the right to retaliate after an attack has ceased. The U.S. defended its invasion and occupation of Iraq to the countries of the world by announce, if not substantiating, that it was a undertaking to remove WMD which endangered not only the U.S. but all other countries as well. Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as other administration officials, predominantly with the U.S. Department of State, enthusiastically endeavored to s tate their justification for aggressive military actions and make this plan as acceptable to as many other nations as they could. Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense at that time, is quoted in a Vanity Fair magazine interview dated May 28, 2003 as saying â€Å"For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction† (Shovelan, 2003). Before to the invasion, Hans Blix, the man in charge of the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq, said unequivocally and very publicly

Design Research - Article Critique Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Design Research - Critique - Article Example The authors employ purposive sampling to find and select illustrative cases of the firms that had initiated brand-building process. The authors also selected three Swedish firms with strong brand image making their results to be of note. The article also employed personal interviews as their main data collection which offers further credibility to their findings. Pre-testing of the data collection tools also offers strength to the findings and article (Aggarwal 2008, p.123). A weakness in the research article is that its study sample size of three firms appears limited and small. The article’s findings are of use considering the fragmented literature available on brand building from an internal perspective. Further, this article can be of use to managers who are interested in developing strong brands by providing indicators to how a firm can respond to scandals, geographical expansion, and or brand repositioning. The article’s findings are relevant to current practices in corporate branding. It further highlights emergent trends that should provide base for future research in regard to the implementation phase of corporate branding (Glynn & Woodside 2009, p.63). The article has a good structure as it provides an abstract first, then a literature review, followed by methodology, then the results and a conclusion. It makes it easy for the reader to follow and understand its contents. In their article ‘innovation, growth, and getting to where you want to go’, Ryan Jacoby and Diego Rodriguez seek to give advice to their readers on how to thoughtfully structure the innovation process (Jacoby & Rodriguez 2007, p.10). They aim at presenting managers with a model that helps them to assess and direct innovation efforts. The authors provide evolved and refined tools that employ design thinking to assist their clients to shape their innovation efforts. The strength of the article lies in its step by step approach towards design

Photography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Photography - Assignment Example Photograph 2-2 shows a picture of a bride. It talks about shooting wedding photographs like any other professional without having to retake the shots. It’s all about passion and then getting the right shot and having confidence in yourself. In photo 3-3, shooting on a tripod stand makes the camera still and steady. This provides a chance to capture tack-sharp shots. Therefore, the quality of the tripod comes a long way in ensuring one gets shots like a pro. In order to get those quality photos one has to invest much on the accessories that accompany any shooting. In photo 3-4, it’s not only about changing the camera settings, but also getting the right equipment and more so what the pros use. Photograph 4-2 shows a ball head, which is used to position a camera at any angle with one turn of the knob. Like a tripod, a good ball head comes with a price which is worth. Photo 5-2 describes how a release cable allows one to get a tack-sharp shot. The cable is attached to the camera and upon pressing of the button the photo is taken without necessarily pressing the shutter on the camera which would otherwise compromise the sharpness of your photos. Photo 5-3 details the B&H as trusted dealers in camera and all accessories because of their professional photographers who offer the best advice and have cheaper more quality products that meet a photographer’s needs perfectly. Another technique of getting a sharp photo, especially in the field is using â€Å"The Death Grip’. As depicted in photo 6, holding a camera with the strap twisted on one’s arm and wrapping it around the wrist gives extra stability and hence clear

Health Leads Essay Example for Free

Health Leads Essay As recently mentioned, there will be a health focus to a workshop on climate change in Melbourne this weekend that is being put on by the Green Institute. One of the speakers is Senator Richard Di Natale, the Greens health spokesperson, who writes below that we need to focus more on the underlying causes of poor health. On related themes, don’t miss this New York Times article which profiles an organisation working on the social causes of poor healt. Health Leads trains about 1000 volunteers each year to staff resource desks in the waiting rooms of hospital clinics or health centers in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New York, Providence, R. I., and Washington. At these sites, doctors now regularly â€Å"prescribe† a wide range of basic resources — like food assistance, housing improvements, or heating fuel subsidies — which the Health Leads volunteers â€Å"fill†, by applying their problem solving skills to identify resources anywhere they may be available. Health Leads was co-founded by a Harvard University student, Rebecca Onie, in 1996 and up until a year ago, she thought that the organisation’s biggest obstacle would be getting doctors to pay attention to patients’ social needs. But the organisation now gets so many referrals from doctors that it has waiting lists. According to the report, Health Leads offers a model of how to develop a workforce to systematically address the social causes of illness The real crisis in health Not many people give up a career in medicine to become a politician. However, I still have the same goal: the good health of Australians. Australia’s health care system isn’t bad. We spend less on health care than many other countries, about 9% of GDP (less than half of that spent in the USA), but most of us get access to high quality care when we need it. But we are also one of the most hospitalised nations in the world, with more overnight beds per capita than any other OECD country. And even with the relatively high rate of hospitalisation, 60 per cent of our population is overweight, half the teeth of Australians aged 35-44 have some decay and alcohol abuse is costing our economy billions each year and rising. Australia isn’t having a health crisis. We’re having a preventative health crisis. The cost of a hospital bed is considerable, but we’re failing to invest in measures that prevent people from needing that bed in the first place. Dental health is a prime example of the opportunity we have to transform our health system through better preventative measures. Currently, 650,000 Australians are on public dental care waiting lists, and dental admissions are the highest cause of acute preventable hospital admissions. Illness due to untreated dental disease is costing us dearly. Yet less than 20 per cent of dental care is currently funded by the Government, compared to nearly 80 per cent of general medical services. For alcohol abuse and obesity as well, there are many preventative measures we can take to reduce the enormous costs to our economy each year. In addition to publicly funded dental care, I will be working towards a phase-out of alcohol and junk-food advertising during sports broadcasts, a more rational alcohol taxation system and better food labelling regulations. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how a small investment in prevention can save us large costs in cure. And with greater preventative health measures, we have more opportunity to address the social inequalities in health in Australia. Health isn’t just a physical condition. If you have less income and less education, you are more likely to have poorer health. Beyond genetic make-up, behaviour and access to medical care, social inequality is still a strong determinant of health. This is especially acute when it comes to the health of Indigenous communities. Climate change is emerging as a major health issue, and once again, those who are more likely to suffer health problems due to climate change are those on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. During heatwaves and other extreme weather events, we have seen that the poor, the elderly and children are most affected. Already, our changing climate is creating a rise in vector-borne diseases, such as Dengue Fever, Malaria and Ross River Fever, and increasing rates of gastroenteritis will also take a heavier toll on the most vulnerable.

John Locke - Mind Essay Example for Free

John Locke Mind Essay Hume and Lockes conflicting views on the existence of personal identity stem from a fundamental disagreement in regard to memory. According to Hume we have an impermanent personal identity as a result of our constantly changing stream of perceptions. These mental experiences are usually triggered by impressions, or perceptions that involve a sense experience. These constantly changing streams of perception form the false identity. On the other hand John Locke proposes this concept that  says X has identity if the ideas of X cause an observer to have of x are the same at different times. The best capable observer is X themself, as they are there for every moment. For Locke all that is needed for personal identity is mental identity. Both these ideas of personal identity are intertwined with each respected philosopher’s views on memory. According to Hume, memory is unreliable. He believes projectivism tricks us into forming memories. This is true because Hume also says we can’t remember everything, but we project as if we do. The reason he imposes this is because he believes it causes us to assume we are the same in our memories as we are now. Hume says our memories are triggered by ideas, or perceptions caused by thinking about an impression, instead of actually experiencing it. These memories at best resemble one another, which means we confuse similar but different impressions of ourselves for an impression of a single unchanging self. Moreover, Hume says we do not have the same ideas as we do now and do in the past. As a result memory gives us false identity with what it remembers. With this, the nature of the human self is derived from these mental experiences. Although Hume maintains that personal identity is falsely assumed by humans, the ideas that arise from our memories are what forms one’s identity. The end result of personal identity is that individuals have a false sense of identity, but that this false sense of identity is what gives them their individuality. This whole process is reliant upon memory; hence memory is crucial in the development of the false self and individuality. Contrary to Hume, Locke believes memory is reliable. He insists that we are able to genuinely recall the same memories. Similarly to Hume, Locke agrees we don’t remember everything. Although he shares this belief, he feels what we do remember is enough. He continues this assertion as he points out we don’t remember everything accurately but we remember enough accurately. In doing this, we are able to accurately recall past ideas and compare them with present ones. This is how he reaches his point that memory is reliable. Since  our memories are reliable, our ideas in the past and the present can genuinely be the same. For Locke, the nature of the human self is formed through this process of linking old memories to new memories to create similarities. Like Hume, individuality is obtained when this process is complete and with it comes awareness of one’s self through time. While Hume and Locke have very differentiating opinions on the conception of personal identity relative to memory, they both agree that the end result will be a unique individual.

Human Factors in System Design

Human Factors in System Design This assignment highlights the human factors that are important to be considered in system design of a website. A justification, why the client would pay the mentioned amount is highlighted in this assignment. An evaluation of the usability specification of the chosen website www.best-electronics-ca.com has been discussed in details. Moreover, a critical evaluation of the site is also evaluated. The physical as well as the psychological factors are also addressed. Justification of the cost incurred The cost incurred for the evaluation of the website is  £650 per day. In order to evaluate the website, the easy of navigation needs to be evaluated. Moreover, the attractiveness of the design needs to be considered. The ease of use as well as the efficiency of the interface is also to be measured. The attractiveness of the interface has to be evaluated as well. Thus the cost estimated is justified (Ashraf and Thongpapanl 2015). Moreover, the usability goals of the website have to be measured along with the planning of the website. Thus, the usability specification needs to be evaluated using high or low fidelity prototyping techniques such as storyboard. The interface design principles are to be evaluated. Hence the incurred cost is well justified. Moreover, the website needs to be reconsidered and the design and ease of use needs to be revised. Hence, this project is an essential one (Bilgihan and Bujisic 2015). The maintenance cost and the labor costs are also considered. This w ould increase the productivity of the company and in the long run would reduce the maintenance cost and save time, with the ease of use. Critical analysis and evaluation of the website The given website is evaluated against the various aspects of an ideal website. These are as follows: Navigation: The navigation of a website is an important factor. In the chosen website, the navigation is very poor (Ashraf and Thongpapanl 2015). The contents of the website overcrowd the navigation buttons and the user would find it difficult to navigate easily from one functionality to the other. Attractiveness of the design: The design of the website is very poor and low graded. The website is not visually soothing to the user, as there are not images or pictorial representations. The design is not at all attractive, since the users do not find it easy to use the website (Bilgihan and Bujisic 2015). Ease of use: The ease of use of the website is not good, since the users would get confused with the contents and the navigations. Moreover, the navigation buttons are lost inside the contents of the website. Thus, the ease of use is very poor. Efficiency of the interface: The interface is not at all easy to use. There is no specific panel for the navigation buttons. Moreover, no pictorial representation and no user assistance button is available. Clarity of the interface: The interface is not clear. The text is not formatted well, and hence is not visually appealing. Moreover the interface lacks clarity. Users would take a lot of time to locate the navigation buttons, among the contents of the website. Content: The content is relevant and useful. However, the font size and style are not consistent. Call to action: Call to action refers to the words or set of words that helps the visitors to take immediate actions. This feature is unavailable in the evaluated website. The users do not have any scope to opt for the call to action (Ashraf and Thongpapanl 2015). Usability goals These include the expectations of a user while using a website. The specifications of the usability goals are as follows: Accessibility: This refers to the evaluation of a website on the basis of how well the navigation options are separated from the content of the website. Moreover, the structural setting of the website also determines the accessibility of the website (Hood et al. 2015). This website is not easily assessable, since the navigation options are not separated from the contents of the website. Security: The security of the website is an essential feature. The security of the website is not strong since it could be easily hacked. Now level: With the wide use of mobile phones, the websites require to be easily accessible using mobile phones. Since, the website itself is very clumsy in the desktop version; hence, using its mobile site would be clumber some for the users (Johnson 2013). The planned and minimum levels of acceptance: The minimum level of acceptance is quiet low for the evaluated website. Other conditions to be taken into account: The users need to be well versed in the computer since the website is not easy to use and the users need to be an expert in order to use the website. Evaluation of the website Specifications Expected Outcome Actual Outcome Navigation Easily navigable Not easily navigable Design Appealing to the user Notappealing to the user User interface Good and efficient Poor and inefficient Distinct Yes No Consistent Yes No Interactive Highly interactive to the users responses Not at all interactive Structured Well structured Not well structured Clickable Easily redirected to the desirable pages, on click Not easily redirected to the desired pages, on click Visual effects Attractive visual effects No visual effects at all Key human factors essential for website design While designing a website, there are various human factors that needs to be considered are as follows: 1. Recognition not recall: The human brain is made to recognize various icons and features of a website and not recall. Hence, the website needs to be designed in a way that the human brain recognizes (Hood et al. 2015). The icons used in the website needs to be familiar, hence easily recognized. In the chosen website, the icons used are not easily recognized. 2. 7 seconds: It has been researched that a human brain needs seven seconds to see and make choices. Hence, the website should not provide a huge number of choices. This is fulfilled by the website, as there is hardly any choice available for the user. 3. Brain like patterns: There are certain kinds of patterns that helps the brain to work faster and response faster. Hence the website needs to be designed considering that (Hood et al. 2015). However, the chosen website is very clumsy and the user finds it difficult to recognize and respond (Bilgihan and Bujisic 2015). 4. Sounds or audio recognition: This is essential element of a website. Inclusion of sounds in a website might assist the user that he was unable to understand by simply reading the instructions (Lopatovska 2015). 5. Visual effects: Human brain tends to retain facts they see, for a longer time, than things they read. Hence, the navigation of the website and the users assistance could be provided using visual effects (Singh et al. 2016). These are some of the physical and psychological factors of human beings that need to be considered while designing a website. However, none of the above mentioned features have been included in the considered website. A storyboard is a graphic organizer that includes illustrations and images in a website. This is used for the purpose of pre-visualizing and motion pictures. This could be used efficiently by the website in order to incorporate visual effects in the website. It is recommended that the website needs to be redesigned following the guidelines of an ideal website. The navigation buttons needs to be placed in such a way that they are easily traceable and identified by the user (Ashraf and Thongpapanl 2015). Moreover, the font of the content needs to be structured and formatted, in order to enhance the quality of the website. It is also recommended that the website includes visual assistance and attractive user interface. The contents need to be arranged in a systematic way such that the users find it easy to read the contents (Ashraf and Thongpapanl 2015). The clarity of facts and consistent of the contents have to be incorporated as well. The overall presentation of the website needs to be improved, along with enhancement of the technical consistency of the website. The ease of use of the website has to be considered as well. The key human factors those are essential for a good website has to be incorporated. Finally, the security issues nee ds to be incorporated such that the details of the users are kept confidential. Thus, to conclude it might be stated that, the chosen website needs a lot of improvements such that it is easily used by the users. The ease of use of the website would improve the cost per click as well. The addition of motion pictures using the storyboard is also recommended. This would definitely enhance the quality of the website and become appealing to the users. References Ashraf, A. and Thongpapanl, N.T., 2015. Is More Information Content Always Good? Investigating the Impact of Website Interface Features on E-Retailers Sales Performance. In Marketing Dynamism Sustainability: Things Change, Things Stay the Sameà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (pp. 560-563). Springer International Publishing. Bilgihan, A. and Bujisic, M., 2015. The effect of website features in online relationship marketing: A case of online hotel booking. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 14(4), pp.222-232. Hood, K.M., Shanahan, K.J., Hopkins, C.D. and Lindsey, K.K., 2015. The influence of interactivity on visit and purchase frequency: the moderating role of website informational features. Journal of Internet Commerce, 14(3), pp.294-315. Johnson, J., 2013. Designing with the mind in mind: simple guide to understanding user interface design guidelines. Elsevier. Lopatovska, I., 2015. Museum website features, aesthetics, and visitors impressions: a case study of four museums. Museum Management and Curatorship, 30(3), pp.191-207. Singh, T., Malik, S. and Sarkar, D., 2016, April. E-commerce website quality assessment based on usability. In Computing, Communication and Automation (ICCCA), 2016 International Conference on (pp. 101-105). IEEE.

How Much Television is Too much? Essay -- Media Entertainment Essays

How Much Television is too much? How much television is too much? Well on an average, children spend 25 hours a week watching television. And who’s to say it’s even quality stuff that they’re watching? This is a big question among many, if not all, American families. People today spend more time watching television than on any other single leisure activity. In fact, studies have shown that the average child spends more time in front of the television than in school. (Patterson, 2001) Television was once an educator, but overtime is gradually ruining our youth. Television is not necessarily all good or all bad, but maybe it’s just influencing people more than needed. Although it seems more corruptive than anything, television can be used as a great learning tool. The news is a major component of being informed about what’s going on in our society and country. An example is the attack of the World Trade Centers. People were informed of what was happening, what’s going to happen next, and how we could help. Another aspect is The Learning Channel (TLC), in which we are informed of many things regularly taught in school, such as births, different kinds of creatures, and about space and the Earth. The History Channel, as well, can be watched to learn about past wars and historical people. For children, cartoons have become a way for them to learn basic knowledge. Such cartoons are Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Blues Clues, which are very educational and do not have to be monitored by parents, because the material should be suitable for younger children. If television is such a big learning tool, then where’s the problem? Although watching television doesn’t seem like such a big issue, it is. Many hous... ...ne day without watching television?† The people I asked were a random group of students. The results were almost unanimous with a whopping 89% saying no they couldn’t go a day without television, 8% said yes as long as they had the internet, and the other 3% said yes they could go without either (television or the internet) for one day. This goes to show just how much TV influences our daily schedules. In conclusion, television is a big impact on everyday lives. Without television where would we be? There are lessons-small lessons, enormous lessons, lessons that may be crucial to the planet’s persistence as a green and diverse place and also to the happiness of its inhabitants-that nature teaches and TV can’t. (McKibben, 1992) I believe he summed it up pretty well. Although TV was, is, and always will be a great invention, time doesn’t involve around it.

Santa Claus :: essays research papers

Santa Claus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most important imaginary figures on this earth, who has touched the hearts and souls of many children, is Saint Nicholas. St. Nick, better known as Santa Claus, is notorious for bringing gifts to children that are in need. Known for having a huge belly and a gigantic heart, Santa Claus brings hope to kids who are hopeless and smiles to those who have lost theirs. While snuggled in their bed, desperately trying to catch a wink of sleep, children around the world await the arrival of St. Nick. Dressed in red and with a jolly old smile, he manages to fulfill the dreams of kids throughout millions of miles. Santa Claus brings a whole new meaning to the season of Christmas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Despite his buxom body and his bag of goods, St. Nick succeeds in fitting down various narrow types of chimney's. Quickly yet quietly, he sneaks in and out of houses, leaving only gifts, milk stains and cookie crumbs as evidence of his presence. And he sets off to the next home, hoping that a lit fire place would not come to his surprise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The task of fulfilling the dreams of millions of children is not an easy one. It requires many trusted helpers. These helpers include parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and of course elves and reindeer. Reindeer play an important role in the scheme of things. Without the famous Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen or Rudolph, Santa would not have any transportation. They fly faster than a speeding bullet, yet never seem to miss a single home. Together, Santa, the elves, and the reindeer work to make the Miracles of Christmas happen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  St. Nick not only showers children with gifts, he also instills in them that giving is far more important than receiving. By setting this example, the feeling of Christmas becomes alive within each and every one of our hearts. Therefore, we are able to look at Christmas, through a whole new perspective.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Santa Claus also gives children an escape from the harsh reality of today's world. He gives kids something to believe in when there is nothing really to look forward to. St. Nick actually is a savior for many kids who have had to mature pass their age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The look on the children's face, when they awake Christmas morn, fulfills not only their hearts but the people around them.

Energy Crisis: Is America In Trouble :: essays research papers fc

Global energy crisis threatens, scientist says CHICAGO (April 17, 1997) -- An impending global energy crisis with potentially massive impact on American industry and jobs can be avoided if America strives for a portfolio of energy systems, a distinguished scientist said here today. In advocating an end to name-calling between energy advocates and environmentalists, Alan Schriesheim said, "We cannot set effective energy policy in an environmental vacuum, nor can we set effective environmental policy in an energy vacuum." Schriesheim, director emeritus at Argonne National Laboratory, spoke at a gathering sponsored by the Chicago Academy of Sciences at the University Club of Chicago. Energy demand will soar worldwide over the next 20 years, he said. "What do you think might happen," he asked the audience, "to the world's energy needs and environmental concerns if we added a new United States to the planet every three years for the next 20 years? This is not an academic question. The world population today is growing at exactly that rate, and it is projected to continue growing at that rate through 2020." The bulk of that population growth will come in the poorer countries, Schriesheim said, "places where talk of energy policy comes second to talk of food and shelter and survival; places where, if the only affordable fuel is growing in the rain forest, you will take that fuel today without a moment's thought of the consequences tomorrow." The Argonne scientist's talk was titled "What Every High School Graduate Should Know About Energy," and was part of the Chicago Academy of Sciences lecture series "Science Literacy for the 21st Century: What Should Every High School Graduate Know?" Schriesheim told the audience that world population growth of more than 86 million people per year is "the equivalent of adding two cities the size of Chicago to the planet each month." "So not only will all the Earth's current population demand more energy in the years ahead," he said, "those billions of new people are going to want their share too." Schriesheim chided energy executives who dismiss environmental concerns, and environmentalists who dismiss the energy production potential of fossil fuels, flowing water, and uranium in favor of so-called "renewable" energy sources such as solar energy. He said that for the next several generations renewables -- such as solar, wind, and farm-grown energy crops -- are expected to provide only 2 to 4 percent of global energy supplies.

Optimal Capital Structure Essay

The optimal capital structure for a company should be the mix of equity, debt and hybrid instruments that minimizes the overall cost of funding, i.e. it should minimize the company’s weighted average cost of capital. In practice, however, it is not possible to specify this optimal capital structure exactly, for any individual company. It clearly makes sense to obtain funds at the lowest possible cost. In the long run, debt is cheaper than equity. However, when a company’s financial leverage increases as it takes on more debt capital, there is an increasing risk for stockholders. The cost of equity therefore will rise, perhaps offsetting the benefits of raising cheap debt capital. Although management cannot be specific about the optimal capital structure for their company, they should at least be aware of †¢how banks and the capital markets might respond to an increase in the company’s leverage level if it were to borrow new funds, and †¢Whether the company is sufficiently low geared to make new debt capital an attractive option, compared to a new issue of equity as a fund-raising measure. There are two approaches to managing a company’s capital structure: a reactive and a proactive approach. The reactive approach is to take funding decisions when a requirement for more—or less—funding becomes apparent, and to raise or reduce capital by the method that seems best at the time. The proactive approach that is found in companies with large and well-organized treasury functions is to †¢forecast future funding requirements or funding surpluses as much as possible †¢establish targets for capital structure, in particular a target leverage level (a target range) and a target maturity profile for debt capital †¢If appropriate, raise funds early when new funding requirements are anticipated, in order to take advantage of favorable conditions in the capital markets or low bank lending rates. This approach calls for accurate and flexible forecasting skills, and good treasury management systems. A proactive approach also can be taken to reducing funds, whenever a company considers its current funding to be in excess of requirements for the foreseeable, long-term future. By having a target leverage level and a target debt maturity profile, management can decide which method of removing surplus capital might be more appropriate, i.e. †¢reducing equity, by raising dividends or buying back and canceling stocks, or †¢Redeeming loans early. Company’s capital structure is never static and will change over time. Retained earnings that should be earned continually add to equity and reduce leverage levels. It is not unusual, therefore, for companies to experience funding cycles of high leverage, as new loans are obtained to fund capital expansion, and decreasing leverage, as retained earnings are earned. The cash flows generated from profits could be used to redeem loans and thereby replace debt capital with equity in the company’s capital structure.

America and the world in the years to come

Alternate fuels refer to energy sources, which are not based on the burning of fossil fuels or nuclear fusion. Sustainable energy strategies are essential at this point if there has to be a security in energy supply for America and the world in the years to come. This is compounded by the fact that every effort is being made to reduce the greenhouse effect. Fossil fuels are becoming and will continue to be less favourable as advance in the 21st century (Wells 2005) Growing technology in alternate fuels includes alternate fuel vehicles, fuel cells.Much of the efforts in â€Å"clean energy† have focused on hydrogen applications in the transportation sector. Stationary power and electricity has attracted little focus, or even a combination of the two (Lipman and Brooks 2006) United States is ready for the use of alternate fuels as energy sources. The call for America now is working towards an energy security ensuring a sustainable future in energy needs. The needs for energy and power in the time come forecasted to keep growing (Holilian and Mayes 2003)America and all developed and developing nations need now more than ever before to ensure and secure their freedom from overseas oil dependence. Measures to get there should take an all-out, no bounds approach as the faster we get there the better for the country. Millions of US dollars will be saved by reducing petroleum imports to the country. The economy will also be strengthened (Jim Wells 2005). Countries like Brazil are already able to fuel nearly seventy percent (70%) of their vehicles in the country with ethanol, replacing oil as the primary fuel.That means that it is indeed possible to achieve freedom from foreign oil dependence. Nations all over the world are running for the same energy resources. With tensions in Iraq, Iran and Venezuela growing, accelerated by the equally growing demand for fossil oils, the strain cannot be trusted. Oil prices have been too unstable, hitting records highs per barr el in the recent past. Due to this factor, America can not help but be ready for alternate fuel sources or else it might have a hard time fuelling its economy in the near future.America is also ready for alternate fuel because the technology for utilization of alternate sources already exists. Whether it is fuel cells, or ethanol production plants or solar panels in different specifications, or wind mills of various sizes or even cars meeting specifications for use of alternate fuels, all these and various other technologies beg to be exploited maximally in order to achieve energy efficiently general motors alone has built more than 1. 5 million ethanol compliant vehicles (Giney Lee, Holilian and Mayes 2003)America is ready because, use of alternate sources means a better economy and employment opportunities for the American people. Exploiting use of alternate energy sources means the products produced locally gain added value. Businesses in the energy sector get to do more business . Expatriates in renewable energy get to do more. Research and development efforts by the department of energy get more engaged and provide more energy solutions. The rural America gets cheaper energy sources. In essence it is a plus for the economy. Finally, America is ready because, the world trend is moving towards a cleaner, greener environment.Insisting on use of fossil fuels provide no opportunities for the reduction of the green-house effort (Gordon 2001 . Use of alternate fuel sources means a cleaner environment, reduced carbon emissions and less toxic waste in our environment. A look at the various optious available for the US economy is inorder. Petrol, diesel and natural gas engines can be replaced by hydrogen-fuel cells. Hydrogen energy stations or power parks are becoming a consistent development within the United States. These energy stations would use fuel cells for electricity. Production by a stream of pure hydrogen (Lipman and Brooks 2006)Normally hydrogen is simpl y delivered or produced at a station using a fuel â€Å"reformer†, then compressed and supplied. Energy stations have the advantage that they can combine integrated systems for electricity production such that there is some for use within the precincts or supplies to the local grid, it can use any â€Å"waste-heat† for warming or cooling the building and use the purified hydrogen to fuel cars. There is potential for the growth of hydrogen as an alternative source. Various states are developing and others already finished their plans for the hydrogen revolution.State plans have completed in California, Ohio, New York, Florida, Massachusetts and Connectient are in their planning stages. Incorporating hydrogen stations into these plans would help to get there faster. Opportunities exist too for fleet based agreements with the state authorities such that hydrogen stations become feasible projects. There is potential in both private and public investment in hydrogen energy. Ethanol can be blended directly in petrol. Blends of up to 20% can be done without engine modifications. Dependant on the ethanol quality, ethanol blended diesels fuels need the use of emulsifiers and stabilizers.Ethanol is easily guaranteed from corn or even other grains like sorghum or other biomass like corn cobs, cornstalks, wheat, straw, rice straw, switch grass, vegetable and forestry waste. It is very ideal as a gasoline mixture for its ability to increase the near-complete combustion of gasoline, which means it is environmentally friendly. It can be produced in large quantities and of course its capital outlay is quite reasonable, it ends up benefiting the corn and other grain farmers by giving them right value for their product.Especially in rural America, ethanol is fast becoming highly demanded fuel. With a higher demand, has come also a high production. More plants are coming up and existing ones expanding capacity. Some farmers have together to put up ethanol productio n plants too. Ethanol has attracted investment from quarters like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Sir Richard Branson of the virgin Atlantic group, Vinold Khosla of the Silicon Valley wal-mart stores and also Shell and Exxon Mobil. This is bound to have a positive impact on the ethanol industry in the US.Wind energy is another available alternate energy source. It is clean and hence very attractive as an environmental friendly source of energy. The department of energy has increasingly invested in wind-generated power. In 2005, America improved its wind capacity more any other single nation in the world, bringing its overall national wind energy capacity to 9,149 megawatts. In the year that followed 2,454 megawatts of power were added totaling to a capacity of 11,603 megawatts. With initiatives like â€Å"wind powering America† the use of wind as an alternate wind source is bound to keep growing.Solar energy is another alternative and renewable source of energy. Also clean and it ca n be defined as heat or electricity from the sun when it hits a solar cell, when it hits an absorber surface and gives heat energy, when it hits a solar sail in a space craft, causing motion, when it hits a light causing it to rotate or when carried through fibre optic cables to give lighting in a building. Wave and fidal power are also used at the ocean frouts. Waves yield more energy than tides.America is yet to seriously experiment with this kind of energy source. Another biofuel that is available is the use of biogas that uses biomass from cows. It is still relatively used in small areas in America unlike countries like Sweden and Finland which 17% and 19% of their demand with biofuels. Looking at the various alternatives available to us, it appears like hydrogen would be the best for the reasons that it offers a unique combination of electricity generation, thermal energy and hydrogen production within an energy station (Lipman and Brooks).This co-generation ability means a muc h higher efficiently in energy conversion. Eventually that means lowered fuel costs, improved economics and increased energy security. The energy stations, due ability in different designs have various functional and economic trade-offs. How and medium temperature fuel cell design come in three varieties. The proton exchange membrane alkaline (PEM), and the phosphonic acid one. Current estimates for all three ranges from two thousand five hundred ($2, 5000) dollars to four thousand dollars ($4,000) per kilowatt of energy.The high temperature fuel cell design comes in two varieties namely molten carbon and solid oxide. Current estimates for the same are three thousand dollars ($3,000) to four thousand dollars ($4,000) per kilowatts. The hydrogen engine generation set which features a generator estimates currently at about three thousand dollars ($3,000) per kilowatt. Future estimates for the low and medium temperature fuel cell design oscillate between two thousand and fifty dollars to one thousand five hundred dollars ($250-$ 1, 5000) per kilowatt of energy.The high temperature fuel cell design future estimates for molten carbon and solid oxide averages two hundred and fifty dollars to one thousand dollars ($250-1, 000) per kilowatt. The hydrogen engine generator set’s estimate for the future is five hundred dollars ($500) per kilowatt (Lipman and Brooks 2006). The costs refer to the initial capital costs to enable an energy station to start operations. The costs associated will of course vary in solve areas depending on availability of facilities and the operating and maintenance costs.Economically the stations end up as more attractive options than sets that are dedicated entirely as hydrogen refueling systems. The transportation department seems to have a critical role in all this. It is by default, that the transport sector consumes the bulk of the fuel. Transport has a critical role to play in fictionalizing all sectors. Due to this factor, it is p ossible to use the transport department in organizations, government agencies and commercial fleets as change agents in introducing the new fuels.The use of hydrogen cells for example, require a considerably big fleet to make it commercially viable (Lipman and Brooks 2006) State projects could enter into memorandum of understanding with shuttle fleets and pools of cars owned jointly to have, them as stakeholders in implementation of energy blue prints. Beginning from here, the change can then spread to other people within the society. It is imperative for the federal government and individual state government to focus on the introduction of sustainace and development use of alternate energy source if America has to remain able to supply its energy needs in the long run.Hydrogen and ethanol are all attractive options for the America economy and further research and development efforts need to be initiated. Funding is also necessary as well as building cooperation between public and p rivate sectors. The states should be ready to offer funding, information and other incentives to take stakeholders to attract investment. In the face of all this, regulatory mechanisms are crucial to ensure that the public actually benefit from the emerging technologies. References Jeffrey M Gordon 2001 solar energy: issues position papersJames and James/Earthscan. Pp. 23-56. Lipman E Timothy and Brooks Cameron 2006: hydrogen energy statious: poly-production of electricity, hydrogen and thermal energy pp 5-23 Jim Wells 2005. University of California. Meeting energy demand in the 21st century many challenges and key questions: testimony before the subcommittee on energy and resource, committee on government reform, House of Representatives. Diane publishing Louise Gieny-lee, Peter Holilian and Fred Mayer. Renewable energy annual 2002 with preliminary data fro 2002 – 2003. Diane publishers’ pp 13-20

Enduring power of love: The Notebook

The Notebook, written by Nicolas Sparks, can be named one of the best American romantic novels. The book portrays every trait in a guy or girl would desire to have in a significant other. According to Nicolas Sparks, â€Å"it is a celebration of how passion can be ageless and timeless, tales that moves us to laughter and tears and makes us believe in true love all over again†. The Notebook was on the New York Times best-seller list within the very first week of release. It spent over a year as a hardcover best seller. Theresa Park, Nicolas Sparks’ agent, discovered the book after going through her slush pile, without hesitation, Park offered to represent him. In 1995, one year later, Sparks agent managed to secure a $1 million advance for it from Time Warner Book Group, the novel was then published the following year in October 1996. The Notebook was originally inspired by Sparks’ wife’s grandparents who had been married for over sixty years. Based on Sparks (2004), They had a truly magical relationship, one that withstood the test of time and circumstance. Ultimately their love for each other gave Sparks the idea to even consider on attempting describing their deep love. The main characters in the book were, Allison Nelson and Noah Calhoun. The two met at a carnival in a peaceful town of New Bern, North Carolina in 1946. Little did Allie and Noah know their bond would be more than just a summer romance of the 1940’s. While watching the movie, â€Å"The Notebook,† it differed from the book in several ways. From the way the two met, their heartbreaking breakup and the letters that Noah wrote Allison. However both versions were still incredibly amazing. The movie has much strength. The first strength is acting. Every actor and actress played their role well. Cassavetes’ first and only choice to play the role of Noah was Ryan Gosling (The Notebook). He did not want anyone else to play this role. As for Rachel McAdams, she had beaten nine other actresses to play the role of Allison. That is amazing! The older Allison was played by Cassavetes mother. Another strength in this movie was the plot. Without a good plot, there would be no point to the movie. The last and final strength in â€Å"The Notebook† is emotion. This film takes one through every motion imaginable. As for examples, when Allie and Noah split, the emotional response automatically takes a tole on someone. It’s as if, your actually apart of the movie. In the book, Allison and Noah met in 1932, at the time Allison was 15 and Noah was 17. But in the movie, they met in the year of 1940, where they both were around the same age of 17. According to Cassavetes, (unsolved), this movie was filmed in South Carolina because of its 1040’s look. Allison and Noah meet at a carnival, where Allison is very fond of Noah. With love in the air, they spent the rest of the night together until the carnival was over. However, in the movie, Noah became infatuated with Allison, and went to the extreme of insanity by jumping on the ferry’s wheel to ask her out. Noah plays remarkable in both and just makes the audience fall in love with his character. With most summer romances follows heartache. As for Noah and Allison, their fairytale love weren’t excluded. When the summer ended, Allison had to return back home, leaving Noah behind. With heartache comes conflict, according to the movie, Allison and Noah got into a huge fight before she left, which ultimately lead them regretting the whole disagreement. Nicolas Sparks, captured this moment perfectly, not only does it make the audience stand on edge; it also makes the viewer’s wonder could true love really occur this beautiful. According to Sparks (2004), True Love exists and there’s evidence of it every day. In 1932, Allison and Noah separate for fourteen years, but in the movie they separated in 1940 for only seven years. Many feel as if the huge timeline difference were to create tension for a more dramatic audience, considering younger audience would be drawn into the movie more. In the movie, Noah’s character is so much more romantic than in the book. Noah’s love for Allison was so strong in the movie, that he wrote her a letter every day for a year. That is three hundred and sixty five letters from a heart aching young man, who only wish in the world is to reunite with the love of his life. In the book, Noah wrote Allison one letter a month, the equivalent of only 12 letters. Cassavetes did a wonderful job into capturing such a raw talent and emotions that draws an audience attention. Unfortunately, Allison never receives one letter. So therefore, Noah had to mend his broken heart by moving on. Right before Noah left for the war, Noah sent his last love letter. The time frame was shortened for the movie, which made it a lot easier for younger audience to relate too. Nicolas Sparks, â€Å"The Notebook†, strongly informs the world on how true love exists, between a man and a woman. Noah and Allison had such true love that some way or another, their love carried them into the afterlife together. In both the book and movie, Noah sneaks Allison room, where they are currently in the nursing home due to their aging and health, and they both laid together all night long (Sparks, 1996, p. 204). When morning comes, the nurse finds them holding hands still and realizes they passed away together in their sleep. Noah stated, â€Å"If you’re a bird, I’m a bird† (Sparks, 1996, p. 103), clearly shows how deep their love remained. This remarkable story makes every young lady want to fall in love, and only hope to have a love like â€Å"The Notebook.† Allison and Noah’s love could outstand anything. Sparks has written the ultimately perfect fantast for the world. â€Å"I think the most obvious reason is that the story touched people in a deeply personal way. It seems that nearly everyone I spoke with about the novel knew a â€Å"Noah and Allie† in their own life.† (Sparks, 2004). The Notebook was amazingly directed, written and it is great to read and watch.

Revenue recognition Essay

The study has been conducted to have a view on Revenue Recognition and how is important for entities in financial reporting and the link between revenue recognition and creative accounting. The primary issue in accounting for revenue is to determining when to recognize revenue. Revenue is recognized when it is probable that future economic benefits will flow to the entity and these benefits can be measured reliably. There are identifiable criteria to be met and for revenue to be recognized. By definition, Revenue is the gross inflow of economic benefits during the period arising in the course of the ordinary activities of an entity when those inflows result in increases in equity, other than increases relating to contributions from equity participants. The entities revenue may be arising from the transactions and events, such as the sale of goods; the rendering of services; and the use by others of entity assets yielding interest, royalties and dividends. The recognition criteria usually applied separately to each transaction. However, in certain circumstances, it is necessary to apply the recognition criteria to the separately identifiable components of a single transaction in order to reflect the substance of the transaction transactions are dealt with shall be measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable. Fair value is the amount for which an asset could be exchanged, or a liability settled, between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transaction.1 Creative on the other hand refers to the use of accounting knowledge to influence the reported figures while the jurisdiction of accounting rules and laws, so that instead of showing the actual performance or position of the company, they reflect what the management want to tell the shareholders. It is the transformation of financial accounting figures from what they actually are to what preparer desires by taking advantages of the existing rules and /or ignoring some of them2. There are number of ways management can use to practice Creative accounting such the choice of accounting policy and also the use of artificial transactions to Revenue Recognition. The focus of this study lies more on the Revenue recognition a tool of creative accounting. The Management objective is to maximize shareholders wealth. Sometimes Organizations performance do not always be good to meet this objective, Management may use creative accounting tactics to create a good image of company (find ways to improve results) to meet the objective of shareholders. Also Management use creative accounting to maximize for their own wealth maximization, among other thing is end bonus and salaries increments Literature Review Revenue recognition Financial reporting statements are tools to communicate entity performance to internal and external users of its financial results information. Revenue recognition is important aspect of organizational. The performance organization is measured based on the results from its operations activities and the bottom line (the profit) plays a significant role. Revenue is determinant of performance of Organization since the profit which is indicator of organizational performance is the results of the Organization’s total revenue less total costs.Internation Accounting Standard (IAS) 18 Revenue recognition, specify criteria to meet for revenue to be recognized in Financial Statements. By definition, Revenue is the gross inflow of economic benefits (cash, receivables, other assets) arising from the ordinary operating activities of an entity (such as sales of goods, sales of services, interest, royalties, and dividends) Recognition of revenue, recognition, as defined in the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) Framework, means incorporating an item that meets the definition of revenue (above) in the income statement when it meets the following criteria, that: Its probable that any future economic benefit associated with the item of revenue will flow to the entity, and the amount of revenue can be measured with reliability. As mentioned, each activity has its recognition criteria on top of the one mention. These are as follows; Sale of goods  Revenue arising from the sale of goods should be recognized when all of the  following criteria have been satisfied: i. The seller has transferred to the buyer the significant risks and rewards of ownership ii. The seller retains neither continuing managerial involvement to the degree usually associated with ownership nor effective control over the goods sold iii. The amount of revenue can be measured reliably  iv. It is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the seller, and v. The costs incurred or to be incurred in respect of the transaction can be measured reliably Rendering of services For revenue arising from the rendering of services, provided that all of the following criteria are met, revenue should be recognized by reference to the stage of completion of the transaction at the balance sheet date (the percentage-of-completion method) i. The amount of revenue can be measured reliably; ii. It is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the seller; iii. The stage of completion at the balance sheet date can be measured reliably; and iv. The costs incurred, or to be incurred, in respect of the transaction can be measured reliably. When the above criteria are not met, revenue arising from the rendering of services should be recognized only to the extent of the expenses recognized that are recoverable (a â€Å"cost-recovery approach) Interest, royalties, and dividends For interest, royalties and dividends, provided that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the enterprise and the amount of revenue can be measured reliably, revenue should be recognized as follows: i. Interest: using the effective interest method ii. Royalties: on an accruals basis in accordance with the substance of the relevant agreement iii. Dividends: when the shareholder’s right to receive payment is established Creative Accounting Creative accounting refers to the use of accounting knowledge to influence the reported figures, while remaining within the jurisdiction of accounting rules and laws, so that instead of showing the actual performance or position of the company, they reflect what the management wants to tell the stakeholders. Purposeful intervention in the external financial reporting process with the intent of obtaining some exclusive gain. There are some many ways management can use to practice creative accounting such as choices of accounting policies, use of artificial transactions and revenue recognition. In this study, our main focus will be on later, the revenue recognition. Revenue Recognition is the most manipulated item. Deloitte on its review on what fraud scheme are most common, revenue recognition represent 41% of all fraud schemes in United States between 2000-2006.For Many Companies the revenue figure is a single aggregated big number. Creative accountant has always known that, one of the ways to inflate profit is to inflate revenue. In achieving this goal first they manipulate fair value measurement criteria. The criteria are subjective and depend upon the parties to the transactions integrity. The fair value determination is based on knowledge and willingness of the parties to the transactions. Secondly they recognize revenue before it is earned i.e. pre mature recognition of revenue. In complex transactions which involves the lengthy stages of sale especially with accrual system. The recognition of revenue in terms of its timing can be very unclear, therefore the opportunity for manipulation occurs and this can facilitate premature recognition of revenue. Before looking how revenue recognition link with creative accounting, first we have to look the motive behind Creative accounting. Dr. Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah and Dr. Safdar Butt in their article Creative Accounting: A Tool to Help Companies in a Crisis or a Practice to Land Them into Crises which also appeared on NBAA journal No.28 of April-June 2010states and explains the following as motives for creative accounting. To meet internal targets The managers want to cook the books for meeting internal targets set by higher management with respect to sales, profitability and share prices. Meet external expectations. Company has to face many expectations from its stakeholders. The Employees and customers want long term survival of the company for their interests. Suppliers want assurance about the payment and long term relationships with the company. Company also wants to meat analyst’s forecasts and dividend payout pattern. Provide income smoothing. Companies want to show steady income stream to impress the investors and to keep the share prices stable. Advocates of this approach favor it on account of measure against the ‘short-termism’ of evaluating an investment on the basis of the immediate yields. It also avoids raising expectations too high to be met by the management. Taxation The creative accounting may also be a result of desire for some tax benefit especially when taxable income is measured through accounting numbers. Change in management There is another important tendency of new managers to show losses due to poor management of old management by some provisions Revenue Recognition as method for Creative accounting practices There are number of ways management use to conduct creative management, among them is revenue recognition. Firms virtually have a free hand in timing the booking of their revenues at any stage starting from the moment sales contracts are signed till the promised product or service has been fully delivered to and accepted by the clients. For this we can refer to a classic example of Microsoft which was heavily fined by US SEC for its manipulative revenue recognition policy. Microsoft recognized only a small percentage (20-30%) as revenue at the time of the sale and remaining amount was kept as provision for future after sales services. Why Microsoft adopted that strategy. The answer is to (1) hide substantial profits, (2) signaling effects, (3) avoiding complacency and last but not the least (4) to report smoothed  earnings to its shareholders & stakeholders.3 Moreover, NBAA Account Journal vol.25 No 4 October –December 2010, outline ways in which Revenue Recognition can be used as a method of creative accounting. This include but not limited to Common revenue Manipulations and channel stuffing, Multiple element arrangements, side letters or agreement and non substantive round trip arrangement, Bill and hold arrangements, backdated contracts and Fictitious transactions Common revenue Manipulations Revenue recognition irregularities often involves both omission and commission acts which are inherently either or both inclusive and exclusive of creative accounting manipulation.In books and records include commissions such as false entries,misstated contracts,back dating,misapplication of accounting standards.Commissions result into overstated revenue,mis-timing of recognition,overstated receivables. Channel Stuffing Channel Stuffing is a practice of bringing revenue forward from future fiscal periods.This is done by inducing customers to submit purchase orders in advance.Channel Stuffing is an example of real earning management which involves manipulation of real or normal operations to influence reported performance. A good example of channel stuffing is Coca cola channel stuffing practice of 1997 to 1999 where coca cola offered downstream bottlers extended credit to induce them to purchase more than demanded. Multiple element arrangements, IAS 18 provides guidance on revenue gain from the normal sale of goods and provision of services. The complex issues that arise from the principle-agent relationship and multiple element arrangement .The revenue collected for third parties is not to be recognized by an entity.For example, in a telecommunication industry, operator firm form alliances and enter into Side letters or agreement This involves act of seller to credit the buyer for unsold goods or to provide future stock rotation rights or to extend payment terms such that a transaction becomes a consignment Bill and hold arrangements, This include the sale of product and performing the warehousing service for the product.It is a contract of supplying goods where the seller transfer the title but does not transfer physically deliver the goods until a later date. The bill and hold arrangement are popular in the oil and gas industry as well as international sales.They are only acceptable when it is probably that the delivery will be made,the items on hand is identified and ready for delivery to the buyer at the time when sale is recognized, the buyer specifically recognizes the differed delivered instructions and the usual payment terms apply. The sale on bill and hold arrangement must satisfy conditions that the seller only retains the goods for safe keeping and shipping and the goods must not used by the seller to fulfill other orders. When these condition are met then sales can be recognized on a bill and hold arrangements. In practice these rules can be violated by seller and this go to be an act of creative accounting. The specific case in point would be on timing of the recognition between years as the transfer of risks and rewards can be distinguish and difficult to uncover. Therefore due to this the Revenue recognition can be shifted forward or backward to suit the needs of the creative accounting. Backdated Contracts Backdating of revenues contracts facilitates early recognition of revenue than normally expected recognition date. Company must comply with any laws, rules and regulations relating to dating documents used in business. Any departure from this may attract litigation because such backdating may amount to fraud, forgery and criminal offenses. Recognition of revenue earlier than its expected date act as a method of creative accounting because the financial statements for early recognition period will not present a true and fair value of the company’s performance, rather performance results from manipulated figure through creative accounting. Genuine Transaction Genuine transactions can also be timed so as to give the desired impression  in the accounts. As an example, suppose a business has an investment at historic cost which can easily be sold for a higher sales price, being the current value. The managers of the business are free to choose in which year they sell the investment and so increase the profit in the accounts Fictitious Transactions Financial Statements are inflated by recording sales of goods or services that never occurred or by inflating actual sales. This is one of the leading malicious manipulations than the other type of earning management because it engrosses documents falsification, forgeryand manipulation. On the other hand fictitious revenue can be accomplished with side agreements, contra agreements (sales that offset a purchase transaction) and conditional sales. Practical Example Xerox Corporation Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2001 Xerox Corporation had the habit of recognizing leasing payments as sales. In April 2002, after an investigation by the SEC, the American company was forced to reclassify its financial statements for the years 1997 to 2000 and reduce recognized revenues by US$3,000 million and profits by US$1,500 million, with equity being reduced in the same amount. As a result, the SEC fined Xerox US$10 million. By that time, the price of the company’s shares had plummeted from US$62 to US$4.5. How did this company manipulate its revenue figures? Xerox sold customers photocopiers under long-term agreements, in which the customers paid a sum of money to Xerox, part of which was to purchase the machine and the other part to cover repairs and maintenance on a long-term basis. This was not problematic in itself from a bookkeeping perspective, provided that the amount corresponding to the sale price of the machine was recognized as revenue in the first year, plus revenues corresponding to maintenance services in the current year, transferring the rest of the received amount to deferred Revenues, which, in turn, were recorded as sales in the year in which the repair services were rendered. So, if a photocopier, for example, is valued at US$100, and five-year maintenance costs US$50, the customer would pay Xerox US$150 when purchasing the machine. The correct accounting method for recording this operation, if the transaction were performed on 1 January, would be to recognize US$110 of sales in year 1 and US$10 of sales in each of the following four years. Accounting malpractice on the part of Xerox consisted in recognizing US$125 of revenues from the sale of the machine, thus undervaluing the amount of future repair services, recording US$130 as revenues in year 1 and deferring only US$20 over the remaining four years of the contract. In this way, it increased year 1profits substantially and reduced future profits. The total amount of the transaction in sales remained the same (US$150); the problem is simply the timing of the recognition of these sales ENRON Enron and other energy merchants earned profits by providing services such as wholesale trading and risk management in addition to developing electric power plants, natural gas pipelines, storage, and processing facilities. When taking on the risk of buying and selling products, merchants are allowed to report the selling price as revenues and the products costs as cost of goods sold. In contrast an â€Å"agent† provides a service to the customer, but does not take on the same risks as merchants for buying and selling. Service providers, when classified as agents, are able to report trading and brokerage fees as revenue. Enron’s method of reporting inflated trading revenue was later adopted by other companies in the energy trading industry in attempt to stay competitive with the company’s large increase in revenue. Enron’s use of distorted, â€Å"hyper-inflated† revenues was more important to it in creating the impression of innovation, high growth, and spectacular business performance than the masking of debt. Between 1996 to 2000, Enron’s revenues increased by more than 750%, rising from $13.3 billion in 1996 to $100.8 billion in 2000. This extensive expansion of 65% per year was unprecedented in any industry, including the energy industry which typically considered growth of 2-3% per year to be respectable for just the first nine months of 2001; Enron reported $138.7 billion in revenues, which placed the company at the sixth position on the Fortune global 500. Group Discussion Regarding Revenue Recognition The Management objective is to maximize shareholders wealth and this is achieved when the companies they are managing are performing well, recording high revenue figure and a good bottom line figure, the profit. Though this study we have learn that, Revenue recognition and Creative accounting is a tool which is much like a weapon. If used correctly it can be of great benefit to the user but if it is mishandled it can cause much harm. Many people are taking creative accounting as negative act; the image to their mind is that creative accounting is dishonest act and manipulation of figures. Though the study we have learned out that Creative accounting has both advantages and disadvantages. It can help the company to get out of a crisis than land them to a crisis. Therefore our discussion will focus much the advantages of creative accounting as the results of Revenue Recognition to the Organization. Not all aspects of revenue are covered under IAS 18 (Revenue Recognition), which give the room to management to use their judgments which will ends up with results favors position. For example IAS 18 provides guidelines on revenue gain from the normal sale of goods and provision of services. The revenue that arises from the principle-agent relationship and multiple element arrangement is not falls on the two. Deciding whether one operator is acting as an agent in delivering of services is subjective and unclear. Thus the decision will be based on matter of judgment and circumstances of situation. When Management use their judgment to recognize revenue for situation like this we can not say they have manipulated the figure, therefore creative accounting become advantageous to them. Creative accounting also can be used in genuine transactions. For example, the disposal of Investment, the authorization of sale lies on owners but the decision on when to sale is on hands of Management. For example, if the Company have investment of TZS 2m at historical cost which can be easily sold for TZS 3m in current Value, when authorized to sale, the Management of Company are free to choose in which year to sell the investment and to increase profit in the company results. Due to the tendency of Investors preference on smooth income to up and down  income, Management would like to dispose this Investment in the period when they see the entity’s performance is poor. The revenue from sale will help to boost their performance and end up reporting smooth income and help to meet expectations. This is creative accounting, but applied on genuine transaction and according to the requirement of the transaction. Revenue recognition acts as a method of creative accounting but on genuine transaction. The two examples we have discussed explain in brief how weapon, creative accounting could be beneficial to Company. When using creative accounting on in good manner, if the Company is in crisis, can help the company to acquire loans from Bank, to attract Investors and also to motivate employees because not only lenders and Invertors interested with Company Performance, Employees also interested to assure their job security and this is important because will enable the Company to retain their key personnel and also attract more qualified workers Conclusion Creative Accounting is both desirable and undesirable. It depends on the point of one’s argument. The practice of creative management has some advantages and disadvantages. Creative accounting is a tool which helps a company to get out of crisis than to land in it. It is much like a weapon. If used correctly it can be a great benefit to the user. Some advantages of creative accounting as a result of revenue recognition has helped to stabilize share prices, helps/helped companies to straighten their borrowing limits and rescue companies from hostiles takeover. On other hand it has brought more harm to companies especially through untimely corporate failures that have brought immense losses to various stakeholders. Also the improper use of such creative accounting practices had fooled both auditors and regulators in the past and it continues to do the same. The complex and diverse nature of the business transactions and the latitude available in the accounting standards and policies make it difficult to handle the issue of creative accounting. It is not that creative accounting solutions are always wrong. It is the intent and the magnitude of the disclosure which  determines its true nature and justification. Revenue recognition can as a tool can enhance both advantage and disadvantages of creative accounting. When Revenue recognition applied on genuine transaction and company end up with good results it enhance the advantages of using creative accounting practices but the worse of it is when it is used to recognize revenue on artificial transactions and fictitious transactions, this end up landing the company into crisis like ENRON, this is disadvantages of practicing creative accounting. REFERENCE 1. The Accountant. The Journal of the National Board of Accountants and Auditors Tanzania.No.4 October-December,2010 2. The Journal of the National Board of Accountants and Auditors Tanzania.Vol.25 No.28 April-June 2012 3. The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2001 4. Oriol,Amat:Journal of Economic Literature classification: M41.Creative Accounting: Nature, Incidence and Ethical Issues