Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Strategic Evaluation Document for Boots

| Strategic Evaluation Document for Boots| e-Commerce| Words: 4,998| Ei Cho Mon| MCC Training Institute, Yatanarpon| | Contents 1 Management Summary3 2. Introduction4 3. Strategic Evaluation6 3. 1 SWOT analysis6 Strength6 Weakness6 Opportunity7 Threats7 3. 2 PEST analysis7 Political7 Economic8 Social8 Technology8 4. Impact of IS9 5. E-Marketing Strategy11 5. 1 E-Marketing strategy I will advise the organization to adopt11 5. 2 The value proposition and differential advantage of this strategy11 . Legal and ethical issues13 7. Conclusion14 8. References15 1 Management Summary As an experienced consultant, I have been invited by Boots Senior Management. I need to put together a strategic plan based on the evidence supplied. The Management is also seeking a thorough investigation into the analysis of the impact of the new system on the culture and the productivity of the organization. I produce a management report title by â€Å"Strategic Evaluation Document for Boots†.In this rep ort, I investigate the impact of the new IT/IS system on the culture and productivity of the organization and also I identified the evidence that corroborates, or falsifies the claim that the new system has delivered value and provided the organization competitive advantage that Boot’s management were seeking. Boots is a retailer company that launched Advantage Card base on the result of recording purchasing patterns and customers’ behaviors. Boots already have analysts and marketers and also the database system exist too.But Data didn’t flexible and also query response times are taking so long. Therefore, Boots managed Customer Data Analysis System (CDAS) by using the help of IBM. After using this system, the problems are nearly solved. Boots want to gets customer to use their brand all over their lifetime. So, it intends to make Campaign Management System. In the future, Boots’ valuable customer will purchase Boots product peacefully and happily. To ach ieve all of this, Boots’ analysts try to research all possible ways of marketing strategy, legal and ethical issues.It is a bit difficult to research the big company system but I try my best to collect all require data and information. 2. Introduction Boots is the long life retailer that stands as a private limited company. Its main marketing environment is the Toiletries, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Beauty, and Photography. Boots also have a strategy for their market. But for the company’s growing team of analysts and marketers, it is driving to change its strategy as a customer-centered view from the traditional product category focus according to the information on purchasing patterns.According to the result of strategy manager, Boots have the loyalty data related with customer for a real impact on the business. To fulfill their plan of changing company’s culture, Boots intend to make Advantage Card for their customers. Advantage Card plan is depend on custo mer behaviors for Boots. So, they research extensive trials for two year in the Norwich and Plymouth areas. These trials tested out the reward levels and had begun to identify what card holders wanted from Advantage Card plan. Boots targets women as the majority. For this time, Boots want heir scheme different from the others. So, they focus to give ‘treats’ to card holder customers. Customer will be rewarded with a personal item that they would not normally buy for themselves. This scheme got a good result for Boots because its sales growth is even greater than expected in two years. Boots invested around ? 25 million for Advantage Card including database in first year to get a significant sales growth that was an important part of the rational for the scheme. Boots more value the records that focus to consumer behavior which can reveal the buying patterns.To get these valuable records, Boots use sophisticated data management and analysis tools. The grower the customer database, the greater the result of boots will be. Boots’ IS team and the marketing department researched thoroughly the available options for the new customer analysis system even though it is a long-established customer of IBM. But IBM can offer a complete solution and the retail experience of their support team to Boots. So, database project started at 1997 and project went well. But it is very much state of the art technology and IT is also difficult for everyone at first.After researching more than 2 years about individual card holder transaction records and a selection of non-card holder sales records, the size of the database was larger and larger. Therefore, Boots wanted to get the right structure database with maximum flexibility and also it can achieved to store data at the lowest level of granularity for user to build it up to any level they require during analysis. Commercial analysts can also have rapid real time access to all of the data without having to make special requests on IS support. The database structure should be to support the analytical process.To fulfill all the requirements, Boots decided to use Customer Data Analysis System (CDAS) by giving advice from IBM. According to the support of this system, most queries response times were 30 times faster than before even though the database has reached 1. 200 GB. Because of this, the analysts of Boots were delighted. CDAS includes IBM’s intelligent Miner for Data being used for more advanced data mining such as segmentation and predictive modeling. Analysts are more interests in the behavior of groups of customers. They use market basket analysis to provide insight into the product purchasing repertories of different groups of customers.By using the advantage card data, the insight team has been able to identify four groups of promotion buyers. They are:The deal seekers (ever buy promotional lines), Stockpilers (bulk buying and then don’t visit for weeks), Loyalists ( revert to their usual buying patterns),New market (buy items on promotion, continue to purchase same product). By using the result of analysts, marketers can understand what they are achieving via their promotions, rather than just identifying the uplift. Analyzing market basket trends by shopper over time is also providing Boots with a new view of its traditional products categories.Boots builds up its understanding by combining data from a number of customer dimensions: RFM (Recency, Frequency and Monetary value) analysis enhanced with profitability. Boots managed Boots relationship marketing programme enabled by the Advantage Card. To fulfill this relationship marketing, Boots is planning to make Specific campaigns system. This system will provide customer-center view technique. Campaign management system is based on CDAS development by IBM. By integrating campaign management system within the analytic environment of CDAS become the main strengths of Boots. 3. Strategic Evaluatio nBoots is a retailer company in United Kingdom. Boots marketing strategy change from the traditional product category focus to a customer-centered view. Boots already launched Advantage Card to fulfill customer requirements. By recording consumer behaviors in database, Boots collect the source data for their strategy. This technique is useful for Boots but database size is larger and larger and also data doesn’t flexible. The users, analysts took a long time to research require data. So, this becomes one of the problems for Boots. By using Customer Data Analysis System (CDAS), Boots can solve this problem.One of the purposes of Boots is to change Loyalist customer to New Market and to remain New Market customer as Loyalist. The later, Boots also want to create Campaign Management System to give pleasurable shopping to loyal customer of Boots. To complete these purposes, Boots need to consider the organization’s current position by using SWOT and PEST analysis. 3. 1 SWO T analysis Strength * Launching Advantage card scheme- This is a very valid vision. It can improve Boots sales growth and also can get the trust and respect from customers. It can also supply a loyalty market environment. Real time access over CDAS- It can reduce the time that will take to ask special requests on IS support. By having real time access, analysts can analyst consumer data more effectively. * Making Brand Loyalty over customer- Customer loyalty is one of the important parts for Boots marketing strategy. Having loyalty customers supply Boots to create strong business environment. For an instant, a shopper visiting Boots once a fortnight and buying nappies is probably buying from a number of supply sources whereas one calling at the store twice a week probably gets most of her baby’s nappy needs from Boots.This increases nappy sales. * Customer Focus- Boots pride itself on developing experience retail and wholesale teams which manages their respective areas. By do ing this, Boots creates an internal management system, managing customers purchasing habits. Weakness * Treats – Rewarding Treats to customer can be pleasure but too much treats can make customers annoying and also become careless vision for Boots products when treats are repeat and repeat. * Large stores overwhelm small stores – Branching a group of stores in particular geographical area can provide Boots customer to buy boots products any time, any where.But large stores are more persuade customer than the small stores. So, it will be a waste of store, staff, money and time. E. g. Boots large store and small store are together in the same area, and then customer will go to large store and ignore small stores. * Cannibalization – Customer behaviors can supply Boots analysis a lot but customer manners can change. If it comes out like that, that will be a big damage for Boots. For example, when boots produce a new and similar products, customer only buy these new products and never return to his/her original products. CDAS – This system can almost fulfill the requirements of database system but it also has a weak point. When analysts analyst the result of recording data, there can be different point of view to make decision. Sales growth conversion can appear also. * Time delays can be caused at the Point of Sales due to updating of points into card. Opportunity * Campaign management system – This will be a good opportunity for Boots. By planning campaign management system, Boots can persuade customer according to seasons, holiday and festival. Boots Gifts & Christmas TV show launched in December is a good example of this.This will give customer’s peace and earn extra points. * Relationship marketing – By making customer to become lifetime customer, boots will get a valuable customers of the future. Relationship marketing can give personal or emotional connectivity to Boots customer. By giving direct mail to valu able customer will be an example for this. * From Loyalist to new market – this will also be a good opportunity. If loyalist customer changes to new market, boots products point of sale growth will increase and also boots need to maintain new market customer as loyalist.For an instant, Customer buy skin care products often buy hair-care products in promotions and then Customer continually buy both skin care products and hair-care products. * 4% growth – quantifiable growth rate in second year Threats * Customer personal data usage – This can suffer customer personality by recording consumer purchasing data. * Competition – there will also be other companies that will use the same techniques and strategies. * Loss of revenue – promotion will get revenue in average. If deal seekers and stockpilers involved then that will be damage to point of sales system. E. g.When Boots promote bodycare products, deal seekers and stockpilers bought these more then promotions will meet fill. * If Loyalist customers get multiple treats then it will be co placement and also overwhelm options for repeat purchase as new market. 3. 2 PEST analysis Political * Toiletries and pharmacy market are the market provided the basic requirements of daily life so that this can’t affect Political directly. But making a promotion system will directly relate to Political. If Country policy changed, then promotion techniques will be unstable conditions. * Planning Campaign management system will also directly imply Political.For example, Boots plan to produce new Christmas TV show but policy change than it will be a failure. * Advantage Card can also affect on political. Advantage card scheme based on customer behavior so policy changing can be imply to reduce or improve sales growth of Boots business strategy. Economic * Rewarding treats may be a good idea for promotion. But sometimes too much rewarding treats make affects to Boots promotion system. * Boo ts launched Advantage Card scheme in 1997 and this will be a great future for Boots as this development is more efficient and reliable for most customers. Investigating ? 25million over database system will be an important part of the rational for Advantage Card Scheme. It already had great profit in first year. So, sophisticated data management and analysis tools can give Boots a big effort. Social * Relationship marketing system will change according to the culture of people. This can affect Boots’ sales growth. * Discussing basic customer demographic data (such as age, gender, number of children and postcode) to expend business environment can affect Social. Sometimes, customers don’t like to tell their personal. Targeting geographical area to open a group of Boots stores led to a greatly improved understanding of the role different stores play within that area. Technology * Customer Data Analysis System (CDAS) is one the main techniques for Boots database system. I t can reduce time and cost. * Analyzing market basket trends by shopper over time is also providing Boots with a new view of its traditional product categories. * Real time Access – This can improve analysts’ analyzing system more rapidly. By using this, can reduce time to requests on IS support. 4. Impact of ISBoth Science and technology are already developed and also technological innovations develop along already. It results to the emergence of new equipment and gadgets. For all big or small company, technology transports both intangible and tangible advantages to turn into cost efficient and to get together the growing orders and requirements of customers. Technological advances change business efficiency, traditions and relationship between employees, clients, suppliers and customers. The type and quality of technology used influence the security of classified business information.All big and small companies depend upon computers to achieve their administrative wo rks when the trouble brought by organizational tasks, like inventory, bookkeeping and records keeping. Because of producing Internet and online social networking sites reduced the costs of business operations. One advantage of it is to become more useful and easy for companies to use Six Sigma management methodologies. Some firms changed to outsourcing rather hiring their own personnel between the low costs correlated with it.According to the huge impact of technological innovations to companies, it will be impossible for them to live with it. Advantages of Technology to Business: * Customer Relations. Technology concerns the way companies correspond and create relations with their clients. In a fast moving and business environment, it is crucial for them to interrelate with clients frequently and rapidly to expand their trust and to attain customer reliability. By using Internet and online social networks, firms cooperate with consumers and respond all their queries concerning the product.Launching useful communication with customers not only produces connection with them, but it also creates strong public image. It permits business enterprises to decrease and to slice carbon dioxide emissions. * Business Operations. Amid the exercise of technological improvements, business owners and entrepreneur understand their cash flow better, how to manage their storage costs well and enables business to save time and money. * Corporate Culture. Technology lets employees communicate and interact with other employees in other countries.It establishes clique and prevents social tensions from arising. * Security. Modern security equipment enables companies to protect their financial data, confidential business information and decisions. * Research Opportunities. It provides a venue to conduct studies to keep themselves ahead of competitors. It allows companies to virtually travel into unknown markets. * Corporate Reports. With technology, business enterprises communicate e ffectively with their branch offices to deliver quality financial and operational reports. Disadvantages of Technology to Business Unemployment – While information technology may have streamlined the business process it has also created job redundancies, downsizing and outsourcing. This means that a lot of lower and middle level jobs have been done away with causing more people to become unemployed. * Privacy – Though information technology may have made communication quicker, easier and more convenient, it has also bought along privacy issues. From cell phone signal interceptions to email hacking, people are now worried about their once private information becoming public knowledge. Lack of job security – Industry experts believe that the internet has made job security a big issue as since technology keeps on changing with each day. This means that one has to be in a constant learning mode, if he or she wishes for their job to be secure. * Personal Touch â€⠀œ Technology streamlines business processers, but in order to do so, it often displaces the personal touch of business (e. g. getting an automated service instead of a phone representative when calling a company. ) * Commonness – The commonness of a technology in business tempers the disadvantages of that technology to some degree.For instance, since so many companies use the Internet, network specialists are very familiar with how to fix issues of network security, speed and connectivity. Boots culture also has significantly changed over the years. In the early years boots had its own its structure which basically dealt with all IT needs. Consequently, boots has realized that over the years it can improve on its IT infrastructure, granted that the company boost its pride on consumer satisfaction. Boots launched its Advantage Card scheme by researching in Norwich and Plymouth areas between two years trials.According to these trials, reward levels are tested out. This had beg un to identify what card holders wanted from the scheme. Boots total invest ? 25 million to both Advantage Card and database. For boots, a significant slaes growth was an important part of the rationale for the scheme. Boots already have IS team and database. Boots is a long-established IBM customer. Before the implementation of available options for the new customer analysis system with IBM, Boots’ IS team originally researched it. IBM can give the real value during the solution development cycle.The database project started in 1997 and the project generally went well. But it is very much state of the art technology and it give a lot more painful at times than expected. At first, IT is very uncomfortable and so no one wants to use it. After using this more than 2 years, card holder transaction records and a selection of non-card holder sales records that provides card holder behavior are increased and increased. The size of the database was going to be a challenge for perfor mance. Analysts want database flexibility, rapid real time access to all of the data without having to make special request on IS support.It was necessary for Boots to restructure their ongoing out sourcing deal with IBM. The company’s main aim for the improvement in its IT sector, is to focus on how it can improve its customer relationship, decreasing its IT operational cost and improve on its delivery capabilities. To fulfill this, Boots create CDAS according to IBM’s DB/2 UDB database under AIX. After 18 months the database has reached 1,200 GB but most queries take a few minutes to run. Boots customer insight strategy team runs 23 full-time analysts. Finally, Boots plan to manage Campaign Management System to provide customers’ peace of mine. . E-Marketing Strategy E-Marketing Strategy is a major part for every kind of business. By using e-marketing strategy, there are many aspects to be a successful business. The e-Marketing Strategy is normally based and b uilt upon the principles that govern the traditional, offline Marketing. E-marketing strategy is significant as with any strategy to recognize. Finding the business environment is also the important part such as intentional groups, originating massage, choosing the right media, tools and services. Thinking based on strategy is also an essential part.Therefore will I look into the; â€Å"how†, â€Å"what† and â€Å"why† of e-marketing, remote the advantages and pointing out how it varies from traditional marketing and communication methods and how knowledge about communication and marketing theories, technology tools, innovation and creativity can assist an enterprise to advance its e-marketing. E-marketing strategy in this term paper represents the whole thing from the conceptualization of a full e-marketing strategy, during to the completion of a range of methods, tools and services needed to make that strategy a reality.A defined e-marketing strategy should ex plicitly identify the business goals which e-marketing efforts support the enterprise to achieve. 5. 1 E-Marketing strategy I will advise the organization to adopt There are four targeting strategies that E-marketers mostly select. * Mass marketing (undifferentiated targeting) – when the firm offers one marketing mix for the entire market. * Multi-segment marketing – when a firm selects two or more segments and designs marketing mix strategies specifically for each.Most firms use a multi-segment strategy. * Niche marketing – when a firm selects one segment and develops one or more marketing mixes to meet the needs of that segment. * Micromarketing (individualized targeting) – when a firm tailors all or part of the marketing mix to a very small number of people. In this case of Boots, the best e-marketing strategy will be to pursue Multi-segment marketing, by dividing into many sub-markets from bigger markets and an organization chooses different marketing strategies to reach each sub-market it targets.The reason of choosing this strategy is because Boots offer multiple products within a larger product category for consumer. For an instant, the main category, Toiletries, there are many kinds of products such as Hair care, Hair Accessories, Tooth brushes, Tooth paste, etc. 5. 2 The value proposition and differential advantage of this strategy There are different segmentations of marketing strategy that I chose. They are Geographic segmentation, demographic segmentation, Behavioral segmentation and Psychographic segmentation, etc. All of these segmentations focus on customer center view.For analysts and marketers of Boots, this strategy will probably apply effectively. Geographic segmentation divides the Boots market into regions characterized by climate, population and cultural differences. This type of segmentation often occurs naturally. For example, Boots produces Suncare of Beauty products and it won’t advertise in the midd le of December. However, some geographic segmentation strategies are deliberate: Boots will produce Beauty products in different countries based on cultural tastes. This segmentation strategy can provide Boots effectively when promotions come.Demographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on age, family, income, occupation, education, religion and many other variables, For example, Children clothing from Boots only target on children and mother and target higher income families. Demographic targeting is so specific that marketers have developed acronyms for certain markets; for example, Drinks stands for double income, no kids. Most tactical plans in marketing involve demographic segmentation. Boots really need this segmentation for researching of purchasing patterns and customer behaviors.Behavioral segmentation focuses marketing efforts on consumers’ researched behavior toward the product. For example, if most consumers purchase a product during the Christmas holiday season, behavioral segmentation would encourage heavier marketing in the time leading up to that season. In addition to specific occasions like holidays, other variable include usage rate for the product, the benefits consumers seek from the product and consumers’ status as a first-time or card holder. This segmentation will effect at Campaign Management system.Marketers who distribute activities, interests and opinion (AIO) surveys are conducting research for psychographic segmentation, which alters marketing strategy according to consumers’ lifestyle preferences. This method of segmentation is useful when Boots wants to make its brand’s image more appealing to specific consumers. By discovering the values and attitudes of consumers who most frequently use the product, Boots can improve their public relations strategies and build brand lyalty. Multi-Segment Marketing helps companies achieve stronger positioning.Positioning is creating a distinct percep tion in customers’ mind about what makes Boots products different and better. Having more narrowly defined segments makes it easier for marketers to deliver effective messages that convey the benefits and value desired by that distinct segment. By breaking customers into defined segments, Boots can remove prospects from consideration when selecting media for message deliver. Messages delivered to people not in a given segment have little business benefit and wastes money. Segmenting markets and selectively distributing marketing messages improves the value of the message.Carefully and accurately defined market segments can gives a competitive advantage over competitors. Essentially, Boots that best understands what makes customers unique within a segment, and different from one segment to the next. By better knowing customer segments, Boots is most likely to deliver an effective value proposition that entices the customer to Boots brand. Boots can perform more targeted resear ch to learn more about customers and deliver messages that best match their brand strengths to their needs and wants.If Boots is planning camping system, for instance, presenting an add in an outdoor or adventure magazine might make sense given likely interests of the business market. Selecting the best media class and vehicle to deliver Boots marketing messages is crucial to efficient marketing. Market segments are known for utilizing certain types of media more often. 6. Legal and ethical issues As a long range business company, Boots need to consider Legal and ethical issues. Legal and ethical issues are directly affect business strategy, and how business deal with challenges involving government agencies, legislation, or the press.Ethics is a branch of philosophy and according to the â€Å"Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, â€Å"business ethics is the branch of ethics that considers moral activities in a commercial enterprise. In practice, businesses are looking for policie s that ensure legal compliance and confidentiality, examine diversity and management issues, and encourage employee honesty. In these legal and ethical issues, minimizing the privacy issues of organization is an important part of Business Company. That guideline is very useful in Boots because Boots marketing strategy is based on customer data and purchasing pattern.If the important data are spreading to the other rival company, this will cause a big scratch for company. So, Access to personal information should be limited to individuals that have proper authorization. Individuals should be able to review their records and correct any inaccuracies. For instant, allowing all users to read, write and edit every part of organization can occurred data lost and data copyright. So, this way will be save ethical issues. Boots also use internet to give information, promotion message to its valuable customer.By using internet is very supportive for business but the raise of the Internet has brought forth many new legal issues. For instant, Cybercrime, a term for illegal acts that occur online, includes â€Å"phishing† and identity theft. â€Å"Phishing† occurs when an official-looking email, usually spam, asks for a user’s private information. To prevent this, there must be a well-defined purpose for collecting and maintaining the Internet user data and also only the data that is needed for the specified purpose should be collected. To protect Data of business organizations, US produce Selected US Data Protection Laws.They are: * Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires websites to get parental consent before collecting personally identifying information from children 13 or younger. * Graham-Leach-Bliley Act- requires notice and â€Å"opt-out† consent before financial business may sell or share consumers’ financial information. * HIPAA – protects the privacy of health care information by medical providers and in surers. * ADA – limits access and requires employers to protect the confidentiality of disability-related information. Above laws are very essential for all organizations and already fit for Boots business.By using these laws for company, organization system will be secure to the gathering, processing, distribution and use of information on the Internet. 7. Conclusion Finally, is is a summary report based on the expert study required from the management of Boots. In this report, I consider strategic evaluation by using SWOT and PEST analysis. Both analyses for Boots are really useful for considering the organization’s current position. For example, In Strength, Launching Advantage card scheme- This is a very valid vision. It can improve Boots sales growth and also can get the trust and respect from customers.It can also supply a loyalty market environment. For weakness, Treats – Rewarding Treats to customer can be pleasure but too much treats can make customers annoying and also become careless vision for Boots products when treats are repeat and repeat. In PEST analysis, investigating ? 25million over database system will be an important part of the rational for Advantage Card Scheme. It already had great profit in first year. So, sophisticated data management and analysis tools can give Boots a big effort is sample for Political. In my report, I already use Four (4) E-Marketing Strategies.Mass marketing (undifferentiated targeting),Multi-segment marketing, Niche marketing, Micromarketing (individualized targeting). For Boots, I chose Multi-segment marketing because of its segmenting strategies are the most suitable for Boots. Finally, Boots has done so far with developing a loyalty card scheme to collect data then analyzing them by using the CDAS system is a excellent basis for the understanding the consumer behavior in order to implement recommended e-Marketing strategies to raise the generally long term sales growth. 8. References http ://www. azpublishing. org/articles/hd/index. php? =disadvantages+of+relationship+marketing : 12:28 AM 11/20/12 http://www. strategicdriven. com/marketing-blog/bid/78310/5-Benefits-of-a-Relationship-Marketing-Strategy : 12:29 AM 11/20/12 http://www. boots. com/en/Photo/Digital-Cameras/ : 12:29 AM 11/20/12 http://ezinearticles. com/? e-Marketing-Strategy:-7-Dimensions-to-Consider-%28the-e-Marketing-Mix%29&id=21976 : 1:04 AM 11/20/12 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Supply_and_demand : 1:51 AM 11/20/12 http://www. slideshare. net/RuneHaugestad/emarketing-strategy : 3:26 AM 11/20/12 Rune Haugested, e-marketing strategy, [email  protected] no, Oslo University College http://www. nowthis. com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/targeting-markets/develop-marketing-strategy/: 4:09 AM 11/20/12 Decision Analyst; Market Segmentation; Jerry W. Tomas Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Research on Market Segmentation Variables (PDF); Wei He, Yingzi Liu : 8:19 AM 11/20/12 Business Dictio nary: Market Segmentation Definition Strategic Marketing Segmentation: Four Benefits of Market Segmentation Strategic Marketing Segmentation: Market Segmentation: Media http://www. ehow. com/info_8124974_effects-market-segmentation. html http://www. ehow. com/info_8406701_market-segmentation-variables-characteristics. html

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Hamlet’s Contradicting Traits Essay

William Shakespeare created many complex characters in his play Hamlet. One of these complex characters being the protagonist, Prince Hamlet. Hamlet has many contradictory traits, two of them being that Hamlet sometimes thinks rationally, and that being overcome by the command left by the ghost of his belligerent father, King Hamlet, he tends to make irrational decisions. When Hamlet is first introduced to the ghost’s commands in scene one, act 5, they begin to consume him with thoughts of vengeance, to murder Claudius, his father’s murderer. Throughout the play, Hamlet acts in such a way to provide evidence supporting both traits. Conflicted by these two opposing traits, Prince Hamlet has a war of two spirits in his mind, deciding which side is right. During the length of the play, Hamlet frequently argues with himself. Many of his soliloquies are debates between Hamlet and the warring side of his mind that believes he should listen to the vengeful plan of his father’s ghost. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a rational scholar from Wittenberg. When he returns from Wittenberg, his mother, Queen Gertrude confronts him concerning his melancholy. He replies â€Å"Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not ‘seems’† (1. 2. 76) He is very straightforward with her and speaks in a sensible and rational manner. This conversation happened before Hamlet encountered the ghost; therefor the militant and vengeful spirit has not yet influenced him. When Hamlet is preparing to rig the play to gage a reaction from Claudius to prove he is guilty of murdering his father, he is thinking rationally. I’ll have these players/Play something like the murder of my father/Before mine uncle: I’ll observe his looks; /I’ll tent him to the quick: if he but blench, /I know my course. † (2. 2. 601-605) it takes and intelligent, sensible, and rational person to develop such a precise and functioning plan, therefor proving Hamlet is able to think rationally. Once Hamlet has met and been influenced to his father’s ghost, he becomes consumed with the thought of avenging his father. Hamlet is not a violent person; therefor the thought of murdering Claudius causes a lot of internal conflict for Hamlet. As Hamlet and Laertes fight in Ophelia’s grave, Hamlet says to Laertes â€Å"For, though I am not splenitive and rash, /Yet have I something in me dangerous, /Which let thy wiseness fear† (5. 1. 265-267). This quote proves that Hamlet is aware that though he is not generally a violent person, he now possesses something dangerous in him due to his dead father’s command. Later, Hamlet claims to Laertes that he is mad. â€Å"Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness. /†¦ Who does it, then? His madness: if’t be so, /Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong’d; /His madness is poor Hamlet’s enemy† (5. . 224-233) according to Hamlet it was not him who killed Polonius it was his madness. Again, Hamlet is aware that avenging his father has driven him to be something he is not, and to do irrational things such as murdering Polonius. Hamlet had stabbed Polonius through a curtain simply because there was a slight chance it would have been Clau dius hiding. Before checking, he quickly stabbed Polonius, this is completely irrational and risky on Hamlet’s part. This dramatic turn of events caused negative repercussions towards Hamlet. By killing Polonius, Hamlet pushed Laertes to decide to avenge his own father and in the end, he murders Hamlet. The overwhelming urge to avenge his father caused Hamlet to act without thinking, putting Hamlet in a dangerous situation. Due to Hamlet’s strongly contradicting traits, he frequently argues with himself, usually in his soliloquies. Hamlet’s soliloquy â€Å"To be or not to be† is a literal debate between scholarly, rational Hamlet and Prince Hamlet as the soldier-son, seeking revenge for his pugnacious father. In this soliloquy, Hamlet questions his motives and morals. To be, or not to be: that is the question:/Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, /Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, /And by opposing end them? † (3. 1. 56-60) he is debating with himself on whether or not it is worth it to avenge his father. This way of making a decision is a rational and logical thought process in which Hamlet is evaluating all of his options and their repercussions. However, had Hamlet not had irrational thoughts to begin with, he would not have to go through with this process. Eventually Hamlet`s irrational urge to avenge his father consumes him. Most of his rationality has vanished and all of his thoughts concern revenge, or are not fully thought through. In his â€Å"My thoughts be bloody†¦Ã¢â‚¬  soliloquy, the irrational part of Hamlet`s divided soul is convincing him that if he does not avenge his father essentially he has no purpose â€Å"What is a man,/If his chief good and market of his time /Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more† (4. 4. 36-38) Hamlet says if he has no purpose, he is nothing. At the end of the soliloquy Hamlet decides â€Å"My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! (4. 4. 68) this is him saying that if his thoughts are not concerning violent actions towards Claudius, they are worthless. These thoughts are completely irrational, and the benefits and downfalls of this decision have not been taken into consideration. Later when Hamlet is asked whether he would prefer to battle Laertes now, or give himself some tim e to prepare, he quickly responds that he will fight him now, leading to Hamlet’s death. Again, Hamlet has irrationally made a decision without considering each side of the argument. The command left by the ghost of his father has completely overcome his mind leaving him not thinking logically or rationally as he was at the beginning of the play. Hamlet is an irrational rationalist. Before the ghost confronts him, Hamlet is a rational scholar from Wittenberg, however afterwards, the ghost’s vengeful thoughts consumes him, giving Hamlet an irrational and violent mindset. During the play, these two combative traits are warring in his mind, and expressed through soliloquies. Many of Hamlet’s soliloquies are debates between these two opposing traits. Eventually, the vengeful thoughts consume Hamlet and he becomes highly irrational. He does not plan or think anything through as he did at the beginning of the play. Hamlet’s irrationality is potentially the cause of his madness, and death. Had Hamlet not been so irrational whilst making decisions and allowing the vengeful thoughts left by his father to consume him, Claudius would not be seeking to murder him. Though Hamlet is genuinely a rationalist, his need to avenge his father’s death consumes him, causing him to make irrational and illogical decisions.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Aptitude In Second Language Acquisition English Language Essay

Aptitude In Second Language Acquisition English Language Essay In second language learning, motivation, attitude and aptitude relate closely to each other. It influences the learner and therefore dominates the particular individual motivation towards learning the target language. In casual observations in our daily life reveal to us that some people learn a foreign language easier, faster or better than others do (Grigorenko, Sternberg ‘integrative’ and ‘instrumental’ attitude to language learning. An integrative attitude is a desire to know and become friendly with speakers of a language, whereas an instrumental one is a desire to better oneself materially by means of the language. He adds, â€Å"an integrative attitude is more likely to lead to success than an instrumental one†. Brown (1994: 168), in his great work ‘Principles of Language Learning and Teaching’ adds: â€Å"Attitudes, like all aspects of the development of cognition and affect in human beings, develop early in childhood and are t he result of parent’s and peer’s attitudes, contact with people who are different in any number of ways, and interacting affective factors in the human experience†. Here it seems clear that there are many stimulants lead to positive or negative attitude of an individual. Nevertheless attitude can be simply defined as a set of beliefs developed in a due course of time in a given socio-cultural setting. Although it does not necessarily determine behavior but can have some impact on it. Chamber (1999) asserts that learning occurs more easily, when the learner has a positive attitude towards the language and learning. Gardner and Lambert (1972) in their extensive studies give evidence that positive attitudes toward language enhance proficiency as well. Language attitude studies explore how people react to language interactions and how they evaluate others based on the language behavior they observe. Language learning is affected by the attitude and motivation. Motiva ted, de-motivated and a motivated students have different perceptions. Their perceptions are responsible to for their attitudes.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Innovation, knowledge and learning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovation, knowledge and learning - Assignment Example Knowledge management is undertaken with great zeal and initiative in today’s organizations and accounts for a key success factor for them too. It primarily addresses the ways in which organizations might manage the knowledge existing within its systems and its employees. It also provides the basis on which information technology may be used for leveraging the existing knowledge and creating or generating new knowledge too. A more effective solution is reached at when this knowledge is transferred or integrated into sets of policies for capturing and generating more knowledge. The firms are considered to be a network of relationships existing between individuals, groups and sub units who are further embedded into a broader network of relationships with competitors, customers, suppliers, and other organizations. However, the superficial aspects of contexts and problems would have to be eliminated for the transfer of knowledge to be successful. This is also true that in cases where knowledge is applied inappropriately or in such contexts where is does not fit rightly, it is likely to result in fall in performance. That is why the topic of knowledge transfer has attained great importance and the field of research. (Baum, 2002, p.198). The project seeks to make a critical evaluation of an article on knowledge management through making a comprehensive review of the case study of ‘InTouch’ within Schlumberger. It evaluates the ways in which knowledge is created, mobilized and diffused within the organization. The analysis of the paper in conducted w ith the use of adequate academic references. The project is conducted using qualitative research techniques in which the literature review provides critical analysis of the researches conducted before providing statements for or against the topic; and the data analysis is done using secondary research techniques. The data are integrated and compiled to arrive at the research findings and analysis. Critical Literature Globalization and the innovation are very closely related in the modern era. Globalization is one of the most important events of the civilization (Ervin, Smith, 2008, p. 7). The concept has brought immense changes in the thinking process of the human beings and development of new ideas and innovations in the world. Innovation is used in every field of the social behaviour of human beings and new things are generating every day for the enhancement of the lifestyle and business processes. Innovation in the field are also used in the industries and for the enhancement of the business functions knowledge management system is the latest technology used to build a knowledge base for the employees in the organization for the learning and innovation process. According to the author Robert Thierauf, in a knowledge management system the most important aspect for the firm is the storing of data which acts as the real knowledge of the firm. The collective knowledge of the different employees and the experiences from the different sources of the organization are organized at a single database for discovering at later stages (Thierauf, 1999, p. 72). But on the contrary by the author Stuart Barnes, knowledge reflects a phenomenon which is very difficult to quantify as it is the most difficult activity to segregate knowledge from other activities. Each and every aspects of the daily life can be a dynamic source of knowledge for everyone. Rather than its theoretical aspect it is more about practical implementation of the daily understanding of business processes (Barnes, 2002, p. 99). According to the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), organizations need to evaluate their activities and implement strategies for building an efficient

Small business management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Small business management - Assignment Example The most important customer in this case includes school going children as well as other young people. This helps the business owner to focus on the right group and resources are not wasted by focusing on a large market that does not consist of the targeted customers. The other step that should be taken into account is about identifying the key resources needed to operate this business. The key resources in this case should include the ingredients for making the ice cream. The other resources required include a delivery van equipped with the vending kiosk of the ice cream to the customers. The packaging of the ice cream also constitutes a very important resource that should be procured before the commencement of business. Distribution channel is the mobile vending machine. It can be moved from place to place and these places include schools as well as other busy streets. The product will also be distributed in residential areas since the vending kiosk is mobile and can move from one place to the other. In terms of distribution, effort should be made to ensure that the product is positioned in such a way that it will appeal to the interests of the customers as the best compared to other alternatives available. The other consideration in this model is identification of the cost structure. A budget should be drawn and it should also outline the costs likely to be incurred in setting up this new business venture. This helps to determine the feasibility of the business venture. Lastly, consideration should be taken about the nature of the revenue stream. Effort should be made to establish if the revenue stream can sustain the business venture in the long run. This also helps to determine the course of action that can be taken to turn around the fortunes of the

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 35

Ethics - Essay Example One of the major ethical rules that managers must adopt is articulating their ethics code. This implies that leaders in an organization must define the key aspects that cover their ethical orientation. This implies that managers must come up with ethics code that indicates the behaviors that are acceptable or unacceptable in their organizations. In order for the ethics code to be effective in streamlining the conduct of the workers during their duties, it must come up with a well crafted code. Such a code should indicate what the employees and the managers should do as well as the situation in the work place if every one is operating at his or her best (Jayne, 2014). In the same way, ethics code must be treated as something vital for the success of a firm rather than indicating it as a strategy to satisfy individuals or firms that offer criticism. The code of ethics must be treated as one of the aspects in the organizational culture. During the hiring process, human resources managers must adopt ethical code. This implies that before the hiring process, prospective candidates must be provided by the code that acts as a guideline while undertaking their duties. For instance, new recruits should be invited by the managers to discuss on the various issues that is related to their personal ethics. One of the major strategies that hiring managers should adopt is to ask the prospective candidates specific questions that relates to their duties. On their part, the candidates should be provided with an opportunity to accept the code or give feedbacks on their effectiveness. After the hiring process, the employees should be provided with an extensive orientation that encompasses all the aspects of the ethics code. Existing and new employees must be provided with job descriptions that are in line with the code. This implies that managers must clearly indicate what the employees are supposed to

Friday, July 26, 2019

Intellectual Heritage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Intellectual Heritage - Essay Example The three major religions of the World, Bible, Quran, and the Baghavat Gita, have a similar notion about the relationship between God and Man. They observe Human Beings in terms of men and women created by God with an intentional duty on earth. Bible says God created human beings form his breath and the dust form earth. The trees in the garden called paradise reveal the relationship between God and man. The command given by God to the first man shows the relationship between God and human, that human is God’s attendant given to the earth to fulfil the purpose of God. In the sense, God is the dictator and man need to obey in order to keep the earth always a paradise. This sounds almost similar with that of Bhagavat Gita, in which Lord Krishna exemplifies the supreme Goal of God in terms of Yogas such as Raja Yoga , Bhakthi Yoga, Karma Yoga and Janana Yoga representing the meditation, devotion, selfless action and accumulation of knowledge respectively. Brahma is considered as the foremost God of creations. The supreme soul or paramatma is said to be found in the hearts of all human beings. If Brahma is the impersonal energy ruling the Universe, The paramatma form of God living in every body’s heart takes the transcendental form of God. As far as Good living is concerned man should follow Dharma or honesty, this is what Quran and Bible also insist. It man’s individuality ad true self could be realised by understanding the purpose governed by God to man [in Bible and Quran],then according to Bhagavat Gita the same is achieved in terms of self realisation which in turn reached by understanding the supreme existence of paramatma in every body. Freedom is looked upon in different aspect. Bible talks of freedom given to man with a certain restriction imposed by God. When God allows human beings to look after the Garden, He also makes a restriction that they should not touch the fruit of Knowledge. Quran, emphasises on man’s duty to

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 66

Leadership - Essay Example The poor organizational culture is among the key factors that contribute to the consistent failure of the team. On the contrary, the junior varsity team shows commitment to excellence owing to the ability of every team member to commit to the aspiration of the team coupled with their discipline and respect for each other. The existence of two teams each with a set of unique yet contradictory values shows a disjointed organizational structure with an equally uncoordinated organizational culture. Lack of effective leadership and models of communication within the organization is responsible for such a culture (Schein, 2010). Coach P is not yet in the â€Å"sweet pot† that Zenger and Folkman describe in their book. The two explain that in order for leaders to reach the sweet pot, they must enjoy success, have constant engagements, enjoy love from the firm and learn new skills happily from their daily experiences. Such are not the case at the Army Crew as the Varsity team does not enjoy and Coach P is always a frustrated coach owing to the team’s poor performance. Coach P can reach the sweet pot in his current organization. However, he must work hard in order to achieve that. Firstly, coach P must align his core competencies to the dictates of his team. This will enhance efficiency since ever undertaking will have a desirable result. Additionally, he must examine his passion and ensure that he stays happy at the organization. His attitude influences the outcome of the team (Zenger & Folkman,

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Advanced Valuation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Advanced Valuation - Essay Example When the tenant doesn't have the right to initiate the process there are other provisions governing the situation. Similarly under the market rent review clauses, a time limit would have been prescribed for activating the rent review process. Though the determining valuer has wide discretionary powers, certain criteria like current market rent, assumption of vacant possession of the property, lease incentives and the willingness of the landlord and tenant should be taken into account by the valuer in the rent review process.At times of falling markets, incentives are granted by the landlords to the tenants including a rent free period or a contribution to the cost of the tenant for making the premises fit. In many commercial leases, the agreements contain clauses to disregard the incentives. However it would be disadvantageous for the tenant to allow the disregard as it will result in review of 'face rent'. Face rent is usually an inflated one because of the incentives being included in there. If incentives are disregarded the review would be based on a "comparison of other 'face rents', again ignoring that they are inflated because of the incentives provided under the other leases used as comparisons." (Mark Sheridan 2006)However, the valuer would be compelled to take into account the initiatives, had the lease deed been drafted efficiently. Such a process would result in a meaningful review of the 'effective rent' as against the unrealistic 'face rentals'. "If incentives originally granted at the commencement of the lease are to be taken into account or disregarded then the lease on such a material issue would include a provision that would express the intentions of the parties" (Peter Dempsey)3 In any case, it must be noted that the rent review provisions have to be interpreted by the determining valuer within the context of the whole lease. In general if the determining the valuer is unable to come to a definite conclusion, the determining valuer should seek independent legal advice or the advice from independent experts on the subject. valuer should take care not to exceed his area of expertise and arrive at decisions against the meaning of the rent review clauses. Wherever there supporting legal opinions the valuer should follow such legal opinions only. Under circumstances where He is not expected to decide on issues that are outside the scope of his core competency. Case Law: Citation: Orti-Tullo& Anor v Sadek & anor 2001 ATC 4688 Judge Bryson J Key Issues: The plaintiffs challenge the determination by a valuer of the current market rental value of commercial premises on the exercise of an option to renew a lease. Facts of the Case: The defendants were carrying on the business of a service station on the land leased to them as lessees for a lease period of five years with an option to renew for a further period of five years. The plaintiffs were the lessors. The lease deed provided for the lease rent under one of the clauses of the deed but with no provision for any annual market review. Though there was no dispute about the extension of the lease period, there was a dispute on the rental value determined by the valuer and the petition was to set aside the valuation thus carried out by the valuer as the valuation did not

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Fallacies Exercise Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fallacies Exercise Assignment - Essay Example After analyzing the discourse, it is one’s contention that the fallacies were committed in terms of: attacking Kingsley Guy’s arguments as without merit; even asserting in the title that Kingsley Guy was wrong about the climate. Further arguments show fallacies in post hoc when the author argued that computer models are less than perfect and therefore these models which they use to predict hurricane paths have been imperfect all along. Finally, the slippery slope fallacy was exemplified in the second paragraph claims that the subsequent sets of using five or six predicted paths in climate modeling were used despite their imperfections, yet in the end, the author blames global warming to men. The GOP makes no secret of what it would do if we elect a Republican president. Some Republican governors have already implemented their plans, cutting teachers, police and firefighters and trying to do away with their unions. They have never done anything to benefit the middle class. They are strictly for the wealthy. [Post Hoc].They would love to privatize everything. Privatization equals profit. They should not be allowed to profit from necessary programs like Social Security and Medicare. I cannot believe that their candidate could win on the platform they propose. President Obama has received no cooperation from the Republican members of Congress, yet he gets the blame for everything wrong in this country. He is not a king. He cannot operate alone. The Republicans know this, and they voted against all his proposals every time. We dont need a political party in charge that puts party ahead of country and admits its aim is to make Obama a one-term president. This article presents one post hoc fallacy that aimed to exemplify that event b (Republicans are for the wealthy) happened prior to event a (they never do anything to benefit the middle class); therefore being for

Harry Potter and Culture Industry Essay Example for Free

Harry Potter and Culture Industry Essay Harry Potter – this name is familiar with all the age groups in the world today and the reason behind it is well known to all of us. The Harry Potter book series written by a single mother J. K. Rowling, who wouldn’t have imagined in her wildest dreams that a story she thought of while travelling in a train, would gain so much popularity. So much so that her character and her name would become a household name across the globe! J. K. Rowling Harry Potter books came into the market in 1998. The first part called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone gained a lot of popularity with the kids and slowly with the adults too. Due to its huge success it was converted into a motion picture as well and so the first movie when on to release in the year 2001. Subsequently the other parts (books) were out in the market and the movies started releasing as well. Of course it was after the stupendous success of the initial books that J. K. Rowling was encouraged to write on the further parts. So what is it in Harry Potter that attracts so much attention? Or what is it that makes people want to read a 600-700 pages long book again and again. This isn’t just a single book we are talking about, but every book in the series is read all over again by people repeatedly. These books tell us the story of an orphan, Harry who lives with his aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon, and not to forget his huge sized cousin Dudely with a nut sized brain. He leads a miserable life until the he turns 11, when he realizes that he is actually a wizard. He is admitted to the Horgwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So follows his journey of magical experiences. Very unique but impressionable characters are introduced in the book in Rowling’s own style. The books detailing his experiences at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have bred passion, obsession, creativity, and a new or renewed interest in reading throughout the world. JK Rowling has created an elaborate cast of characters and an environment for them to inhabit that appeals to adults and children alike. The fantasy aspect of the wizarding world expands the imagination, and transports the mind to new and exciting places; introducing magic opens new realms of possibilities within the plots. Anything could happen. Her intricate stories contain strands of the believable and unbelievable, altering the predictability that readers commonly encounter and endure in fiction. Harry Potter Movie Poster These factors contributed to the â€Å"Harry Potter Phenomena† which actually swept across the world as soon as the movie series became huge hits! Young children started identifying with Harry’s shy but brave character. The terrifying Lord Voldemort and how he is after Harry’s life, after having murdered his parents when Harry was a baby. The innocence of school life along with the mixture of magic, hit children’s minds like the Magic Bullet Theory, wherein, the information seen by audiences hits their minds like bullets and penetrates within. At the same time, the themes driving the stories resonate with classic literature, offering mature readers tales that wear like a comfortable pair of shoes, while introducing younger readers to concepts they will encounter throughout their lives. The main theme of the series is the subject of many theories, including, but not limited to: good versus evil, prejudice, love, death, sacrifice, friendship and loyalty. In actuality, all of these elements contribute to the timeless nature of the stories. As and when the books started getting really famous with a specific target audience, the first big leap that was taken to expand the entire Harry Potter concept were the movies. When the movies were made they went on to click with the younger as well as the older audiences. One part after the other, the movies became darker slowly loosing the initial happy and bright appearance. They now started seeming more â€Å"real† and â€Å"practical†. There was a feel of â€Å"there is more to Harry Potter† than what you expect. The covers of all books started having two versions, one which was bright and the other dark and mysterious so that the books would appeal to adults as well. Slowly there was Harry Potter everywhere! There was Culture Industry starting to take place because of the entire Harry Potter concept. By Culture Industry we mean that suddenly a particular thing which is extremely popular is produced in front of us in many different ways. It is â€Å"claimed† by the respective producers that their product is unique and adds more to a particular franchise. This concept focuses on media and marketing. Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno define the Culture Industry through its focus on the media and mass marketing. This industry is unique in that it does not reflect economic processes and essentially becomes homogenous; thus, variation is meaningless. The Culture Industry is characterized by three specific ideas: Monopoly, Mass Production, and Technology. So there is lesser control over production of certain products and lesser control in the market. Hence when a certain product is newly launched in the market, people rush to purchase it and explore that particular product. So what happens when the novelty of that product wears off? Simple, another product is launched in the market and promoted on its â€Å"unique† properties. But the actual catch here is that every product is almost similar to one another, but it is sold as being different from the previous one. Hence people are urged to buy them. This also gives them another product in place of the previous one. This is termed as â€Å"Pseudo Singularity† rightly meaning false singularity. This is how the culture industry also called as Mass Industry works. When Culture Industry meets something like Harry Potter, what is created is a huge successful mass industry which becomes immensely lucrative and popular. Also when the subject is like Harry, who mainly appeals to people due to his emotional appeal, his belief in friendship, love and braveness. These are the factors on which various products apart from movies like merchandise are publicized to people. There are Harry Potter theme based amusement parks, the costumes, competitions to test your HP knowledge, digital games and websites like Pottermore where you actually live Harry’s life. You are sorted into different houses just like in the book and you face different adventures like Harry. There are things taken from the book which will entertain and amuse people. Like the broom used to play the game Quidditch again an imaginary concept of a game like football but you are actually flying on broomsticks. Harry Potter wands, cards, hats, glasses and the famous scar which Harry have all became commodities and we are expected to purchase them. The main objective here is to make people feel like Harry himself. Examples of various Harry Potter Merchandise So even if J. K. Rowling has completed her set of books, producers still want to reap the profits from this subject. Hence, even after she officially completed her books, due to tremendous response and popular demand she wrote another book where people know what happens after Harry defeats Lord Voldemort and finishes his studies from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So much is the popularity of Harry Potter. Not only Harry, but other main characters like Hermoine and Ron (Harry’s best friends), Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid, Sirius Black etc have gained a connect with the audiences. There is a feeling generated that â€Å"my best friend to needs to be like Ron† or â€Å"I wish I could study magic†. This feeling of longingness is usurped but the producers to contribute more to the culture industry! These feelings are then used by the people to generate more and more profits, hence trips to the castle where Harry Potter was shot are arranged. Though a particular location is not used continuously in the movies, they keep changing, but so much is the craze that people travel all the way to Scotland just to see where their Hero spent this school days. All in all a different culture itself is created and we don’t realize it. Such is the nature culture industry and it prevails n today’s world to a much greater extent. The main feeling of Love always triumphs over the evil makes Harry Potter what it is. I would like to end my putting in a famous citation in the book- It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1999, spoken by the character Albus Dumbledore This is one of the most famous quotes from the series and rightly, it is our choices that make us who we are. People chose to love Harry Potter even though the entire concept being imaginary because it has appealed to their hearts. It is this emotional factor which makes us give in to the ‘market and producers’ but in the end, they are our choices, aren’t they?

Monday, July 22, 2019

Republican demise Essay Example for Free

Republican demise Essay Saddam is fairly sure about his future at the end of this one-sided trial in Baghdad. He would most likely meet an end rightly deserved by a cruel perpetrator against humanity. None of us is immune to fear, pain and loss. But to suffer the fate of an uncertain future could be worse than any of these feelings. From this point of view, George Bush, assured of Republican demise, Tony Blair, assured of his exit and Saddam Hussein, are all on the same boat; certain of their fate. The biggest sufferers of the war in Iraq, are no doubt the Iraqis, suffering the most gruesome bloodshed that mankind has witnessed in recent times. To classify the next category of sufferers are the people who follow Islam. Iraq war has resulted in stereotyping the collaborators and extremists and has led Muslims in the Middle East to feel that it’s a war against their community. Due to the cascading effect that travels in communities and religions, the Muslims in most of the other countries also share this view. Unfortunately, the inability to locate the so-called â€Å"weapons of mass destruction† has also cast a serious doubt on the intentions of USA and UK in the minds of millions residing in their own countries. Now, many of us can relate to the uncertainty sneaking in the minds of people who had to commute on the morning of 8th July 2005 or 12th September 2001. Our government has done its best to gift unscathed tentativeness to British citizens. To foresee a natural calamity is definitely not expected from our leaders. But to invent a manmade catastrophe is also not what we deserve. In order to be socially responsible and contribute in preserving human rights, Britain has to contribute in the current World order. We cannot ignore the atrocities inflicted on mankind especially when we have the capacity to affect the situation. However, to bully a bully is also not a sensible stance. Let us analyze the pretext of going into this war as claimed in a dossier presented in the British parliament on 24th September 2002. The central points of Blair’s defense for offense were Iraqi regime’s program to develop nuclear, biological, chemical weapons of mass destruction. Aiding, funding and supporting groups like Al Qaida by this regime. He argued that Saddam has brutalized his own people using chemical warfare, so far the only blame that could be substantiated after dethroning the dictator. After explaining the threat posed to the region by the Iraqi regime, he lamented I am quite clear that Saddam will go to extreme lengths, indeed has already done so, to hide these weapons and avoid giving them up. Where are those weapons of mass destruction now? Another losing battle is on the economic front. It is clear that the total cost of operations in Iraq is quickly exceeding previous estimates, and is now well over the ? 3 billion originally set aside by the Chancellor to fund the conflict. Rough estimates suggest that as much as an extra ? 1 billion will be required for each further year UK forces remain in Iraq. Perhaps as important as the rising costs themselves is the lack of transparency about where the money is going, and how much more will be needed in the future. The Iraq Analysis Group calls on the future government to clarify the costs of war in terms of size and expenditure type, and how they are being met. In the meantime, we will update this briefing as further information becomes available. It seems that the British government had detailed plans of â€Å"how to go in? † but never planned or foresaw on â€Å"how and when to come out? † Reluctantly enough, people of Great Britain stood by their elected leaders and the choices they made at the time of going into this war. The imminent dangers painted on our minds with repetitive citations on terror, terrorist attacks, axis of evil, tyrannical regime etc, were potent enough for us to believe that we are going to fight for peace. (Oliver King and Paul Hamilos, 2006). The UN was shoved aside, French, German and Russian representatives were simply ignored. Ironically, these nations are geographically and diplomatically a lot close to United Kingdom than Iraq. Somehow, British decision to act as the drum beater for this war, has also led the world to believe that commitment of our conscience is mortgaged to the USA. With his efforts, Blair successfully blurred the identity of our nation. Most of the media in the Middle East now cite UK and USA in the same breath, especially in context of the Iraq war. USA had suffered an indelible blow on 9/11. And we suffered a seemingly low scale trailer on 7/7, primarily due our policies on Iraq. A common view point held by world leaders is that the use of force can never be justified unless all other means of negotiation fail. UN inspectors on Iraq’s weapon program had certainly failed in their job as they were neither supported nor shown any cooperation by the Iraqi regime. The report from the chief UN inspector fortified the rhetoric from George Bush who went to label Saddam’s tactics as a charade. (George Bush, 2003). In such circumstances and in those times when most of the nations were made to believe that what’s going on in Iraq is dangerous for humanity, use of armed action certainly seemed feasible. A dictator, who could kill his own people, can very well drop a bomb on neighboring countries. The dangers and ease of spreading Anthrax as a biological weapon could not be taken as anything less than a grave concern. Just one push of a button could have caused irreparable and unrecoverable destruction. Faced with such a situation, UK’s stance on supporting USA is acceptable. To wait for Saddam to light a fuse for such havoc would have reduced most of the world leaders to a laughing stock, only if few of them would survive to be mocked at. Pre-emptive strike, as popularized by the US media, earns a lot of credibility in this context. Britain, or as a matter of fact any other nation, would react with utter might in order to prevent this. And if the countries surrounding Iraq are themselves grasping for survival and development, the onus does fall on developed nations to resolve the stalemate. Negotiations since 1995 were not bearing any fruits other than letting Saddam to build a black economy of earning billions despite the sanctions imposed on Iraq. Worse, none of this money was used to feed the destitute or mitigating infant mortality. The dictator had built water-tight ways of siphoning money into his personal accounts. The discovery of vast amounts of money being utilized without any tab raised suspicions in the minds of the majority. This surely was a reason valid enough to strike. And there is evidence that Saddam utilized all these years to fool the international community. It will also be not entirely fair to say that Blair did not weigh the situation at all We waited 12 years and then went through the United Nations. It is now three months since we gave Saddam what we called a final opportunity. (BBC News, 2003)

Sunday, July 21, 2019

There Are Serious Concerns Over Food Waste Environmental Sciences Essay

There Are Serious Concerns Over Food Waste Environmental Sciences Essay Food waste is a serious environmental, social and economic concern not only to United Kingdom but also to the whole world. Even though Food waste was recognized as a considerable problem, it was not identified as a serious concern to the environment till recently. Among environmentally significant activities, the production, trade, and consumption of food products have been identified as crucial contributors to numerous environmental problems One of the greatest threats of the century is Global Warming and Climate change. The need of the hour is to effectively tackle the climate change issue and GHG emission. According to Waste and resources action program (WRAP), about 20% of climate change emissions are related to the production, processing, transportation and storage of food. Agriculture contributes significantly to GHG emissions The domestic household in uk produces around 8,300,000 tons of food waste and is the single largest producer of food waste. Local authorities spend 1 billion pound a year disposing food waste. The foods we throw out to the landfill gets broken down to carbon dioxide and methane gas (green house gases) and are the prime reasons for global warming. If UK has to meet the international targets  on climate change and GHG emissions, it is important to reduce the amount of food waste going to the landfill. Spaces for land filling of wastes are rapidly diminishing, alongside European Union legislation that demands large amounts of waste be diverted from landfill over the next 15 years* Food waste puts a large burden on the finances of each household and  local councils in the UK; Local authorities spend 1 billion pound a year disposing food waste. Wasted food is estimated to cost each British household  £250- £400 per year,  accumulating to  £15,000- £24,000 over a lifetime.. Objectives and Methadology Love Food Hate Waste is a social campaign, launched by WRAP, in 2007,with the aim of reducing the amount of food waste in UK. The campaign is focused on raising consumer awareness about the various problems caused by food waste. WRAP calculated that preventing good food going to waste could reduce the annual emission of carbon dioxide by 18 million tones, the same effect as taking one in 5 cars off the road. Love Food Hate Waste campaign is supported by the government and is backed by celebrity chefs. Love food Hate waste also has a website which provides practical advice and tips on how to use most of the food they buy. The objective of the campaign is to raise awareness of easy, practical, everyday ways that households can reduce food waste. Everyone including local authorities, community groups, retailers, food manufactures and consumers are part of this campaign. For example, Resource Futures recruited and managed two embedded Outreach Workers to support the North London Waste Authoritys, WRAP funded, Love Food Hate Waste campaign. During the seven month period, the Outreach Workers organized and delivered over sixty road shows in supermarkets, businesses, libraries and at community groups, across NLWAs seven constituent boroughs, to engage more than 3,500 people with the campaign. It focuses on consumers strong desire to reduce wastefulness by sending positive messages about the rewards and benefits that can be achieved through specific behavioral change. The campaign benefits the consumer and the environment by reducing budgets and minimizing land fill and carbon emissions. Some of the methods which can be used to reduce waste in an house hold are: Reduce your proportion size: Love Food Hate Waste website has a tool to help you calculate appropriate portion sizes. The portion planner removes the guesswork by suggesting how much to cook, depending on whos coming for dinner, and ways to measure it Plan ahead: By planning the meal for a week and by shopping accordingly can save you a lot of money and prevents good food going to the waste bin. Tips on storage: Gives you easy tips on how to store things and encourage you to make effective use of fridge and freezers if necessary. Special Recipes: which makes use of use of all the odds and ends that invariably get leftover from previous meals or forgotten in the fruit bowl or the back of the fridge If nothing above works, recycling can be done. Composting is one good option. Only Those waste which nothing can be done is dumped in to landfill The Love food Hate waste Organize Door stepping campaigns providing information packs and Advice, targeted at reducing household waste. They also organize road shows, surveys and do advertising through radio and printed Medias. It owns a website love food hate waste.com where you can find many useful tips to reduce food waste. Analysis of the Sustainable Consumption approach One of the main cause for environmental degradation is the over consumption by the developed countries and a switch towards sustainable consumption pattern is very essential. The definition proposed by the 1994 Oslo Symposium on Sustainable Consumption defines it as the use of services and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations.  The two approaches towards sustainable consumption are the Main Stream approach and an alternative New Economics approach. The strategy of UK government in 2003 was continuous economic growth and social progress that respects the limits of earths eco systems to have a better quality of life. The concept of mainstream approach is of a strong stable and sustainable economy and include initiatives like   initiatives for product labeling, consumer education and environmental taxation. mainstream economics is deeply embedded in modernitys vision of progress and growth. The critics of this approach claims that this method is quite ineffective and doesnt address the fundamental problem of consumption. Based on several factors on the environment and society, the critics of main stream model proposed a new model collectively known as New Economics. They argue that economics cannot be separated from its understructures in environmental and social contexts. The Love food hate waste is one such campaign which follows the alternative approach of sustainable consumption. The diagram below shows how the campaigns approach towards sustainable consumption. ECO-EFFICIENCY more productive use of materials and energy Green growth Efficiency INCREASED . PRODUCT LIFE SPANS Sustainable Consumption Sufficiency SLOW CONSUMPTION reduced throughput of products and services Recession The campaign aims to reduce the amount of waste by consuming less by reducing your portion size and shopping less. In other words sufficiency is achieved by reduced consumption of products. The approach also defines green economics which means to increase the efficiency by more productive use of materials and energy. The model defines efficiency and sufficiency as the key towards sustainable consumption. The greater focus on sufficiency alone may lead to economic instability on a wider focus. Increased product life spans, may enable such problems to be overcome by providing for both efficiency and sufficiency. The efficiency can be increased by using the left overs and reusing and recycling. Theories Linked to LFHW Campaign. LFHW is basically a social marketing campaign aiming for a behavioral change by consuming more sensibly and thereby producing less waste. To understand the theories it is important to understand the driving forces to the same. Some of the forces influenced are: Knowledge, information, fashions beliefs (education, media, marketing) Price / affordabilit Tastes and Habits Demographic changes: ageing population, single person society, wealth Culture, social family expectations, norms, aspirations Availability Time and Season The campaign does its focus on the utilitarian theory and more importantly on social and psychological theories. The campaign targets the people who behave unsustainable because they lack information and help them to overcome the problems by rendering information to the needy. The utilitarian approach says that consumers seek to spend money on goods which gives greatest satisfaction or in other words consumers behave as utility maximizers. The LFHW campaign helps and encourage in cognitive thinking before you shop. It spread the importance of prior planning before shopping. By planning your meals for the whole week, you know what to buy and from where to buy. In the present scenario, people get tempted and buy things with offers like buy 1 get 1 free, even though they really dont need that. Its found that one in every 3 shopping bags goes directly to the waste bin. The campaign educates people how the value of food can be increased if the left over can be used to make new dishes. Human behavior is formed and routinized by social structure Apart from the conventionally acknowledged constraints like price and information, campaign also negotiates social, psychological and structural constraints. LFHW organizes public campaigns with celebrity chefs and attracts the whole society for a behavioral change. As a social marketing campaign, the main themes of the campaign are 4Es (Engage, Encourage, Enable and Exemplify). Engaging consumers and households to rethink their behavior is one of the main ways in which waste prevention can be progressed. Enabling households to take action or overcome barriers, through the provision of services like reduce reuse and recycling. Policy measures -Encouraging households to rethink their behavior so as to reduce their waste generation. The most frequently applied suite or package of waste prevention policy measures Appears to include most or all of the following activities. Collaboration between public, private and third sectors. Producer and responsibility. Variable rate charging (pay as you throw) systems (generally applied to householders residual waste). Public sector funding for pilot projects. Exemplified by means of monitoring and evaluation; Measuring and evaluation of waste prevention is challenging. The data collected should be true and of high quality. Some of the methods adopted are self-weighing Surveys done before and after the campaign, focusing on attitudes and behaviours and/or on participation rates Tracking the amount of waste from collection data and/or compositional nalysis estimation/modelling. Strength and weakness of Love food hate waste campaign Love food hate waste campaign claims that it has already prevented 1,37000 tonnes of waste goin to waste bin and   have helped close on two million households reduce their food waste, amounting to savings of almost  £300 million. A persons willingness to change along with action and appropriate policies from the local authorities is essential to bring a social change. The campaign is funded and supported by the governmentand almost every county council has given its support to the campaign. Retailers and food manufacturers also support to reduce food waste and they are the official sponsors of the campaign. Unlike Other campaigns, consumer is also economically benefited and hence more people are willing take part in the campaign. It also helps in reducing the so called Value Action Gap. The campaign is both focused at individual and social aspects and hence is more effective. a large body of studies asserts that personal factors are necessary and essential to foster behavioral changes, even though the correspondence between attitudinal variables and behavior is often moderate {reference*(2} The website lovefoodhatewaste.com gives you a lot of information and makes it easily accessible at any point of time. A lot of people gives their experience and valuable opinion which encourage other people to minimize waste. Some of the weaknesses of the campaign are: The campaign is too focused on using left overs and freezing, whereas shopping storage and portion control are effective strategies. The campaign deals with utilitarian concept and socio-psychological theories where as doesnt consider Infrastructure of provision approach. The campaign doesnt focus on the production part of food. food that goes to waste during Production and distribution accounts for 5 percentage of the GHG emissions. Globally 15-50% of food produced is wasted post harvest and no action is taken prevent those waste. The campaign is more concentrated on the food after consumption and doesnt look in to the broader aspects of food. Food has different utility and meanings when it comes to Entertainment, pleasure satisfaction, love status, comfort, time pass, bribery, religious significance, social glue, power, habbit, need, guilt, culture and so on. The amount of waste generated differs for each case and no effort has been taken to realy understand this complex system. Oxfordshire council-tax payers have saved over  £50,000 in waste disposal costs by throwing away less food since Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP) launched its Love Food Hate Waste campaign last March Love Food Hate waste Campaign is still in its early stage and has long way to go. The measurement of success of the campaign can be found by looking the amount of waste reduced as a result of this campaign. In the very first year, the campaign is successful in reducing 1,37000 tones of household waste. The initial statistics of the campaign sounds too intresting and shows how successful it has been. The campaign is successful in attaining attention of the large public. Even though the results are impressive, when compared to the true scale of the problem, it is just a mere drop in the ocean. To address the big issue like climate change we need to do a lot more to reduce the amount of waste produced. Some of the limitations are Lack of interest of certain individuals can be setback to the campaign. Some people consider that the protection of environment is governments job and are not concerned about the same. Some people think that their contribution is just marginal and hence dont do anything. Reduction of waste is moreover a private thing and since its not public there is no social pressure to do it. The lack of strong policies is certainly a limitation to the campaign Measuring and monitoring is a tough task to perform. The reliability on survey is questioned. Conclusion The sustainable consumption doesnt always means consuming less but It certainly should in the case of developed countries and in underdeveloped countries sustainable consumption means consuming more. Thus the aim of sustainable consumption is a high quality of life for every one- brought about by everyone consuming in ways that reduce the impacts of production and consumption. (UNESCO) Some of the challenges in achieving sustainable consumption are: Reccomendations The amount of waste produced by the supermarkets should be controlled and policy should be made to publish the waste generated by the supermarkets. The Whole concept of supermarket should change. The people should make some list for shopping and hand it over to the shopkeeper/salesman so that he will hand over the things you need. By doing so you wont be tempted by the offers like buy one get one free. The online shopping should be encouraged by avoiding tax. Refrigerant leakage accounts for 30 percentage of supermarkets direct GGHG emissions.( Environment investigation agency 2010). There should be some measure to control this pollution. Government should make strong policies and should introduce certain limits to the amount of waste that can be produced by each house. The threshold can be based on the total number of people living in the house. The waste above threshold limit should be fined. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ http://apps.oxfordshire.gov.uk 2) Promoting sustainable consumption: Determinants of green purchases by Swiss consumers Carmen Tanner1,*,   Sybille Wà ¶lfing Kast2 Article first published online: 12 SEP 2003 DOI:  10.1002/mar.10101

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Hacking :: essays research papers

Hacking Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Areested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"....Damn kids. They're all alike. But did you , in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world...Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers expain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..." Damn kid . Probably copied it. They're all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because i screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I'm a smart ass... Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here... Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike. And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found. "This is it... this is where I belong... "I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all... Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike... you bet you ass we're all alike... we've been spoon- fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak.. the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert. This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiterring gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge.. and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias...and you call us criminals? Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. Hacking :: essays research papers Hacking Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Areested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"....Damn kids. They're all alike. But did you , in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him? I am a hacker, enter my world...Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers expain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..." Damn kid . Probably copied it. They're all alike. I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because i screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I'm a smart ass... Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here... Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike. And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found. "This is it... this is where I belong... "I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all... Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike... you bet you ass we're all alike... we've been spoon- fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak.. the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert. This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiterring gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge.. and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias...and you call us criminals? Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity.

Essay --

The image of masculinity was dominant throughout World War One. War was seen as the ultimate â€Å"test of manhood†. War and masculinity were synonymous; war was the ultimate defender of masculinity. This essay examines masculinity through the social, economic and physical changes men experienced in the 1920s to show the ways in which changes to former codes of masculinity were precipitated by war. An extensive amount of research has already been conducted on the issue of masculinity and the cumulative tendency of the scholarship has been to highlight the redefinition of masculinity. Joanna Bourke has made a significant contribution to the study of men and World War One by approaching the interaction between masculinity and World War One through the corporeal body. Similarly, Eric Leed’s 1979 study of combat and identity in wartime presents the idea that men’s experience of the war was dehumanising. Jessica Meyer uses a vast amount of personal narratives to expl ore British servicemen’s relation to the war. Along with these general contributions of masculinity, there have also been more focused studies. For example, Ina Zweinger-Bargielowska looks at the idea of masculinity through the focus of the construction of the ‘British superman’ in which she relates masculinity to physical culture. In order to show that masculinity was the chief casualty of the war the first section will analyse the changes in social relations to show there was a gender war as masculinity was greatly affected by the reversal of gender roles. I will then show how masculinity was economically affected through an examination of unemployment showing the challenge to male identities, especially for disabled men. The third section will move to explore the pressures o... ...ude, this essay has shown that masculinity was the chief casualty of the war. Exploring the social, economic and physical changes men experienced it has become clear that war had the power to make women visible and destabilise masculinity. Men encountered several anxieties centring on the social turmoil that gender roles irreparably distorted. It has become clear that the economic breakdown men faced as a result of their loss of breadwinner status exacerbated the loss of masculinity. Similarly, through an analysis of the physical culture men were involved in during the 1920s it has become clear that masculinity was severely damaged by the war, so much so that men were required to take part in physical activities to achieve a ‘body beautiful’ image which now came to represent masculinity. Ultimately one cannot deny that masculinity was the chief casualty of the war.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Technicolor Styles Essay -- Music Analysis

From humble, shy beginnings, the singer-songwriter Adam Young, now most famed for his project known as Owl City, has risen to become a well-renowned techno-pop artist. Young’s career as a musician and lyricist began in his home in Owatonna, Minnesota, where he worked on composing lyrics and sounds in his parents’ basement as a side hobby after a day of work at the Coca-Cola warehouse (Bonham). He initially posted his products of creativity and inspiration on Myspace in 2007, sharing the works that came to be part of his self-released Owl City EP known as Of June (Universal Music Publishing Group). His full-length debut as Owl City came in 2008, when Young digitally released his album, Maybe I’m Dreaming (Universal Music Publishing Group). Young’s popularity spread much further with the release of Owl City’s first official album, Ocean Eyes, in 2009 (Universal Music Publishing Group), and the album’s single, â€Å"Fireflies,† reached th e Billboard’s number one spot twice during its initial release (Sisario). In an interview with Chad Bonham from Whole Notes, Young revealed the inspiration he receives from his self-proclaimed â€Å"anti-social† lifestyle and his Christian faith in his songwriting (Bonham). Young’s music has reached thousands of fans, both in the United States and in other parts of the world as well (Sisario). From mellow melodies to catchy rhythms, Young’s sound has captured the fervor of fans all over the nation. Yet, as popular as his sound is, the words of Adam Young’s songs are of equal merit and creativity. The words and messages of these songs alone convey the variety with which Young composes. Such songs as the romantic works â€Å"On the Wing† and â€Å"If My Heart Was a House,† the inspiring works â€Å"This Is the Future† and â€Å"G... ...d. Web. 16 May 2012. Sisario, Ben. â€Å"From Mom’s Basement to the Top of the Chart.† New York Times on the Web. 20 Nov. 2009. 16 May 2012. Young, Adam. â€Å"Dental Care.† Ocean Eyes. Universal Republic Records. 2009. Young, Adam. â€Å"Galaxies.† All Things Bright and Beautiful. Universal Republic Records. 2011. Young, Adam. â€Å"If My Heart Was a House.† Ocean Eyes: Deluxe Edition. Universal Republic Records. 2009. Young, Adam. â€Å"On the Wing.† Maybe I’m Dreaming. Universal Republic Records. 2008. Young, Adam. â€Å"Plant Life.† All Things Bright and Beautiful. Universal Republic Records. 2011. Young, Adam. â€Å"This Is the Future.† Maybe I’m Dreaming. Universal Republic Records. 2008.