Y2k (1015 words) Essay Example For Students

Y2k (1015 words) Essay Y2kCivilizations dependence upon computers has grown exponentially in the last thirty years. Businesses use computers to keep their records, write reports, and to converse with colleagues and clients. The average businessperson depends primarily on their computer to complete a days work. Years ago, programmers caused what could have potentially been a major problem with modern computer systems. While attempting to conserve scarce and expensive data bits, they programmed the year using two digits instead of four. At the turn of the century, computer systems would not be able to discriminate between the year 1900 and the year 2000. As the speculation of what would happen at the turn of the millennium grew, those who depended on computers became frightened at the thought of what their world might become. In order to prevent any major problems from occurring, measures were to taken to repair this bug. Now that the beginning of the new century has passed, it is safe to say that the precau tions taken by businesses and the government were not done so in vain. Now the century has turned, our computers are safe and precautions no longer need be taken. On and after January 1, there were several Y2K related problems with computers around the world, but these problems were minor and solvable. For instance, an eyeglass lens manufacturers plant had troubles with bringing up purchase orders when customers had questions, because the purchase orders were sorted by date. In addition, the same manufacturers plant had computers controlling the manufacturing process. Since problems affected the computers in their sales and administration office, they felt it necessary to have employees hand-check the quality and accuracy of each lens before it left the building (Zandonella, par. 4). These problems led to slight setbacks in business, but they were able to recover in time to maintain their reputation. In several cases, the Y2K glitch affected the software involved in processing purch ases made with credit cards. There were some reports of people unintentionally being billed for the same meal up to twelve times. The consumers involved experienced depleted accounts, bounced checks, and hours spent straightening out balances with banks and credit card companies (Y2K, par. 1). If precautions had not been taken by most of the credit card companies, many more cases similar to these could have occurred causing a great disaster in the credit industry. People might have lost faith in credit card companies, which make up large portions of the economy. In Kansas City, KS, a few court cases were delayed, including a civil suit regarding a wrongful death, due to year 2000 related computer failure. In one case, two citizens were not served subpoenas until almost two months after they were issued (Overman, par. 2). Ellen Crawford, public information officer for the Jackson County Circuit Court, commented, ?There were a lot of problems and one of them was issuing summons? (Over man, par. 8). The programmers blamed for writing all this ?buggy? software incidentally caused the bug with good intentions. Now that the materials they were originally attempting to conserve are relatively inexpensive, programmers would only be lazy to utilize a two-digit year instead of four. The only possibility of another scare mimicking this one is in 8,000 years, when the year turns to 10000. At the rate technology in software engineering has been moving in the last thirty years, it is very unlikely that the same software will be used in 8,000 years. Some people believed that the Y2K precautions were taken in vain, and that far too much money was spent on the problem. Many compared the United States to smaller countries, citing that the amount these other countries spent to fix these problems was slim to none. Despite a few exceptions, these countries had no major problems along with the United States. For example, International Data Corp. accused the United States government of overspending by $41 billion. Meanwhile, the Chair of the Presidents Council on the Year 2000 Conversion agrees that there was overspending, but that it was more in the range of $10 billion (Berkowitz, par. 2). According to Ben Berkowitz of the University of Southern California, the CIO of the 3Com corporation believes that spending was ?out of proportion by orders of magnitude? (par. 4). Even though these people believe there was massive overspending, no one can knowingly say whether or not this money was well spent. If these so called excess amounts of money had not been spent, there might have been more major problems. .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e , .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .postImageUrl , .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e , .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:hover , .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:visited , .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:active { border:0!important; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:active , .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf6a4be2be4941924eff63b164a907a1e:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: A Worn Path Literary Analysis Essay We will write a custom essay on Y2k (1015 words) specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Jonathan Weber of CNN agrees that there probably would have been problems if businesses and the government had not spent as much money on this issue as they did, but he contests that ?computers have all kinds of problems all the time.? He believes that businesses existing staffs were large enough to keep their computer systems running through the turn of the century (par. 1). Although there are many who believe the precautions taken by those amongst us were taken in vain, their beliefs are unfounded. There is no raw evidence that nothing would have happened if we had not taken the measures we did. Occurrences of minor problems related to the Y2K bug throughout the world, however, show that if the correct steps had not been taken, it is very possible that the world would have experienced a great catastrophe. Now that it is over we can let out a sigh of relief and feel reassured that preparing for the year 2000 was the logical thing to do. BibliographyWorks CitedBerkowitz, Ben. Post-Mo rtem: The Bug Appears to Be Beaten. 6 Jan. 2000. Y2K Media Watch. 8 Nov. 2000. . Overman, Amanda. Glitch Holds Up Civil Suit. 8 Feb. 2000. The Missourian. 6 Nov. 2000. . Weber, Jonathan. Y2K Hype Shows Our Fear of Out-Of-Control-World. 24 Dec.1999. CNN. 8 Nov. 2000. . Y2K Problem Led Local Businesses to Overbill More than $100,000. 2 Feb. 2000. 6 Nov. 2000. . Zandonella, Catherine. Santa Cruz Firm Sees Success in Prescription Eyewear Industry. 20 Feb. 2000. Santa Cruz Sentinel. 6 Nov. 2000. . Science

The Problems of identity †political, geographical, personal, sexual in Modern Novels †Essay

The Problems of identity – political, geographical, personal, sexual in Modern Novels – Essay Free Online Research Papers Modern literature has, inevitably, one of its strongest foundations in the problem of identity. Another inhuman World War, increasingly claustrophobic cities, alienating industrial developments all take their toll on a human race that, heir to Freud and Bergson, has just begun to view itself as a group of individuals. Suddenly different and alone, in contrast with everybody else, but most of all with the crushing society which doesn’t allow such differences to prosper and thrive – this is the condition of the modern man. Many find in art a sanctuary, an outlet for individual ‘EXPRESSION (†¦) thru the smog of Blakean-satanic war mills and noise of electric sighs and spears which is twentieth century mass communication.’ Literature, for them, becomes a way for the ‘individual hand’ to create something unique, extraordinary, which would raise it above the invisible hand of cold utilitarian power. A good example of ‘them’ are the poets of the Beat Generation – where ‘beat means beatific short for beatific vision, you know, the highest vision you can get.’ Not all who confront themselves with the problem of identity do so with such optimism, however. Not all authors, proud of their strong individuality, seek to reconcile it with the rest of the world. There are others who find it hard to reconcile even with themselves. These end up creating conflicted characters, and setting them on a path of self-discovery, in the hope that this will help them along their own. In this sense, Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange could be described as a formative novel. Alex is an adolescent searching for himself. Initially, he doesn’t think this necessary; he’s a lad who ‘enjoys leadership and life,’ unbound by regulations (a-lex: in Latin, without law, so untamed, barbaric) and untroubled by ethical doubt. In this sense we may call him innocent. The question of Alex’s innocence is an interesting one. Is it something which Alex loses or gains by the end of the book? On one hand, he acquires a purity which he has never had during his boyhood. But on the other hand, the process of ‘growing up’ is one that is traditionally associated with the loss, rather than with the gain, of innocence. I believe this is true for Alex also: his true innocence has nothing to do with morals, and is lost forever together with his youth. Here innocence is a synonym for unconditioned youthful instinct. And instinct, being the most natural part of ourselves, is the truest form of identity. Identity is all about choice, about feeling a desire instinctively and making conscious choices in order to fulfil that desire. But Alex’s growing up isn’t a matter of choice. There’s no active decision, no ‘what’s it gonna be then, eh?’ – it’s just something which seems to happen naturally, we are not told why or how. Does that mean that conformity is something inevitable? Quite possibly; certainly civilized society encourages it. Maybe this is because Hobbes was right in defining the natural state of things as that of ‘such a war that is of every man against every man,’ and the abolition of identity and choice is indeed a necessary condition for the survival of the species. After all, Alex’s ‘viciousness is embarked on in full awareness;’ he is an ‘inimicus generis humans’ by choice: in the end, ‘moral evil is always a matter of human free will.’ But an existence without the possibility to exert free will wouldn’t be life, merely – it has already been said survival. Is ‘merely survival’ even desirable? Survival isn’t life; it lacks life’s soul. And to deny the soul degrades man into a â€Å"clockwork orange† – a structure seemingly organic but actually automatically directed. (†¦) The freedom of the will is thus to be placed above the freedom from robbery, rape, maiming and death. (†¦) all misdeeds, however ghastly, are to be judged more leniently than a deed that impairs the freedom of a human soul to commit just such misdeeds: â€Å"when a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.† This is why we have no choice but to empathize with Alex, and feel sorry for him when he suffers, and care about him even though we are shocked by the monstrosity of his actions. Burgess says of his controversial creature that ‘there is a duty of loving – not liking – this character, because he is a human being.’ He is more human than his torturers, who are cold-bloodedly willing to sacrifice someone else’s freedom for the sake of peace and quiet. Or rather, for an appearance of peace and quiet: the thugs employed by the government to keep order are no different from the thugs who wish to disrupt it – in fact, there’s a fair amount of intermingling between the two, with an old friend and an old enemy of Alex both ending up as under-trained and over-violent police officers. Also the ‘good’ Alex, the puppet of the government, is all appearance, no more than an empty shell; for surely ‘no one would call a man just who d id not enjoy acting justly.’ So if we had to take sides, we would be sure to take Alex’s, because he is true to himself. And we do have to take sides. Alex is forever forcing us to participate in what he thinks and feels, not only by his manner of addressing us but indeed by the fact that he is addressing us at all: he is ‘Our Humble Narrator,’ ‘our little Alex,’ and we are his ‘brothers.’ This very deliberate choice of narrative mode creates right from the start a bond between the character and his readers, who are expected to be on his side no matter what he does. This bond is taken further by the active part we are asked to play in order to decipher the ‘Joyceanly queer’ way Alex chooses to speak us. ‘Nadsat’ is the slang of teens, the linguistic revolt (alexia, in Latin: without language, so wild and instinctive) of kids who adopt Slav propaganda terminology more because it bothers adults than for any particular political reason. Aft er having found the first page incomprehensible, we start paying attention to repetitions, to the relationship between words, and we soon come to understand Alex. This enhanced attention makes us more vulnerable to what he is telling us. So before we know it, we end up admitting that an individual murderer might be better than the soulless sheep he distinguishes himself from; accepting that having a wicked soul might be better than having none at all. Wilde would say that, whatever one’s soul is like, ‘the aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s own nature perfectly – that is what each of us are here for.’ This definition of ‘self-development’ from The Picture of Dorian Gray has, indeed, more in common with the Alex of the beginning, the one ever indulging in perverse pleasures, rather than with the grown-up man of the ending. The former Alex is truly an aesthete: he is an cultured young man who idolizes Beethoven; he loves blood only when it doesn’t stain his clothes ‘in the height of nadsat fashion;’ and he is, in spite of everything, very charming and attractive – just as Wilde’s despicable Dorian was charming and attractive. ‘The more things become computerized and predictable, the more does crime acquire glamour as the last refuge of individuality’ – and the younger Alex embodies this. But which of the two Alexes is the true one, remains an open question: Alex, the hero and narrator, is the one character who matters; (†¦) his fate contains a message. There is disagreement on what the message is. On the other hand, there is not much divergence of opinion on what the message of Ginsberg’s Howl is. His poetry is one of public and open revolt, and therefore has a straightforward approach. Burgess lacks this because he is struggling in private, trying to come to terms with the attack suffered by his wife at the hands of three G. I. deserters, an ordeal which haunted his life. Clockwork represents for Burgess ‘an act of catharsis and an act of charity.’ He gives Alex a complex personality, burdens him with passions, and eventually feelings and a conscience, because he’s desperate to understand and forgive. He was no doubt also made desperate by his own attempt to make the people behind these actions, through Alex, almost human. On one hand, there was in him the necessity to comprehend in order to move on; on the other, the guilt felt for trying so hard to comprehend something so terrible. It is in this sense that the conflict of identity exists not onl y within the character, but also within the author. With Ginsberg, the conflict is not internal at all. His angry ‘howl’ is not directed at himself (on the contrary, he accepts and embraces every aspect of his being with rare conviction), but at the rest of the world. Ginsberg’s identity is not torn apart inside, but from the reality outside, in which he feels he has no place. It is the reality of a shattered America, although obviously not in a literal sense: the America of Ginsberg is powerful, blooming with industry – which is precisely what disturbs Ginsberg. He feels his country is going astray. Trying to redirect America is the Beats’ mission in life. Ginsberg in particular feels his vatic role very strongly – you can ‘call him a guru if you like, for guru is merely Timespeak for â€Å"teacher.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ His own guru, or ‘lonely old courage teacher,’ is Whitman. Ginsberg chooses him as his spiritual mentor because he identifies with his outspoken homosexuality and profound patriotism. Ginsberg is positively enamoured of his country, and for this reason it pains him to see the state it is in. He thinks wishfully of the America prophesized by Whitman, a mythical nation of heroes, and wants to understand where that great plan has gone wrong. All he can see is a sexless soulless America (†¦). Not the wild beautiful America of the comrades of Walt Whitman, not the historic America of William Blake and Henry David Thoreau where the spiritual independence of each individual was America, a universe, more huge awesome than all the abstract bureaucracies and authoritative officialdoms of the world combined. The way he sees it, the American dream has utterly failed: people don’t live as ‘comrades,’ and even wars aren’t heroic anymore – there was honour in the fight for freedom of the Civil War, but there is none in building atom bombs. ‘Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb’ is Ginsberg’s very clear position on that. He states it, as usual, in a language calculated to shock. It expresses his exasperation, and hopes to shake the drowsy consciousness of his fellow Americans, who passively accept the serialization, and sterilization imposed from above: in such a well-mannered, orderly society there’s space only for alienation. This is a concept taken straight for Communist theory (‘America I used to be a communist when I was a kid I’m not sorry’ ), the standard first refuge for discontented youth. This idea of alienation, intertwined with that of industrial labour, runs also through Clockwork, especially through the novel within the novel. F. Alexander’s work denounces the depersonalization that turns human beings into ‘clockwork oranges,’ soulless things which only look like human beings. Ginsberg’s intent is the same. The image of Moloch, the ‘sphinx of cement and aluminium’ which reduces people to larvae by eating ‘up their brains and imaginations’, is constantly evocated in the second part of Howl. Ginsberg modernizes the biblical horror whom the idolatrous Israelites offered children to, turning him into the terrible buildings to which the innocence of his America is continually sacrificed: factories, banks, prisons, office blocks, skyscrapers, lunatic asylums represent all that Ginsberg stands against. The constant references to grey, enclosed spaces contrast the vast open spaces roamed by the free men of Walt Whitma n’s nation. The intellectual elite dismissed Ginsberg and the movement as a bunch of ‘know-nothing bohemians.’ But Ginsberg felt he knew a great deal about a lot of things. He considered himself ‘a sort of self-appointed shaman – intense, voluble, irascible, and he was obviously convinced of the holiness of his mission as a poet.’ That of holiness is another recurring theme. It pervades the ‘Footnote to Howl’ like a ray of hope. I don’t believe that Ginsberg’s Howl is a howl of defeat. Later in the book, small but grand, hope rises again several times, always in the shape of flowers. The most significant example among them is I think that of the sunflower – and Ginsberg must think so too, since he chooses that sunflower as his ‘scepter.’ At first, the elegy for the ‘poor dead flower’ seems final; there’s a feeling that nothing can be done (‘when did you look at your skin and/decide you were an impotent dirty old locomo-/tive? the ghost of a locomotive?’ ), and a sense of anguish. But then, Ginsberg changes his tone, one can almost hear his voice trembling with emotion as he assures his new dead friend that it was ‘never no locomotive,’ and he starts his touching sermon ‘to my soul, and Jack’s soul/too, and anyone who’ll listen.’ He recognizes no sign of defeat in the ‘dead grey shadow’ of the sunflower, which held onto its ‘battered crown’ until the very end, when it exhaled with dignity, like a true king. The hope Ginsberg is giving his audience is that ‘we’re all beautiful golden sunflowers inside,’ that we too can make something special out of our time here, and die peacefully at the end of it, knowing that we didn’t give in to the system. I believe this sentiment runs through Clockwork as well, if somewhat less explicitly: the fundamental importance of being always true to oneself becomes apparent to the reader who witnessed Alex having that self taken away from him. Change, we discover through the eyes of Burgess’ young hero, is a vital part of the self, but only if it comes from within – coming from the outside, it is nothing more than an attack to the ‘integrity of the soul.’ BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources A. Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2001) A. Ginsberg, Howl (San Francisco: City Lights, 1956) Secondary Sources BOOKS A. Ginsberg, Journals Mid-Fifties: 1954-1958; edited b G. Ball (New York: Harper Perennial, 1995) A. Ginsberg, Deliberate Prose: Selected Essays 1952-1995; edited by B. Morgan. (Perennial, 2000) The Bible, King James Version. M. K. Booker, The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism (Greenwood, Westport, Connecticut, 1994) B. Cook, The Beat Generation (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971) A. Crowcroft, The Psychotic: Understanding Madness (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971) P. E. Devine, The Ethics of Homicide (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1978) R. D. Erlich, Clockwork Worlds: Mechanized Environments in SF (Greenwood, Westport, Connecticut, 1983) R. K. Martin, The Homosexual Tradition in American Poetry (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979) D. Moshman, Adolescent Psychological Development: Rationality, Morality, and Identity (London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005) P. Portugà ©s, The Visionary Poetics of Allen Ginsberg (Santa Barbara: Ross-Erikson Publishers, 1978) J. Stout, The Flight from Authority: Religion, Morality, and the Quest for Autonomy (London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1998) EDITIONS N. Page (ed.), Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press, 1998) ARTICLES, CHAPTERS, AND SECTIONS Aristotle, ‘Nicomachean Ethics’, in Perry, J. M. Bratman (eds.), Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 564-579 M. Cooke, ‘An Evil Heart: Moral Evil and Moral Identity’, in M. P. Lara (ed.), Rethinking Evil (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2001), pp. 113-130 R. Plank, ‘The Place of Evil in Science Fiction’, in Extrapolation, Vol. 14, No. 2 (May 1973), pp. 100-111. WEB PAGES T. Hobbes, ‘Of the Natural Condition of Mankind Concerning their Felicity and Misery’, in T. Hobbes, Leviathan (constitution.org/th/leviatha.tx), accessed 13 November 2005. N. Cassady, in The Blacklisted Journalist, ‘The Beat Papers of Al Aronowitz, Chapter 3: Dean Moriarty (Annotated by Jack Kerouac)’ (bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/column23.html), accessed 11th January 2006. Research Papers on The Problems of identity – political, geographical, personal, sexual in Modern Novels - EssayBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementBringing Democracy to Africa19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionHip-Hop is ArtCapital PunishmentMind TravelHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay

40 Synonyms for Praise

40 Synonyms for Praise 40 Synonyms for Praise 40 Synonyms for Praise By Mark Nichol Last week, I offered a list of synonyms for the word criticize. To avert criticism (admonishment, censure, chastising, and so on), I offer here a roster of synonyms for its antonym, praise, in that word’s verb form as well as when it’s used as a noun. 1. Acclaim: To applaud or praise; also a noun referring to the action of applause or cheering. 2. Acknowledge: To recognize someone or something for services rendered; the word also has the connotation of â€Å"to confirm rights or authority.† 3. Adore: To honor or worship in a religious sense, although its meaning has extended to â€Å"to be fond of, to admire.† 4. Adulate: â€Å"To express excessive praise.† This rarely used verb form of adulation has a connotation of flattery. (See flatter below.) 5. Applaud: To express approval in general, as well as to clap hands or otherwise praise nonverbally. 6. Belaud: To praise, but the sense is of excessive acclaim. 7. Bless: To praise or to glorify in a religious sense; the word also has a secular sense of â€Å"to approve† as well as â€Å"to favor† (the latter in usage such as â€Å"blessed with remarkable talent†). 8. Carol: To praise with song, or in a like manner. 9. Celebrate: To publicly honor in a secular sense as well as a religious one. 10. Chant: A close synonym of carol and hymn. 11. Cheer: To cheer in applause or to express triumph. 12. Cite: To formally call attention to for praise. However, this term also has an opposite meaning of â€Å"to reprimand,† as well as the senses of â€Å"to quote† or â€Å"to refer to,† so the context should be clear. 13. Commemorate: To observe a ceremony of remembrance, or to provide a memorial. 14. Commend: To praise with approval, or to recommend. 15. Compliment: To communicate respect or admiration for someone to that person or another. 16. Crack up: Slang used to refer to someone or something that may or may not be as worthy of praise as previously thought; generally restricted to phrases such as â€Å"not all it’s cracked up to be.† 17. Deify: To glorify, as if to equate the person being praised with a god; this sense coexists with the literal religious sense of according someone the status of a god. 18. Emblazon: Originally meant to inscribe or decorate a heraldic device or bearings; now, the sense is extended to praising, especially in writing, as if to permanently establish the subject as praiseworthy. 19. Eulogize (British English: eulogise): To praise in speech or writing; usually, the connotation is that the subject of praise is deceased. 20. Exalt: To praise extensively. 21. Extol (or extoll): To praise generously. 22. Fete: To honor with a celebration, or to honor in general. 23. Flatter: To praise insincerely or only for selfish motives. The word also has similar senses of â€Å"to depict with excessive favor† or â€Å"to present to one’s advantage,† as well as â€Å"to deceive, as in â€Å"I flatter myself that I acted wisely.† 24. Glorify: To praise with the intent of making the subject appear glorious, but it also means â€Å"to make something or someone seem to be better than it or they really is.† 25. Hail: To greet enthusiastically as a show of approval; the term also has a mundane sense of â€Å"to call or greet.† 26. Honor: To express respect or admiration. 27. Hymn: A close synonym of carol and chant. 28. Idolize: To worship, with a connotation of excessive praise. 29. Laud: To praise; also, capitalized, a religious ceremony. (The adjective form is laudable.) 30. Magnify: To praise, in the sense, as the etymology suggests, of making someone or something appear greater than they or it is. 31. Mention: To identify someone or something for mild praise, often in the form of a consolation prize called â€Å"Honorable Mention.† 32. Rave: To praise enthusiastically. 33. Recognize: To publicly thank someone for their service or otherwise indicate appreciation. 34. Recommend: To endorse or propose as commendable, in addition to the more pedestrian connotations such as â€Å"to advise.† 35. Renown: To offer praise. (In its more common noun form, it means â€Å"fame.†) 36. Resound: To praise, or to become one praised, with the sense of loud approval. The word has an additional sense, more commonly used, of echoing or reverberating. 37. Rhapsodize: To praise excessively, from the noun form, rhapsody, which refers to a literary work that rouses emotions (originally, it denoted recitation of an epic poem). 38. Salute: To praise or honor, in addition to the sense of gesturing to show respect or to otherwise acknowledge someone as a courtesy. 39. Tout: To promote or endorse. It also means â€Å"to spy,† especially in the sense of obtaining information about a racehorse to improve one’s betting odds. 40. Worship: To extravagantly praise, as if the subject were a deity. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Grammar Mistakes You Should AvoidPeople versus PersonsApostrophe with Plural Possessive Nouns

What are the patterns of business failure in the UK What are the main Essay

What are the patterns of business failure in the UK What are the main explanations for why businesses do not survive Which explanations are the most and least convincing - Essay Example Failure usually follows a similar pattern in both small and large enterprises when faced with financial crisis in the wider economy. With the economic downturn of 2008, the business climate has become much tougher in the UK for new, upcoming firms. Importantly, in addition to the failure of business due to economic factors, there are many other reasons that contribute to this eventuality (Bartelsman, Scarpetta, & Schivardi, 2003). Hence, taking this into account, this paper aims to analyse the trends related to business failure in the UK. A critical assessment of the related factors is only possible with a deeper understanding of the theoretical framework. Furthermore, the paper also seeks to extract deeper insight into the causes that result in the failure of business. The assessment will bring in to the limelight the factors that play a dominant role in leading entrepreneurs towards business closure. Upon assessment of the reasons it identifies, this paper will also discuss the factors that appear to be least convincing for justifying failure. The global landscape for doing business is increasing dual perspectives for the business. The dual impact can be regarded as the direct impact of globalisation. On one hand, the globalisation has increased the opportunities for business to explore different countries and new markets with limited resources required. Also, globalisation has offered new ways to introduce innovative ideas. Yet with this opportunity, global business simultaneously faces increasing challenges as globalisation has increased competition not only from local competitors but from international rivals as well (Arbaugh and Camp, 2000). The number of business failures gives the clear signal of the downfall of the emerging market. According to one report, the business index goes down from 93.5 to 90.2 in the year 2014. According to D&B (2012), the decline in the index was from 5.8% to as low as 3.5 % in the same

Film Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Film Analysis - Essay Example He joined a Neo- Kazi movement where he befriended the leaders of that group, and started his mission with rage. When in the movement he killed two black men who were members of the gang. Before he killed them he found them trying to break into the truck that his father had left for him. Later he was imprisoned for three years as a result of manslaughter. As the film starts, there is a flashback, where Danny is trying to get some sleep but he cannot sleep because he was disturbed by the noise coming out from his brothers’ room. The brother was having sex with his girlfriend. He then hears another voice from outside, when he peeped through the window he saw a black man who was trying to break into his brothers’ truck. Danny ran into his brothers’ room to inform him about what he had seen. Derrick ran out with his pistol and started firing at the black men, and he managed to kill all of them. After that incidence Derrick is sentenced for three years imprisonment. I n prison, he was raped by the fellow skinheads but later was befriended by a black man whom he had to work for, just for his security in prison. The experience that Derrick went through, when in prison changed him forever. On his return home he realized that his younger brother Danny had started to involve himself with the group of white supremacy. Danny was spitting the racial slurs right and left, the same way that Derrick used to do before he was imprisoned (Smith, 2007). Derrick was in dismay when he realized that his family was torn apart, due to his violent action. Immediately after his release he goes to try and see if he can bring the family together. He wanted to reconcile with his sisters and mother, and also to change Danny from his behaviors that were disturbing. Towards the end of the film, it was clear that Derrick was able to change Danny to be the boy that he ones. To distance themselves from the white supremacy the boys had to tear down the pro-Nazi and racist propa ganda that were on the walls in Danny’s bedroom. After he stripped off the hate that was in his room Danny embarked working on his schoolwork paper. The initial intention of that paper was to share about hi Derrick’s lifestyle when in the Neo-Kazi movement (Christopher, 2008). But when he saw how his brother had transformed, his paper took another direction. He wrote a paper full of hope, telling how he and his brother were freed from bondage of rage and bigotry. Towards the end of the film Derrick escorts his brother to school and he bid him bye. After a short while when he went Derrick heard gun shots when he ran to the site he saw his brother lying on the floor with the essay next to him. The film American history X shows some incivility. The emotions of incivility are created in the film because there is a group in the film that is known as the white supremacy. Derrick was in the group and his rage to the blacks is shown when he kills the three black men. He murder ed them brutally because he considered the blacks, an inferior race. Another emotion of incivility is by that instance in the film American history, where Danny was shot by a black (Parfit, 2008). This boy killed him because he was filled with hatred against the whites. The other incidence that shows incivility is when Derricks’ father was murdered by a black man who was a drug dealer. When Danny died Derrick ran to him and started mourning as he asked himself what he had done that led to his

Prison Writing :: essays research papers

The bleak prison world portrayed by George Jackson in his letter to Fay Stender, his attorney, develops into a concentrated and condensed view of American society. This microcosm evolves from faults within the socio-political structure of the state. Jackson draws similarities between the construct of American and prison life, which harmonised the unrest of black Americans during an era of the civil right movement. The links drawn add another dimension to the movement and the barbaric nature of American politics. To move away from Jackson’s letter, I would like to quote something that I believe is essential to Jackson’s view of the prison system: I feel like an alien in here because this whole prison system is created in such a way as to cut me off from my culture, my religion. There is no way I can describe the effect it has on me to be forcefully separated from my very way of life. The values of the white man, I do not understand. I don’t understand a culture that believes that it is good to fight one another for wealth, for material things†¦ These things I don’t understand, but it is the way of white man, and it is the way these prisoners are taught to be so that they can function properly in the white man’s society when they are released. This is part of an affidavit written to congress by a Native American called Timothy Reed, also known as Little Rock. The prison system is designed to remove one’s identity to replace it with an ‘American’ one. I have often thought that being American is more akin to a religion than a nationality. The nation’s zealous guarding of their identity condemns any notion outside their own. That a nation so young and bastardised could be so xenophobic is horrifically ironic considering America’s history. And it is this history that Jackson considers important to understanding ‘why racism exists at the prison with â€Å"particular prominence†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and goes on to answer ‘the larger question of why racism exists in [American] society with â€Å"particular prominence†, tied into history’. That ‘those who inhabit [the prison] and feed off its existence are historical products’, fixes on an evolution of America whic h not only creates the need for such prisons, but also creates a micro-society in its image. The perpetuation of the cruelty of American history exists inside the prison walls, where ‘overt racism exists unchecked.

Planned Organizational Change Essay

Abstract Planned organizational change can be defined in many different ways, and characterized on many different levels. The common denominator listed after reviewing two related Internet articles, indicates that change cannot take place for â€Å"change’s sake†, but must be implemented to accomplish a specific goal or task. Another common statement states that change must also be accepted and embraced before the desired outcome is achieved. Planned Organizational Change Planned organizational change can be defined in many different ways, and characterized on many different levels. The common denominator listed after reviewing two related Internet articles, indicates that change cannot take place for â€Å"change’s sake†, but must be implemented to accomplish a specific goal or task. Another common statement states that change must also be accepted and embraced before the desired outcome is achieved. The first Internet article reviewed was titled â€Å"Planned Organizational Change as Cultural Revolution† (Izumi and Taylor. n.d.). This article was particularly interesting because of the broad statement provided indicating that organizational schemes often fail because of poor reception by those involved. The article states: Organizational schemes â€Å"gang aft a-gley† during the implementation stage because the corporate culture does not change enough to allow the new ideas, procedures, and structures to take hold. There may not be the â€Å"cultural buy-in† necessary to sustain the current change effort. If planned change is to be successful, it must include, as an integral and critical part of the change process, the seeds of the new values, beliefs, and attitudes the organization is trying to grow. Unfortunately, change programs are often set up to fail because the change methods only perpetuate the old way of doing things. This statement rings particularly true for this author. Over the past 20  years in business I have witnessed many organizational changes that have failed miserably. Businesses seem to want a change, for different reasons, but do not know how to properly implement these changes. Improper implementation of a sound plan, not enough organizational commitment, and organizational politics, as indicated in the article, seem to provide some of the most common reasons for failure related to organizational change. Businesses will sometimes have a valid plan to change an organization, but neglect the final stages of implementation. This lack of follow-up invalidates the entire effort. Politics also play a significant role in most organizational change failures. Many businesses have allowed small unofficial organizations to form within organizations; this creates internal â€Å"kingdoms† which prove fatal to organizational change. A strong belief in the importance of a proper structure, as told by the article, often causes change factors to focus on the organization instead or processes. The effects of this type of change produce a structural change instead of a process change that allows the same processes to function under new management. The article goes as far as mentioning on model, used specifically in the case of large mergers, how many resources can be combined with little analysis of the operating environment. The thinking is, the combination of skills, thoughts and ideas will combine to form an organization that operates in a drastically different manner that initially imagined. This idea sounds valid, but a combination of organizational direction from management combined with the evolution of processes and organization would seem to provide the most effective solution. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is one of the most interesting ideas retrieved from the first Internet article. The BPR is described as a natural outgrowth of the Internal Process approach to organizational effectiveness. This model concentrates on targeting internal processes for change. When these processes are analyzed for inefficiencies there is little consideration given to strategy or organizational structure. When internal processes are changed to increase efficiency, the old systems should be replaced with new systems rather than using the old systems to create new  processes. As old systems are purged, the effects on the organization increase exponentially. The â€Å"domino effect† seen by replacing old processes often surprises businesses as to the effectiveness of this model. The second article reviewed was titled: Basic Context for Organizational Change, this article parallels the previous article reviewed by this author. This article written by Carter McNamara, PhD provides two interesting points: (1) Change should not be done for the sake of change, and (2) There is typically strong resistance to change; people are afraid of the unknown. This author has witnessed several organization changes that could easily been implemented simply â€Å"for change sake†. The Internet article helps in the realization of the necessity for organizational-wide changes to truly create situations that effect positive change. Many times businesses will implement organizational changes in only one or two departments, when the change truly effects the every department or division in a small way. Organizational-wide change, along with change acceptance will go a long way toward creating a favorable atmosphere to change. Typically there are strong resistances to organizational change. People are afraid of the unknown. Many people like the way things are, are comfortable, and don’t understand the need for change. Many people view any organizational change as â€Å"bad†, and neglect to give proposed changes an opportunity to succeed. This type of behavior is difficult to remedy, but a well-structured, properly organized change can implement change much easier that an ill conceived plan. In conclusion, this author has realized the importance of implementing and following through with planned changes as an integral part of successful organizational change. This author has also realized that change for â€Å"change sake† is a dangerous proposition and organizational changes should always consider the entire company before attempting local changes. A final lesson teaches the importance of recognizing people’s inherent resistance to change and the need to address human resistance as an important step in any organizational change effort. The items reviewed in both internet articles discussed effective ways to implement and recognized planned change, and  should be invaluable in future business endeavors. Reference Izumi, H., Taylor, D., (n.d.). Planned organizational change as cultural evolution. Empire State College Resource List. Para. 2. Retrieved April 15, 2003 from the World Wide Web:http://www.esc.edu/ESConline/across_esc/forumjournal.nsf/ 3cc42a422514347a8525671d0049f395/1f36661906ca98d9852567b00