Kfc Inventory and Process Management

Manipal Institute Of Management, Manipal| OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT| KFC Inventory And Process Management| | | Group 7 Section B| Roll No. | Name| Signature| 121202070| Niranjan N Naik| | 121202081| Binay Kumar Sahoo| | 121202031| Ribu Roby| | 121202050| Julian Joel Roche| | 121202120| Dhanush Patel| | 121202122| Suraj Pereira| | | | Submitted to: Yogesh Pai Date: 16/03/2013 Contents INTRODUCTION1 Logistics1 Inventory Storage2 PROCESS3 Cleaning4 Disposal5 Conclusion5 INTRODUCTIONKFC Corporation is based in Louisville, Kentucky, and is the world's most popular chicken restaurant chain. KFC and its franchised employees are more than 200 thousand, all over the world. It is the world’s largest and most well known  fast food restaurant preferably known as chicken restautants. Their restaurants are served in 109 countries and territories around the world. The study is done on a fast food restaurant and the analysis done on inventory management and process in kitchen. The study is rest ricted to KFC utlet present in Manipal. The purpose of the study was to understand the process of the organization and with the completion of this project we have learned that how operations Management Strategies plays very important role in achieving an organizational goals. The restaurant follows Just In Time (JIT) and First In First Out (FIFO) to manage inventory. Inventory, is divided into three types consisting of Daily, Weekly and Monthly inventory. The daily inventory consists fast moving products like Krushers, Non-veg items, ice-creams.Here the orders are placed by the inventory department every night after the restaurant closes for customers. The requirement sheets are filled inorder to place the order and products are moved from inventory. The weekly inventory consists of Dry storage items like disposal plates ; equipments and recipes needed to cook. The requirement sheet is filled while placing order which is placed every Thursday and the products reach the outlet to the max by Monday or Tuesday.The monthly inventory consists of detailed stock verification of the items present in the store and the products disposed off due too non consumption on reaching the standard time are also recorded. The update of stock verification is done via website and once updated its final and no changes can be done by the staff, if in case there are changes they call up the head quarters and make the necessary changes. Logistics The products/goods are transported from Bangalore warehouse via road transport. The outlet does not purchase from any other local dealers for any items.In regular process, the truck reaches the outlet on Monday or Tuesday between 9am to 11am. Before moving the products to storage the 3stage process is followed, at first the temperature is measured which should be between (-18oC to -23oC) , then expiry date of the product is verified and at last the quality of the product is checked via Tell-Through machine. At any point of the this 3steps any one step is not upto the standards the products are sent back to warehouse. In case of urgent stock from the time they place they take 2days to get the stock via courier. Inventory StorageKFC implements different storage for different products consisting of dry storage, cold storage (frozen) for non-veg items, chill storage and cold storage for veg products. Dry storage consists of items like cleaning products, Disposable plates spoons towels, recipes etc. The products are stored at room temperature. Cold storage consists of veg products, cold drinks, water etc stored at temperature (-1oC to -4oC). Cold storage fr non- veg products are stored at temperature (-180C to -23oC) wher the product validity is 6months. Older batches are placed at the front.Items are placed in simple rack system and fast moving items are placed in a such manner that they are easily accessible. The products are moved in FIFO method. Chiller storage are stored in temperature of (-1oC to -40C). It’s a no n-veg defrosting room. Stores fresh product and frozen product (for thawing) is placed here. Frozen product once taken out of freezer cannot be returned (expire time 12 hours). Items are placed in rack system placed along with time tag placed with it. PROCESS Here the items are moved from cold storage to the chiller are placed for thawing and defrosting with room temperature of (-1oC to -4oC).Frozen product once taken out of freezer to chiller cannot be placed back. Once the duration of 12 hours are done items/ packets are removed out and goes to the cleaning process. The duration of cleaning depends from staff to staff usually on an average 5-10 minutes are needed. After the items are cleaned, it is placed in an Marinator where basic masalas are mixed. The machine takes 10minutes and makes 300 rotations. Once the items are marinated there is a need for the products to absorb the masala so they are kept for absorption in a process called Ageing which takes 2 hours.After that the pro ducts need to get a layer for themselves so they pass through a process of Breading. On the basis of requirement cooking is done. Cooking consists of 3 types: Grilled, Fried and Baked. The duration of items which are grilled is 45 minutes from the time it is ready. Fried and Baked items duration is 2 hours from the time it is ready. Grilled and baked items are cooked in an micro oven called â€Å"Convotherm†. After that the products are placed in an oil dry machine which absorbs oil from the dishes which takes time duration of 1 – 2 minutes.At last the prepared items are moved to display rack where they are placed in tray along with an tag which determines the time and life span of the item. There is a time keeper who keeps record of the duration and expiry of products. If any of the products are not consumed till the expiry of duration there is an step is taken to dispose of those food items as wastage. The disposal items are recorded and then disposed. Its bee said t o us that for every 1 lakh worth inventory, company sets a standard of Rs. 1000 diposal waste as free as there are every chance of wastage at any point of time by human error. If at all the limit exceeds Rs. 000 there is a need to record it and report it to the demand manager and also be mentioned in the monthly inventory. As far as our study we found out that there is an wastage of 6000-7000 for RS. 1,00,000 inventory. In order to reduce the wastage and disposing items which at present is an complete waste in point of cost, the outlet can make some announcements when the food items are near to their expiry stating buy this particular food product in matter of 15minutes and get discount of certain percent as discount so that they could reduce the wastage and incur certain percentage as profit instead of waste. Customer happiness is our happiness and any customer should not leave the outlet unsatisfied†. Items like Krushers and ice creams are prepared on demand. The standard ti me once an customer places an order, the food needs to be delivered in 1 minute. At present in the outlet they take 5-6 minutes on an average to deliver the order. If at any point of time the food ordered by customer is not prepared or is in process the staff needs to deliver the food in time of 15minutes, if they fail to do so they should take every possible measures are to be taken to keep the customer happy.Steps like providing chocolates to customers or a sweet smile or providing free items as complimentary etc is done. During the crowded hours there is an need to have 1 helper each for 3 cashiers, 2 people working on juice and ice cream section so that they can work effectively and reduce the waiting time and keep the customers more satisfied. Cleaning Concealed drainage are placed on floor for easier cleaning. When it comes to cleaning of vessels, they follow 3 steps.First the vessels are washed with chemical water and then Sanitized with hot water with temperature of (32oC to 38oC) and at last they are Rinsed with normal and kept to dry. At present the cleaning area has only one entrance and the order of steps are chemical wash, rinse and sanitize there is an need to change this by having two entrance for cleaning area and order in sequential order of chemical wash sanitize and rinse. This will reduce the matter of plates falling from hand and causing damage while shifting from chemical wash to sanitize.Disposal Each counter has a separate disposal bin. All disposal collected in one disposal unit. Disposal bag is then taken to public disposal area behind the restaurant to be collected by municipal. Conclusion From a simple idea, and simple adventure, Harland Sandards started his dream, that had been grown and became one of the most popular restaurant among the world. Goodwill image, Loyalty, Spread, are 3 of the most important indicators of KFC popularity. Efficirnt utilization of space and all resource has reduced their expense.

Calvetta Essay

4. How, if at all, should Calveta’s organization structure and practices be changed to accommodate growth and effective communication, while maintaining the company’s culture? This is a very sticky issue. Growth, along with other factors, seems to have diminishing effects on company culture, popularly referred to as â€Å"Antonio’s way†. Two forms of growth present themselves to the company. They can either expand into the hospital segment (which falls in line with core competencies); or they could buy up GSD consequently growing their SLF customer base. Given the issues listed, I don’t believe purchasing GSD would be profitable, as debt financing would have to be undertaken thus, going against Antonio’s way. However, Frank believes they must grow in order to stay competitive within the industry so the former opportunity should be undertaken. The turnover, and promotion rate for Calveta is too rapid. It’s one of the major issues dissatisfied customers had with the SLF. Frank should consider slowing this down, and perhaps placing new staff members in proper training programs administered by current staff to ensure smooth staff changes. Whilst flexibility and ease of advancement may make the employees happier, the customers will suffer from the constant interrupted changes. Calveta should maintain a degree of normalcy in the workplace, and make it harder to advance (could have positive affects on employees motivation). Another structural issue is the current staff organization. If Frank is worried about the loss of emphasis on his father’s ideals he must communicate this effectively with the staff. Discussion groups, incentive packages, and achievable goals should be established for all staff members, especially new ones, so that company culture is maintained and reinforced. If Calveta are to grow, they will need a larger amount of regional employees. This will most likely lead to the hiring of persons outside of the company. Calveta need not hire them right out of college though. They may obtain them from similar companies with similar values and ideals. As GSD is about to be taken over, perhaps the better staff members may wish to come to Calveta  instead of staying on with a new owner. To ensure continuation of company culture pointed questions in the interview and recruitment process pertaining to it should be asked. Similarly, constant feedback for current employees would reinforce challenge 4, of Antonio’s way.

Supply and Demand Easyjet

Assignment 2. 5 Supply, Demand and Easyjet The Marketing Mix is the name given to the elements which are the key components which a marketing plan should be based upon. Typically in Marketing literature there are four elements: price, place, promotion and product, however this is now sometimes expanded to incorporate another 3 elements: people, physical evidence and process. Pricing policy is clearly very important to the marketing mix and is affected by variables such as firm’s objectives, the nature of competition, demand and firm costs.Firms operate pricing in different ways according to their marketing strategy and the industry in which they participate; an example of pricing methods will be shown and evaluated further in the essay in reference to EasyJet and British Airways flight pricing. As mentioned in the introduction, the role of pricing within the marketing mix is a varied one depending on what the firm is trying to achieve and the conditions within which it is oper ating. This contradicts what economic theory tells us: that pricing should be based upon setting prices at the point where Marginal Revenue = Marginal Cost in order to maximise firm profits.However, in real life â€Å"few firms explicitly follow the economic model in developing pricing policy† (Doyle 1997), because firms may be trying to achieve other things than maximising profits such as gaining market share, in which case they could be using the loss-leader tactic (where prices are set at a point which actually makes a loss for the firm which they are able to recoup through customer retention once prices increase or through the sale of full price complementary products).Doyle suggests that there are several common type of pricing policies such as: market-penetration pricing, market-skimming pricing, cost-orientated pricing, perceived-value pricing and price discrimination. Market penetration pricing refers to the concept discussed above such as loss-leading where short-ter m profits are sacrificed in order to increase/gain a market share(Baker, 1997). Market-skimming is the practice of setting high prices with subsequent high profits and expect to only sell a small volume of products; this can only work if there is no risk of nother company being able to completely take-over your potential sales with a cheaper price. Cost-orientated pricing is where prices are set as a basic mark-up on top of product costs, which can be known in business as ‘cost-plus’ pricing or target pricing when it refers to a certain level of return on investment. Perceived value pricing is based on the perception that buyers have of your firm’s product relative to other products in the market. Finally, the concept of price discrimination is one of particular importance to this essay given its data content of airline pricing.Perfect price discrimination is an economic concept where a firm seeks to charge every buyer exactly the price that they are prepared to pay. In reality, this is very difficult to achieve as how can a firm possibly be expected to know the exact value which each individual buyer places on their product? The only way that perfect price discrimination can be achieved is through an auction format, but this is debatable. General Price discrimination is a common strategy, however, and this involves firms charging different groups of customer’s different prices for the same product.In order for it to work, Doyle states that â€Å"customers in the highest-price segment must not be allowed to buy from the lower-price segment† e. g. there must be boundaries in place to ensure that a high-price customer cannot sneakily purchase at the low price. Within the airline industry this is achieved by differentiating between time of bookings – long-term advance bookings are the lower price customers and bookings made close to the time of departure are high price customers. The prices for Easyjet flights from London Luton to Madrid are as follows below: †¢ Tomorrow = 124. 98 †¢ One week = 183. 98 One month= 82. 98 †¢ 3 months = 70. 98 The key difference between these prices is that the more in advance you book, typically the cheaper it is. This indicates that Easyjet flight pricing is based upon demand (and supply but supply is fixed) for the flights, as the further in advance you book, the cheaper it is and on the flipside if you discover you have to go to Madrid tomorrow the price is much higher as your need/demand is more urgent and thus you will pay a higher price. However the obvious exception here is that it is nearly ? 60 cheaper to fly out tomorrow than it is to fly out in a week’s time.I would suggest that this appears to be an anomaly, as the obvious pattern of decreasing prices with advance bookings coupled with the knowledge that Easyjet formulates it’s prices based on supply and demand for each particular day and thus rewarding advance bookings (lower d emand for far away dates) with cheaper prices suggests that this is an unusual occurrence. One reason for the flights in a week being higher than a flight tomorrow to Madrid may be because the flight in a week is the weekend before Valentine’s Day so may be booked up more than we would typically expect from a normal day a week in advance.This peak and higher price for a potentially popular weekend represents that Easyjet is employing an almost near perfect pricing scheme in an economic sense e. g. each consumer is being charged a slightly different price relative to the level of demand for the flights (there is a fixed supply due to the fixed number of seats available). [pic] The graph above represents graphically the information from the Easyjet website which is displayed in bullet points above.As is clear to see – apart from the peak at 1 week – there is a downwards trend over time which I would expect to be even more obvious if we were to add in more data for weeks between 1 week and 1 month and between the periods of 1 month and 3 months. The decrease in price does appear to be flattening between month and 3 months which I would advocate is because once we’re getting to booking a few months in advance the prices are getting near to Easy jet’s lowest price point so there isn’t much room to decrease- thus I would anticipate the bottom price for the journey being around the ? 0 mark (as at 3 months in advance it is ? 70. 98). Turning now to the British Airways data, below are the prices for a BA flight from London Heathrow to Madrid at the same time of day and date as the Easyjet prices above: †¢ Tomorrow = 316 †¢ One week = 217 †¢ One month= 130 †¢ 3 months =126 Again, we can see both in the data and in the graph below that the same price discrimination strategy is being pursued by British Airways as by Easyjet: the advance flights represent the cheap-price customer segment and the close flights ( next day to next few weeks) represent the high-price segment.In both companies the price discrimination policy works as they are able to enforce the different price/customer brackets because of time of purchase of travel tickets being the discriminating factor. Therefore similarities between the two airlines are in the nature of their pricing strategies – price differentiation – and therefore the decreasing trend in air fares if booked in advance. The differences between the two companies from the data collected appear to be two different things: firstly that British Airways has a higher base price than Easyjet (circa ? 20 to circa ? 70) and that British Airways has not taken into account high-demand special occasions such as Valentine’s Day weekend in its pricing in comparison to EasyJet, as shown by the lack of spike in price at the one week point on the British Airways graph. The higher base price of almost ? 50 more commanded by British Airways (BA) is proba bly due to both higher costs than EasyJet (who follow a low-cost strategy and thus deliver less service than BA on its flights e. g. ess cabin crew, no complimentary food/beverages, no free baggage check-in) and also the Brand-name of British Airways commanding a higher price. To conclude, pricing is a vital part of the marketing mix and overall strategy of all firms. Within the airline industry, the tendency is for price discrimination as due to the nature of travel and the booking of flights it is possible to discriminate between different bands of customers booking the same service based on their needs (economy, business class, first class) and their time of booking (advance, the day before etc. . From evaluation of comparable data taken from both EasyJet and British Airways it is clear to see that both are operating a policy of price-discrimination based on advance booking of fares. Bibliography Baker, J (1997) The Marketing Book, The Bath Press, Bath, UK. BritishAirways. com [o n-line] http://www. britishairways. com/travel/home/public/en_gb Doyle, P (1997) Managing the Marketing Mix, reproduced in The Marketing Book, The Bath Press, Bath, UK Easyjet corporate website [on-line] http://www. easyjet. com/EN

Maritime Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Maritime Policy - Essay Example According to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), flags of convenience can be defined as: ‘where beneficial ownership and control of a vessel is found to lay elsewhere than in the country of the flag the vessel is flying’ (ITF, 2007, Pg.1). There are two main modes of registering shipping vessels: closed and open registers. Closed registers are the conventional form whereby the ship owners and the majority of crew emanate from the registering country. Open registers or ‘flags of convenience’ are however those registrations, which are open to any nationality subject to the registering country’s regulations that are often very relaxed to attract as many ship-owners as possible. Open registers are further subdivided into two more categories: Open National Registers and Open International Registers. Under Open National Registers, the ships are obliged to follow the trading regulations of the flag-state encompassing employment and tax guidelines. In Open International Registers, the ships are less stringently regulated enjoying tax exemptions on their profits, easy employment terms for their international crews, lax company regulations and relaxed safety standard enforcement (O’Keefe, 2002, p. 4). Although flag states are required to ensure that ships registered in their domain follow the requisite international laws in addition to administrative control, technical and social issues, however most of those licensing the flag of convenience (FOC) rarely bother to monitor the operations of the vessels. The United Nations has blamed these states for exacerbating marine accidents and compromising maritime security and safety (Gianni, 2008). According to the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) in Gianni (2008), ‘many shipping accidents and resulting loss of life and marine pollution are not the result of

DEALING WITH NORMAL DATA AND ZSCORES Statistics Project

DEALING WITH NORMAL DATA AND ZSCORES - Statistics Project Example The average current test score of the students is 82.06 and varies from the mean by about 9.05. The z-score of the students’ test grades can be calculated using below formula: Table 1 shows the student’s z-scores for their previous and current test grades. The maximum and minimum z-scores for the previous test score are 1.48 and -1.54, respectively. The maximum and minimum z-scores for the current test score are 1.76 and -1.55, respectively. Thus, there is no outlier in both the current and previous test scores as all the z-score values are in between -3 and +3. A total of 9 students’ z-score decreased from the previous test to current test and a total of 9 students’ z-score increased from the previous test to current test. The theoretical normal distribution probability of a z-score below 0.50 is about 0.6915. The number of students whose z-score is below 0.50 in current score is 11. Thus, proportion of the students test scores on the current test only fall below z = .50 is about 0.6111 which is very close to the theoretical normal distribution

Two Events Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Two Events - Essay Example It acted as a wakeup call for USA to defend its citizens. The following paper looks at the above two events and how they have contributed to the current state of America. Attack on Pearl Harbor On 7th December 1941, the United States of America was intentionally and abruptly ambushed by the air and naval forces of the Japan Empire. The location of the bombing and sinking of American ships was the Pearl Harbor Naval and Army base in Oahu, Hawaii. The US eventually entered World War II due to this homeland assault (Takaki, 2008). I believe that the effects of Pearl Harbor were mostly positive for Americans. Even though the attack terrified the nation, it also united a nation that had been divided due to the war in Europe. After the attack, there were various drives launched such as scrapped iron drive, united paper drives and recycled items. These were used to make items vital for the war such as machine guns, flame throwers, binoculars, and hand grenades. Even the youngest were helpfu l as school children had coin drives in which they gathered coins to purchase war bonds to support the government (Dower, 2011). The second positive effect is that it assisted in ending the Great Depression which had started in 1929. It brought a great need for an industry that provides materials for war-times like ammunition, guns and uniforms for the troops. At the end of the war, citizens purchased all they could not during the war period. There was also a decrease in the rate of unemployment as ten million men and women joined the army while those left at home took jobs in factories. Another positive outcome was that as a resolution not to permit a repeat of World War II, the United Nations was born. The Senate that had declined to sanction the membership of America in the League of Nations following World War I, eventually irresistibly sanctioned US membership in the UN after World War II (Stone, & Kuznick, 2012). There however were some negative elements of the attack in that over 2000 citizens died and 21 ships were sank or damaged seriously. Japanese-American citizens were placed in relocation camps as a measure to ensure that there was no risk of a Japanese descendant acting as a spy for Japan (Takaki, 2008). They were forcefully evicted from their homes within 48 hours and lived in poor conditions. However, in 1988, congress gave a formal apology to the affected and gave the survivors compensations of $20,000 each (Stone, & Kuznick, 2012). After this gesture, America has now turned to be one of the most democratic nations in the world. Its citizens and government became more appreciative to human rights of foreigners and citizens. Conclusion It is clear that if we forget the past then we are bound to repeat its mistakes. The two attacks, even though devastating, shaped USA in their own capacities. They served to bring the nation together in times of crisis. We would not be the strong united superpower we are today without such occurrences. As a count ry, we should take precautionary measures in future and also arrest perpetrators of such attacks while still maintaining socially correct honor to the opinions and rights of mankind. It is right for us as a country to defend ourselves against future attacks but we should do so without destroying our civil rights and values as we do. References Didion, J. (2003). Fixed Ideas: America Since 9.11. New York: New York Review Books. Dower, J. W. (2011). Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor / Hiroshima / 9-11 /

Business law and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business law and ethics - Essay Example Business law is a very important aspect as far as the interests of the customers are concerned. It has contract law regulations for protecting the ethical issues of the parties involved in any business transaction (John D. Ashcroft and Janet Ashcroft, 2007 and Richard. A. Mann and Barry S. Roberts, 2005). If the contract law is violated by any one of the parties, they would be liable to be punished under court of law (E.Allan Fransworth, 2004, Richard Craswell and Alan Schwartz, 1994 and Steven J. Burton and Melvin Aron Eisenberg, 2005). In the present case, Bert has given a word to Williams that he will not sell the car below $ 10,500 which he strictly followed. However, the problem lies in deadline given for the selling i.e. Saturday which he could not follow. Williams was told the car would not be sold before Saturday but the car was sold on Thursday. Williams has even communicated to Bert regarding his acceptance which however could not be red by Bert due to inadvertent incident. Hence it will not be proper to state that Bert would be made guilty for the incident. Moreover, legal matters would not put Bert in to trouble if the matter is dealt in the following manner. First of all, Bert has not committed any thing written to neither Williams nor Tom. Hence as far as the legal stand is concerned he has to be considered under safe zone. It doesn’t mean that oral conversation would not be taken seriously, it only indicates that relatively he has not assured any thing with higher intensity. In case of Ball V Bridges (1874), the judgment has gone in favor of seller as no offer and acceptance were made in writing and hence it would not come under breach of contract or business law. Hence the case of Bert under present study comes under this and he should not be made guilty as far as sale of his car is concerned. Bert should always maintain that he has not violated any terms of agreement what ever have been

Organizational Design, Culture, and Adaptation Essay - 1

Organizational Design, Culture, and Adaptation - Essay Example This program, Diabetic Rewards Issued via Everyone (DRIVE) Day, has specific goals aimed at helping patients control their disease through various activities planned on this particular day on a monthly basis. Moreover, Drive Day especially helps in providing care to diabetic patients that do not have insurance coverage, or have low insurance coverage, those from low income groups and all other patients. The idea and design of this initiative resulted from a thorough study of historical data. The Drive Day is conducted on the first Thursday of every month post noon for about 4 hours. On this day, patients that walk in are made to undergo a series of procedures and examinations, post which their condition is assessed for further treatment. This program is conducted by a team of doctors, nurses and attendants from the AHC that take turns every month to conduct the Drive Day based on a pre-planned procedure in a systematic fashion. A total of seven stations with few sub stations cater to the Drive Day activities with each station managed by a team of physician, nurse and attendant. Patients are registered and sent for further study by physicians for their vitals, blood glucose levels and other related tests. These observations made by the physician at every station are accurately recorded on a progress note, which is retained by the patient and used by the physicians to prescribe treatment and to observe improvements. Besides these, the Drive Days are made more attractive and encouraging to the attendees through voluntary activities such as cookery classes, exercise, yoga and group activities to resolve queries from patients and their family members. The Drive Day program certainly has the potential to improve awareness related to diabetes management and its associated problems besides providing accessible and affordable care to existing diabetic patients that are otherwise deprived of the required attention. Secondly, this program will also help doctors devote mor e time to greater number of patients and save waiting time for patients as well as minimize wastage of time waiting that would otherwise occur due to missed appointments or lesser number of patients walking into the clinics for regular visits; in short, this program would improve doctors’ efficiency. The most interesting aspect of the Drive Day initiative is that this program provides an excellent platform to improve awareness related to healthy nutrition, lifestyle, and other health precautions that are required in present-day life, which will also help in managing and preventing early diabetes. The Drive Day initiative would improve doctors’ efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency would improve because the way the event is managed invites more number of patients as well as incites them for repeating their visits. Effectiveness would be high because patients tend to take ownership to attend the Drive Days; secondly, voluntary activities such as cookery and exercise w ould improve their participation. As per

Jurisprudence and corporate Social Responsibility Essay - 1

Jurisprudence and corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example the â€Å"first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.† Therefore, justice can be distinguished from compassion, mercy, generosity, benevolence and charity. The understanding of the concept of justice varies between societies depending on their mythology, religion and shared history. However, the common feature about the notion of justice in every society is that it is influenced by values created by the society’s ethics. Generally, justice has been viewed by societies as either harmony, natural law, divine command, a human creation, a mutual agreement, a subordinate attribute and even as a trickery. The duty of the ensuring that justice is accorded to every member of the society is a corporate social responsibility. There are different approaches or theories that can be applied in defining what constitutes justice in a country. The three theories of justice that will be discussed in this paper are Justice as Fairness, Utilitarianism and Libertarianism. According to utilitarianism, a society can be said to be just if its institutions and laws promote the greatest total or average happiness of every of its member (Hare 1982). The question in this theory is â€Å"how we determine the overall happiness and/or satisfaction of each member of the society?† Therefore, this theory can be said to provide an indirect approach to the issue of justice because justice is not like weight or temperature that can directly measured. Traditionally, utilitarianism relied upon the account of forms of organization and social conditions necessary for the realisation of this good. It also relied on the theory of human good, that is, that which was though to be good for human beings or that which they needed for them to flourish (Mary 1973). The problem here is that it is not possible for all people to agree on what type of things or life is desirable. For example, financiers, ministers, intellectuals, artists, soldiers, salespersons or athletes have

Politics of Recognition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Politics of Recognition - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that Taylor’s essay on â€Å"politics of recognition† was first published back in 1992. According to Taylor, there is a strong relationship between â€Å"personal identity† and â€Å"recognition†. As explained by Taylor, the term â€Å"personal identity† is all about being able to know who we really are as a human being and that the â€Å"personal identity† of each person often times can be molded by how the society would perceive our own identity including how our personal identity should be. For instance, in case the society was able to create a positive opinion concerning a group of people, then one can easily argue that this group of people would definitely develop a positive feeling about their own self. On the contrary, assuming that the society would have a negative thought about a certain group of people, then those people who are affected by the society’s negative remarks would somehow make the affected people feel bad about themselves. A good example wherein the society can cause harm to a certain group of people can be noted in the case of the African Americans. In line with this, Taylor mentioned that it is the group of white Americans who created a degrading image on most African American people. For this reason, there are some African Americans who may somehow be unconsciously affected by such negative remarks. This also partly explains why there are some African Americans who view themselves as someone who is less superior as compared to the white Americans. Taylor also considered the case of the feminist's group as an example of â€Å"politics of recognition†. As a common knowledge, the feminist's group is a group of women who aim to fight for gender equality and so on. However, one cannot deny the fact that there are quite a lot of women all over the world who have decided to accept the socio-economic limitations that were imposed on them by most p atriarchal society. Instead of fighting for their rights to have gender equality, some women are more willing to let go of more promising opportunities due to the absence of adequate self-identity.

Wine Shopper Essay Example for Free

Wine Shopper Essay In the early days of the Web, wine retailing looked like it could be very successful Internet business. Annual wine sales today in the United States run about $17 billion and worldwide about $100 billion. Some analysts have predicted that Internet sales could reach five-to-ten per cent of that market by 2005. In January 1995, a master sommelier named Peter Granoff partnered with computer expert Robert Olson to launch Virtual Vineyards, the first company to sell wine over website. Their goal was to give wine shoppers direct access to limited-production wines that are often available through most wine retail superstores. They focused on boutique wines for those who really cared about wines rather than marketing to occasional or new wine drinkers. They offered wines from the finest wineries, and screened them for quality. Their strategy was to expand slowly, working with wholesalers and retailers to enable them to sell wines eventually in many states. Virtual Vineyards provided additional value by offering information to educate buyers about each label for sale as well as Granoff’s testing chart and personal guarantee of each wine quality. The company obtained $20 million in funding. However, Virtual Vineyards had no licenses to make sales legally, so it paid high handling fees to wholesalers and retailers who acted as its fulfilment agents. The company had trouble aggregating orders in a meaningful way and had big empty trucks shipping orders all over the country. It also became embroiled in legal court battles because of its lack of licenses in some states. These high operating costs were passed on to consumers, and the company never attracted enough customers to become profitable. Virtual Vineyards initially looked like such a promising business that it inspired other competitors, including WineShopper, Wine. com, and eVineyard. Every new site serving the US had to address the 70year old and very convoluted three-tiered liquor and wine distribution system. When the 21st amendment ended Prohibition in the US in 1933, control over production, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages was left to the individual states. They independently developed or followed a three-tiered system for wine. The first tier is suppliers to each state (the producers and importers). Suppliers can only sell to the second tier, wholesalers, which in turn can only distribute to retailers, the third tier. Retailers, including bars, restaurants, hotels and liquor stores, are the only ones who legally can sell to the public. The system differs between each state, sometimes dramatically. Today 13 states prohibit direct interstate shipping of wine even to its own citizens who are outside their home state. The remaining states regulate importing and require permits. Some states allow wine sales in grocery stores, while others allow sales only in state-operated stores or in private liquor stores. Some prevent sales on certain holidays. Some states limit the amount an individual can purchase within any month or year. Several now prohibit sales via the Internet. Thus, each of the fifty states has its own laws and regulations governing the production, sale, distribution and delivery of wine as well as for tax collection from all three tiers. To control this, every state requires every company to have a state license for each of the three levels that company operates in. These intricate and arcane sets of laws were developed for bricks-and-mortar sales, not for the Internet. Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 2 Crack Case Those selling wines on the Internet have two choices-either work through bricks-and-mortar companies, paying all three levels a fee for each sale, a costly alternative, or develop their own computer systems to obtain their own licenses and maintain full compliance with all state laws and regulations. Such a system must support laws governing alcohol supplying, sales, distribution, and delivery in each state, linking and fully integrating the producers, wholesalers, and retailers-a very complicated requirement. Moreover, to develop one’s own system today, a company must use computers to maintain adequate legal and tax records for every tier in every state in which it operates. Other non-computer problems faced by Web-based wine sales include age verification. The purchaser or delivery recipient has to be age 21 or older, which means that someone of age has to be home to receive any delivery. Large numbers of consumers might use Wine sites to learn about and experiment with new wines, and if they like any, locate less expensive ways to purchase them. Given the legal complexities of wine retailing, orders could easily take weeks to be processed and delivered. One company that opted to build its own system to obtain its own licenses and control its own sales was WineShopper. com, founded in 1997 by Peter Sisson. He raised $46 million in venture capital from several investors including Amazon. com. He also had the support of Wine Spirits Wholesalers of America, a trade organization, and so he decided to sell exclusively from listings in the wholesalers’ databases. The wholesalers set the price. These wholesalers are not necessarily cheaper than specialty shops, but they claim they can deliver any bottle from anywhere in the world. The company’s goals were to sell any wine available to anyone, offering customers satisfaction and convenience. Sisson said he would be making products accessible in areas where they are not currently available, listing all wines available from all US wholesalers’ catalogues. (Over 250 wholesalers from 47 states, plus 550 wine producers, had already agreed to work with WineShopper). He decided to provide information and independent expertise on wine from such sources as Wine Spectator, Food Wine, and The Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine. He wanted his site to become the first destination for consumers seeking wine information on product. His plan included a distribution network that followed the three-tier system, and it would have its computer environment support the complex needs of the state laws and regulations. The WineShopper. com website was designed to look the same to customers from any location in the US while maintaining a separate computer backend system for each state where it executed a transaction. To support the unique legal requirements of each state, WineShopper used a massive database mapping mechanism that was capable of handling and codifying all of the laws in such a way that it could be mapped to a nine digit zip code based on shipping address. The laws are very complex and go way beyond just the state level. Even country and city laws within states can come into play, notes Dennis Riley, WineShopper’s director of information systems. The whole WineShopper system ran on Sun hardware and partially on Sun software, and it even included wide use of Sun’s Java programming language. Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 3 Crack Case WineShopper. com used a three-tiered IT infrastructure consisting of a front end of Web Servers, a middle layer of application servers, and backend database servers. The Web Servers directed order transactions placed by users over the Internet to the application servers running various applications, including an e-commerce storefront application cluster and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application cluster. These application servers communicated with database servers. The ERP application cluster sent the order to the warehouse for fulfilment. To store all the data for so many different business rules and state regulations, WineShopper used Oracle databases and almost 1 terabyte of storage. The company maintained a separate database for the current inventory within each state as well as files for the prices in each state. The system was load balanced to maximize response time for WineShopper’s customers. The company had redundant backup systems to prevent any service interruption. The system was also designed for easy expansion when needed. â€Å"One of our biggest expenditures has been in multimillion –dollar technical development of compliance engines,† explained Suzanne Gannon, the director of public relations and corporate communications for WineShopper. The company was geographically distributed, with the production environment and main data center in Sunnyvale, California, the development and integration environment in San Francisco, and the warehouse in Napa, California, in the heart of California’s wine country. In addition to the challenge of handling unique state laws, the WineShopper.com system has trouble dealing with the legacy systems for inventory and products in distribution used by its wholesalers. The various wine wholesalers use different systems with different SKUs (stock-keeping unit identification numbers for items) so that there was no uniform costing structure that could be used by WineShopper and its distributors. WineShopper tried to develop a coding system to eliminate data inconsistencies and provide a single standard view of data concerning products in distribution Sun claimed that this convoluted three-tiered system was the most complicated Web site it had ever seen. WineShopper. com experienced many delays in going live and in expanding because of software problems, although it finally went live in California in April 2000 and in New York in July. By midAugust the site was also operating for Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin, and it had achieved regulatory approval in over 30 states. Its goal was to have a system running in the states that reached 70% of the US market by the December holiday season. However the company took long to go live, blaming its problem on software. It was spending so much money that in August 2000 it merged with Wine. com. Wine. com has been founded in 1995. It targeted knowledgeable wine drinkers who had both money and good credit records. It kept itself small, selling high-end wines, and focusing on the convenience of delivering wines rather than on offering the lowest price. However, it changed its target over time because of the growing competition from WineShopper with its high spending. Wine. com felt pushed to spend a lot of money and hire a large staff. In September 1999, with no money left, Virtual Vineyards purchased Wine. com’s name and domain name and changed it to Wine. com. The new Wine.com emphasized customer satisfaction and reliable delivery. By early 2000, this company had received another $92 million in investments. Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 4 Crack Case In early 2000, WineShopper and Wine. com were in stiff competition, spending a lot of money. In August 2000, they decided to end the competition and reduce the expenditures by merging. â€Å"We have very complementary strengths and assets and realized we could focus our resources on growing the wine market instead of fighting each other,† explained Sisson. â€Å"The new company used the Wine. com name and Web address. The two companies continued separate operations until the end of 2000, giving them time to merge their computer systems and concentrate on developing their Wine. com name. They estimated they were offering about 2000 wines, domestic and foreign, including both well-known and boutique wines as well as about 1000 old and rare wines. The company closed a key office in Fermont, California, and consolidated operations in Napa. The new website contained a great deal of wine information, including editorials, ratings and tasting notes from Wine Spectator. The new Wine. com was now considered the dominant force in the Internet wine business. In January 2001, Wine. com laid off 75 of its 310 employees, claiming the cuts reduced staff redundancy because of the merger. At that time, according to Granoff, sales were up 300 % in 2000, and they were selling in 40 states. In 1998, eVineyard was established with only $20 million of private equity. Its strategy was different; buy wine only when a customer ordered it, giving eVineyard only a virtual inventory. It ordered its goods from wholesalers, shipping them to customers either from its Portland, Oregon office or from small logistics centres established in states that required a physical location. Its strategy also included expanding one state at a time, obtaining retail licenses in each state. This process was often very slow; for example it took 10 months in New York. In some states such as New Jersey, the company could only obtain a license by purchasing an existing one. It was only able to sell the wines that its regional distributors handled. According to Brett Lauter, eVineyard’s chief marketing officer, the company served 77% of the premium wine drinking market when it was only operating in 27 states. In 2000, he estimated the company grew 1000% from its previous year and was selling now between $5million and $10 million annually. Lauter estimated that his competitor Wine. com was probably spending over $2million each month to stay in business. â€Å"It takes a lot of wine sales to make up for that burn rate,† he observed. In April 2001, Wine. com official announced the company might file for bankruptcy protection, and it announced a layoff of 160 of the remaining 235 employees, including Granoff and Sisson. eVineyard purchased Wine. com for $9 million, taking only its domain name and customer list. It did not assume any Wine. com’s $17 million debt, and it did not retain any of Wine. com’s 85 remaining employees. This left eVineyard (now called Wine. com) as the only major company in the Web-based wine retail business. Several industry analysts noted that while the others believed they could change the whole wine distribution system, eVineyard (now Wine. com) kept its cost low. â€Å"We didn’t spend money like drunken sailors,† said Michael Osborn, the founder and president of eVineyard. †We’re a retailer. Fundamental business principles apply. † Wine.com had over 400 employees, while we have 60 employees. They raised Copyright  © 2011 by SYSCON Page 5 Crack Case $200 million in venture capital, while we raised $35 million†. eVineyard also retained its own distribution system. Today, the whole wine market has changed, and Web-based wine merchants or entrepreneurs are facing other problems. Most of the money invested in wine Web sites was lost in the 2000-2002 stock market crash, and new dot-com investments will be difficult to find. Moreover, a number of Sonoma and Napa wineries are selling their own wines through their own internet sites. New e-commerce technology make selling wine on the Web more profitable than selling through traditional wholesaler-distribution channel. An online shopping cart appropriate for wine retailing, which used to cost $50000 to set up, now costs only about $1000. What will the future hold for Internet wine retailers? The Case questions you need to necessarily answer: ? Do you think WineShopper. coms business model was a difficult model to work with, and why? What management, organization, and technology issues contributed to this companys failure How important to eVineyards success to-date were the timing, management and strategy? How important was the role of technology? In your opinion, why was eVineyard the eventual winner in the race for online wine sales? ? Considering the factors that contributed to the success and failures of online wine retailing in the US, do you think wine retailing can succeed on Internet in current Indian scenario? Note: Please make reasonable assumptions wherever necessary. No clarifications will be provided. State any assumptions you make in the Case solution.

The economic problem and how different groups attempt to solve it Essay Example for Free

The economic problem and how different groups attempt to solve it Essay The economic problem can be described as attempting to satisfy the unlimited and ever changing wants of the consumer with limited resources. As these wants can never be satisfied, all individuals, businesses and governments are faced with the choice of what to obtain with those resources. As each consumer groups wants and resources varies greatly, each deals with trying to solve the economic problem in a different way. The choices made by each individual are unique, depending on income, age, gender, living situations, education, voting, retirement and personal expectations. In order to deal with the economic problem, individuals must show preference for one good or service over another and be prepared to sacrifice many of the things that they desire. The individual must also plan how much of his/her income they will spend and how much they will save. This ratio can be difficult to establish and can change at any time. Each individual is faced with the economic problem many times daily, and will continue to be faced with the challenge of choices. Businesses too face the economic problem, but on a more complex level than the individual. A company must first decide what area of business that they will specialise in order to generate the most success. As businesses have limited resources they must focus these on a product or service that will hopefully generate a profit in order to continue operating. Once that is decided, the company must first price the product and then try to allocate its resources (land, labour, capital or enterprise) in order to maximise efficiency. In order to minimise costs, a company may have to choose between quality and quantity which can lead to difficult decisions purchasing equipment, employing/ paying reliable employees and obtaining supplies. Unlike the individual, a business must also contend with the problem of industrial relations, such as wages, contracts, managing employees and union agreements, creating more choices and intensifying the economic problem. The Government not only faces the economic problem itself, but can influence the choices of both individuals and businesses by placing taxes on some items (making them more expensive and generating revenue) or making some goods and services cheaper. Governments also have the power to restrict and  regulate economic behaviour by prohibiting some behaviours and enforcing fines. The choices a government makes in answer to the economic problem have large implications on the community they serve. A national Government for instance, may choose to concentrate on defence plans and forgo other areas such as education. Although this satisfies the immediate wants, in the future it may lead to low economic activity, affecting the entire nation. Governments often find this a problem when trying to be more popular with voters (the individual consumer). The Government has the largest influence on the economy; therefore careful consideration must take place when making choices in response to the economic problem. Although individuals, businesses and governments all come across the economic problem in different ways, the only way to deal with it is resource allocation: choosing what to spend the limited resources in order to gain maximum satisfaction. This is often organised as a budget, whether within a household or the Governments National Budget for the year. However this is only a way of dealing with the problem, it does not solve it. As the wants of consumers are unlimited and ever changing, they can never be satisfied with the limited resources of the consumer or group. A budget simply aims to make the best choices, taking the wants and resources into account.

Sicked: The True Story of a Lost Childhood

Sicked: The True Story of a Lost Childhood Sickened by Julie Gregory â€Å"Oh, God, Jewelly, you are burning up, just burning up. I better call the squad. Grandma is serious, her face etched in worry and hovering inches from mine. Her fingers spread my eyelids apart, looking for signs that she can report to the hospital. Maybe I am feeling something in my tummy. Maybe I do have a fever. What does it feel like, Grandma? Am I sick, Grandma?† (18). This passage hints that early on Julie was abused by not only her mother, but her grandmother as well. Grandma Marge had given Julie a piece of candy and then convinced Julie that she was sick. From the line, â€Å"What does it feel like, Grandma?† the reader gathers that Julie does not know how she feels and only begins to feel sick after being told she is sick. Although Julie is only three, the event this passage describes is the beginning of her abuse. After reading this passage, I began to wonder if MBP was genetic. Julies grandmother displayed the same behaviors as did Julies mother. I also wondered if Julies mothers behaviors were initially in response to Grandma Marge telling her that Julie was sick. The similarities between Julies mother and grandmother means that MBP is either genetic or can be observed and repeated. However, later in the memoir, Julie proves that she will not follow her mothers behaviors and treat her children that way. â€Å"I look between both of them. What is a headache, exactly? Is it when my eyes hurt? Is it when Im dizzy on the bus? Im trying to guess, hoping its the right answer,† (26). This passage represents the struggles Julie must face at each doctors appointment in an effort to please her mother. Here, Julie does not even understand what a headache is. Throughout her story, she sights various occasions in which she does not understand what the doctors or her mother say. When Julie says she is trying to answer correctly, she must guess at what her mother wants to hear. Julie lies to doctors so her mother will not get upset. I can not imagine having to lie about my health and the fear Julie faces. If Julie tells the truth, her mother may return home yelling at her father. If Julie lies about her symptoms, she will be forced on medication she does not need which could make her ill. Julie is an innocent girl, and this passage causes the reader to empathize with Julie and wish to grab her hand and help her. â€Å"And Mom was always on the lookout for cruelty to animals. If we were driving along the highway and there was a black trash bag puffed up and knotted at the top, full of trash someoned thrown out their window, shed pull over and have me run out and check to make sure it wasnt full of kittens,† (58). This passage is ironic because Sandy is against animal cruelty, but does not realize how she abuses her own daughter. Sandy feels she needs to care for everything and make it well and healthy. With the animals, she would take them into her home, such as the farm dogs, and feed them. However, she would abuse them by breeding and selling their puppies for extra money. With Julie, Sandy would inflict symptoms of illnesses on her in order to take her to the hospital or doctors office and make her better. The irony of the situation is that Sandy does not realize her illness and continues to inflict pain on others, whether it is Julie, animals, or her future step children. â€Å"I pride myself on how little space I take up. I am going to shrink and shrink until I am a dry fall leaf, complete with a translucent spine and brittle veins, blowing away in a stiff wind, up, up, up into a crisp blue sky,† (63). This passage explains the emotional toll Julie has suffered from her mothers abuse. Julie wants to disappear into the sky and not be alive. I cannot imagine a girl at about the age of twelve wishing not to be alive. The imagery used in the passage is beautiful as well. Julie realizes how weak she is with brittle veins and a tiny body, yet she takes pride in it. I wonder if she takes pride in being small because then her mother can keep pretending she is sick or because the thinner she gets the closer to disappearing. This passage is Julie speaking of not only her physical state but her mental state as a result of her mothers abuse. â€Å"Lets get one thing straight, Sandy. He growls low. ‘Youre going to leave Daniel Joseph Gregory the Second alone from now on. Thats my boy in there, he cracks her wrist against the counter like rock candy, her cry twists my stomach, ‘and my boys just fine,† (78). This passage is important because it reveals that Julies dad knows that Sandy is hurting his daughter. I think that he realizes that it is too late to help Julie, but he still has a chance to save Danny. Although Dan Sr. is an aggressive father who often appears not to care about his children, I think by standing up for Dannys health he proves that he does care about his children as do all fathers. However, I think Dan beating Sandy will not stop her from abusing Danny. She has a disease that she cannot control, and all Dan really is doing is scaring Julie with her mothers screams and harming Sandy. â€Å"At last, Ill just take one medication that will fix everything. Ill have friends, be in sports, go to movies. Momll be happy; she wont have to stay at home or clean up after old men or foster kids. And Ill be a real kid and not miss school anymore,† (98). This passage discusses Julies feeling when she hears that the doctors finally know what is wrong with her. The passage reveals that Julie is far from numb of her illness and her mother. She says that she wants her mother to be happy. Throughout each doctor visit, Julie pretends to have symptoms in order for her mother to be happy. She must lie and suffer. Julie loves her mother because she does not realize the abuse she is receiving; she is so convinced that she is ill. Julie dreams of being normal, being able to do well in school and have friends. I pity her for not being allowed a real childhood because her mother is ill. Julie does not deserve it. This passage is heart breaking as well, because the reader knows that the treatment will not save Julie, and Julies hope will be crushed. â€Å"Well, honey, I just cant see my little girl go out there in a bathing suit and get laughed at. You got no tits, no hips, no ass, Sissy. You look terrible in a bathing suit. Kids are cruel, sweetie, theyll just make fun of you,† (154). This passage characterizes Julies father as loving yet harsh. Dan does not want Julie to be embarrassed and laughed at, however does not know how to deliver the message. He harshly criticizes her body, which cannot help Julies self esteem. I found the situation ironic as well. At first, when Dan took Julie into the bedroom, I thought he was going to molest her. Later, once Julie has a new job set up at the hospital, I think that maybe Dan was trying to help Julie get out. At the hospital, Julie was offered counseling and help. Throughout Julies story, the character of her father troubles me because he seems to want to help Julie yet is easily manipulated by Sandy. â€Å"I look in the largest mirror. Shes a natural beauty. Im a sickened beauty. Im beautiful, but with an inch-thick layer of sick covering me,† (201). This passage is Julies revelation and the beginning to her rebuilding. Julie realizes what she really looks like and how sick she is. She no longer prides her self in her lack of space. Julie sees that she is beautiful just hurt from the abuse of her mother. The house of mirrors will help Julie see herself become stronger and healthy. Julie is on her way to becoming a self sufficient woman and eventually be able to confront her mother about the pain she caused her. Book Analysis: â€Å"Munchausen by proxy may be the single most complex—and lethal—form of maltreatment known today,† (v). Julie Gregorys memoir, Sickened is a heart-wrenching story of a child affected by Munchausen by proxy and the deadly abuse she receives. Gregory does a spectacular job pulling an emotional response from the reader while granting the reader a complete understanding of MBP. With each paragraph and each situation Julie faces, the reader is more engaged into Julies character. Sickened is a true story, therefore the reader is more connected with the story. Through first person narrative, the reader gains Julies thoughts about her illnesses and understands how Julie is trained to believe she is sick, even when she is not. Julies feeling of wanting to please her mother and taking migraine medicine causes the reader to want to come into Julies life and save her. For example, when Julie is going to court to press charges against her parents, Julies father convinces her that she is being tricked and her parents are the ones pressing charges on Julie. One wants to tell Julie that he is lying, but Julie believes him and does not testify. When Julie finds the truth out, the reader wants to reach out and hug her. Julie is always so alone and leaves the reader helpless wanting to erase the pain Julie suffers. The doctor visits and recollections of her daily family life supply the reader with an understanding of how MBP affects the child and how the mother acts with MBP. Julies mother takes her to various doctors trying to convince each that Julie has a serious illness. Julie is often confused not understanding why she must be shaved or what a headache is. MBP is a terrible form of abuse which convinces children they are ill and leaves children unaware of how to take care of themselves. When Julie leaves home, she only knows to eat cake batter. Gregory retells her story supplying the reader with an appreciation of her strength and an understanding of MBP and the torture of Julies childhood. Sickened is a well written memoir which any reader would enjoy reading. The emotional responses from the reader cause the reader to continue to read Julies story in hope that she may get help and escape her mother. After finishing Sickened, words of Julies journey sink into ones head and the power of the story sets in. MBP is a powerful disorder and living with it creates a powerful story which all should hear.

Clemencia Novela En Espanol :: Spanish Essays

Una de las principales caracteristicas del movimiento literario romanticista es el predominio de la emocion. En la obra de Ignacio M. Altamirano, Clemencia, se encuentra este tipo de predominio y es posible demostrar que en esta novela la emocion es mas importante que la razon. Primero, por medio de los sentimientos expresados por el narrador al relatar la historia. Segundo, a traves de los personajes pricipales y sus sentimientos, especialmente los de Clemencia, quien parece ser la persona por la cual fue titulada esta novela. Y por ultimo, el tema mismo, el cual comparte una historia de amor, sufrimiento y sentimientos patrioticos.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Al comienzo de la novela el narrador indica, no solo a sus amigos reunidos en su casa, sino al lector mismo, que el nos va contar una historia de mucha emocion, â€Å"una historia de amor y de desgracia†(4). Y comienza a relatar una historia que acontecio a fines del ano 1863, â€Å"ano desgraciado en que...ocupo el ejercito frances a Mexico†(4). Al llamarlo un â€Å"ano desgraciado†, es evidente que el siente una emocion negativa sobre ese conflicto y a la vez crea en la novela un sentimiento pesimista hacia los invasores extranjeros y lo que estos hicieron en Mexico en esa epoca. El narrador exalta un gran sentimiento de carino hacia Mexico por medio de su decripcion de ciudades Mexicanas, su gente, su geografia, su flora; â€Å"Guadalajara, que justo titulo puede llamarse la reina de Occidente... semejante a una mujer dotada de hermosura regia...†(11). Y continua describiendo otros aspectos de Mexico los cuales crean sentimientos de nostalgia y orgullo por lo que el llama â€Å"las bellezas de la patria†(13). Es obvio que esos sentimientos nacionalistas y regionalistas hacen resaltar la emocion que el siete sobre su patria. Son tambien muy evidentes sus emociones personales al hablar sobre de la perdida del amor puro y el movimiento hacia el amor por lo material, â€Å"saber amar bien y cumplidamente, con ternura, con lealtad, sin interes, sin miras bastardas, sino con virtud de un sentimiento tan exaltado como puro†(14). Y va creando asi una atmosfera emotiva, talvez preparandonos para poder entender mejor a los personajes y a los acontecimientos que estos viven en la novela.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  El narrador nos introduce a los personajes por medio de una gran descripcion fisica. Pero tambien incluye una gran cantidad de caracteristicas emotivas sobre estos personajes. A Enrique Flores lo presenta como â€Å"idolatrado por sus soldados, muy querido de sus companeros y el favorito del jefe...†(6). No importa que alto su rango, todos lo querian y lo halagaban.

interstellar pig :: essays research papers

Interstellar Pig :Funky Stuff by   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Outrageously the most entertainingly fiction but yet real life book that I have ever read. This book was outstandingly filled with mysteries and packed with entertainment for the reader.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Barney, a teenage boy, and his parents rent a summer cabin on one of California’s beaches. They realize that their neighbors wanted this cabin very much but Barney and his parents ended up getting it. When Barney meets his neighbors he thinks that they are a little bit weird but his parents don’t think that they are too bad of people in fact they sort of like them. His neighbors also have a very strange game they play that’s called Interstellar Pig it is a very strange game. Their neighbors are about in their mid-twenties there is one girl, Zena, and two boys, Joe and Manny. Barney finds out that these neighbors wanted his house because there is some hidden secret in it ,which Barney doesn’t have a clue what it is but one day finds out about a little, well big, drawing that points to an island off of one of the coasts by his house about one or two miles away. When his neighbors find out about this they want to go there right away but wi thout Barney, but does Barney go, what do they find at this island, what happens after they find out what’s there? And what happens with this weird game they play?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The characters picked for this book couldn’t have been better. Their descriptions and everything else fit so perfectly. I don’t think anything could have fit better. William Sleator did a wonderful job of writing this book. He just fit everything including the characters in very well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I first got this book from the library I did it because I had about ten seconds left in my study hall and needed a book for English class so I just grabbed it off of the wall. My first intentions where what kind of stupid book is this by just looking at the cover but about two chapters into it I really got into it and liked it.

Response to the Film William Faulkner, a Life on Paper :: Movie Film Essays

Response to the Film William Faulkner, a Life on Paper My first response in general to the film is how utterly scary many of the people interviewed were. Coming from Central Florida, I can honestly say I am not from the Deep South, as there were several instances where someone was speaking in the film and I simply could not figure out what they were saying through their accent. Of the people interviewed who were not locals from Mississippi, many of the Hollywood representatives were decidedly more intelligible yet no less intimidating, many of them men I would not want to be stuck talking to in a party. But aside from such characters, the film created an interesting portrait of Faulkner the father. One could certainly see intent on the filmmakers’ part to cast Faulkner the father in the shadow of Faulkner the author. The film shows interviews with two of Faulkner’s daughters: one full and one stepdaughter. Intriguingly, the latter of these is shown speaking on camera only once, a scene in which she characterized her stepfather’s severe drinking problems and how scared she was of her stepfather during those experiences. Jill, his full daughter, seemed to go along with these sentiments. She recalls one time she tried to stop him from drinking, to which he responded with the most memorable line of the film: â€Å"Nobody remembers Shakespeare’s child,† which apparently was effective in discouraging any further attempts to stop his drinking. Jill seems ambivalent of her father. On the one hand, she knows she is on camera speaking about her famous and beloved father, and is thus expected to like him. And indeed, she does effectively convey some sense of love for her father. But she simultaneously embeds a disconnectedness from her father. If she had not repeatedly referred t o him as Poppy, one would never catch on that she was his daughter. Her revelations and reminisces seem hardly familial, but rather read the same way all of the other memories of him do: enigmatically and unfamiliarly. The film suggests Faulkner does not feel disappointed in having a daughter rather than a son, and I might go so far as to believe that this characterization of the unfamilial child would have existed for a son as well.

Succubus Heat CHAPTER 21

There was really only one thing I could say. â€Å"You're here to kill me.† That would have been a great cue for him to say something like, â€Å"No, of course not† or â€Å"Why would you think that?† Any of those responses, or a variation, would have been immensely reassuring. Instead he said: â€Å"Not yet.† â€Å"Shit.† I took a couple steps back, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Even if I'd been in full succubus mode, there was no way I could fight against him. Roman was a nephilim, Jerome's half-human bastard son. Nephilim were a kind of odd mix between lesser and greater immortals. Nephilim hadn't been around since the universe's creation, but they had been born immortal and could potentially possess the same range of powers as a greater immortal. Roman was every bit as strong as Jerome, but unlike my boss or his equals, Roman didn't answer to any higher power. He was rogue, which made him dangerous when he was pissed off. And he had every right to be pissed off at me. Angry at the way Heaven and Hell hunted their kind down, Roman and his twin sister Helena had gone on a vigilante hunting spree to get back at other immortals. I hadn't known that when he and I were dating, and eventually, I'd been instrumental in stopping them-and getting his sister killed. â€Å"What are you doing here then?† I asked at last. Roman's posture was casual as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He looked exactly as I remembered, enormously tall compared to me, with soft black hair and those gorgeous eyes. â€Å"You sound disappointed,† he said. â€Å"Do you want me to kill you?† â€Å"No! Of course not. But I can't really think of any other reason you'd be here. Somehow I doubt you're here for a social call.† Despite my fear, my sarcasm still managed to function. Carter had told me it was unlikely Roman would ever return to Seattle, knowing that he and Jerome would be on the lookout. Except, I realized uneasily, Jerome was no longer here to keep watch. â€Å"I'm here to help find my illustrious sire.† Roman's voice was smug as he spoke, and I was sure he was taking a great amount of pleasure in watching my reaction. I hoped he was satisfied because while my jaw didn't exactly hit the floor, it came pretty close. â€Å"Bullshit.† â€Å"Why don't you believe me?† â€Å"Because you have no reason to!† My fear was being overridden again, this time by incredulity. â€Å"You hate Jerome.† â€Å"Yeah, that's true.† â€Å"Stop playing with me then. You're not here to help.† â€Å"No? Then how come I helped you with the seal's notes?† â€Å"You didn't-† I froze for a moment. â€Å"Oh lord. That was you.† â€Å"Really,† said Roman amiably. â€Å"You should be a lot nicer, considering all the things I've done for you.† â€Å"Yeah? I don't recall you wasting your time wandering aimlessly along beaches.† â€Å"Nah. I've been too busy blowing up stoves and carrying injured damsels to bed.† I sank into a chair and closed my eyes. â€Å"It really wasn't Carter.† The angel had been telling the truth about noninterference. I opened my eyes again. â€Å"And you gave me the matches, didn't you? That's exactly the kind of fucked-up thing you'd do.† He put on an offended air. â€Å"That was pretty nice of me, considering how you looked like you were ready to have a withdrawal seizure then and there.† â€Å"This doesn't make sense. You can't be here to help find Jerome. What's really going on?† â€Å"Does the reason matter if I help find him?† â€Å"Yes! It matters if you want to find him, only so you can promptly destroy him.† â€Å"I don't want to destroy him.† â€Å"I have no reason to trust you.† His eyes narrowed a bit. â€Å"And I have no reason to trust you, if memory serves.† I shrugged, almost too weary to be afraid anymore. â€Å"Well, then, we're even, huh? Except, of course, that you can channel your mistrust into blowing me off the face of the earth.† â€Å"And you could tell the demon horde out there that there's a nephilim in the city.† Roman laughed. â€Å"Oh, they'd love that, wouldn't they? If one of them could hunt down and kill a nephilim, that'd pretty much cinch their position here.† â€Å"Yeah, like I'd get a chance to tell anyone.† I sighed. â€Å"Roman, if you're not going to destroy me, then what exactly do you want with me? Why did you save me all those times?† â€Å"Because you're the only one in this fucking town with any chance of finding Jerome. And you can move around a lot more freely than I can.† â€Å"Um, last time I checked, you're the one in the Junior Smiting League, not me. I don't have any pow-abilities right now to defend myself.† â€Å"Yeah, but if you're caught poking around, people aren't going to declare open season on you†¦I mean, aside from that bitch demoness.† I grimaced at the memory, and Roman pushed forward. â€Å"Look, Georgina, we can sit and argue whether I'm going to kill you or not, or we can try to figure this out and get your boss back. Then we can explore me killing you in more depth.† â€Å"God,† I groaned, standing up. I needed my cigarettes. Roman watched me light up. â€Å"New habit since I was last around.† â€Å"Old one, actually. And I'm not in the mood for lecturing.† I sat back down, feeling much more settled with my nicotine. Aubrey wandered out shortly thereafter, apparently not afraid of a sociopathic-yet still eerily sexy-immortal hanging out with us. â€Å"So, what's there to figure out? It was Grace. You said you saw the seal around her neck.† Roman eased himself into a chair from my kitchen table and scooted up. â€Å"I did. Makes sense that she'd keep it as close to her as possible, though that takes some balls to have it out in the open that much.† â€Å"So why won't you let me tell anyone, then?† He tsked. â€Å"Think, Georgina. Who are you going to tell? Which demon in this whole mess do you think you can trust? None of them like Jerome. None of them want him back.† â€Å"I was going to tell Hugh.† â€Å"You can't tell anybody . I was walking along with you today when Cedric popped in.† It figured. There was no telling how long Roman had been following me invisibly. â€Å"If he was telling the truth about not telling Nanette about your theories, then that means one of your friends tipped her off.† â€Å"No,† I said stubbornly. â€Å"It's more likely that Cedric was lying. None of them would have betrayed me.† To my complete and utter astonishment, Aubrey jumped on Roman's lap. He scratched her head absentmindedly. â€Å"Well, believe what you want, but I don't think it's safe to tell anyone yet. Except me, of course.† â€Å"Right. The guy who wants me dead.† â€Å"Eh, we can talk about that later. For now, let's go over what we know.† I wasn't really keen on the casual way we were tossing around my impending doom, nor did I like that I still didn't know why he was here. Keeping my mind on Jerome did help, though, and it was nice to finally have someone to truly brainstorm this stuff with. â€Å"We know Grace was the demon who helped with the summoning,† I said. â€Å"There could be more, you know.† â€Å"Yeah, but there's only one archdemon position.† â€Å"True. Just don't rule other possibilities out. She and that other demoness here are pretty tight.† I thought about Mei, whose poker face was as good as Grace's. â€Å"Yeah†¦although, they seem to be operating pretty independently now. But, for the sake of argument, we'll stick with Grace. So, we know she was part of the summoning and has half of the seal. What we don't know: where the other half of the seal is, who helped her, and where Jerome actually is.† â€Å"Kind of daunting,† he mused. A thought suddenly came to me. â€Å"Wait a minute†¦you might make this simpler. A greater immortal can break up Jerome's prison. With you, we don't need to actually find the whole seal to free him-or get the half we know about from Grace.† Roman turned sheepish. â€Å"Well†¦I don't know for sure that I can do that.† â€Å"Why not? You've got the same powers as Jerome.† â€Å"My strength is the same as his when it comes to fighting and whatnot, but I don't have exactly the same powers. I'm not truly a greater immortal. I don't know if I could break him out without the seal.† â€Å"Lovely. We're back to where we started.† â€Å"I don't know. We should just take this one step at a time. Let's keep trying to find him and figure out where the other half of the seal is.† â€Å"We're running out of time,† I murmured, stubbing out the cigarette. â€Å"So, why are you smoking again?† â€Å"That's not really important right now,† I snapped. â€Å"I don't know. If I had a mortal body, I'd be kind of worried about that.† â€Å"I'm not mortal. And I'll be back to my normal self in a few days at most. Probably much sooner.† â€Å"Is it because of Mortensen?† â€Å"We are not talking about that right now.† â€Å"Never thought you'd be one to take a break-up so hard, seeing how easily you deal them out. In fact†¦has anyone ever even broken up with you before?† I fixed him with a glare, so annoyed that I didn't care if he wanted to try to kill me. â€Å"We are not talking about that right now.† â€Å"Fine, fine. What other info do we have, then?† I racked my brain. â€Å"The cult†¦the Army of Darkness. I think there's a connection with Jerome's summoning and their activities. Whoever's controlling them-well, Grace, I guess-times their stunts to take attention away from other things.† I recapped what I knew of their stunts and what they lined up with. â€Å"Not all of their activities correspond exactly to some part of the summoning, though. At least not that I know about.† Roman was thoughtful. â€Å"Hmm†¦well, it's possible some may not line up with anything. A few may be red herrings, sort of to establish their presence. I didn't always follow you to Canada, so I don't know exactly what they're like.† â€Å"Wow. Your stalkerdom has limitations.† â€Å"Seemed like a big pain,† he said. â€Å"Aside from maybe going to Tim Hortons.† Nephilim couldn't teleport like greater immortals, so he was limited with normal transportation when following me around. Uneasily, thinking of my activities with Seth, I wondered just how much Roman had spied on me. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd taken a front-row seat to my intimate activities. If he wasn't going to mention it, I wasn't going to. â€Å"They've been quiet ever since the day of the summoning, when they were down here. I guess Grace has nothing left for them to do,† I said. â€Å"Likely†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His mind was still apparently spinning with suspicion. â€Å"But if I were you, I'd talk to them again.† I cringed. â€Å"No†¦I want to be done with them. You don't know these guys like I do. It's ridiculous.† â€Å"All I know is that you've got to turn over every rock you can find-no pun intended-if you're going to rescue Jerome.† â€Å"Oh, I've got to, huh?† I asked. I didn't really like the presumption in his voice. â€Å"I thought you were going to help find him too?† â€Å"I will. Tomorrow. When are you going to search again?† I thought about it. â€Å"Noon. After work.† There was a knock at the door, and I moved over to the eye hole. â€Å"It's Dante,† I murmured. To his credit, he usually knocked first before using his key. I rested my hand on the knob and gave Roman a questioning look. â€Å"I'll find you at noon,† he said. â€Å"Hold the door open a sec after you let him in.† Roman turned invisible, and I pulled the door open. Dante came in, and I stood there a few more moments until I felt the sweep of someone moving past me. Everything had happened so quickly today that I barely had time to realize that not only I had just made contact with the guy who wanted to kill me, but I'd also just made arrangements to spend time with him. Man. This was going to keep me up when I tried to sleep later. I shut the door and gave Dante a quick kiss on the cheek. He was carrying a bag, and I had to do a double-take. â€Å"Did you buy something from Macy's?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I somehow imagined you stepping into a department store would be like a vampire stepping into the sunlight-I mean, current situation aside.† Dante rolled his eyes and set the bag down. Crossings his arms, he leaned against the wall. â€Å"Well, maybe I'm in stasis too. Forget about this for a sec and tell me if you've gotten yourself on any demon's shit list today.† There it was again, the sweet concern in spite of his best efforts. â€Å"Not that I know of, but hey, the day's not over yet.† I glossed over the specifics of who I'd gone searching with, mainly emphasizing that my time at the beach hadn't turned up anything. I also mentioned Cedric's visit and his claims that he hadn't told Nanette about my suspicions. Dante seemed skeptical of that. Finally, I wrapped up with Grace's appearance, and at that point I faltered. I wanted to tell Dante about my amazing discovery, about how Grace had the seal. Yet Roman had urged me to keep it all to myself. Why? Was he really that mistrustful of everyone? Did he have his own ulterior motives? Against my better judgment, I bit my lip on telling Dante about my discovery. It killed me to do it, particularly since I had a feeling Dante could have some insight. Roman's warning was too strong, however, as was my fear that he might actually still be around invisibly. And of course, I could hardly tell Dante about Roman. Fortunately, Dante didn't pick up on any omission of information. â€Å"You had kind of a full day, succubus. Did the corporate demon ever come talk to you?† â€Å"Not yet. I haven't had a chance to talk with the gang to see if he's been making the rounds.† I eyed the Macy's bag, dying to know what was in it. Dante kicked it behind him. â€Å"What are you going to tell him?† I shrugged. â€Å"I don't know. I'll tell him what I know about Seattle, and as far as recommendations†¦well, I don't know.† I could no longer trust Grace, and Mei's role was still a mystery. Dante noted my change of feelings but not the reasons. â€Å"From what you'd said before, I thought you were a fan of Grace and that other demoness.† â€Å"Mei,† I supplied. â€Å"I don't know. It's all just wearying.† Eager to shift away from the subject, I pointed at the bag. â€Å"Are you going to tell me what's in that?† He gave me one of his mocking grins. â€Å"Why do you think it has anything to do with you?† â€Å"Because there's no way you'd shop at Macy's for yourself. You dress only marginally better than Carter.† Dante shook his head, wearing a long-suffering look. â€Å"Fine, fine. I'll keep it for myself.† He picked up the bag and headed off down the hall. After a few moments, I followed and tackled him in the doorway to my bedroom. â€Å"Come on! Give it up.† I snatched the bag away, but my victory was small since he didn't put up a fight. I opened it up and gasped at what I found. Folds and folds of shimmering purple fabric, silk the color of new spring crocuses. Hesitantly, I lifted it out of the bag, revealing a long, ankle-length robe. I looked up at him in astonishment. â€Å"What's this?† â€Å"You're the one with years and years of higher learning,† he pointed out, looking extremely pleased with himself. â€Å"You tell me.† I held it up, gauging its height. It looked just about perfect. â€Å"It's gorgeous. What's the occasion?† â€Å"I was tired of hearing you bitch about that ratty one you've got. And tired of seeing it, to be honest.† He ignored my glare. â€Å"Besides, you've had a, uh, difficult time lately. Even for you.† I thought back to other things, like the flowers and breakfast. All the attempts at dinners. â€Å"Dante-â€Å" He pressed a finger to my lips. â€Å"Look, be quiet a second. I'm not blind. I can tell how much all of this is stressing you out. And fuck, if I could get my hands on that bitch demon†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Anger glinted in his eyes, and he took a moment to shake it off. â€Å"Anyway, you can keep making your jokes or whatever and keep doggedly doing your best to sleuth away and find Jerome, but you're running yourself into the ground. You're depressed. You're distracted. When we talk, it's like your mind's somewhere else. Same with our sex life.† I opened my mouth to argue, but I wasn't sure what to say. He was right. I had been distracted, but a good part of that-particularly during intimate activities-hadn't had anything to do with Jerome. It had been Seth on my mind. Dante kept speaking before I could get a word out. â€Å"See, now, you're going to apologize. Because that's what you do-but there's no need, succubus. If anyone gets some selfish time right now, it's you. In another week or so, things'll be back to normal, and I'll be the selfish one.† Something in my heart twisted. Everyone said he was scum, but in the end, it turned out I was the untrustworthy one. I averted my eyes. â€Å"So where's the robe fit in?† â€Å"Something to cheer you up. Since your wardrobe's been trimmed.† â€Å"Dante, you've been getting me a lot of stuff lately. You don't have to throw money at me-money you don't have-to make me feel better.† â€Å"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't ‘throw' it,† he remarked dryly. â€Å"And anyway†¦I'm not really the kind of guy who does, like†¦the candles or the moonlit beaches or recites poetry.† I grimaced. â€Å"I don't mind staying away from beaches for a while.† â€Å"But,† he continued, â€Å"I know you well enough to know that mochas and silk make you smile, and that, at least, is something I can do.† My heart twisted further, and I reached out to catch hold of his hand. I understood what he was saying. It wasn't in his nature to do over-the-top romantic gestures, but material purchases were something he could handle, and it was the only way to show me he cared. My guilt redoubled because no matter what he said, I knew he was tight on cash. Yet, my actions and fixation with Seth were worrying Dante enough that he felt he had to do something. I was driving him to it. â€Å"You're sweet,† I said. â€Å"But don't worry. It'll be our secret.† He brushed his fingers through my hair. â€Å"Not that sweet. Look in the bag.† I did. Underneath the robe, unnoticed by me, was a bottle of bubble bath. I held it up questioningly. â€Å"I thought we could take a bath together.† I laughed. â€Å"That's almost romantic. You might be closer to moonlit beaches than you think. Although, my bathtub's kind of small.† â€Å"I know,† he said. â€Å"That's what I meant about it not being very sweet. Mostly I want to see what kind of interesting positions we can cram ourselves into while naked and in a small space.† â€Å"Well, thank God that in a world gone mad, some people never change.† It turned into a wet, soapy mess, but it was more fun than I expected. No matter what he claimed, the whole feat was semi-romantic. Conversation was easy and light, and we laughed and joked a lot. I almost forgot about Seth-almost. But when things started to get a little hot and heavy, I pulled back. No matter how sexy it was to be wet and naked with someone, it just didn't feel right if that person wasn't Seth. What made me feel worse was that Dante was accommodating about my mood. He figured my lack of desire was part of my stress, and so we eventually left the tub as chastely as we'd entered. We toweled each other off and then curled up on the couch and watched TV together while I tried not to feel too guilty about the purple robe wrapped around me. I decided the next day to finally add myself back to the bookstore's work schedule. I only put me down for part-time shifts until the demon business was settled, but at this point, it seemed unlikely I'd be recalled to Canada again. My limbo status couldn't last forever if I wanted to keep my job; Warren's leniency would only last so long. Roman and I had our plans to go to Edmonds at noon, so for my first official day back, I only worked a morning shift. Part of that shift involved coming in before the store was even open, and I welcomed the solitude. The store always soothed me, and if ever there was a time I needed soothing, it was right now. It was short-lived, however, since my other coworkers began trickling in not long after my arrival. Maddie was among them. â€Å"Hey,† she said brightly, popping into my office. â€Å"Is this another check-in or are you back for good?† â€Å"For good, I think. Not that it matters. It looks like everything's been fine without me.† She grinned and shut the door behind her. â€Å"Oh, we've missed you, believe me. No one's been here to referee my fights with Doug.† I laughed and watched her sit down. â€Å"Well then, I guess I got back just in time. Nice shoes.† Maddie extended her legs and admired her candy apple red pumps. â€Å"Thanks. Nordstrom's having a sale.† The brown leather Mia heels I currently wore were among my favorites, but after a week now with no shape-shifting, my wardrobe was starting to make me stir-crazy. It was kind of like my hair, I realized. I hadn't realized how dependent I was on shape-shifting to enhance my appearance. I'd lauded myself for living like a human when in truth, I'd been cheating the whole time. Seeing my wistful look, Maddie asked, â€Å"You want to go downtown for lunch and check it out?† I shook my head with regret. Looking at shoes sounded a lot better than looking at rocks. â€Å"Can't. I've got to meet someone.† â€Å"Ah, well, let me know when you get some time. You know I'm game.† Silence fell, and Maddie shifted uncomfortably. She bit her lip, like she wanted to say something. I started to prompt her, but she spoke first. â€Å"So, what did you think of the condo listings?† â€Å"Oh, they were†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Fuck. I'd never even read through them. Roman and Dante had spent more time looking at them than I had. Which one had Dante mentioned? â€Å"They were great. I really liked that new one-the one where you can still get in on the choices and stuff.† Her eyes lit up. â€Å"Ooh, yeah. I loved that one too. I actually looked them up on the builder's website. It doesn't look like there are many left, but there has to be at least one, or they wouldn't be listed. We should go down there and talk to them in person.† I smiled, feeling horrible about the lie. â€Å"Sure†¦but it may be awhile before I can get a break. We'll have to do it and the shoe trip at the same time.† Maddie nodded, face kind and sympathetic. â€Å"No problem. I understand.† More silence fell, and I realized it wasn't the condos that she wanted to talk to me about. That had been a distraction to build up her own courage. â€Å"Maddie, what's going on?† Her cheery look disintegrated into something much more glum. It was startling. I was so used to her always being in a good mood that the thought of something upsetting her was on par with the laws of physics breaking down. She met my eyes and immediately looked away. â€Å"Oh God. I can't believe I'm about to bring this up.† I was seriously worried now. â€Å"You can tell me. It's okay. What's up?† She sighed. â€Å"It's Seth.† Oh, fuck.

The Importance of Business Communication

When you think about these two quotes you will find a lot of meanings, something happens in your life around you, about the relations and communication and how to deal with others not just on business also in your general life, so it is too important to learn how to communicate. Communication is the process of transmitting ideas, thoughts, information, opinions, and plans between various parts of an organization or sometimes to those on the outside of an organization who are interest in the business and need to know the information.Communication is one of the most basic functions of management in any organization. Its importance can never be over emphasized. The presence of business communication ensures that there is a sense of professionalism in the business. Good communication means your message is being sent and those receiving it clearly understand it in it’s entirely. Because of this, the receiver will more likely respond to it in a positive manner.When this occurs, it m eans the message was communicated effectively. A customer who receives poor communication from an employee will most likely have an unfavorable response to a company. The reason for this could be because the person listening does not possess a clear understanding of what the person doing the talking is actually saying. Perhaps the request is unclear, or maybe the person listening did not pay close enough attention. Human relations cannot be present without communication.Good and effective communication is required for both personal relationships and successful business relationships. You can use business software and other popular applications for writing communications, or you can utilize the telephone and in-person methods for the spoken part. No matter how you communicate, make sure there is both talking and listening going on and that you take the time to carefully consider what is being said to you. All three forms of communication are important to a business.The written  com munications can serve as a record of sorts while the phone conversations can facilitate the beginning of a great business relationship. The in-person communication will also help to further promote the business principles as well as the products. Face-to-face communication is especially important between companies and their customers. This is what keeps them coming back time and time again and what can place the business in the forefront of many situations that are perfect for acquiring and maintaining customers.Effective communication in business helps better understand a person or situation, enables us to resolve important differences, and builds trust and respect. Effective communication is also about exchanging information and it requires you to understand the emotion behind the information. Effective communication can also improve relationships at work, home, and in social situations by deepening your connections to others and improving teamwork, decision making, caring, and pr oblem solving. It is also stated that effective communication in a business is a learned skill.