Logan Miller Essays - McDonalds High School All-Americans

Logan Miller Mr. Cheatham's second hour English 1 Tuesday, February 23, 1999 Dream Basketball Dream Basketball is a great game to play during the b-ball season. It's a gathering of eight individuals who pay fifteen dollars to join and afterward you have a draft to pick your most loved NBA players. You watch their details all through the week and you play different groups that are in your association. Every week you have a beginning setup, which comprises of five starters and three seat players. The seat's focuses is sliced down the middle. The games that tally are from Friday to Tuesday. There are fifteen adjusts in the draft. In the first five adjusts all the great individuals are no more. The following five rounds are the unremarkable players. The last five rounds you take risks on individuals. You moreover get the chance to name your group. A portion of the groups names are Butt Cowboys, Purple Headed Yogurt Slingers, Pimps R Us, Pimps Palace, and the Predators. One of your first picks ought to be a middle. That is on the grounds that they are not very many great focuses. There are equivalent measures of advances and watches. The initial eight picks in the draft were David Robinson, Shaq O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Kevin Garnett, Hakeem Olajuwon, Antoine Walker, what's more, Gary Payton. The last pick in the draft was Michael Jordan. Josh Viegelahn accepting him as a joke. You need to pick individuals that get a great deal of focuses, bounce back, helps, squares, and takes. The general focuses pioneers are Grant Hill, Chris Webber, and Shaq O'neal. Coming up next are the details chiefs after week one. The bouncing back pioneers are Charles Barkley, Tom Gugliotta, Chris Webber, Shaq O'Neal, and Tim Duncan. The helps heads are Jason Kidd, John Stockton, Stephon Marbury, and Rod Strickland. Whoever wins the alliance gets fifty dollars. Runner up gets thirty dollars, third spot gets twenty dollars, and fourth place gets ten dollars. Every one of the division victors gets five dollars. The individuals in the alliance are A.J. Pryzbala, Tyler Hilla, John Meharg, John Zampich, Josh (most noticeably awful group in the alliance) Viegelahn, Max McLean, Mickey Marx, and I. Dream Basketball is a great game to play during the ball season. The main time individuals watch b-ball is the point at which my players have games. Individuals additionally go on the Internet to perceive how there players did. It's too extremely energizing in light of the fact that there's an opportunity to win cash.

Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden and Bertolt Brechts Mother Courage Essay Example

Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden and Bertolt Brechts Mother Courage Essay Example Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden and Bertolt Brechts Mother Courage Paper Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden and Bertolt Brechts Mother Courage Paper in this way, despite the fact that the nation had been liberated from the harsh principle of the fascism Paulina was as yet persecuted inside her own home itself. In any case, the whole air changes after Scene 3 when Paulina claims the firearm. With the firearm in Paulinas hand Dorfman shows an alternate side of her, the previous consistent Paulina is gone and in her place is a lady who is in charge of the circumstance. Paulina understands that it is the weapon which permits her to express her real thoughts lastly settle on decisions, in Act 1 Scene 4 when Gerardo advises her to put the firearm down as it is keeping any discourse from occurring, she counters saying that when she puts the weapon down all exchange will end since Gerardo would utilize his solidarity to win the contention demonstrating that the firearm is her lone wellspring of resistance against him. The weapon becomes both an image of intensity and an image of resistance for Paulina who being a lady could always be unable to genuinely overwhelm Gerardo. Therefore, remembering an increasingly women's activist view, both Gerardo and Miranda speak to a male-overwhelmed world where Paulina, the lady, has not very many options and is compelled to take an edgy and risky way out, spoke to by the weapon. Dorfman additionally shows the peruser how this would not regularly be manner by which Paulina would free herself, appeared by her freshness in dealing with the firearm. (Act 1, Scene 4, Its reasonable she didn't have the foggiest idea how to discharge the weapon) It additionally shows how new this opportunity of decision was for Paulina. The weapon isn't just for Paulinas security but at the same time is her solitary way to pick up equity for herself. While she talks about individuals who had been denied equity like her, the accentuation is consistently on the word me. The way that it is a firearm that she utilizes, a weapon that just secures her and damages others shows the peruser that she needed her equity regardless of what the expense was to any other person. In Mother Courage, the truck is an away from of endurance. It is Mother Courages just methods for bearing the war and supporting her youngsters. Like Paulina in Death and the Maiden, Mother Courage also is a lady isolated in a world constrained by men (a reality that all the amazing posts in the military, for example, general have a place with men). Anyway not at all like Paulina, Mother Courage is very knowledgeable with business and this gives us that she has been living like this for an extremely lengthy timespan. We can see this from Scene 1 where she chomps the half-florin and says shes got no confidence in any sort of cash indicating that she has gone far and wide and has immense involvement with business matters. Another case of this is in Scene 2 when she wrangles adequately with the cook over the cost of a hen. Mother Courage may appear to be very business disapproved with her truck being the main motivation to live being her truck; anyway the truth is that the truck is only a methods for gaining cash to deal with her youngsters. At the point when Swiss Cheese is caught she is prepared to hand over her truck in return, the main explanation she can hope for more is the way that she still ahs a little girl to think about. Dealing with her kids presumably has a more extensive cultural significance, it could allude to the assurance of the frail and abused during the war, this can be additionally legitimized by the way that none of the youngsters share a similar dad and non of this issues to Mother Courage in whose mind they are for the most part her family, subsequently, the traditional thought of what a family ought to resemble is totally broken along these lines where a truck is the thing that keeps them together. This can be contrasted with Gerardo and Paulina who, while wedded offer a broken relationship with Paulina incidentally having the option to disclose to Roberto a bigger number of things than she can reveal to her better half. By and by the possibility of family is tested where Paulina must be heard through the sound of shot. In Mother Courage there is no coherence between the scenes, yet Mother Courage and her truck stay steady even in a war, then again, in Death and the Maiden the progression of the story is consistent, anyway Paulina and her activities are most certainly not. Despite the fact that she lives during a time of popular government, the firearm in her grasp disintegrates every single such thought and brings it down to an issue of who has the solidarity to do what they need. In Act 2, Scene 1, while guiding the weapon toward Robertos sanctuary she says Out there you mongrels may in any case provide the requests, however in here, Im in order. Is that reasonable? This shows nearly curved deduction on Paulinas part in reality as we know it where everybody reserved the privilege to stand up. Another intriguing viewpoint to note is that the firearm in Death and the Maiden would likely have been progressively fit in the war-desolated setting of Mother Courage, the truck which is an image of business would fit obviously better in Death and the Maiden where the nation has recently accomplished majority rules system and is liberated from harsh fascism. The truck is represents the flourishing and free enterprise which vote based system should bring. Be that as it may, the weapon and the truck appear to be exceptionally strange in their particular surroundings. While clearly the writers had not arranged the two stories together we despite everything see a repeating theme of thought in the composition of the two writers, in one case the firearm shows a sad remnant of the past, the nearness of the harsh fascism is as yet approaching over while in Mother Courage the truck shows the future, the war will one day end and typical life will return. While the thoughts appear to be differentiating in nature, the regular factor is that the two of them show the peruser that nothing is really great or complete; there is no congruity in any type of framework, The very certainty that it is so troublesome gives us that this thought would never be passed on to the peruser through sheer words, the picture of the weapon and the truck rather paint this image in our psyches. While altogether different, both the weapon and the truck assume fundamentally the same as jobs in every story. Their significance to the main characters is undeniable and the numerous thoughts they uncover, while unique, show the peruser something very similar. Consequently, it must be said that these things structure an indispensable piece of their particular stories.

Are Chatbots a Good Idea for Your Business

Are Chatbots a Good Idea for Your Business No matter in which business area you are working, you are dealing with customers in some form. They say that the most important skill nowadays is communication and that all our successes and results truly rely on our relationships with customers and the way we communicate with them.That’s why the most common question when it comes to customer satisfaction always is â€" which way of communication is the most effective? You must be aware of the fact that more and more companies are starting to implement chatbots in their business with the aim to improve relationships with their customers and therefore boost the business.What are chatbots, how to use them, and whether your business actually needs them, is exactly what we are covering in this article.WHAT ARE CHATBOTS?It seems like everyone around is talking about chatbots, and you are probably not sure whether they are talking about some application or some intriguing new TV show.To clear it once and for all to you, chatbots are speci al programs designed to automatically respond to the message that you have received on your blog, website or whichever platform you use for your business.These clever (one can freely say) robots can be programmed in different ways, regarding what suits you the best.For example, they could always respond in the same way no matter what’s the message. For instance, the response could be “We are currently out of the office, leave your contact details and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible”, or something like “In order to find the answer to your question, check our FAQ section. If the answer is not there, don’t hesitate to write to us”.On the other hand, you can easily program them to respond differently to messages depending on the specific keywords those messages contain.For example, whenever someone sends a message that consists of the following keywords: nearest shop, your chatbot could send them the message containing all the shops around the country and their a ddresses.Or, if the question had some keywords such as free and delivery, the answer could have all the needed information about the delivery system, as well as the price range.Finally, there are chatbots that use machine learning to adapt their responses to the specific message. These are the most advanced ones, giving the fact that they are giving the most personalized answers and replacing the human to human interaction most closely.Even though you might have not used chatbots for your business yet, you must have certainly communicated with one. They can easily be noticed and recognized as chat mediums similar to SMS text, in a form of a website chat window and eligible on social messaging services across platforms.Now that you are aware of chatbots, how they are built and designed, let’s see how exactly are they helpful to our business and why many choose to implement them. And if you are intrigued by their existence, you can later learn more about their history and how they b ecame one of the most useful things in business.WHY ARE CHATBOTS GOOD FOR BUSINESS?There are many things that could be mentioned here â€" from saving money to appearing more professional and so on, but one thing that generally stands out is the fact that chatbots are enabling everyone who runs a business to always be available for their customers.What does that mean? Human beings are interesting species who can never be completely categorized and understood, leaving us often surprised with their habits or behaviors.In other words, you can never completely predict when will your target group be online and in a search for your product or service, and not getting an instant response from you will probably lead to them finding someone else on the internet who offers the same and most importantly â€" is currently there, ready to help them.There are a lot of researches claiming the same thing â€" everyone values time differently, and a majority of people isnt patient enough to wait a long er period of time to get something they want, even if its only a piece of information.The reasons for people’s urge to know everything immediately can vary, but one consequence is sure â€" it shaped nowadays business leaving no choice for those who want to succeed, but to try to be available as much as possible.This is probably the main reason businesses are implementing chatbots, trying to keep up with everything and be the first ones to provide the potential customer with everything he or she needs.10 BENEFITS OF USING CHATBOTS IN YOUR BUSINESSFor you to get a clearer picture, well enlist the most important benefits of using chatbots in your business that are applicable no matter in which field you are working. Lets begin. 1. Being Present in Top Messaging ApplicationsResearches have shown that users have the low tendency of downloading any new application when in search of something. For example, instead of searching for an app that will tell them where the best place to buy ne w shoes is, they will simply search through Instagram or Facebook for shoe stores and find what they are looking for.Therefore, it is highly recommended to be present in some of the top messaging applications nowadays and choose possibilities of chatbots to be visible and instantly available to all (potential) customers.There are more and more entertaining chatbots being designed for top messaging applications, such as Facebook messenger each day. 2. Customer AssistanceCustomers, customers, customers â€" we cant stress enough how important they are. They are the main stakeholders of any business, and their satisfaction can do a lot for your business. On the other hand, their dissatisfaction could harm you more thank you think.No marketing strategy in the world can come close to the word of mouth strategy, that bases simply on people recommending your product or service to a friend or an acquaintance.Since people have trouble believing in what is presented in the commercials, hearing from someone they trust that some product or service is worth their money or time, their readiness to purchase what you offer grows disruptively.Now try imagining what a bad commercial could do to your business. And this doesn’t even have to be linked with the product or service, it could be simply linked with the way you treated your customer.Response rate and the time it takes you to respond are important criteria when it comes to customer satisfaction and forming of their impression of your business.Therefore, being available to respond immediately and help your customer using a chatbot is something that will help you improve your customer satisfaction score, and therefore, grow your business.For instance, if you are selling something online, having a chatbot that could assist your potential customers during the purchase is something that lifts up the chance of them actually purchasing what they need.This happens due to the fact that all companies have different websites and w ays of selling products and nobody in this world can be familiar with all of them.If you (or your chatbot) are not there to help your customer, they will choose somebody else who hasa. simpler website they are familiar withb. miracle of the modern world â€" a chatbot that can guide them through the purchase.3. Customer SupportThis is quite similar to the previous one and well connected, but you should consider reading this especially if you are looking for a way to upscale your business and start operating globally.As mentioned before, customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors in each business. Therefore, customer support should be your number one priority if you want to prosper in any way. You can try imagining chatbots as your personal assistants.How would your workday look like if there was somebody who would answer all the messages instead of you? How much free time would it give you? Can you think of ways you could be using that time to grow your business? We c an definitely name a couple.We are all aware of how time-consuming answering messages, e-mails, and requests can be â€" not only in work life but also in private.   Most probably you can recall a concrete situation when you just asked yourself how did it take me this much time to only answer the messages?Of course, when it comes to private ones, you can postpone them for a bit. But in the business world, you need to be agile. To cut to the point, there is no human that can be faster than a programmed machine, our good friend chatbot.If you consider the chatbot your personal assistant who answers all the simple questions your customers have (the fact that they are simple, doesn’t lower the time it takes to answer), leaving you to handle more serious tasks in your company.This way, all customers are more than satisfied â€" they got all answers really quickly and they didn’t have to wait even a bit â€" chatbots are multitaskers and are definitely more responsive than any human bein g (no offense).So, if you still have doubts whether a chatbot can handle all your customers, bear in mind that you can program them in a way that they give the answers you would give, and if the question is too complicated â€" they just forward the message to you and let you know you are really needed.4. Proactive Customer CommunicationYou must certainly have a database with all the customers and their current state, for example, their name and the exact thing they are looking for, with a note aside saying something like “contact him in April and send him the new portfolio” or “contact her when the spring collection arrives”.If you are just starting your business, you will be able to handle all your customers. But if you are already in a business with lots of customers and notes regarding them, you won’t have time to do a follow up for all of them. You need help.That’s when chatbots come quite handy. You can program them to send specific messages in a specific period to your customers, and spare yourself worrying about that. Your customers will be more than glad to find out that you care about them and that you didn’t forget about the ask they had.Another good example of this is the way portals that offer internships or any other opportunities (job-related, travel, etc.) use chatbots to encourage their customers to apply for an opportunity.For example, you can program your chatbot to send a message to your customer after 7 days of them not applying, saying something like “Hey, it’s been some time since you haven’t applied. Can I help you find the perfect opportunity for you? Tell me what you are looking for”.This has shown some great results when it comes to customers’ engagement and later, their purchase of the product, or in this case â€" a service.5. Customer EngagementYes, there is another way chatbots can be beneficial when it comes to customers and your business. Many companies have installed chatbots with a clear purpose of inter acting with your customers and building a relationship.A relationship based on a talk with a chatbot? You probably think that I’m kidding, but actually, it’s is well know that chatbots are quite popular and talking to them could be quite amusing. For example, if your customer is on your website, exploring your products, a sudden interesting message could break the monotony and make the search above expected.Program your chatbot to be witty and to always have an interesting question for your customer and you can’t go wrong. There are many chatbots that are built only for the entertainment and even if you don’t have experience with them, you probably must have heard about Cleverbot, JokeBot, and others. Being part of the trend will definitely be appealing to your customers.A good thing about chatbots is the fact that they never overwhelm customers with unrelated information, but on contrary â€" they base the entire conversation on the customers’ needs, so you don’t have to worry about that.Just program it to start the conversation with your customer, and after a good laugh, it could ask him or her to send him a recommendation from your catalog, based on their previous searches. Even though people are aware that they are talking to a program, they look forward to suggestions and often follow them, knowing that behind this program, is an actual person.6. Collecting FeedbackWhat a better way to use the power of talking (in this case â€" writing) than to collect useful feedback from your customers right when they are considering buying your products.We all have been in a situation when are leads dropped out from the business, not giving a clear explanation or providing us only with an excuse. Most people aren’t familiar with the feedback culture and have really hard times saying honestly why they are deciding not to proceed to the end with us.This can easily be solved because people are having fewer difficulties being honest when they know they are ano nymous and at that moment talking only to a computer, which feelings cant be hurt. It is an excellent strategy to use chatbots to pop up with a question for a visitor on your website when they are about to leave without purchasing.You can try different questions, depending on which information is the most relevant to you. After you collect feedback and improve that bottleneck, you can move to the next, until you completely adjust to your audience.This is a good and easy way to get to know for real your target group and people who are interested in your offer and see what they actually need. Use it to track your customers and improve the conversions you are having trouble with.7. Customer FlowIf you are in a place to work with many potential customers and trying to dedicate yourself completely to all of them, you are probably struggling. Giving them equal attention is almost impossible and actually completely unnecessary since not all of them will actually become your customers in th e end.But you are probably wondering, how could you tell if somebody is worth your time or not if you dont start working with them? There is again a simple solution that chatbots provide, and it can be perceived as the funnel.At the top, you have all potential customers or consumers who all are interested in what you are offering â€" or at least they think that they are interested, but they need more information. Using a chatbot that would contact all of them and start communication about their interests is something that could help you determine who will actually be your customer.You can design different messages that should be sent throughout the entire customer flow, including questions about customer’s interests, budget, timeline, resources and everything else that you find relevant, that can help you realize if somebody fits your buying persona.If that’s the case, that’s the moment you should personally step in and contact the potential customer, ensuring that you close t his lead your chatbot has been nurturing for you.8. Do you speak English?Obviously, you do, but what about different languages? If you are doing your business globally, you will probably find yourself in a situation that not all of your customers speak English and can recognize the value that you are offering.Instead of hiring 2, 3,…,10 (we really hope you are successful worldwide) people who speak different foreign languages, how about installing one chatbot that can communicate in all of the languages that you need?Much easier and not to mention how cheaper solution it is. Another good thing is that you dont have to worry about the time zones, if you are, for example, shipping abroad. Somebody from overseas could contact your chatbot and order what they need without waiting for a new day to come in the place that you are living.9. Eliminating CostsFavorite two words of every businessman (and women!) out there. Chatbots are quite interesting â€" someone would say amusing, helpful , agile, but most importantly â€" they represent a way for you to save some money and reduce the costs of your business!For starters, using one chatbot that is familiar with all functions and expertise needed in your area of work is much easier and cheaper than designing a completely new application with all of the functions, or even hiring a new employee to be responsible for each part of the business.Chatbots are multitaskers â€" you became aware of that earlier in this article and when you take into consideration this task, you realize that you don’t have to hire a huge number of employees to help you handle the customers and on the other hand, you don’t have to worry about losing any customers due to the lack of people hired in your company. This helps you save much more money that you can imagine.And in the end, we all know that the Time is money is not just an empty phrase, but the real picture of the life. In other words, all the time you save by using chatbots, you save your money, too. This goes also for your entire process time that takes a lead to become a customer, so imagine how saving money in each phase of the process can help you save the money in total.10. Your Employees’ SatisfactionWeve talked about customers through the entire article without mentioning employees. If somebody asked you what is more important to you â€" your customers or your employees, what would you say?We certainly hope that your answer was employees because the equation is quite simple: happy employee equals a happy customer. This practically means providing your customers with everything they need and showing them that they are always in the first place for you.On the other hand, nurturing the culture of placing customers in the first place and leading your employees towards fulfilling this should be your second role.Given all of this, you must admit that doing constantly a repetitive work that doesn’t require much thinking or creativity isn’t something your e mployees would value or consider a good working place. Remember, disappointed employee equals a disappointed customer.In order for this not to happen, you can use chatbots for all the routine work, such as answering customers’ messages, and enable your employees to develop themselves by doing something more challenging, and therefore, develop your business.DOWNSIDES OF CHATBOTSAs everything in the world, even chatbots have their downsides. Even though they are not huge, they are definitely worth mentioning.The main obstacle we are facing is the fact that chatbots are not always qualified enough to solve the problems they are given. Instead of increasing customer satisfaction score, they could do the contrary, as many people have reported chatbots as not being useful to them.Another fact is that people are still not completely ready for chatbots. They still lack trust and often might lose interest in your offer, just because they don’t want to base their decision on a talk they h ad with a chatbot.CONCLUSIONTaking everything into consideration, you can see how useful chatbots can be. No matter in which industry you are, you can implement them and use them for at least one area of your expertise. Many are using chatbots for the entire business and still, there are more people who are satisfied than those who gave up on chatbots and returned to the traditional way of talking.You have to think about your goals and ambitions and all the resources you have. Think about how far is what you are striving for from the place that you are at right now. What do you need to get there? Can you think of a way a chatbot can help you move one step closer to the goal? Or maybe even a few steps?These are all things that you should take time to think about before making a decision. Also, finding someone who develops chatbots and consulting with them is also something worthy of your time. If you have an idea how to implement chatbots in your business, ask for a piece of advice a nd get it from the first hand.Whatever you decide, don’t be afraid to take risks. Don’t settle for an easy one, but boldly search for the best solution for your business!

Ethics in Advertising Essay - 1263 Words

An American unnoticeably views three thousand advertisements in a day, many of which use women and sex appeal to get consumers’ attention (Kilbourne). Advertisements subconsciously affect our lives, and often times not in a good way. Also, women and young girls are usually the ones that compare themselves to thin models featured in ads. Advertisements not only impact how women view each other, but also how they view themselves. Women and girls strive to look like the retouched and Photoshopped models, which can lead to serious issues including eating disorders, extreme dieting, and excessive plastic surgery. But what these women and young girls look past, is the fact that advertising companies use Photoshopping to completely change†¦show more content†¦If a model is not perfect, the computer makes them perfect. According to Kilbourne’s documentary, Oprah Winfrey’s head was once put on the body of actress Ann-Margret for a TV guide magazine, merely because Oprah wasn’t skinny enough. Simply put, advertisements are lies. Advertisements psychologically and physically affect women. In a study by Ann Becker, (shown in Killing us Softly 4), girls who watched TV three plus nights a week were 50% more likely to say they looked â€Å"too fat† than girls who watched less TV, simply because these girls were viewing too many â€Å"perfect† women. More often now then ever before, advertisements are causing issues to women’s health, including, eating disorders, extreme dieting, and excessive plastic surgery. All these components are ways women change their physical appearance to look more like the models they see in advertisements. What these women look past is that these models don’t truly look like that, and they have been retouched. According to a New York Times article published in 2009, titled, A Move to Curb Digitally Altered Photos in Ads, â€Å"there is a big concern that girls and women feel excessive pressure to live up to the digitally Botoxed and liposuctioned images o f human perfection they see in glossy magazines,† (Pfanner). For instance, my friend is a perfect example of a girl who has been succumbed by the pressure of the media. She hasShow MoreRelatedEthics of Advertising1230 Words   |  5 PagesAssignment Advertising is a tremendous and powerful way of providing silent information as to how consumers should interact and present themselves. From the ethics class, we realize that the messages help us to see the meaning and possibilities in the things we purchase. It also helps consumers to liberate the direct meaning that lie below the surface of the products. For example, the Volkswagen advertisements have turned the automobile company into a social statement. 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However, the practice of truthful advertising is commonplace in today’s society. Advertisers are held accountable for the messages they produce. So too are the manufacturers, whom are held accountable for their products meeting the standards set forth by the advertisement. For the most part this is a self-regulated practice. Once an advertised product is called out for not living up to expectation, recovery of reputation and

Surveillance Cameras On The United States - 1742 Words

Introduction In this paper, the following sections will be discussed in accordance the use of the Conflict theory: The history of the surveillance camera, The present day use of the Surveillance Camera, Surveillance Camera use outside of the United States, When Surveillance cameras effect behavior, and When Surveillance Cameras do not effect behavior. The use of Surveillance Cameras alters or sustains a person’s behavior, based on the situation presented. History Present Day Surveillance Camera use outside of the United States It is no surprise that surveillance cameras are used worldwide. However, do countries use them the same way as the United States? Are they as accepted as in the United States? In this section, three different countries will be discussed; France, Italy, and the United Kingdom; France will be discussed first. The French Government began to use the surveillance cameras during the 1990s. During this time period, Government officials began drawing the attention of the public to use the cameras regularly, instead of having them â€Å"for show.† The only individuals, who used the cameras, were business owners (jewelers and banks). They used them to help protect their businesses from crime. The reason these people only used them because the French public was in dispute of the privacy of the cameras. The people against questioned the privacy and usefulness, while the people for believed there was a security inadequacy because of thr eats of terrorism and violenceShow MoreRelatedPolice Surveillance Cameras On Public Areas868 Words   |  4 Pagesdebate to surface; whether police surveillance cameras are a necessary tool in public safety or are the police surveillance cameras a violation of citizens rights and civil liberties. An abundance of individuals believe that the installation of police surveillance cameras, also know as, CCTV (closed circuit television), does not infringe on their civil liberties, due to no specific mentioning of Americans having the right to privacy in the Constitution of United States. However, the believers of policeRead MoreSurveillance And The National Security Agency1729 Words   |  7 Pages There are all different types of surveillance now-a-days. The thought of it has come a long way and it has evolved significantly. There are many pros and cons as to surveillance in today’s world. Also, there are many different ways that technology allows people to get surveillance on many different things such as people, where they go, who they talk to, private information, and so much more. Surveillance and security in the United States has also changed significantly since September 11th, 2001Read MoreNational Security Vs. Digital Privacy1735 Words   |  7 Pagessuccessful manner, whilst preserving the fundamental rights of all United States Citizens. In light of the controversy over national security versus digital privacy, the government should partake in international surveillance because it inhibits potential crime and terrorism, it is quick, it is dependable, and it has been proven to be successful through past endeavors. To begin, in order to intercept terrorism and ensure the safety of United States civilians, the government must gain access to the personalRead MoreSurveillance And The Privacy Of The United States Government Surveillance1497 Words   |  6 PagesIn today’s society, countless surveillance methods are in place. These can range from simple cameras to high-tech home monitoring. Times have changed from the large cameras of the 1900s. Cameras can now be as small as a pin’s needle. Full scale home protection systems use video surveillance to watch over the home 24 hours a day. 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The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and other federal agencies are engaging in theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book 1984 By George Orwell1493 Words   |  6 Pagesthe advanced use of technology, one controversial issue has been the practice of mass surveillance which is used by the American government. On one hand, individuals argue that there are several advantages of surveillance technology; for instance, these types of systems are believed to limit the number of criminal activity within an area and easily detect suspects. On the other hand, others oppose the surveillance theory beca use they believe that it is against our constitutional right to privacy. MyRead MoreSurveillance First Really Started In The United States1491 Words   |  6 PagesSurveillance first really started in the United States in 1919 when the US department of State approves the Cipher Bureau, also called the â€Å"Black Chamber†. This was basically a precursor to today’s National Security Agency and United States first peacetime federal intelligence agency. Today’s National Security Agency wa later created in 1952 by Harry Truman in secret to allow the Defence Department to gather surveillance info after World War II. In 1972 the US Supreme Court ruled that the fourthRead MoreWomen s Approval Of Camera Surveillance1060 Words   |  5 Pagesdebate seem stalled at a stalemate, the balance of supporters on either side of the debate are far from even even. Overall, 71% of people support surveillance and 25% oppose. Surprisingly, older citizens are more accepting and supp ortive of increased surveillance compared to younger new adults who more strongly oppose. Women’s approval of camera surveillance is at 75% while only 66% of men support the increase, dipping downward almost 10%(â€Å"Broad Support...†). Relating to the percentages between men

Organizational Development Paper Free Essays

Organizational development is a benchmark for a given organization’s success in establishing its core values, mission statement and goals. Whether an organization is non-profit or for profit does not change the fact that both types of organizations need to make the best of all plans and then implement them to make the right culture as well as model of running the business or supporting the cause which this particular organization is used to doing.What is necessary is the most of the work is done by middle and upper management, in planning the projects and yearly goals. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Development Paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now When an organization goes through staffing of capital change or depletion, all changes have to be made in accordance with the balance capital as well as the needs for more human power to run a specific position and or functions within various departments of the organization. As organizational needs and business demands shift so do the processes of conduction business and managing the organizational structure.Organizational assessment of needs make it different for every organization as to how the success of a particular organization can be insured by its managers and employees. In industrial/organizational psychology and management sciences’ disciplines, graduated students study case studies and then develop solutions to scenarios helpful and suitable for establishing a policy structure to make the organizational system run smoothly.Theory of change is one theory which states that a cycle of stability and consequent change is imminent always in the life of any organization. It is a stage theory basically entails identifying need for change, making the actual change and then readjusting to the changed way of conducting business. Over all operational evaluations eventually lead to better systems and stable methods, by which seasoned employees can steer the organization to success every step of the way to achieving a status of a credible and successful arket name brand won by the organization. The processes involved in the change making itself, will rigorously change and as long as the core values of the organizational structure are adhere to nothing will transpire which will be less then ethical and lawful from a legal point of view. For the organization to defend or justify, because all operational and management procedures will be inline with the guiding by-laws and regulations following which, the organization will originally set up.Further development in any organization is always required. And this second phase of development is based on the first p hase of established foundational laws and policies. Given changing businesses and consumer services’ needs, the scale and the expanded quality of services will change too, and so would the processes which make them happen. Successful organizational always reflect on their statistics in numbers as well as qualitatively.With the change in human power and capital resources, every successful organization takes it seriously that the quality of the deliverables is not sacrificed with rendering ad hoc business practices.References Feist, J. , Feist, G. (2006). Theories of personality (6 ed. ). Boston: McGraw Hill. Spector, P. (2008). Industrial and organizational psychology (5 ed. ). Retrieved from New York, NY: John Wiley Sons, Inc. How to cite Organizational Development Paper, Papers

The Physical Development Of A Human Being Essays - Fertility

The Physical Development Of A Human Being Catherine The Physical Development of a Human Being As defined in Berk's, Development Through the Lifespan, physical development is changes in body size, proportions, appearance, and the functioning of various body systems; brain development; perceptual and motor capacities; and physical health. The physical development of a human being is the unique because of all of the visible changes that every human being goes through. Physical growth results from a continuous and complex interplay between heredity and environment. Humans begin to develop before they are out of their mother's womb. After conception, the zygote is what I consider the earliest development of the human being. The period of the zygote is about two weeks long. The zygote then becomes an embryo. The period of the embryo lasts from the second week on through the eighth week of pregnancy. The embryo then changes to form the fetus. The period of the fetus is from the ninth week until the end of the pregnancy. The zygote, embryo, and fetus all form in the first trimester o r pregnancy. By the third trimester, the fetus is around seven and half pounds. I weighed about eight and one fourth pounds when I was born. My mother still tells me that when I was born I had enough hair to braid. She says all my hair gave her horrible heartburn. Luckily she did not smoke or use any drugs or alcohol during the time that she was pregnant with me. All of these things can do serious harm to the fetus. Boys tend to be a little longer and heavier than girls at birth. Babies change faster than older humans do. The human body grows and enlarges at the most rapid rate during the first two years. Weight is gained steadily during this time. By nine months baby fat has usually arrived and is at its highest level. This helps babies to maintain a constant body temperature. Babies become thinner during the second year. This held true for me from what I have seen of my baby pictures. Babies do not tend to be very muscular or coordinated. The child grows and size increases, and different parts of the body grow at different speeds. There are two growth patterns that represent this. The first is called the cephalocaudal trend. During this phase the head takes up a fourth of the body and the legs take up a third. The second pattern is called the proximodistal trend. This is when the growth proceeds from the center of the body outward. During infancy, the arms and legs continue to grow ahead of the hands and feet. The brain is closer to adult size at birth than any other body part on a baby. When a child reaches the age of two, the brain is already at seventy percent of its adult weight. Some of the factors that influence this early growth are heredity, nutrition, and emotional well-being. Over the first year of life, babies begin to organize sounds into complex patterns. During the second half of the first year, babies begin focusing on larger speech units. These larger units are critical to figuring out the meaning of what babies hear. By nine months babies begin to listen to speech for much longer periods of time, and they begin to perceive it on wordlike segments. A child's vision goes through some extensive changes during the first seven to eight months of the child's life. The child's vision improves a great deal throughout the first year. When a child begins some form of independent movement, they begin to better understand depth perception. When an adult moves around on his/her own, they too have a better feel for landmarks and what is around them. The rapid growth in body size that takes place in infancy begins to slow down in early childhood. During this time boys still tend to be a little larger than girls are. When I was this age, all of my friends were boys, and they were a little larger than I was. Increasing control of the child's hands and fingers lead to a huge improvement in the fine motor skills. Their drawings become more and more

Wallace Stevens, Death of a Soldier Essays

Wallace Stevens, Death of a Soldier Essays Wallace Stevens, Death of a Soldier Paper Wallace Stevens, Death of a Soldier Paper Alita Wright, ENG 311 Module 4, February 6, 2011 Depicting war into words is a strange and melodramatic practice, which can mean something different to each person. When my grandfather thinks of war, he thinks of friends and family that have lost their lives and the pride he feels that he defended his country and came home. My father, his own son, believes that war is a useless practice that wastes money and lives and holds no real purpose. My own beliefs are such that I can see the value in defending democratic beliefs, knowing that there is a price that must be paid to defend them. I am not so naive to believe that there is not a price for our freedoms and that many people all over the world would like to have the same freedoms and others would like to take them all away. Each author writes their story in their own words to share their views and leave them open to our interpretations. In Wallace Stevens’ poem, â€Å"The Death of a Soldier† he depicts that death is swift, unemotional and comparative to the season of autumn. Just as autumn dies swiftly and poignantly, a soldier’s death is just as cold and ill fated. â€Å"As in a season of autumn. The soldier falls. He does not become a three-days personage,  imposing his separation, calling for pomp. † This statement reflects that no time or expectation of memorial is taken or required. Comparatively William Faulkner’s â€Å"Two Soldiers† depicts this same kind of defense and pride. The story is about two brothers, one older, one younger who hears of the bombing of Pearl Harbor at the same time, but has different thoughts and views. The older brother leaves to enlist in the military and join the war. The two brothers are inseparable in their life and the youngest brother believes that this will continue. In his eyes he can bring water and firewood for the soldiers, being too young is not even a thought for him. He wants to do his part as well, as long as he is with his brother. The brother feels that he has to defend his country. The two brothers have the same type of pride and spirit that a soldier should. No expectation or belief of coming home is thought of in either the story or the poem. A soldier does what he has to in order to defend his beliefs and is proud of the accomplishments made for their country and for the freedoms being ttacked. Whether or not someone believes war should happen, it does occur and lives are lost. The best memorial we can give is to be proud of the sacrifice and remember that the price is high and we should never take it for granted. : Stevens, Wallace. The Death of a Soldier. Select Writers of the Twentieth Century. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2005. Faulkner, William. Two Soldiers. Select Writers of the Twentieth Century. Boston, MA: Pear son Custom Publishing, 2005.

Lexical Competence Definition and Examples

Lexical Competence Definition and Examples The ability to produce and understand the words of a language. Lexical competence is an aspect of both linguistic competence and communicative competence. Examples and Observations Anna GoyDuring the last decade or so more and more philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and computer scientists have become convinced that no complete account of our competence in the domain of word meaning can be given without a link between language and perception (Jackendoff, 1987; Landau Jackendoff, 1993; Harnad, 1993; Marconi, 1994). Moreover, it has been claimed that the boundary between lexical and encyclopaedic knowledge is not clear cut (or may be completely absent): the way we use, perceive and conceptualise objects is part of a kind of knowledge that not only belongs to our lexical competence, but is precisely what allows us to know the meanings of words and to use them correctly.Diego MarconiWhat does our ability to use words consist of? What kind of knowledge, and which abilities, underlie it?It seemed to me that to be able to use a word is, on the one hand, to have access to a network of connections between that word and other words and linguistic expressions: it is to know that cats are animals, that in order to arrive somewhere one has to move, that an illness is something one may be cured of, and so forth. On the other hand, to be able to use a word is to know how to map lexical items onto the real world, that is, to be capable of both naming (selecting the right word in response to a given object or circumstance) and application (selecting the right object or circumstances in response to a given word). The two abilities are, to a large extent, independent of each other. . . . The former ability can be called inferential, for it underlies our inferential performance (such as, for example, interpreting a general regulation concerning animals as applying to cats); the latter may be called referential. . . .I later discovered, thanks to Glyn Humphreys and other neuro-psychologists, that empirical research on brain-injured persons confirmed, to some extent, the intuitive picture of lexical competence I had been sketching. Inferential and refere ntial abilities appeared to be separate. Paul Miera[D]eveloping good test instruments for evaluating hypotheses about vocabulary development may be more difficult than we have typically supposed. Simply comparing the associations of L2 learners and native speakers, using ad hoc lists of words, as much of the research in this area has done, begins to look like a very unsatisfactory approach to assessing L2 lexical competence. Indeed, blunt research tools of this kind may be intrinsically incapable of evaluating the hypothesis we think we are researching. Careful simulation studies provide a way of testing out the capabilities of these instruments before they are widely used in real experiments.Michael Devitt and Kim SterelnyWhen we talk of an ability to use a name gained at a dubbing or in conversation, we are talking of competence. So competence with the name is simply an ability with it that is gained in a grounding or reference borrowing. Underlying the ability will be causal chains of a certain type that link the name to its bearer. Since the names sense is its property of designating by that type of chain, we could say that, in a psychologically austere way, competence with a name involves grasping its sense. But competence does not require any knowledge about the sense, any knowledge that the sense is the property of designating the bearer by a certain type of causal chain. This sense is largely external to the mind and beyond the ken of the ordinary speaker.

Management concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management concepts - Essay Example Traditionally organisations were designed keeping bureaucratic structure in mind. Bureaucratic structure can be defined as a kind of organisation structure which is based on judgment, order and reasonable use of proper authority. This type of organisational structure is destined to be organised, reasonable and highly efficient. The bureaucratic structure consists of clear allotment of job, ‘strict hierarchy of authority’, strict rules and actions and capability based promotions (Cliffnotes, n.d.). Bureaucratic organisational structure is based on official structure of authority which is formed cautiously and followed strictly. The features of bureaucratic organisation structure are: Clear job specialisation Departmentalisation by job Formal model of allocation High extent of centralisation ‘Narrow span of management’ Clearly described line and staff manager position Strict relationship between manager and subordinates Source: (Pride & Et. Al., 2009) Bureaucr atic Structure In Contrast To Matrix Organizational Structure In contrast to bureaucratic structure, matrix structure is based on vertical and horizontal form of authority. The delegation of authority in this type of organisation can flow in both ways down and across, however in bureaucratic structure the authority flows only from upward to downward. In each department there are cross functional groups. The groups consist of individual employees with varying specialty, proficiency and capability which are brought together to accomplish a mutual objective. For example, in the Matrix Structure, the less recognizable team is known as Project A, B, C team. The managers of these teams are known as project managers. The projects might be temporary; when the project is completed the teams will be separated. These teams have the authority to make major decisions. Any individual employee who is performing in the team can directly communicate with project manager as well as individual superio r manager (Fontaine, 2007). Contrary to matrix organizational structure, the bureaucratic organisational structure has strict control over their employees. The organisation is tall in nature. Max Weber, a German sociologist had introduced the bureaucratic theory. He had highlighted the requirement for hierarchical structure in organisations. The theory acknowledged the significance of allotment of labour and specialisation. A formal set of regulation is bound into the structure which ensures managerial constancy and regularity. Unlike matrix structure, the information in this organisation must pass through each layer of the structures which result in deliberate decision making. There is no authority of team with respect to decision making in this type of structure (Advameg, 2011) & (Walonick, 1993). Fig 1: Contrast of Bureaucratic and Matrix Organisational Structure Bureaucratic Organisational Structure Matrix Organisational Structure High Degree of standardisation Regular working m ethod are pursued in bureaucratic structure Low level of discrimination The organisation structure is mainly tall in

Understanding Traumatic Migrant Sex Workers and Trafficked Women Essay

Understanding Traumatic Migrant Sex Workers and Trafficked Women - Essay Example Although women trafficking and the trauma of the women have become foremost priority for social workers, yet they face daily challenges to get engaged with this group of migrants. I traveled to Italy from Nigeria with my aunt at the age of 16 for the purpose of working in her boutique. Once I reached there, I was forced to enter into prostitution. The money received from this was taken by my aunt and I was threatened to remain silent about the matter. For two years I was dehumanized, humiliated and maltreated after which I managed to escape from the ordeal. It was the most traumatic experience of my life as I had nowhere to go nor I could seek help from anyone. The modern concept of indigenization emerged in the third world countries initiated by the western power. The subject of social science was implanted from the West during colonialism in order to strengthen and make a permanent impact of the western power. As a result in the third world countries both political and academic ventures were influenced by the western colonialism. In order to achieve self governance it was important for â€Å"political decolonization and the indigenization of social sciences or intellectual decolonization.† (Yunong & Xiong, 2008, p.612) I chose migrant sex workers and trafficked women as the subject of my topic to discuss them in the background of indigenous social sciences. There are some liberal advocators of indigenization who admit that social sciences cannot be limited by any boundaries and conditions. They argue that the ideas and the principles are only common factors that are adopted from studies in western civilization. This group of advoc ators is more inclined towards a union of both perspectives and their attempt is to make social sciences more transcultural (Yunong & Xiong, 2008, p.612). In my opinion, the social policies of any particular country should

Virgin Galactic: Global Business Management

Virgin Galactic: Global Business Management 1. Introduction Virgin Galactic is the space tourism company which was founded in 2004 by Sir Richard Branson. This is type of Limited Liability Company. This company has its different headquarters at different locations such as Las Cruces, New Mexico and USA. Now it is planning to expand its business at global level such as Dubai. This company is part of Virgin Group which is also known as its parent company. The CEO of this company is George Whitesides. They started to provide its services to customer such as spaceflights in 2008 and now they are offering lot of services to their customers such as Space Sub Orbital, Small Satellites and Orbital Human Space Flight. Although this company is on the way to success but still every company has some weak points which they can use to convert into opportunities to perform better. So the aim of this research is find problems of Virgin Galactic and eliminating those. 2. Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic In this section, there will be a discussion about the evaluation of Richard Branson track record and his strength of new venture team and also will be discussing about his creative opportunity. 2.1 What is the concept of Global Leadership and how its reflect in Sir Richard Branson Leadership style? Richard Branson undoubtedly is a global leader. It is also reflected in its leadership style. Global Leadership means, the person who can reach beyond the boundaries of their own country and continent to influence an end result. In addition to this, it is also the person who just not looking for his profit but also looks for the problems and challenges and successfully solves them. Richard Branson is the person who likes to accept challenges and make his all best affords to reach success. He believes in people and thats he behaves like family members with his employs. He encourages his employees to challenge changes and bring up with new ideas to him. This is the reason why Sir Richard Branson brands is the worlds most powerful and recognizable brand. He himself promotes his brand which no other leaders can do in world. (Sir Richard Branson | Global Zero, 2017) 2.2 Evaluation of Richard Branson Track Record Richard Branson, A successful business man, the founder and Chairman of Virgin Group was born on 18 July 1950 in UK. Like all other flourishing business tycoons, he was also a school dropout. In 1970, he started his record business in UK and very soon his business become success under the name of Virgin. (Richard Branson Biography Childhood, Life Achievements Timeline, 2017.) Later, in 1980 the Voyager Group was established as his own travel company. It is not that he had never face any problems, in the beginning of 1990s he faces financial problems and has to sell his one of the company. He had never given up in his life and thats the reason he won 400 companies in 30 countries at present. One of the famous quotes of Richard Branson is if somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but is not sure you can do it, say yes then learn how to do it later. This quote show that he always think about new business and he jump in to it and at later he succeed in that. Due to this we can see lots of diversification in his business, means there is not just music industries in which he operates his business but also have train company, a mobile company, a luxury game preserve and airline company and a space tourism company to name a few. (Michelle L.V, 2014.) 2.3 Richard Bransons Strength as a New Venture Team Lets discuss the strength of Sir Richard Branson leadership. He believes in people, who work for him, he thinks that hire best employees who have excellent ideas and then trust them and let them do their job on their own. Sir Richard Branson finds a right candidate for the particular position, who is better than him for the job, due to which his all business are achieving success. The next is Sir Richard Branson thinks that failure is a learning lesson. For that he gives an example of his own business of virgin cola and that was successfully operated but also attracts some giant revivals due to his business gone down and he has to think again about the new strategies. (Business Lessons From Mega-Entrepreneur Richard Branson, Kinney B.2013) Sir Richard Branson always follows his strength whenever he start new venture with his team. He says, challenge the status quot, by which he means that thinks like a consumers, and add values to the product. Next create value of the product in globe, means that consumers satisfaction should be in the core value of the any product. In addition to this, he believes that be confident and concrete about your business and self motivation is the main thing for any business. He says Dream Big and do big then any other in the world. The first year of any business is all about survival and dont just invest money, invest more than that. (How Richard Branson Works Magic, Glenn Rifkin, 1998) 2.4 Leadership Theory Leadership is a process which is running by people with common goal and values, several kinds of capital like economic and political, to achieve a common interest. (Leadership: Theory and practice p.425) Leadership motivates other people to achieve common goal. That means the leader and other followers have mutual purpose. So it means that followers have fate in leader and vice versa, due to this they achieve a desire goal (Rost, 1991). 2.5 Leadership Style of Richard Branson Ability to think Differently Once in an interview with the Telegraph Sir Richard Branson said that Leadership doesnt have a secret formula; leaders go about things in their own way It is his leadership skill to think in a different way which makes him different from others. Richard Branson compares his collaborative and democratic leadership style to the late co-founder Steve jobs, was famous for his autocratic style. Both successful people have great achievement and come up with their own viewpoints, beliefs and approach. It is not important that which leadership skills are the best but its all about accepting the method which suits to the organization to utilize available resources. A Positive company culture He believes personality comes first then CV. The companys employees are always looking for a leader who makes fun passes that enthusiasm onto other members of the company. An eye for talent It is important to get as much as possible from the ability of the employees, Sir Branson believes in it. Also he said Believe in yourself, your method of work, and your ideas and in your employees It would not be possible to be a great leader without leading great people. He believed that people not only who have necessary experience and talent but also should fit for the business. (9 leadership skills from Sir Richard Branson | Robert Half UK, Jammi Freed, 2015.) Attention to detail Sir Richard Branson believes that successful and efficient leaders give more concentration in deep. In the Daily Telegraph he said that it can be made possible to get good fun with minor problem comparatively if this engages in dealing with customers issues personally and going to visit them surprisingly. Passion for job At last, the business leaders need to be aware about what they are doing to make effective planning, to build a team and inspiring the employees. He said that the people can get the best results. (Four leadership lessons from Virgin Groups Sir Richard Branson, Jammi Freed 2015.) Willingness to listen and learn According to Richard Branson, it is very important for the business leaders that they are quite capable to listen and learn from that and also he advised to note down those ideas to get best results. He said that the successes will happen when you are working and learn from the inspired person. 2.6 Background of Virgin Galactic Company Virgin Galactic is a profit-making space line service. It has several carrier craft which is Space-Ship Two, White-Knight Two, and an orbital launch vehicle for small satellites which is Launcher One. The Company was established in 2004 and a sister company of Virgin Group Ltd. Virgin Galactic and its partner companies: Virgin Galactic also have collaboration with NASA, they sign a memorandum of understanding in Feb 2007. In January 2015, Virgin Group announced an investment in to OneWeb Satellite constellation. This collaboration is for to provide world internet access service to WorldVu. To Create a New supersonic passenger transport Virgin Collaborate with Boom Technology. For this Virgin Galactic has optioned 10 units. Here we are going to discuss the Richard Branson team members who are working for Virgin Galactic and they are responsible for making this business successful. George Whiteside CEO of Virgin Galactic and the Spaceship Company. He has a long experience in this field and one of the best people for this job in these industries. Prior to this company he is working for NASA where he was designated as a Chief of Staff. He also awarded with the Distinguished Service Medal from NASA. Before that George served as Executive Director of the National Space Society (NSS). Michael p. Moses president of virgin galactic, the commercial human spaceflight program is managed by Mike. He leads his team in all aspects of successful operations including White Knight Two and Spaceship Two Vehicle processing, astronaut training and flight planning also which are connected with space line. He had more than 10 year of experience of working until 2005 as a flight controller in the Shuttle Propulsion and Electrical System Groups. Doug Shane, Chairman of The spaceship company, manage the design, manufacturing and test operations of the Virgin Galatis carrier aircraft through their sister company, The Spaceship Company (TCS). Along with serving as a Director of Flight Operations, for many years he served as Vice President of Business Development. Stephen Attenborough, commercial Director of Virgin Galactic, in 2004 he joined the company as its full time employee to handle the responsibility for commercial foundations and framework for the organization as well as business development, ongoing sales, public relations, partnerships and marketing. On behalf of Virgin Galactic, Stephen always works as speaker at many conferences, at numerous industries and at important events. Jonathan Firth, Executive Vice president of Spaceport and program Development, he joined Virgin Galactic as Project Director and then started to play the role of Director of Operations and projects in 2008 1 and moved to U.S to perform his current role in 2014 as Executive Vice President of Spaceport and Program Development. (Our Team Virgin Galactic, www.virgingalactic.com) Because of all these successful persons Virgin Galactic performing really well, also Richard Branson believes in Employees comes first then clients, if you look after your employees clients come automatically. He knows that happy staff member means the most successful company and product. Creative Opportunity for Virgin Galactic Only 558 people from all around the world have had an experience to travel to Space so Virgin Galactic is going to open the opportunity for the rest of the world because of their passion and good talents. Virgin Galactic have already trust brand name under the Virgin Group from many years so there will be easy for them to attract more customers toward their business and do expansion of it. Virgin Galactic have many businesses under the name like Virgin Hotel, telecommunication, virgin satellite and so on which are linked to the Virgin Galactic like they have come for induction, business meetings, they can request to the customers to go there so ultimately that will expand the virgin business. Virgin Galactic has very strong financial back up and their reputation as a brand. 3. Five Generic Competitive Strategies In this section, we are going to discuss about the Porters five generic competitive strategies of Virgin Galactic. Generic strategy means basic kind of competitive strategy which holds across a number of business situations. Whereas competitive strategy is related with how a strategic business unit obtains competitive advantages in domain of its activities (Porter M. E). FIVE GENERIC COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES 3.1 Low-Cost Provider Strategy: A low cost strategy is that in which a company offers their products to the customers relatively at a low price. This strategy is usually adopted by any corporation, where the product has few or no competitive advantage. Moreover, it attracts the broad range of purchaser. Some companies using this strategy in order to earn low profits but incur high sales volumes. For instance, the Kmart uses the low-price strategy because it provides the goods to customers at low price (Arbuckle D. 2017). This strategy is not using by the Virgin Galactic. 3.2 Focused Low-Cost Strategy: The focused strategy is based on low cost and concentrates on narrow customer segment. It serves the customers in the niche market at a lower cost and lower price than the opponents. Most of the companies using this strategy to enjoy the high degree of buyers loyalty. This strategy is usually suited to the small business where the resources are limited and they only focus on the narrow market segment. In this narrow segment market, the suppliers have the less power of bargaining. For instance, Gap is a good example of it. (Arbuckle D. 2017) This focused strategy is not employing by the Virgin Galactic. 3.3 Best Cost Provider Strategy: The best cost provider strategy aims to provide buyers more value for the money by offering them updated products at a lower price than competitors. Moreover, it gives more emphasis on a minimal quality, service, features and performance of the product to the customers. This strategy works best in the market where the customers diversity make the product different and also sensitive regarding the value and cost of the product. For example, Amazon uses the best cost provider strategy and also uses by Toyota Company. This strategy is also not adopted by Virgin Galactic. 3.4 Broad Differentiation Strategy: The broad differentiation strategy distinguishes the firms product from their competitors with the qualities, which attract their customers with uniqueness of the product. The value added by the product uniqueness allows the firm to charge a premium price for it. This strategy is not suitable for small business but it is more useful for big corporations. For instance, Netflix uses the differentiation strategy. This firm offer to customers greater variety of movies and charge less price than rental stores by conducting its business worldwide over the internet and Starbucks is also using it (Edwards J. 2017). The differentiation strategy is not using by Virgin Galactic. 3.5 Focused Differentiation Strategy: This focused differentiation strategy concentrates on a narrow purchaser section by fulfilling the particular tastes and needs of niche members. It refers to the situation where a corporation selects the strategically differentiate itself from their competitors in a narrow market. This Strategy is using by the companies to promote the product with multifarious features, innovation, brand name and customers service in order to attract more customers towards them. Likewise, Virgin Galactic using this strategy because the target market is narrow and they are trying to serve its services to the niche market. The main focus of Virgin Galactic is to be more innovative and unique in space travelling. (Porter M. E.) The main reason for selecting this strategy is that it provides the better-quality services and good value to their customers in different ways. Virgin Galactic looking to be unique in the niche market along with some changes which are broadly valued by customers. The main emphasis of Virgin Galactic is on the safety of passengers in every aspect and also provides training to passengers about one week prior the flight. Virgin Galactic taking $25000 from public in advance who wants to fly during the first years of flights and wants to turn their dreams into realities. In addition to it, the motive of Virgin Galactic is to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to space tourists. The spaceship2 has double the crew and capacity to carry triple the passengers. However, Virgin Galactic has competitors but he always wants to serve the market first. The focused differentiation strategy has following benefits for Virgin Galactic Premium price for its product: This strategy allows Virgin Galactic to command a premium price for its product. Increased unit sales: A virgin Galactic sale has increase due to this strategy because near about 550 ticket holders in line who wants to fly with it. Brand loyalty: By offering better in flight amenities at a lower cost as compared to many domestic carriers Virgin is creating strong brand loyalty for itself and dollar value for its customers New plans: Therefore, due to strong bonding with customers Virgin Galactic plans to deliver payload low earth orbit of 100 kg to market under US$ 10,000,000 per mission. Research and Development: Virgin Galactic has strong capability in research and development. They use the modern technology for the development of their products. Creates value: Virgin Galactic uses this strategy but their main focuses on the cost value of the product versus other similar products in the market, thus it creates a perceived value among its potential customers (Kelchner L. 2017). BCG MATRIX OF VIRGIN GALACTIC High Price Low Quality High The above figure demonstrates the BCG Matrix of Virgin Galactic. In this matrix, X-axis represents the quality of products and Y-axis reveals the price of the products. Following table is comparing price and quality of different space companies. Virgin Galactic competitors Price Quality XCOR Benson Space company Space-X Virgin Galactic Blue origin Low Low High High Low High High Low 4. SWOT Analysis of Virgin Galactic SWOT: This is type of strategic tool like PESTLE and PORTER which can be used to determine the long term performance of company to make good strategic plan to overcome its weakness and to utilize opportunities in better way. As name of this tool reveals meaning of itself such as S is for strength and so on. S W International Brand Progressing in Research and development Emphasis on Safety parameters Employee Strength Brand Image Strong Planning by using reusable craft Less risky and More trustworthy Skilled workforce High industry growth rate Reasonable Price Costly Failing to protecting RFP for satellite business Overtaking by competitors Time consuming to accomplish their mission Brand portfolio Competitive market Bad craft structure Sustaining brand image Employing new and innovative ways of doing business First to market Growth rate and profitability Technology advancement Expanding global markets Lacking interest of people due to crash Government regulations Accessible to middle class people Lot of investment required O T 4.1 Strength Based on article, it is evident that company is on its success as slowly-2 it is progressing. Some of following are strength of company. International Brand: This Company have reputed image over the whole globe as this is operating different branches at different locations such as New Mexico, USA, Las Cruces. In the beginning they just have only one spaceport which is in Mexico but now they have made 2 or 3 other spaceports to other locations to make it convenient for their customers to enjoy service of them. Virgin Group which is parent company of it which has brand image from last number of years. As Virgin Group has different Product line, it offers variety of services to their customers such as virgin hotels, virgin media, virgin passenger flights under name of virgin Atlantic, virgin money and many more. So their parent company helps them to perpetuate their brand image at global level (essays writers, 2017). Progressing in Research and Development: This Company is going through research and development mode and getting progress. As initially they have made first space ship flight (SS1) which could accommodate only 3 person all together (1 pilot and 2 passenger). Now recently they have made another spaceship flight (SS2) which can accommodate 8 people all together (2 pilots and 6 passengers) (the verge, 2016). Emphasis on Safety Parameters: Safety is the main concern of their organization. They bother equally for the safety of both passenger as well as employees. They give one week training to passenger in advance and give training to employees as well (wixsite, 2017). Employee Strength: As employees are the key part of every business so their security is important concern for an industry which is well done by virgin galactic. Due to this employees are interested to work with this group. As without employees there is no business, so virgin galactic is lucky to have good employees (advisor gate, 2016). Brand Image: As Virgin Group is offering good and wide variety of services to their users so it has already branded and reputed image in market and people are used to their services and can rely on them (essays writers, 2017). Strong planning for saving money by using reusable craft: They have good strategic planning to build strong and compatible passenger craft which can be reused again to send them in space which can help them to save money that they can used to improve their services better. Less risky and Trustworthy: As it is already mentioned that safety is main concern of their company so less risk is involved. Their services are so trustworthy thats why notable celebrities (Angelina Jolie, Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks and Prince Zulf Ali) have already booked with them to travel in space (review essays, 2017). Skilled workforce: As this industry requires more creativity which cannot be possible without the help of employees so it means that employees should be equipped with good skills and it has employed skilled person in their company which further helps them in gaining success (swotanalysis24, 2017). High Industry Growth Rate: This Company is growing at very fast pace as recently its growth rate jumps from 27% to 47% (advisor gate, 2016). Reasonable Prices: The Company should charge reasonable prices for their services over their competitors. Because this is the good way to attract more passenger and to maintain their interest. 4.2 Weaknesses Apart from having good points, this company has some negative points which hinder them from achieving success. Some of them are given below: Costly: No doubt this company is offering good services to their users but services are very costly as compare to its competitor. As XCOR Aerospace which is in great competition to it is offering high quality services at low price. As Virgin Galactic is taking $250,000 per person whereas XCOR is taking $95000 per person (advisor gate, 2017). Failing to protecting RFP for satellite business:- one of the weak point of their company is that they are not good at planning and do not have strong vision as recently they were fail to set up RFP for Satellite Business. They planned in 2010 to initiate this proposal but till 2012, they were not able materialize the flights. Overtaking by competitors: As it is already mentioned, their competitors are stronger than them as their competitors are working in this industry from long time so they more knowledge and experience than them. For Example, SPACEX which is another Competitor of Virgin Galactic who was first to start to create reusable craft before Virgin Galactic. So in this matter, that company overtook Virgin Galactic (quartz, 2017). Time consuming to accomplish their mission: Although their industry growth is at high pace but still they are taking lot of time to provide services to their customers. For example, till now they have just made 2 spaceships named SS1 and SS2. So their processing time period is very long (geocities, 2016). Brand Portfolio: As it is already mentioned they have good brand image due to offering of wide variety of services. But this is not proved fruitful to them because this has made them less capable to focus on any particular service by which they are losing control on improving their services rather making these worse (swotanalysis24, 2017). Competitive market: As Space industry is highly risky and competitive so to compete with their competitors, they should have strong vision and long term strategies to hit them. But this is the negative point of Virgin Galactic; they are not competing well to their competitors. Bad Craft Structure: Although they are trying to provide better, improved and reliable services to their passenger but still they suffering from some problems. For example, the recent crash which was due to catastrophic failure happened because of poor structure of craft (advisor gate, 2016). 4.3 Opportunities Apart from considering strength and weakness of internal environment of company, company can grab opportunities of external environment to improve their performance. Following are list of areas where they can improve: Sustaining Brand Image: This Company can perpetuate brand image of their parent company by maintaining good competition with their competitors because this is the main area where they are lacking. So they should focus on this (cayenne, 2016). Employing New and Innovative Ways of doing Business: Although this company is on path of success but still they are slow in Research department. So till now they have just made 2 spaceships. So this is good opportunity for them to improve their performance by bringing more innovative ways of operating business (wixsite, 2017). First to market: As this company was first in market as comparison to its competitor. So it is great opportunity for them to make good reputation in market to attract customers. Growth Rate and Profitability: Although they are growing well with accordance to time, but they can utilize their opportunities to improve more as they can expand their product line. For example, apart from providing space sub orbital, small satellites and orbital human space flight, they can offer more services to their users to increase their growth level (swotanalysis24, 2017). Technology Advancement: As modern era is totally based on technology and this company is lacking in technology so they should new techniques in industry to make it more competitive (swotanalysis24, 2017). Expanding Global Markets: No Doubt, they started to operate at an international level and they should continue with this because this is an effective opportunity for them to maintain their image. On the other hand, they can also expand business through advertising in schools, universities which can enhance knowledge of students as well about orbit (advisorgate, 2016). 4.4 Threats In addition to grabbing opportunities of external environment, there can be some threats in every organization which can hinders them to get progress. Some of these are given below which can create problem for virgin galactic. So they should know these things in advance. Lacking interest of people due to crash:- Due to recent happened crash, company is losing interest of people as they are not trusting anymore on them and wanted to take back their money which they deposited while registering with them (the verge, 2017). Government Regulation: As space business requires lots of knowledge of government concerns so virgin galactic should be aware of these concerns to avoid any types of governmental issues (advisor gate, 2016). Accessible to upper class people: one threat to company performance is that this is only accessible to upper class people who mean middle class and any other category people cannot have access to this (guardian, 2013). Lot of Investment Required: As this business requires availability of great amount of funds which is not possible without strong market position and they should be financially sound. And what is happening in virgin galactic as they are using revenues earned from other product lines and if they will not earn anything from other product lines then i

Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay

Ishmael Bernal’s films have received countless acknowledgements throughout the years because of his unique style of â€Å"working out patterns of symbolic details† (Lumbera 25). And through these patterns, Bernal was able to portray his views on things as an auteur. This paper examines his interpretations of religion and religious activities through his films. But this only includes three of his works: Manila by Night (1980), Himala (1982), and Hinugot sa Langit (1985). These three films’ devotional approaches are analyzed by both their mise-en-scene and fabula. On that note, religion as tackled in this paper only pertains to the Philippine religion of Christianity/Catholicism, since Bernal’s films appear to be only on the Catholic’s view. How did Bernal attack Catholicism? Why did he represent the country’s most widespread religion in that manner? What are the implications of his works on the era during such films were distributed? How do these films affect the contemporary time? And what do these films impose on the society and on the religion majority of it believes in? Hence, this paper has these films examined through the eyes of a spectator, and relates that analogy to Bernal’s own philosophies as an auteur. Religion in Mise-En-Scene and Iconographies Through the apparatus theory, Bernal’s religious interpretations in his works can be examined. Ponsford’s Film Theory and Language from media. edusites. co. uk says apparatus theory suggests that film is created to illustrate different ideas and that everything has meaning even starting from the camerawork up to the editing. Manila by Night is a drama film made by Bernal in 1980. It is a multiple-charactered film where the characters’ existences in the city were unveiled as they live by the ruthlessness of drugs, poverty, adultery, and lust. In Manila by Night, Bernal constantly used iconographies and effigies of divine entities in several sex scenes through elaborate camerawork and editing. An example is a scene where a couple (Adelina, played by Moreno and Pebrero, played by Ojeda) who routinely cheated on each other made love while religious icons peered over them (Santos 21). There is another sex scene where instead of figures, Bernal focused a shot on a chaplet necklace worn by the indolent college guy (Alex, played by Martinez) for a few seconds just before he had premarital sex with his girlfriend (Vanessa, played by Alajar). Bernal not only used these icons in sex scenes. In one scene where the neurotic mother of Alex, Virgie (Solis), trashed their home when she found out he was doing drugs, multiple shots of religious statues were shown simultaneously with the scene of flying plates and broken furniture in the screen. Hinugot sa Langit also has a remarkable mise-en-scene in terms of religious interpretations. It is a film about infidelity, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion. In the scene where Carmen (Soriano) was rushed to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide, the disparity between the two conflicting characters of Aling Juling (Solis) and Stella (Austria) was clearly depicted. Aling Juling, being the sanctimonious that she was, gave the feeble Carmen her Holy Bible, hoping that it helps Carmen as it did to her. Seconds after Aling Juling left the room, Stella put a bag of apples on top of the bible as she jokingly referred to it as â€Å"holy mansanas (apples)† which may be interpreted as the apple Eve took from the treacherous snake in the Garden of Eden. The style Bernal had in Manila by Night was still used in Hinugot sa Langit. There was the scene of Mang David’s (Ventura) child’s wake where an image of Christ hung over Carmen and Mang David’s backs as they talked about the latter’s debts from Aling Juling. There’s still that style but other sightings of the religious icons and statues were not shown in that ambiguous manner anymore; instead they were shown conspicuously to prove a point like every time Aling Juling conducted prayer meetings and worship time. The irony in showing religious images and sinful acts simultaneously is an apparent symbolism of the societal hypocrisy towards faith and Christianity. Morality Issues on Manila by Night, Himala, and Hinugot sa Langit These three films are all packed with morality issues and what are morality issues if there is no religion? Morality, I believe, is bound by the norms and rules of whatever religion an individual believes in. Therefore, people do what for them is â€Å"right† because the religion they keep their faith in tells them to do so. Himala is a story of a girl named Elsa (Aunor) who claims to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary on the top of the very hill where she was found by her non-biological mother years ago when she was still a baby. Since then Elsa started to â€Å"heal† people through the use of the power that was allegedly bestowed upon her by the Virgin Mary. She was situated in a small town called Cupang where the soil was always dry because of a â€Å"curse† from long time ago. Since then people came flocking to Elsa’s house to seek treatment from her miracles. She had her own followers and a bunch of detractors. In the end, when she faced piles of troubles—from not being able to â€Å"heal† anymore to being raped along with her best friend who later on committed suicide—she came clean and announced that there is no miracle, that it is the people who create their own miracles. She was shot dead at that same moment. The morality issues in this film is particularly apparent during the time when documentarist Orly (Manikan) battles with himself whether to have Elsa and Chayong’s (Centeno) rape video shown to the public. In the end he seeks help from the priest, which only made it clear that his decisions still depended largely on the â€Å"Catholic opinion† even though he was a self-proclaimed atheist right from the start. Manila by Night touches more morality issues than Himala. Since it is a film using a multiple-character format, the struggles each persona faces vary. There was a cheating guy (Pebrero), a liar prostitute (Adelina), a hypocritical ex-prostitute (Virgie), a happy-go-lucky gay (Manay Sharon), a dope-pusher lesbian (Kano), a blind whore (Bea), a college dropout (Alex), and his girlfriend (Vanessa). Their characters differ from each other but what’s uncanny about it was that their lives intertwine one way or another. Set in the city during a time when people’s freedom was being suppressed, these characters faced the question of what to do in times like that. Whether they hold on to their principles and strive to live for the good or just continue their dishonest lives to be able to endure everything and coexist. In a country where Catholicism is dominant, what Bernal showed in Manila by Night questions the values the religion upholds for its followers. The ending of the film where after all the mayhem that happened in the city during the past night seemed to be forgotten and the characters are portrayed as monotonous citizens living their routinely-charged lives is a strong point for proving how people trapped in the confusion of what’s good or evil can act as two-faced individuals who eventually become victims of the system. Hinugot sa Langit, on the other hand, tackles a more brazen topic that’s related to religion: abortion. When Carmen found out she was having Jerry’s (Tantay) child, she was faced with only two options: one is to keep it and the other is to abort. The problem the film earlier gave was that Jerry was already married with someone else and he made it clear right from the start that he didn’t want anything to do with the child Carmen was carrying. This, on top of the incessant urging of her straightforward cousin Stella, pushed Carmen to the edge of option number two. But her landlady, Aling Juling, insisted otherwise—saying abortion is a sin to God. As Carmen’s pregnancy became relatively closer to three months (which is the point when a mere embryo becomes human according to the abortionist) she began thinking about the issue of whether abortion is already an act of killing or not. But eventually, she chose to have abortion. Near the end of the film where she pounded on Mang David for stabbing Aling Juling to death, Bernal used a brilliant camera shift from Mang David’s staring face to Carmen’s while she was yelling, â€Å"Wala kang karapatang pumatay ng tao! You have no right to murder anyone! ),† as if giving the former a reason to say that she did not have any right to kill her child either. As Oggs Cruz put it in his blog, â€Å"Hinugot sa Langit may be branded as preachy and anti-abortion but in reality, the film has side stories that suggest a more pressing issue: societal hypocrisy. † This is not only apparent in the abortion issue but also in Aling Juling’s actions. It’s just that, as Cruz again puts it, â€Å"abortion is the most telling of issues. The Philippines being a prominently Catholic nation declares abortion as criminally and morally wrong yet funnily, the practice is unwrittenly accepted among women who are time-pressed with a decision. † Elsa and Aling Juling While Manila by Night’s interpretations of religion banks largely on its mise-en-scene, what Bernal created in Himala and Hinugot sa Langit were characters who seemed to embody the â€Å"divine† and through them, Bernal showed how false devotions and idolatry can be misleading. Elsa’s alleged involvement with the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary made her just as acred as the holy mother of Christ in the people’s eyes. She became, in an obvious way, the people’s source of blind faith that led them to their own pits of darkness as shown in the last part of the film where healthy and sick people alike experienced a stampede that caused them physical pain. This false faith is also ostensible in Aling Juling’s character in Hinugot sa Langit. Even from the start of the film, her character already proved to be a hypocrite. She dressed conservatively, regularly attended prayer and worship meetings, firmly discouraged Carmen to do an abortion, and constantly spoke about the Divine. But she also wanted to have the informal settlers removed from her land at any cost just to be able to build a chapel, claiming it is for the greater good. Aling Juling proved to be the perfect devotee, but failed to act as a true child of God for the other people; and there lies the biggest fallacy built in her persona. There was also one scene where Carmen and Aling Juling went into a brief screaming match about how should the former handle her problems. In the one line of Carmen saying, â€Å"Ano pa bang gusto Niya (pertaining to God), ano pa bang gusto mo?! What else does He want, what else do you want?! ),† the character of Aling Juling seemed to be a symbolism of the â€Å"god† Carmen had come to believe in. Instead of the all-powerful, all-knowing One, because of her problems, Carmen landed on believing Aling Juling’s preaching as that of God’s. Elsa and Aling Juling both died at the end, and both by being brutally attacked. What I see in this phenomenon is the attempt to â€Å"kill off† the wrong and misrepresentative beliefs brought about by these two characters, and probably the only way Bernal suggests to do that is through a vicious, one-time manner. Bernal as Auteur This paper is not about Bernal but about the works of Bernal. But since he is an auteur, understanding his background is essential in understanding the concepts behind his works. The auteur theory proposes that the director is the author of the film and that the director is the primary creative source, therefore the films produced express the director’s distinctive vision of the world (Pramaggiore and Wallis 398). Therefore, his politics mirror his representation of religion, thus making his films a reflection of his own beliefs. According to Bayani Santos’ Bernal as Auteur, Ishmael appreciated the values of Gregorio Aglipay and Catholicism. He also admired the disciplines of Iglesia Ni Cristo but criticized it for its exploitation of religion in politics. It was also said that he â€Å"respected Catholicism as faith, but always qualified it with a historical reminder of its political and economic crimes against the nation† (Santos 19). It was also said in the same article that Bernal’s view of shallow Catholicism among Filipinos as facts of Philippine life was not just mocking jibes against superficial religiosity but rather â€Å"accurate descriptions, as synecdochical of Philippine reality† and having the satirical impact arrive after a realization by the audience that, indeed, the descriptions are ‘us’ (21). Bayani continued on to saying that Bernal’s politics are â€Å"deeply buried in many of his works† (31). His politics involve not only his aforementioned views on Philippine religion but also his involvement in communism. This notion is perceivable in the three films being analyzed by this paper. In Manila by Night, Bernal took jibes on Martial Law more than anything. In Hinugot sa Langit, he â€Å"showed the desperate situation of the poor in a script that scrupulously avoided overt political commentary† (31). In Himala he managed to speculate a Marxist view of religion as an opiate when Elsa’s death became a dismaying reversion to mass hysteria and fanaticism (31). Bernal’s Films then and now These three films were produced during the second golden age of the Philippine cinema, during the years that mark off the end of the Marcos Martial Law regime. Bernal’s films were acclaimed during those times because both the films and timing were apt to belong to the cinema that recognizes the struggle as the most gigantic cultural, scientific, and artistic manifestation our time, the third cinema (Solanas and Gettino 47). This is what makes Bernal’s films timeless. The impact these films made during those times were huge. Bernal revealed how the Marcos regime exploited the Filipinos. This is overtly seen in Manila by Night, where his depiction of the supposed city to signify the â€Å"New Society† is the exact opposite of it. The term â€Å"New Society† claimed that the dictatorship had eradicated corruption and transformed Philippine society (Lumbera 359). This same â€Å"New Society† was also exploited, although for good reasons, by Bernal in his film Himala. According to Lumbera, Himala criticized the manipulative religiosity of this society which â€Å"drew the people’s attention away from the realities of poverty, violence, and moral decay† (359). This, however, is still manifested in the present time. There is this one scene in Himala that is applicable to both the past and present times. When people started coming to Cupang for Elsa and Elsa’s â€Å"apostles† used the water Elsa blessed for profit, it was a hypocritical move on the side of Elsa and her followers to lure people into giving them money when all they were meant to do in the first place was to offer treatment for everyone who asked for it. The past screams about the pretentious â€Å"New Society† and the present stages the scene in real life whenever such religious items or services that are supposed to help them are still sold for amounts to the people. (e. . : a priest’s service fees, blessed rosaries, mass guides) Another thing that might have helped in the success of Himala is the fact that superstar Nora Aunor played the lead role. In the Noranian Imaginary, it is said that Himala is as much about the popular hysteria mediated by the idol Nora Aunor as it is about the mass hysteria endemic to Catholicism as held by many (Tadiar). People saw Elsa in Nora and Nora in Elsaâ⠂¬â€the same poor, unfortunate protagonist who strive against all odds to defend herself and achieve goals. In these times, Nora may not be that same girl many Filipinos used to idolized, but the imprint she left on Elsa’s character is so known to almost every Filipino as â€Å"that† girl who everyone admired. Elsa’s death at the end of the film may be read as liberation from such faith, since she made confessions about the inexistence of miracles prior to his death. But the people’s continuous idolatry in her after she passed away seems to be a symbol of the people of today—those who still continue hang on to false hope and devotion even after such devotion proves to be wrong. As Patrick Flores puts it in Himala: Fall of Grace, â€Å"Himala is against the miracle and it is against the cinema. † Hinugot sa Langit, lastly, also speaks of a timeless issue in Catholicism: abortion. The values the film imbibes a great impact on the beliefs of the majority of the Filipino citizen. The question of whether abortion is or is not an act of murder is still being debated upon until today. Bernal’s films speak of ageless and timely issues concerning the Filipino people and that’s what makes his films succeed not only in the era during which it was manufactured, but also in the present time.