Humanities Today Paper Essay

Introduction Humanities is the academic discipline that study human culture , incorporating methods that are critical, analytical and hypothetical that also have important historic components, acclaimed from the approaches from natural science. Humanities consist of philosophy, performing arts, modern and ancient languages, literature, religion and visual. Social sciences such as history, anthropology, area studies, communications studies, cultural studies, linguistics and law are also viewed as segments of humanities. In this meaning the key point for identifying humanities from other modes of individual query is the point that humanities depends on traditional and significant presentation rather than concept and reasoning. Humanities consult about the human’s presentation of his or her environment. The queries come from the common inhabitants or an individuals own concept of the reaction to traditional events and the way that it is indicated by way of art, technology, politics, literature music, structure, and religious beliefs. Other modes of individual query are centered off of confirmed information and scientific concepts. Music Music has changed drastically since the 90’s . Walkman’s and tape players were what were used to listen to music and today technology has change and enables you to listen and access music from the internet such as Pandora, ITunes and you tube, and cell phones such as smart phones and IPod’s. Music has an influence on politics and political movements. Songs such as the national Anthem, patriotic songs and political campaign jingles are all apart of music with in politics these songs are called topical songs (Goodman, 2013). A powerful connection between the art and politics, particularly between various types of art and power, occurs across traditional epochs and societies. As they reply to coexisting events and state politics, art takes on governmental as well as public measurements, becoming themselves a target of debate and even a power of governmental as well as social transformations. Art A great number of colleges offer classes such as computer science, engineering, electronic music and digital art. These classes enable an individual to create and design is through technology. In regards to components, architecture has to do with the preparing, developing and building form, room and atmosphere that indicate efficient, specialized, social, ecological, and visual concerns (Thagard, 2013). It requires the artistic adjustment and synchronization of material, engineering, light and darkness. Architecture involves the realistic aspects of recognizing components, such as arranging, cost effectiveness and development management as certification produced by designers, sketches, plans and specialized requirements, framework and actions of a building or any other kind of system that is to be or has been constructed. Philosophy Philosophy and politics are generally linked together. As both talk about the query of what is excellent and how individuals should remain. From olden days, and well beyond them, the origins of justified reason for governmental power were certainly linked with outlooks on individual instinct (Thagard 2008). In The Republic, Plato provided the discussion that the perfect community would be run by authorities of philosopher-kings, since those best at viewpoint are best able to recognize the excellent. John Dewey, Martin Heidegger, Herbert Marcuse, and Gunther Arendt are outstanding philosophers from the 20th century that seen technology as a pathway to the modern life. One of the attributes the people liked about our new president is that he would end wars. Today he is out in a position to where he is going to have to start a war or end one. According to Shapiro his philosophy is â€Å"Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable,† he said in 2009, while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway (Shapiro, 2013). Conclusion Implied in many of these justifications supporting the humanities are the components of arguments against community assistance of humanities. John Carroll claims that we reside in a changing world, a world in which â€Å"cultural capital† is being changed with â€Å"scientific literacy† and in which the loving idea of an early humanities student is outdated ( Thagard 2013).

Pericles Funeral Speech and Jefferson Declaration of Independence Essay

September 11, 2001, two planes crash into the World Trade Center, people diving out windows to their deaths, a plane crashes into the Pentagon, hijackers overtaken by passengers and crash the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. December 2003, mass graves uncovered in Iraq, compliments of Saddam Husayn. May, 2004, a web page shows terrorists cutting off the head of Nick Berg. August 2004, over 350 children are executed by terrorists in a school in Russia. Democracy is being threatened by enigmatic zealots all over the world. The United States have fought for Democracy as far back as the Revolutionary War, and both World Wars. Once again our military is being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice in the attack on democracy against these zealots. Fighting for democracy has been the cause of wars since the days of Pericles. Pericles states that â€Å"Our constitution does not seek to copy the laws of our neighbors; we are an example to others, not imitators of them†. During his time there was usually one ruler that had the power over life and death, the mass of people did not matter. In Athens this was far from the case. Athens created its own government, one that was for the people, and benefited the people. Pericles said with conviction, â€Å"As far as public life is concerned, we live as free men†. The people of Athens had a government that supported them; they were all equal in the eyes of the government. The city of Athens stood by itself; it needed no others to help it. She left her gates open to all and did not concern herself with excluding foreigners. Her military stood alone. Athens never advanced into another territory with Allies; she did it alone. He also marvels in the fact that Athens does not live for the fear of war. He states that they live free, but are always ready if in danger. He even goes so far to say that his enemies are happy with a victory over a small part of the army. Pericles praises Athens for her form of government – democracy – because it is only in a democracy that citizens are encouraged to contribute and participate in self-rule. Democracy brings equality, merit brings public success, social and economic mobility is encouraged, and the law protects all: â€Å"We alone consider the man who refuses to take part in city affairs useless,† Pericles announces. And he gets in a  dig at Sparta by proudly proclaiming that â€Å"rather than look upon discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it is an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.† Pericles encourages his audience â€Å"to realize the greatness of Athens† and enjoy everything the city has to offer: â€Å"Further, we provide many ways to refresh the mind from the burdens of business. We hold contests and offer sacrifices all the year round, and the elegance of our private establishments forms a daily source of pleasure and helps to drive away sorrow. The magnitude of our city draws the produce of the world into our harbor, so that to the Athenian the fruits of other countries are as familiar a luxury as those of his own.† What Pericles talks about in his speech is almost dimmed in importance by how he delivers the message. It is Pericles’ rhetoric that makes this speech famous and the model for so many others in the course of history. Throughout his speech, Pericles holds up glory as the incentive for men to rush to battle for their freedom: Athens is a glorious city because of the sacrifices of previous generations of men, and this generation, too, must shoulder its burden. And while fighting for your country can help bring about a victory, it also has the benefit of bringing you personal glory, something Pericles believes can be gained in no other way than by dying for your country: â€Å"Realize for yourself the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her day after day, till you become her devoted lover. Then, when all her greatness breaks upon you, reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty and a keen feeling of honor in action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their valor, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution they could offer. By this mutual offering of their lives made by them all, they each of them individually received that renown which never grows old. For a sepulcher they have won not so much that tomb in which their bones are here deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or story shall fall for its commemoration. For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb.† Pericles’ speech is certainly persuasive. Its passion is based in reality. It is a powerful to see a nation mourn its war dead. In the end Pericles  accomplishes his goal to inspire a city in mass mourning for its lost warriors. Woodrow Wilson was faced with a call to arms when in 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world â€Å"safe for democracy.† Pericles, in his funeral oration, talks of valor as being very honorable. He comments that â€Å"Choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting† is a bold and courageous act and it deserves praise and glory. He says the soldiers â€Å"fled only from dishonor, but met danger face to face†. Abraham Lincoln was faced with a similar task. The Gettysburg Address was delivered on November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, during dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Lincoln’s speech is more humble than Pericles, but just as passionate. He is careful in not mentioning either side of the war; he only speaks of the nation as a whole. â€Å"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether the nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as the final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live.† Lincoln pays tribute to not only the Union army, but the Confederate as well, by saying â€Å"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.† There are obvious parallels between Pericles’ and Lincoln’s speeches. They both set out to accomplish the same thing just in different ways. Another famous writer and scholar with a similar view of Athenian society, Sophocles, chose to voice his opinion through playwright. Specifically in his two great tragedies Oedipus the King and Antigone. Pericles and Sophocles, although coming from different ends of the spectrum (the aforementioned oratory or rhetoric and the latter fictional), both consider the individual and the state in their works and come to similar conclusions with some exceptions. Pericles expresses his views in his â€Å"Funeral Oration†,  where he boasts of the great qualities of Athens, its citizens and soldiers. Sophocles injects his thoughts and ideas into his two masterpieces, Oedipus the King and Antigone. In the following paper, I will compare the men’s ideas and views on the subject of the individual and the state. In particular, their thoughts on the importance of military excellence, honor, courage, and views on women. Both men considered loyalty in battle and involvement in public matters very important. According to Pericles, military achievements and honor make up for anything wrong one does as a citizen (for example, refusing to take part in city affairs). The Greeks obviously looked upon excellence in the military very highly. of all our neighbors, we alone consider the man who refuses to take part in city affairs as useless†¦.For there is justice in the claim that steadfastness in his nation’s battles provides a cloak to cover a man’s other imperfections; the good action blots out the bad, and his merit as a citizen more than outweighs his faults as an individual (Pericles 58-59, 60). Sophocles expresses similar views on the matter in his play Antigo ne, Creon talks of loyalty to the state as having utter importance: As I see it, whoever assumes the task, the awesome task of setting the city’s course, and refuses to adopt the soundest policies but fearing someone, keeps his lips locked tight, he’s utterly worthless†¦.But whoever proves his loyalty to the state – I’ll prize that man in death as well as life (Antigone 48-49). Creon backs up his words with actions. He goes on to talk of Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of Oedipus: Eteocles will be given a proper burial, since he went down fighting for Thebes, being loyal to his city; Polynices, on the other hand, committed treason and went against everything Creon stands for and believes in, therefore â€Å"he must be left unburied, his corpse carrion for the birds and dogs to tear, an obscenity for the citizens to behold! These are my principles. Never at my hands will the traitor be honored above the patriot† (Antigone 49). As examined, patriotism was held very highly by the Greeks, as seen in Pericles’s oration and Sophocles’s plays we again come across an intersection in both statesmen’s ideas, this time on the subject of courage. Pericles, in his funeral oration, talks of valor as being very honorable. He comments that â€Å"Choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting† (Pericles 60) is a bold and co urageous act and it deserves praise and glory. He says the soldiers â€Å"fled only from  dishonor, but met danger face to face† (Pericles 60). Do these characteristics bring anyone we know to mind? The answer is yes, and two people come to mind: Antigone and Oedipus. Sophocles’s heroin (Antigone) is the ultimate example of the subject Pericles discusses. True, Antigone was not a soldier, but she went against her uncle’s beliefs and commands, and did what was right according to the gods. In burying her brother and then announcing her actions to the world, she â€Å"fled only from dishonor, but met danger face to face.† Antigone questioned Creon and proudly stated she was the offender, and did not regret her actions. Oedipus, instead of giving in to fate, battled it for as long as he could until fate finally beat him. Although it seems that Sophocles writings parallel Pericles views on women’s inferiority, certain excerpts provide a basis that Sophocles’ views contradict those presented in the Funeral Oration. Pericles states, â€Å"if I must say anything on the subject of female excellence†¦.Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men whether for good or for bad† (Pericles 61-62). In an excerpt from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, it is seen that Oedipus gives great weight to Jocasta’s opinion. Oedipus compares stories with Jocasta on the death of the king. He listens to Jocasta’s side of the story, not putting her in a subordinate position or looking at her as inferior (Oedipus the King 23). In Summation, Pericles and Sophocles (although coming from different ends of the spectrum) both consider the individual and the state in their works and come to similar conclusions with some exceptions on the different aspects of the relationship. They both praise loyalty, involvement in state affairs, and honorable death. To note, in my research I found more expression of Sophocles’s views which correlate with Pericles’s in Antigone and not so much in Oedipus the King. All three of three of the pieces were written in times when the definition of freedom, independence, democracy were still new and not well defined in their respective societies. But still in each piece the message is similar and very clear. That message is that it is necessary and good for people to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs and the good of their society.

History and Description of a Subordinate Group Member Essay

Throughout the history of North America, there has been one ethnic group who has given up almost everything to the European settlers. Land, home, resources, and dignity were stolen from Native Americans. The long history of the American Indian is being written, even today. Approximately forty thousand years ago, the earliest ancestors of Native Americans migrated across the Bering Strait from Asia on pack ice (Hoerder, 2005). The population rose steadily, and by the time the first substantial settlement of Europeans was established in the New World, Native Americans lived throughout the continent. In the search for more farmland, European immigrants quickly pushed the native population out of their traditional homelands. This migration began the crowding of other native bands, forcing eastern natives to move beyond the Ohio River, thus starting a series of relocations for the Native Americans that continued through the next two centuries. Less than fifty years after the end of the American Revolution, many of the tribes in the northeastern United States sold their land under pressure from the newcomers. Before 1850, these natives migrated west of the Mississippi River. If you traveled to Oklahoma today you would find the same bloodlines that once roamed the New England hills (â€Å"Indians† The Reader’s Companion to American History, 1991). Wanting to live apart from the natives and expecting them to remain controlled, reservations were established, including an Indian Territory (est. 1825) in present-day Oklahoma. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was enacted to populate these newly established areas. President Jackson ordered the forced migration of Native Americans from multiple southeastern tribes. Approximately 4,000 Cherokee Indians perished in 1838-1839 on their 800-mile march, or during their succeeding internment. This tragic event has become known as the â€Å"Trail of Tears†. (American Indian Policy, 2002) Trying to â€Å"Americanize† instead of segregate the Indians, in 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act, which broke up reservations and gave land to individual Indian families. The idea of the Dawes Act was to assimilate Indians by giving them land from which they could profit. What followed were laws, over the next few decades, which dissolved tribal governments and placed Native Americans completely under the jurisdiction of U.  S. laws (American Indian Policy, 2002). The reservation system is one distinctive aspect of the Native American culture that materialized from their relationship with other Americans. The United States has 310 reservations within its borders. The federal government owns 298 reservations and 12 belong to the states in which they are located. A total of 437,431 Indians resided on reservations or trust lands. That is approximately 22 percent of the Native Americans defined by the 1990 census (Shumway & Jackson, 1995). The United States has proven itself unreliable on its policies and treatment of Native Americans. The government teeters between a policy of segregation, under which Indians are treated as a self-sustaining culture, and assimilation policies, which try to integrate Indian and European cultures. The United States acknowledged Indian sovereignty and established treaties with them. Unlike foreign nations, Indians shared the continent with the quickly growing nation who needed resources, and were quick to form treaties, giving Indians land rights and territorial sovereignty but repeatedly found ways to revoke those privileges.

A description of the values of the 1960s and compared to the values of Essay

A description of the values of the 1960s and compared to the values of today - Essay Example To discuss it further, changes with the values of the society has been notably noticed thus, this paper aims to compare the past and present and then evaluating it through a good reflection of it. A good example for this comparative reflection paper is the television shows â€Å"Leave it to Beaver† of 1960s and the â€Å"Family Guy† of today. Both television shows focus on the story of a certain family. However, these two shows do not portray the traditional type of a family but rather the dysfunctional one. â€Å"Leave it to Beaver†, is under the production where in black and white features are visible. It is pretty obvious that this show has been quite old as well. The way characters act was somehow different and so the film style (such as sound effects, camera tricks and so on) that they had. This show represents the society where in simplicity with fun is the main goal. It is a good thing that they made the show as a contrast of what an ideal family really is so that they could get the people’s attention towards their show. Dysfunctional scenes and actions that were seen during the show are not so deeply intense that children would misinterpret it. It was just like simple immature things that Beaver did thus, making its viewers laugh. This shows that during 1960s, the values of the people are very interactive and simple. They are not so liberated about the world. The culture was not yet abuse in terms of too much immorality that people do. On the other hand, â€Å"Family Guy† discusses the values of the society today. Family Guy is a cartoon show that also portrays family dysfunctions. Just like Leave it to Beaver, it also has its main goal that is to get the attention of every family through a clear and fun demonstration of what the society of today really are. It is more liberated and straight forward of the current happenings with regards with the people’s society. Both television shows showed what type of society they have during their

Service Organisation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Service Organisation - Case Study Example Accessibility is a key issue and an importance operations management issue for hotels and this essay will use Holiday Inn Nottingham as a case study to analyse the operational functions of a service organisation. The operational functions of an organisation are those that enable it to undertake its role (Flaherty 1996, Slack et al 1998). In the case of a service organisation, the operational functions would be those that implement the organisation's core service. In the case of Holiday Inn Nottingham, its operational functions will involve those functions that enable customers to book their services, and the people involved in making sure this is carried out appropriately. The operational functions of an organisation are also determined by the three roles as implementers of business strategy, supporters to the business strategy and as the drivers of business strategy (Flaherty 1996, Slack et al 1998). This has several meanings for Holiday Inn Nottingham, because as an implementer of business strategy it will have to ensure that it puts the general Holiday Inn strategy into place. This would include attracting customers to the hotel by managing and promoting the Holiday Inn brand in Nottingha m, through marketing and advertising the organisation. As a support of business strategy, Holiday Inn Nottingham has to develop resources to provide the capabilities which are needed to allow the hotel to achieve its strategic goals (Flaherty 1996, Slack et al 1998). Holiday Inn Nottingham has completed a major refurbishment of its hotel, and part of these refurbishments include modernising accommodation and business facilities, so that the hotel can fulfil its role in implementing the Holiday Inn business strategy. In terms of driving the business strategy, Holiday Inn Nottingham has to ensure that it retains its competitive edge (Flaherty 1996, Slack et al 1998) over other hotels in the city and the recent refurbishment demonstrates how Holiday Inn Nottingham is committed to driving business strategy. The modernisation of the rooms ensures that its customers and potential customers are accommodated in rooms that meet global standards in terms of quality and comfort. For its busine ss customers, Holiday Inn Nottingham also offers free on-site car parking, which immediately puts it at a competitive advantage as a business venue as it represents the best value for its cost. The operational functions of Holiday Inn are also better demonstrated by looking its performance objectives which include the quality advantage, the speed advantage, the dependability advantage, the flexibility advantage and the cost advantage (Harris 1989). In order to understand these advantages and the operational functions of Holiday Inn Nottingham better, a detailed examination will now follow of the organisation. Service Package The service package is the bundle of goods and services that is provided by Holiday Inn Nottingham (Lecture Notes). The most visible part of the service package is the hotel's supporting facility which consists of its guest rooms, facilities for guests and business facilities. The hotel offers three different types of guest rooms to cater for the different guest types; from single and double rooms to executive rooms and suites. Guests will also have access to a health fitness centre and internet connections in their rooms. Business customers also have a variety of room

Eminent Domain (Real Estate Analysis) Research Paper

Eminent Domain (Real Estate Analysis) - Research Paper Example In most cases use of eminent domain by real estate developers results in disputes and court proceedings referred to as condemnation proceedings. Additionally, use of eminent domain by private agents can result in increased corruption since the agents can use the process to enable them pay less for property. In some cases, government official have been involved in corruption whereby they have used eminent domain to acquire private property and later sold it to private developers. The power of eminent domain is restrained by public clause of Fifth Amendment, which requires that the government provide adequate evidence for the acquisition in addition to just compensation before seizing private property for public use (Aycock and Black 53-54). Initially, the eminent domain was used to obtain private properties for public uses such as schools, roads, and parks. However, the eminent domain has been expanded and is often used to include other project meant to benefit the public. Real estate agents are thus able to employ the power of eminent domain when they want to acquire property for purposes such as urban renewal projects. Several real estate agents help in fostering development, which is crucial for economic growth. They are thus empowered by eminent domain to acquire property for commercial development (Aycock and Black 53-55). There are many questions regarding the legitimacy of eminent domain especially when it is used to acquire property for private developers such as real estate agents. Although the government is required to provide evidence that the project is for public benefit, there are question on how some real estate projects benefit the public. Additionally, ways of calculating of the just compensation is questionable. Therefore, it is important that the government exercise eminent domain carefully since it affect the constitutional rights of the property owners (Cook Web). Transfer of property land to real estate agents entails

Managerial Accounting Final Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managerial Accounting Final Report - Essay Example This paper offers managerial accounting report based on an entity’s costing accounting data and recommends improvements to the firm. The scope of management accounting incorporates financial accounting concepts, cost accounting concepts, and statistical concepts to develop an understanding of a business environment towards informed managerial decisions. Cost accounting offers data on costs and facilitates analysis for cost control or cost based decisions (Bhattacharyya 2). The management approach’s ability to use existing data for forecasting and planning identifies its significance to management because it aids strategy developments for market dynamism (Mitra 1-27). Incorporation of statistical tools in the management approach also empowers it to determine informed choices for efficient operations because the techniques allows managements to compare environmental factors in a market and to identify the most suitable applications that can guarantee market control and ef ficient and effective operational processes. The report relies on these aspects to review the firm’s cost and processes (Thukaram 5). ... This paper applies a case study to demonstrate application of managerial accounting concepts in resolving problems. The report is based on SSI case study. The firm is a meat, burger, and chicken processing plant in Idaho, United States. Its executive group has learnt that their leading clients are not satisfied with the firm’s pricing and they are considering contacts with SSI’s competitors, arguing that the firm’s prices are too high. Other clients are however happy with the organization because it offers the cheapest prices in the locality. This controversy in opinion among clients identifies pricing as a problem that should be explored for possible reconciliation with the discontent clients. The problem identifies the need to explore following research questions. What are the recommended cost savings that will help SSI increase its profits? Is the organization pricing its products efficiently? Method The report is based on a case study on SSI firm that offers six distinct products to six different clients. Data was collected from published information on the organization’s accounting and managerial records regarding involved production activities and their costs. The data was then analyzed, objectively, to understand the firms costing and pricing. Results The organization produces six types of meats for retail sales. It operates two sessions per day with each session lasting for eight hours and pays direct labor costs per hour. The operations involve six different set ups per day. Each set up produces each product and clean up and adjustments for each product specification precede each set up. The following table summarizes SSI’s daily schedule for the production and set up processes in their order of production. Table 1: Daily

Migration Indian by Rita Joe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Migration Indian by Rita Joe - Essay Example The poems and the novels authored by Brooks are characterized by conflict between different races, identity controversies, dignity and the search of meaning of various aspects of art and poetry. The Chicago defender helped in the promotion of the black performing and fine art. Additionally, these works of the Black were published and publicized. This included the works of some institutions, which participated in the inventions and innovations in art and aesthetics. The black citizens had the opportunity to showcase their art and visual arts in workshops established for the purpose of promoting art and poetry. Hine asserts that Brooks’s art features the spirit of the Black Chicago city (37). There were many black visual artists. Scott specialized in the painting of landscapes and impressive portraits of items and people. Scott also painted murals, especially the Black murals, which showed the success of the blacks in the past. White was another African-American who specialized in graphic arts. Additionally, Motley used his artistic works to feature jazz music. His artwork was also used in the sensitizing of the blacks of their relevance in society despite the common fallacy that they are primitive. According to Kent, Corton also boosts the Black Chicago Renaissance Movement to a great height given that he showcased the beauty of African women in all his poetic themes (58). Music was another art, which was utilized by the Black to perpetuate the beauty of African women. This made jazz music to be of relevance to Chicago city. The black religious songs were also composed by Thomas Dorsey. Additionally, the urban music was majorly attributed by tambourines, drums and cymbals. Pianos were also employed in the urban music. Inez Cunningham Stark taught Brook many lessons pertaining to music. In fact, Brook earned his living orchestrating and composing her own original works. Her work was inspired by great works of Brahms and Wagner. She also

International Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

International Accounting - Assignment Example In the US, UK GAAPs and others around the world R & D costs have been considered as expenses. According to Gornik and Miguel (2005), the FAS 2 issued in 1974 by the FASB set out that all R & D costs such as costs of material, equipments and facilities together with purchases made on intangibles with no optional future uses, remuneration to the involved workforce, contract services, considerable indirect costs except for general and administration costs to be charged to expenses. The FASB opposed the capitalization of such, as it was before that year, based on factors such as the unpredictability of future benefits from R & D and lack of a clear relationship between what is spent and the gains obtained thereafter. This standard was challenged by the IASB resulting to the formulation of IFRS 3 and IAS 38 in December 2002 and their revision in March 2004. According to these standards all expenses incurred in research work on an internal project will be considered as an expense and any intangible asset arising from it will not be recognized. However those intangible assets arising from development or its phase in an internal project will be recognized if it meets the following criteria. It should be identifiable, the business entity should have control over it, should demonstrate the possibility of bringing in economic benefits and its cost should be measurable reliably. In addition to this, the business entity should demonstrate technical feasibility, clear intention of completion, use and sale of the asset, ability to use and sell the asset, generate probable future benefits and reliably measure the expenditure to be incurred on the asset and finally availability of enough resources required t o complete the development (Linden and Spek n.d.). It is only after meeting these criteria that the internal development expenditure shall be recognized as an asset and only that incurred after

Culture and People Essay Example for Free

Culture and People Essay Does culture have an impact on who we are? Have you ever notice that what is the main difference between people around the world? People eat different foods, wear variant clothes, believe in various things, and have different appearances but the main difference is how people behave and this difference comes from their culture. Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them. Culture means the series of norms and values that the public believe in and behave accordingly. These beliefs comes from parents and goes from one generation to another and influence people’s behavior. Culture has an impact on people’s life because it affects people’s life, their society, and the world. Parents are the first teachers that kids learn lot of things from their fathers and mothers. The environment of a family that a child grow up in is the most important thing that influences her/his behavior because children learn how to live like their parents and parents try to teach their children the culture that their society has. People are influenced by their culture and sometimes more than one culture can be influencing a person, such as Native Tribes living in a modern society. If people from different Countries were raised in the same society then those people would have the same culture and those people would believe in the same things. Traditions help people to show their beliefs, for example Halloween is a holiday that is showing what American people celebrate, it represents as a symbol for American culture. Most people would agree that their own has been important to their shaping and development, enriched their lives and often, led to their life decisions but their culture is the products of human action which is inherited independently of the biological genes. The way that one person think not only affects people around that person but it also affects that Society. The difference between cultures will never end because it is hard to change what people believe In. People may learn lot of things from their friends but when a person wants to make a decision he/she will always compare it with her/his culture. For example personal zone is one of the traditions that most of the American people do. In the personal zone, the conversation gets more direct, and this is a good distance for two people who are talking in earnest about something. Society has always been impacted by technology. Each invention has affected how people relate to one another and how cultures have expanded or ended. Technology impacts how cities grow, where people live, and who owns what. Technologies are the reason a few people are very rich, that people are more social, and that teaching and learning is changing. People in the 21st century are at a crucial time in history where as educators can make a difference in how students interact with one another and make a place in society. People developed a language so they could communicate and invented tools for agriculture, to build homes, and to create weapons for hunting and protection. Over time many people have been influenced by other cultures and that is where different cultures meet each other. So this is the cultural evolution which people affect other cultures and cultures affect people as well. For example when a person moves to another country he/she gets influenced by that country’s culture and also that person can affect her/his society too. People’s culture influences their belief system which affects the way that people see the world . Although culture is integrated with sociology, anthropology, psychology, religions , and other aspects however this paper focuses on people’s behavior, globalism, and the cultural evolution. Culture makes societies unique, making it an essential element in influencing people’s everyday lives. It is also important to be able to recognize and respect other cultures, and not believe ones own culture is more valuable or superior than the rest. Hope that one day there would be peace all around the world and all people would speak the same language.

Using Social Media to Improve Food Safety

Using Social Media to Improve Food Safety Catalin Aricescu Abstract The Food and Drug Administration is an organization mandated to oversee the food and drug safety within the United States. On the other hand, information technology is growing fast and the agency needs to implement better means of communication especially with its participants from consumers to food sources. This study is a pilot research utilizing online survey to comprehend the feasibility of social media use for the improvement of the American food safety system. The results of the study show that more research is necessary as the social media users are mainly young and educated adults and they play an imperative role in the quick dissemination of preventive information, as well as food recall notices, in a manner that is likely to be heard or read widely. Therefore, it would be essential for the American Food and Drug Administration to incorporate social media into its main strategy. Introduction This pilot study was conducted to find out whether the food regulatory agencies such as the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration should consider using social media as a means of improving the food safety system. According to Lang, Barling, Caraher, (2011) the utilization of social networking in organizations is emerging. On the other hand, Seo, Almanza, Miao, Behnke, (2015) affirm that the strategic use of social media in public firms is yet to be studied in great depth. According to Lang, Barling, Caraher, (2011), the exchange of food information and knowledge on food hazard is a form of vulnerability communication in food and safety procedures. Having considered the major characteristics of a food safety system, this pilot study aimed at proofing those effective and efficient food safety procedures are through the adoption of social media use by various regulatory bodies. The agenda may be attained by bringing together organizations and individuals representing various backgrounds. Background Public Policy and Food Safety According to the Consumers Union (2013), the Food and Drug Administration is an institution that is supposed to be a consumers watchdog. However, the agency has fallen short of its mandate. In the U.S., companies that supply processed foods often do not have the capacity to guarantee ingredient safety. Labs (2013) sustains that most of the American corporations do not even know the people or companies that supply their ingredients. Additionally, they do not know whether those suppliers ingredients are screened for microbes or other potentially harmful microorganisms. Recently, the main public policy strategic focus on food safety has been control. One of the strategies used to achieve control is through food recalls. Mayer and Harris (2012) say that food recalls often occur due to quality, physical or biological contamination. The Department of Agriculture, the FDA manufacturer, or the distributor can initiate a recall (Labs, 2013). For food recalls to occur fast, there should be a proper and effective means of message dissemination. Rapid information dissemination makes it easier to trace the data to know whether those affected have obtained the information on the withdrawal. On the other hand, Seo, Almanza, Miao, Behnke, 2015 state the Food Safety Modernization Act is trying to change food safety management from reaction to prevention. Lang, Barling, and Caraher (2011) also state that more groups are involved in the nations food safety program. For instance, the United States Food Safety Working Group implemented innovative strategies for the American food safety system. The FSWG is a group that is focused on the modernization of the food safety system especially through partnerships with regulatory agencies, the food industry, and consumers. The FSWG suggested a better route to freedom from fear of food safety to safe food through improved food systems. Consequently, the FSWG is based on three principles that are strengthening surveillance, prioritizing prevention and improvement of response and recovery. Using social media for food safety According to Mayer (2013), proper food recalling forms of communications are still in the infancy stage. Collier (2011) maintains that both subjective norms and attitudes have an impact on consumers and their intent to act in accordance with a food recall. Attitudes have a greater impact on the peoples ability to comply. Subjective norms and attitudes can be found on social networks. Consequently, social networks are imperative, according to Deasy (2012), and the role of social media is imperative in public policy. Mayer (2013) also suggests that regulatory bodies should emphasize the need to use social media. The use of social media is essential as it involves bringing together heterogeneous groups that form a social network. A social network is easier to coordinate when trying to identify food hazards as well as spread any form of food recall information (Karp, Baur, Atwill, De Master, Gennet, Iles, Kremen, 2015). Apart from using its website, the FDA could incorporate social networking strategies to enable it reach more consumers especially when required to recall certain products from a market. Taylor, and Sklamberg (2016) state that the FDA website offers information or announcements on all forms of recalls. Additionally, consumers can obtain e-mails after requesting to receive alerts on the website. Consumers that have food problems can report on the website, as the FDA has employed complaint coordinators within FDA district offices, to receive all forms of food complaints (Taylor Sklamberg, 2016). Furthermore, the conventional news outlets in the nation can broadcast recall information. On the other hand, with the increased use of social media, it would be important for the news media and regulatory bodies to use social networks as a means of reaching a wider audience in a short time (Deasy, 2012). The social networks allow people to obtain information in real time while people may hear of a recall from a television or radio long after it was issued. For instance, Plum Organics is an organization that has voluntarily used social media to spread information on food. Labs (2013) states that people hearing negative news, such as a recall, that has a direct influence on them, will try to obtain information from informal networks. Additionally, Taylor Sklamberg (2016) say that people are more likely to participate in spreading the information when they believe that the negative event affects them directly and understand that the consequences are serious enough to call for an action. Freberg, Graham, McGaughey, Freberg, (2011) affirm that the consumers are important agents in spreading the information about a food recall that would effectively work online. Social media influencers are an essential part of the social networking and could help in the dissemination of information on food safety. According to Freberg, Graham, McGaughey, and Freberg (2011), consumers who use the social media such as tweets, blogs, or other platforms to spread a negative event are known as social media influencers. Social media influencers play an essential role in the creation of noise in the system and on most occasions, their credibility is questioned due to misinformation or distortion of information. On the other hand, Lang, Barling, Caraher (2011) state that social media could still be used for the improvement of the food safety system. Social media use can be imperative in the food system. As Karp, Baur, Atwill, De Master, et al. (2015) sustain, the system could adopt a strategy that could help in the exploitation of the social networks, especially the social media. The social media may not only expand the systems versatile ability, but also improve its information dissemination to the public as well as take preventive role through tapping into diverse and unutilized resources on food hazard issues. Lang, Barling, and Caraher (2011) add that information and communication technological improvements helped develop ways through which the public agencies can learn on potential food hazards fast. The public agency still needs to coordinate communication to maintain the systems integrity. However, the planned utilization of innovative technologies allows coordination with regulatory interventions efficiently (Lang, Barling, Caraher, 2011). In spreading negative news, the social networks have been used extensively. Deasy (2012) maintains that new communication technologies can be utilized as an essential part of the food system, allowing all participants to exchange information on food safety. However, Mayer (2013) states that little effort has been used to involve consumers as participants in food safety. Research on social network use within corporations is still emerging. However, little information is available on its strategic use within public firms (Collier, 2012). The main disadvantage in the use of social media in public firms is information distortions. According to Taylor, and Sklamberg (2016), information disseminated online can be easily manipulated to a certain degree, which (Collier, 2012) states could bring about naÃÆ' ¯ve learning. Online information is often asymmetrical. Consequently, individuals, and organizations could try to insert false information into the social networks. Lang, Barling, Caraher (2011) state that some companies may choose to alter the information with an aim of raising their competitions costs. Additionally, social media influencers may obtain an incentive to manipulate specific information to increase their popularity online. Taylor, and Sklamberg, (2016) say that efforts have been made to uncover such attempts but still no protection is available from such manipulation. Consequently, efforts to use the social network to pass information on food safety should be considered. Materials and Methods In the study, it was imperative to understand the current situation on public agency use of social media on food recalls. To comprehend the current situation within the United States it was important to carry out a survey, which was done between March 1 and March 9 2017. The survey aimed at focusing on the respondents attention. The main purpose of the study was to examine the responses on food recall. According to Deasy (2012), a food recall is the request to return an entire food production of a particular food product to the seller and it is usually done once safety issues are discovered. Social media use was common in this survey; consequently, the first question asked in the survey was: Which technological device do you use regularly (Computer, laptop, tablet or Smartphone)? The survey also includes two essential questions on product recall experiences. The questions were: Have you ever heard of a food recall? and How did you hear about the food recall? Seven demographic items followed the two questions. On the other hand, a participant that indicated she or he had never heard of a food recall, she or he automatically moved to next part of the survey. To obtain more information on personal experiences, the survey also included four scenarios that allowed the respondents to give more information. The first two circumstances dealt with the participants personal experiences particularly with food issues. The last two dealt with the recall announcements. Similar to the last section, anyone who has not experienced any scenario on food issues automatically moved to the next section. Table 1 Scenarios used in the survey First Scenario The experience of a main issue Have you ever eaten lunch at a restaurant and later ad a severe stomachache leading to diarrhea and forcing you to seek medical assistance? Second Scenario Experienced a minor problem Have you ever eaten at a restaurant and later had an upset stomach? Third Scenario Product you used recalled You bought a packaged lettuce and later heard its brand recalled on radio, television, newspaper or online Fourth Scenario Recall of a product you never used You heard a packaged lettuce recalled on radio, television, newspaper or online but you never use the brand The study was done on utilizing SurveyMonkey.Com, and it ended with three open-ended questions that included: Think of an occasion when you experienced a problem after eating at home or your favorite joint. Tell us the incident. How did you feel, what was your reaction, did anyone know of the problem? Did you seek medical attention? Did you change your eating or food buying pattern? Think of an occasion when you heard of a food recall. Tell us about the incident, how did you feel, what was your reaction, did anyone know of the incidence, did you change your eating or food purchasing patterns? Do you have any additional comments? Participants use of social media The participants showed their comprehension of food recall as well as having shared information on bad food experiences with coworkers, friends, and family through diverse social media platforms. The sharing of the information occurred under certain circumstances, for example, gravity of the issue or the person contacted. According to Lang, Barling, and Caraher (2011), social media use is common in age groups between 18-29 years and 30-49 years. In the results of the survey, the studied group was within the said age groups. In the study, we found that access to smart phones decreases with age while the use of computers, mainly desktop, increased with age. Additionally, the use of social media among the participants decreased with age, but varied in relation to the specific social media such as YouTube and Facebook, which are platforms common in all ages. In the study, 94.8% of the participants had heard of a food recall. Surprisingly, most of the participants had heard of the food recall through broadcast or print media. On the other hand, the younger participants especially those below 25 years had heard of the food recall on both broadcast media and social networks, while those above 25 years had heard of the food recall through broadcast and print media. The Concerns and Experiences of the Participants with Food Problems Most of the participants showed their concern for food safety especially on the participation of the government as well as organizations in monitoring the process successfully. The participants mentioned the need for Food and Drug Administration agencys participation in monitoring the food that people consume. The consumers also noted that there is an increased use of informal communication in food safety. On the other hand, they also expressed their concerns for the increased caution when using social networks as the main form of communication. Furthermore, they appreciated the need to obtain information on bad food. However, it should be mentioned that the person giving the information may have been self-diagnosing inaccurately. The participants mentioned the need to notify the authorities or the necessary bodies whenever there were food recalls after notifying friends and family. The participants had experienced the second Scenario more than the first scenario. Additionally, it was evident that the participants would tell others about the first scenario experience more than they would have in the second scenario. Moreover, more participants would have told others in the third scenario than they would have in the fourth scenario. Similar to previous studies, it was evident that more people were likely to tell others of a food recall if they used that product or had a severe experience from eating the food. The study also aimed at looking at any pattern on the responses. Therefore, Symphony software was used. On the other hand, a pattern did not exist as the participants mentioned different kinds of foods. Some of the foods mentioned included cereal, peanuts, beef, pizza, pork corn, fruit, chicken, lettuce, meat and chili, among others. The discovery of the patterns brought about the question: Who is more likely to inform others on a recall or experience on bad food using the social media? To obtain an answer to the question all participants that used any form of social platform for more than one of the scenarios were grouped together. The activity led to the conclusion that well-educated and young adults especially females were more likely to spread information of a food recall. Table 2 Gender Age Education Female 18-29 98 College graduate 85 Male 18-29 79 Advanced degree 87 Outcomes and Discussions The survey used a manageable sample of two hundred and fourteen respondents. Out of the 214, 212 responses were obtained from three universities. In the study, there were more female respondents than males. The respondents were aged between 18 and 29 years. All the participants were from diverse racial backgrounds, well educated, and were studying different courses at their universities. About 7.1% of the participants had attained their undergraduate education and were pursuing a higher level of education. More studies will be needed to obtain more conclusive information on the use of social networks for food safety. The results of this pilot study suggested that the utilization of social media as a modality of spreading the word on bad food would enable people to cope with the situation better, both cognitively and emotionally. The process would also help in the improvement of the food safety system. The differences that social media can create in improving food safety may be due to the fast dissemination of information using social media. Information sent by a relative, friend, or a close contact is more likely to be read, rather than general public information, spread through a newspaper. The outcomes of the study also suggested that social network users are generally well-educated and young adults. On the other hand, those with the ability to spread the word are not necessarily those with the most friends online. When aspects such as education, race, and gender are constant, the younger generation is more likely to use social networking platforms more than the older persons are. Additionally, females are more likely to use social media than males. Presently, people often use social networking platforms to socialize or spread information on events that they are not involved in or impacted by, directly. Upon hearing a recall of a familiar food product, females, unlike males, are more likely to pass information on the recall. Furthermore, an individual was more likely to spread the word on a recall after experiencing a severe food problem. On the other hand, those passing information were least likely to use social media as the platform to spread the word on a food recall. Therefore, agencies that need to improve their way of spreading information on food recall, need to adopt better plans, as well as formulate policies that ensure that the well-educated and young females are involved. Limitations of the Study This was a pilot study that was limited by time and as well as by using a specific demographic. The university students were the most appropriate. However, the study lacked diversity in the convenient sample size. University students may have a particular mindset on information technology. Consequently, it was difficult to obtain a more diverse view on the study. Moreover, despite obtaining results that were similar to previous studies, the sample size was not a representative one. The small sample size offered limited information on the topic. The study did not cover some aspects that may have influenced the participants use of social media, such as employment or income. Therefore, a large and diverse population would be more appropriate for future studies on the topic. Conclusion An outcome of this pilot research showed that due to the dynamics of social media, it is essential for food safety companies to use intelligence, sufficient resources, as well as good ideas to attain success in recalling bad food. The food agencies require having a strategy that offers a specific alertness in the use of social media information. For instance, the agencies may create their social media groups to manage the network and avoid misinformation. It would be important to form good relationships that are built on trust with the social media users. Furthermore, using hash tags when recalling food would help improve the spreading of the word. Agencies could as well collaborate with distributors, suppliers, grocers, manufacturers, restaurants and businesses that have websites to recall food products from a market, enabling better creation of trust. Consequently, using social media as part of the structured communication strategy would help improve the food and safety agencies. References Collier, M. (2011). The ultimate online customer service guide: How to connect with your customers to sell more!. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Consumers Union. (2013). Call for FDA review Good News for consumers. Consumers Union, 2013. Deasy, D. J. (2012). Food safety and assurance: The role of information technology. International Journal of Dairy Technology, 55(1), 1-4. Freberg, Kà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ Graham, K., McGaughey, K., Freberg, L. (2011). Who are the social media influences? A study of public perceptions of personality. Public Relations Review, 3(7), 90-92. Karp, D. S., Baur, P., Atwill, E. R., De Master, K., Gennet, S., Iles, A., Kremen, C. (2015). The unintended ecological and social impacts of food safety regulations in Californias Central Coast Region. Bioscience, 65(12), 1173-1183. Lang, T., Barling, D., Caraher, M. (2011). Food, social policy and the environment: Towards a new model. Social Policy Administration, 35(5), 538. Labs, W. (2013). the state of food manufacturing. (cover story). Food Engineering, 85(10), 76-88. Mayer, A. B., Harris, J. A. (2012). Safe eats: An evaluation of the use of social media for food safety education. Journal of Food Protection, 75(8), 1453-1463. Mayer, M. (2013). How social media drives expanded consumer base. Refrigerated Frozen Foods Retailer, 6. Seo, S., Almanza, B., Miao, L., Behnke, C. (2015). The effect of social media comments on consumers responses to food safety information. Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 18(2), 111-131. Taylor, M. R., Sklamberg, H. R. (2016). Internationalizing food safety: FDAs role in the global food system. Harvard International Review, 37(3), 32-37.

Independant Amateur Filipino Film Makers Film Studies Essay

Independant Amateur Filipino Film Makers Film Studies Essay In the spirit of independent expression, the Cinemalaya Awards seeks to discover, encourage and honor the cinematic works of Filipino filmmakers that boldly articulate and freely interpret the Filipino experience with fresh insight and artistic integrity. Cultural Center of the Philippines As of today, we filipinos are very fond of Hollywood films. Cinemas in the Philippines are currently full of different Hollywood films. There are very few films that are recognized throughout the country. This is one of the reasons why the Cultural Center of the Philippines arranged Cinemalaya, an awards show giving Filipino independent films credit. We wonder, though, is it enough? We think that it is absolutely not. Most of the Philippines creative young minds are not recognized by as much people as that of Hollywood films. We also believe that independent films carry more true-to-life stories, and that it actually has more values instilled in it. We find it very disappointing that cinemas today show less of these, and show more of Hollywood films that make us fantasize more than make us realize the harsh realities of life, and how to deal with them in a realistic way. Also, Filipinos nowadays are supporting the movies of other countries more than their own. This is why we are forw arding our proposal that cinemas in the Philippines should showcase more Filipino independent films than Hollywood films. In this paper, we define independent films as films made by amateur Filipino film makers, films that are low-budget, or home-made. We define Hollywood films as films made in Hollywood, films that have high-budget productions, films that have professionals working on it and the like. We will be limiting our statistics to only Philippine Independent films. We will make surveys regarding the awareness of students of independent films, their stand (against it, for it, neutral) on independent films, their views toward independent films. We will also research more about independent films. First of all, we believe that independent films are needed more than Hollywood films when it comes to education, especially for the children. From our observations, weve noticed that independent films capture a more realistic view on life. One example of these independent films is Idol: Pag-asa ng Bayan (2007) which is about an honor student ending up cheating for the sake of his friends, portraying a reality of peer pressure, selfless actions, and of course cheating. Another example is Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros which focuses on the emotional damage a boy can undergo, as if he was a female. Lastly, the most dramatic and realistic example is Magnifico which shows us how hard life is especially when youre poor. A young mind, Magnifico attempts to help out his family earn by working at such an early age. It shows the effects of poverty, the beauty of simple living or contentment, and the love for family. Whether it focuses on social issues such as cheating (Idol: Pag-asa ng Bayan,2007) or homosexuality (Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros,2005) or economic issues such as poverty (Magnifico, 2003) , independent films successfully presented actual happenings in our world today. Most Hollywood films, on the other hand, a re fiction, a literary work, history, and the like. Some Hollywood films also depicted realistic stories such as World Trade Center (2006) which focused on the 9-11 bombing, Kramer vs Kramer (1979) which focused on the realities of marriage and family problems, and John Q (2002) which focused economic problems, but these films dont have much of a filipino sense. It is important to be reminded of our values not only as people but as Filipino people, so we should be seeing these realities set on the Philippine situation, the Philippine customs, the Filipino attitude. Another point is that sure, some Hollywood films like Troy (2004), 300 (2007), and Beowulf (2008), are very helpful in our studies, but then we arent planning on removing films like that from cinemas. We just need to have more Filipino independent films because we need more education about the realities of the present situation, as weve established earlier. We also noticed the difference between the objectives and focuses of Philippine independent films and Hollywood films. Weve noticed that Philippine independent films seem to aim to open the minds of children rather than adults. Hollywood films seem to aim to open the minds of adults- parents, teachers etc. Weve also noticed that Philippine independent films seem to aim to remind people of the mistake in actions, mistake in character, and mistake in society. It seems like these films focus on the problems present. Hollywood films on the other hand, seem to aim to make people see possible problems, though these problems are less likely to occur in the Philippines. Like racism, for example, there are fewer races here so the chances of racism are minimal. In terms of focus in target, through research, we were able to find out that independent film, as said by the online Wikipedia focuses on niche audience (Wikipedia, no page), meaning a portion of people, not the general public. Hollywoo d focuses on the general public. We researched more about art films in contrast with Hollywood films. David Bordwell, as Wikipedia said, wrote about the difference of the two kinds of films. According to an article in Wikipedia, Bordwell wrote in his article, The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice(Wikipedia, no page) , that those of Hollywood films use stereotype characters, familiar settings, and wherein the protagonists actions lead to only one end point, sort of like a cause and effect. He also stated that independent films often deal with an inner drama that takes place in a characters psyche. (Bordwell. no page). He also said that its more realistic, and it breaks away from the stereotype, mainstream structures. Looking at these facts, we saw that independent films have more value in content. This is one more reason why there should be more independent films in our cinemas. In terms of appeal, of course the majority will go to Hollywood films. Hollywood films have a greater budget; so of course, they will have trailers that could capture an audiences attention. Since Independent films are low-budget films, they can not advertise their works, or even if they could, they wouldnt bother because as Bordwell said, independent films are focused only on a portion of the public. Hollywood films also have better effects and cinematography than that of independent films. But we dont take this as a liability, mainly because if there is less quality of effects and cinematography, the audience is forced to focus on the main story, the lessons, and more importantly, the problems presented. If youre thinking how are cinemas going to earn money if you put more independent films, which are less appealing to the public? theres answers for that. First of all, there have been films that were made a hit, especially Magnifico (2003), and Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2 005), though not in box office. Independent movies are also beautiful, and we believe that people would like to watch these films if they were aware of this. Also, in Malls, we see a lot of advertisements of films, and if independent films were to be put on big screen, with matching advertisement, people would be encouraged to watch. Lastly, since most people can relate to these films better, theyd be encouraged by people whove seen the film. Therefore, putting these films in theaters wouldnt really affect the cinemas in terms of economy. How many people are actually aware about independent films? Based on our surveys, the average ratios we got were the following: six out of ten people are aware of these independent films, one out of six is for independent films, four out of six are against independent films, and one out of six are neutral about it. This is another problem. The answers we got indicated that many people arent even aware of these films. So, all the more we have to show these independent films. As you can see with the statistics, more filipinos are against it, showing lack of nationalism. If you are wondering What benefits would cinemas gain with this proposal? our proposal has a lot. First of all, it encourages nationalism. By watching an independent filipino film, you support a group of filipino citizens. By supporting these people, you support the country. Second of all, more talent would be recognized. We are used to recognizing the same people as producers, directors, and especially actors. In indep endent films, since you have low budget, you get people who are either unprofessional, or people who have low talent fees, but of course, have talent. So, when the movie hits the theaters, the people who contributed there would be recognized. Also, was we said said in our introduction, there is something called the Cinemalaya awards which is an awarding ceremony for all independent films. If these films are shown in theaters, more people can vote/nominate independent films, plus this awarding ceremony will be given more attention by the public. Furthermore, showing these films in theaters help us showcase the talents of young filipino artist to foreigners. That is something to be proud about. Lastly, as weve said earlier, independent films have more value in content, and are aiming to enlighten or remind us about the realities or problems in life, therefore showing these films in the cinemas are also a way of spreading education to the youth, and even to the adults, especially filip inos. As the world evolves into a more modern world, our values and nationalism goes down. Our talents, its hidden in one corner of the world, while stardom, its just across the theater doors. This is the problem we want to solve. That is why we exposed our views and points about our preposition: The cinemas in the Philippines should showcase more Filipino independent movies than Hollywood Movies. We need to raise our Filipino flag. We have to show them what we have. We have to educate the future of the country. We have to restore the values that were gone. If this proposition is approved, then maybe its another victory for me and you.

Latin America Essay -- essays research papers

Hisotry of Latin America History of the region from the pre-Columbian period and including colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese beginning in the 15th century, the 19th-century wars of independence, and developments to the end of World War II.Latin America is generally understood to consist of the entire continent of South America in addition to Mexico, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean whose inhabitants speak a Romance language. The peoples of this large area shared the experience of conquest and colonization by the Spaniards and Portuguese from the late 15th through the 18th centuries as well as movements of independence from Spain and Portugal in the early 19th century. Even since independence, many of the various nations have experienced similar trends, and they have some awareness of a common heritage. However, there are also enormous differences between them. Not only do the people live in a large number of independent units, but the geography and climate of their countries vary im mensely, and their social and cultural characteristics differ according to the different constitution of the inhabitants before the Iberian conquest and the different timing and nature of European occupation. Since the Spanish and Portuguese element looms so large in the history region, it is sometimes proposed that Iberoamerica would be a better term than of the Latin America. Latin seems to suggest an equal importance of the French and Italian contributions, which is far from being the case. Nevertheless, usage has fastened on Latin America, and it is retained here. The independence of Latin America After three centuries of colonial rule, independence came rather suddenly to most of Spanish and Portuguese America. Between 1808 and 1826 all of Latin America except the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico slipped out of the hands of the Iberian powers who had ruled the region since the conquest. The rapidity and timing of that dramatic change were the result of a combination of long-building tensions in colonial rule and a series of external events. The reforms imposed by the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century provoked great instability in the relations between the rulers and their colonial subjects in the Americas. Many Creoles (those of Spanish parentage but who were born in America) felt Bourbon policy to be an unfair attack on their wealth, po... ...ts was slow to appear in Latin America. Brazil was the most successful, selling automobiles and automotive parts mainly to other developing countries but at times even to the industrialized world. A slightly less satisfactory alternative was the setting up of plants to assemble imported parts into consumer goods that were immediately exported, thus taking advantage of Latin America's low labour costs. Such plants proliferated along Mexico's northern border (where they were known as maquiladoras) but sprang up also in Central America and around the Caribbean. In other instances Latin Americans tried to develop new ("nontraditional") primary commodity exports. Colombian cut flowers were a highly successful example of the latter, promoted from the late 1960s through special incentives such as tax rebates; Colombia became the world's second leading flower exporter. It also assumed a leading role in the illicit narcotics trade. It enjoyed a brief boom of marijuana exports in the 1970s and in the following decade became the world's leading supplier of cocaine, which was processed in clandestine Colombian laboratories from coca leaf paste mostly originating in Bolivia and Peru.

Management Accounting Essay -- Business Budgeting Accountancy Accounta

Management Accounting Introduction Management control is to ensure that the organization achieves its objectives. Once the objectives have been agreed, action plans should be drawn up so that the progress can be directed towards the ends specified in the objectives. Such objectives are used to make comparison with alternatives in decision making & are also the critical elements in evaluating the success or failure of the action plans. One of the most widely used management control systems is the budgetary control & the term â€Å"Budget† itself is one of the objectives that is expressed quantitatively in financial value [1]. Undoubtedly budget is drawn up for control purposes & guiding the organization towards its objectives. The budgeting process is done quite arbitrary by estimating the expenses in the next year or adding a few percentages from last years’ budget. Any contingency & extraordinary dollar spent would be acquired from the miscellaneous item; as long as it is still a positive figure. The main control function of the budget follows the same old rule: no budget, no expenses. The scope of this paper is to explore better control & management in the organization’s financial resources deployed in training & development, especially in avoiding the ineffective use of resources, increasing accountability, streamlining & improving existing procedures, & managing & measuring performance in a systematic & data-oriented approach. Control & Performance Measurement System Referring to Broadbent & Cullen [2], management control is the process by which management ensures that the organization carries out its strategies, i.e. resources are obtained & used efficiently & effectively in the accomplishment of the company objectives. As pointed out by Brooks [3], the role of management accounting is to concern the performance of the organization & the way in which its activities are planned & controlled by its management. Further supported by Bromwich [4], the major functions of management accounting used by management are to plan, evaluate, & control within an organization & to assure use of & accountability for its resources. Although most literatures reviewed (Jeans & Morrow [5], Murphy & Braund [6], Clark & Baxter [7]) stated that the major use of management accounting control is on manufacturing process, the concept of performance measurem... ...ctivity-Based Costing†, Management Accounting, November 1989. 6. Murphy J.C. & Braund S.L., â€Å"Management Accounting & New Manufacturing Technology†, Management Accounting, February 1990. 7. Clark A. & Baxter A., â€Å"ABC + ABM = Action, Let’s Get Down to Business†, Management Accounting, June 1992. 8. Kennedy A., â€Å"Activity-Based Management & Short-Term Relevant Cost: Clash or Complement?†, Management Accounting, June 1995. 9. Robert G., â€Å"Fixed Costs & Sunk Costs in Decision-Making† Management Accounting, January 1992. 10. Broadbent M. & Cullen J., Managing Financial Resources, Second Edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999, p.121. 11. Mills R. & Cave M., â€Å"Overhead Cost Allocation in Service Organizations†, Management Accounting, June 1990. 12. Claret J., â€Å"Budgeting with Flexibility†, Certified Accountant, November 1988, p.36. 13. Jones R.B., â€Å"Budgeting & Cost Management: A Route to Continuous Improvement†, Management Accounting, February 1992, p.36. 14. Newing R., â€Å"Out with the Old, In with the New†, Accountancy, July, 1994, p.49. 15. Hopwood A.G., â€Å"Accounting & Organization Change†, Journal of Accounting & Public Policy, Vol. 8, No. 3, Fall 1989.

IP Addressing

When designing the data closet should be located in a non-centralized location but still have easy access for services and upgrades or repairs. I would consider using a class b network set up which would easily allow 145 users, computers or equipment to connect but still provide additional addresses and networks as the company expands within the next two years. As for IP address I would consider static IP address for all local computers and equipment within the company such as printers, routers user computers etc.This will be easier to use and less expensive. With over 16,000 networks and 65,000 host address available there will be plenty of room for the company to grow. I would also consider having a wireless network using dynamic ip addresses leasing addresses to the user’s devices to allow users to connect there wireless devices to the network. All the systems we use today can work well with DHCP so it shouldn’t be a problem. Also you should consider having multiple domain and DHCP servers to provide load balancing, efficiency and safety in case of server failure.DHCP should be used whenever possible DHCP is easier because there is usually not a need to manually assign and track IP addresses across a number of devices where a specific IP is not necessary, and use reservations for the static devices like Printers and A/P's. And use static addresses for Servers. For example when recovering from a full power outage DHCP WILL be the LAST service to start. So if all servers/printers were DHCP you'd spend a day rebooting/console-login and getting a valid IP – users can do that for themselves. These are just some of the considerations that can be taken into account when creating a small business network.

Conclusion and implication Essay

Failure to make use of available hazard-reduction information and measures of known effectiveness constitutes another general policy issue. It is one that assists to stimulate the ongoing UN-sponsored International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (Mitchell, 1988). In many places it would be potential to mitigate losses simply by putting what is known into effect. For instance, the value of warning and evacuation systems has been proven repeatedly; yet such systems are often underused. Likewise, hazard-mitigation schemes offer consistent paths toward reducing the long-term costs of disasters but they are often resisted in favour of instant post-disaster relief, insurance, and compensation programmes. Why do individuals and governments fail to make optimal use of available knowledge? There is no single answer to this question. A large number of factors are involved. Lack of agreement about definition and identification of problem; †¢ Lack of attentiveness of hazards; †¢ Misperception or misjudgement of risks; †¢ Lack of awareness of suitable responses; †¢ Lack of proficiency to make use of responses; †¢ Lack of money or resources to pay for responses; †¢ Lack of harmonization among institutions; †¢ Lack of attention to correlation between â€Å"disasters† and â€Å"development†; †¢ Failure to treat hazards as related problems whose components require simultaneous attention (i. e. reciprocity); †¢ Lack of access by affected populations to decision-making; †¢ Lack of public confidence in scientific knowledge; †¢ Conflicting goals among populations at risk; †¢ Fluctuating salience of hazards (competing priorities); †¢ Public opposition by negatively affected individuals and groups. Underlying all of these explicit reasons is a larger problem. It is this: society fails to take care of natural hazards as complex systems with several components that often require simultaneous attention. We tinker with one or another aspect of these systems when what are required are system-wide strategies. Perhaps even more significant, we fail to address the direct connection between natural hazard systems and economic investment decisions that drive the procedure of â€Å"development† and affect the potential for disasters. That such links subsist has been known for a very long time: If a man owes a debt, and the storm engulfs his field and carries away the produce, or if the grain has not grown in the field, in that year he shall not make any revisit to the creditor, he shall alter his contract and he shall not pay interest for that year. But mainly of the decisions that are taken to build new facilities or redevelop old ones, or to take on new production and distribution processes, or to develop new land, or to effectuate a myriad of other development goals are not currently very receptive to considerations of natural hazards. They must become so. And that is a task that will require a great deal of effort by natural hazard scientists to go beyond the laboratory and the research office or the field study site to obtain an understanding of how best to apply their expertise in public settings. It will also need the users of scientific information about hazards (architects, engineers, planners, banks and mortgage companies, international development agencies, and investment financiers) to foster a mutually interactive correlation with the scientists who are producers of that information. â€Å"Development† is only one of the main public issues that overlap with natural hazards reduction. Others include: environmental management; public health; security (personal, social, and national); and urbanization. All of them are major hitch sets in their own right, each patterned by philosophical and managerial disputes and unsettled issues. Efforts to work out commonly supportive policies and programmes raise entirely new sets of appropriate issues for hazards experts. References: †¢ Dombrowsky, Wolf R. 1995. â€Å"Again and Again: Is a Disaster What We Call ‘Disaster’? Some Conceptual Notes on Conceptualizing the Object of Disaster Sociology. † International Journal of mass Emergencies and Disasters (Nov. ), Vol. 13, No. 3, 241-254. †¢ Crozier, M. and Friedberg, E. (1979) Macht und Organisation, Berlin: Athenaum. (in German). †¢ IDNDR (International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction). 1996. Cities at risk: Making cities safer †¦ before disaster strikes. Supplement to No. 28, Stop Disasters. Geneva: IDNDR. †¢ Maskrey, Andrew. 1989. Disaster mitigation: A community based approach. Development Guidelines No. 3. Oxford: Oxfam. †¢ Mitchell, James K. 1988. â€Å"Confronting natural disasters: An international decade for natural hazard reduction. † Environment 30(2): 25–29. †¢ Mitchell, James K. 1989. â€Å"Hazards research. † In Gary Gaile and Cort Willmott (eds. ), Geography in America. Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Company, pp. 410– 424. †¢ Mitchell, James K. 1993b. â€Å"Recent developments in hazards research: A geographer’s perspective. In E. L. Quarantelli and K. Popov (eds.), Proceedings of the United States–Former Soviet Union Seminar on Social Science Research on Mitigation for and Recovery from Disasters and Large Scale Hazards. Moscow, April 19– 26, 1993. Vol. I: The American participation. Newark: University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center, pp. 43–62. †¢ Mitchell, James K. and Neil Ericksen. 1992. â€Å"Effects of climate changes on weather-related disasters. † In Irving Mintzer (ed. ), Confronting climate change: Risks, implications and responses. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 141–152. †¢ Mitchell, James K. , Neal Devine, and Kathleen Jagger.1989. â€Å"A contextual model of natural hazard. † Geographical Review 89(4): 391–409. †¢ Myers, Mary Fran and Gilbert F. White. 1993. â€Å"The challenge of the Mississippi flood. † Environment 35(10): 6–9, 25–35. †¢ Parker, D. J. and J. W. Handmer, eds. 1992. Hazard management and emergency planning: Perspectives on Britain. London: James & James. †¢ Showalter, Pamela S. and Mary F. Myers. 1994. â€Å"Natural disasters in the United States as release agents of oil, chemicals or radiological materials between 1980–1989: Analysis and recommendations. † Risk Analysis 14(2): 169–182. †¢ Setchell, C. A. 1995. â€Å"The growing environmental crisis in the world’s megacities: The case of Bangkok. † Third World Planning Review 17(1): 1–18. †¢ Wynne, Brian. 1992. â€Å"Uncertainty and environmental learning: Reconceiving science and policy in the preventive paradigm. † Global Environmental Change 2(2): 111– 127. †¢ Yath, A. Y. 1995. â€Å"On the expulsion of rural inmigrants from Greater Khartoum – The example of the Dinka in Suq el Markazi. † GeoJournal 36(1): 93–101. †¢ Zelinsky, W. and L. Kosinski, L. 1991. Emergency evacuation of cities. London: Unwin Hyman.

Maharashtra and People

Chawls are a quintessentially Mumbai phenomenon, whose rise is inseparably linked to the rise of the textile mills. The textile mills were the next big industrial step that Mumbai took after the spurt in cotton trading and the shifting of the ports. The mills flourished in the mid-19th century and the people who worked there were labourers mainly from the Konkan coast and ghats. Often one of the workers is sent back to the villages to recruit more people. These workers are known as ‘jobbers’ and they usually get back people who are from the same family or same village or caste.Once in Mumbai, they live together. Some chawls are built by the government called the Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls and the Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) chawls. The mill owners built other chawls to lure people to come and work for them, or by private landlords. Many private landlords who built chawls are Muslims, as according to their religion they couldn’t collect interest from money. So this is a way of investing the money. Originally, the migrants come alone to work and leave their families in the villages. So often the rooms are occupied by a different set of workers at different times of the day.When one shift end, one set of people come to the rooms while the other set of people went to work. When the workers brought their families, the entire family and often more than one family stayed one room. Chawls had mushroomed in the 30s to the 70s all over Mumbai. Mumbai was once the textile capital of India even being named Manchester of the East. Cloth mills dominated the skyline of Mumbai till the 90s. It was during these times that people from rural Maharahstra migrated to Mumbai in search of a better jobs and prospect. Landlords cashed on this new influx and built low cost housing called chawls.The idea was to get as many people in one building so as to increase the amount of rent. It was quantity not quality that was important. Ambience The chawl s have fair amount of wood in their structure, the dark stairs made the distinct wooden sound while walking. Common toilets dominated each floor. Leaking pipes and stagnant water gave the dingy chawl a distinct smell of its own. The dark corridors and the low sunlight was so typical of a chawl. The Chawl building have a total of 80 houses and two wings so it was 40 houses on each side.Instead of calling each wing as ‘A’ and ‘B’, they call them Magchi (back side  in Marathi) and Phudchi (front side in Marathi) side. The funny thing is that the people living in the other wing would call them magchi side and the people living in the other wing would call them â€Å"magchi† side. each house sharing a common long balcony. The common balcony would give the 4 houses a sense on one-ness. It was like a big joint family. Each house obviously has a door and this door is open in the morning and remains open till they all go to sleep. They play, they talk, they study, they fight, they do everything in that long balcony.You don’t even have to go and knock on your neighbor door. He is there standing in that balcony. Balcony has a big importance in the life of chawl. It is what a village square was in the old days. This is what the katta is in modern Mumbai. Consider that almost 6-16 families live on a floor. Considering each family has an average of 4 members, the number of people residing on a floor is 24 to 64. The balcony serves as a meeting ground for all these people. The housewives gather in the balcony after their house chores discussing gossips about the girl next door to their children’s annual result to everything in general.The men discuss the latest politics to the irresponsibility of the youths today to the latest in cricket. The children meanwhile played in the balcony. The balcony is a common meeting ground for all families on that floor. Its like a drawing room for members of a big joint family. When there is a long power cuts, they would sit outside waiting for electricity to come back and battling mosquitoes at the same time. Groups would be formed in different  part  of the balcony  and people would just talk. As there is nothing to do, talking was the best option available unless its really late into the night.Especially during full moon  nights, the soft moon light would shine in the balcony throwing a dim light on the occupants. It is at this time, ghost stories are discussed with relish and age is not a factor. The children and the women would always discuss more ghost then the men. Imagine when everything is dark around you that you cannot even see the face of the person sitting next to you, its sheer fun to listen to the ‘true’ scary incident that happened to the friend’s friend’s uncle’s boss’s son’s friend.When your hair stands up after listening to the story, nobody even notices it in the darkness. The balcony is also use d for drying all kind of pulses, clothes, spices and every other thing that can be dried. During the afternoon, it becomes a task to dodge your way through drying clothes, spices and pulses. The size of an average balcony is 4 – 7 feet wide and very long in the range of 50-100 feet. On this long stretch of land they play everything from cricket to playing cards to even playing hockey with cricket bats. The balcony was multipurpose serving as a playground to meeting place to katta.After finishing food, they would come out and look in all direction trying to find out friends who have finished their dinner and lunch. Then they would start talking and the topics could range from everything under the sun right from politics to cricket to non-existent girlfriend to sex. There are never any boundaries about the topic of discussion The balcony is a mini-katta in a chawl. It serves as a playing ground, a discussion room, a drying place, a community hall and sometimes even as a bedroom . The balcony is the first common ground for the big family they call a chawl. ———————————————— Not getting what to name this topic as. plz ben name it. | Mumbai’s chawls have not only   portrayed the deluge of human emotions, but have also laid the foundation for Samaritans in this cross cultural city. These dense dwellings have seen bonhomie at its best like residents sharing meals and neighbours becoming extended families. This is the only place of abode, where they not only share spaces, but also hearts. From Worli to Girgaum, and from Nana Chowk to Cuffe Parade, these dwellings of human bonding and mayhem have dotted the city for years.Chawls have indeed been an essential part of South Mumbai and have added character to its very being, and some of them have even been classified as heritage structures. A day in a chawl Enter any chawl and the scene would more or less be the same — a handful of children indulging in a game of hide-and-seek,   running in and out of each other’s homes with gay abandon; groups of women clustering together exchanging juicy bits of gossip about the latest chawl scandal; a few people standing listlessly just watching the goings-on. All so typically chawlish. Perfection in imperfection, in a way.In the city where the cases of anomie and depression are rising, chawl culture is a huge relief for senior citizens and children. For instance, 63-year-old Sucheta Kelekar, a resident of Dadar, has stayed in her current room all her life and cannot imagine herself living anywhere else. â€Å"Our family moved here in the 1950s, after partition. We’ve always lived in harmony with our neighbours, who are like a family to us. † said she. The flipside With the increase of several high rises in the city, many of these chawls have been demolished and consequently all its residents have moved out in to the suburbs to live in individual apartments.Obviously this has led to the dying out of much of the culture and bonding that chawls usually facilitated. â€Å"Yes, living in an individual apartment becomes pretty lonely after you have lived in a chawl your whole life†, says Salil Shirodkar, who moved from a clustered chawl in Worli to a 1-BHK in Dadar. â€Å"Times have changed though. Earlier it was all about living in one big community where everyone knows what’s happening in their adjacent homes. We’d share everything, from recipes, to toys, to our problems. The present generation doesn’t care about old ties.As soon as they can afford it, they prefer to move into our own flats where they can live in comfort,† Bachelors â€Å"spoil† the party Within the chawls, the genre of inflowing residents is changing from ‘family of four’ to ‘single bed space for bachelors’. â€Å"It is really quite annoying! † excla ims Varsha Patel of Dadar. â€Å"Most residents have moved into the suburbs and rented out their rooms to bachelors who come at odd hours and drink and smoke. They have no interest in mingling with anyone and play loud music till late hours.Chawls used to be all about family bonding but sadly that has now been taken over by individuals who treat their homes like guest houses. † Further echoing this thought is Naveen Mehta of Dadar her neighbour, who summarises the situation aptly: â€Å"Chawls used to be a blend of many communities. Families of Marwaris, Maharashtrians, and Gujaratis would all co-exist in satisfaction. Everyone was â€Å"Santusht†. Now the focus is on the individual. . Chawl Vs. Flat Five-year-old Neeraj is bored. He pretends to watch TV, jumps on the bed and talks to his pillow.His mother, Edna Nair, understands, but keeps the door closed on purpose. It is a rehearsal. She is preparing her son for their new neighbours. â€Å"What if they complain ab out him making a noise,† she says. For the past one year, ever since the Nairs shifted from their 100-square-foot chawl room into a 225-square-foot flat, little Neeraj has learnt to entertain himself at home. His tutelage began from their days in the transit camp two years ago, when the Nairs watched their two-floor decrepit chawl in south Mumbai transform into a nine-storey giant.It was a difficult transition, but it was also called ‘the good life'. Their new apartment has assured them all the things they lacked attached bathroom, separate kitchen, privacy and respect. And a loft that is now filled with utensils instead of people. They have even bought a refrigerator. But Edna is already feeling suffocated. She misses evening chats with other women in the common balcony and worries about expenses. Before they moved in, her sister, who lives in a small flat in Andheri, had warned her about huge maintenance bills and other costs that come with the â€Å"flat system†.Edna knew that once the building was fully ready and they moved in, her 72-rupee monthly chawl rent would soon be history. â€Å"Why should we show that we are rich when we aren't? † asks Edna wondering if it was a good decision to move into a flat. But her mother, Teresa, is happy. For someone who spent 38 years in the chawls delivering milk packets, Teresa didn't want the same life for her grandson. â€Å"I want him to study English in a good school,† she says and the apartment, she believes, takes him a step closer to the kind of life he should lead in the future.It's the case with almost all the families who are giving up their old dwellings in chawls and slums to builders who assure them fantastic lifestyle leaps. While the change from their routine to something that they have only seen on TV seems daunting, there is a strong urge among these people to improve their lives. They yield to the builders and watch their old homes being demolished because they don't w ant their children to suffer. Housewife Suguna Shetty, who would earlier divert all guests to her brother-in-law's flat in Parel to save herself from the embarrassment of exposing her chawl, is now proud of her new residence.The lift in her building doesn't work most of the time, but Shetty who stays on the ninth floor takes heart in the fact that her TV, which used to be on a trunk earlier, now rests in a showcase. Her daughter Deeksha too, likes it here. â€Å"I can ask friends to come over. † Deeksha knows of kids who, while returning from school would actually walk a few steps ahead of their chawls so that their friends would not know where they lived, wave goodbye and then return to the real homes. BMC employee Ravikant Baokar was one of them. â€Å"Nobody likes to say they live in a chawl.If you say you stay in a building, you are automatically respected no matter how small your flat is,† he says. This respect comes in handy while finding alliances. Recently, whe n an engineering student from Baokar's chawl told his prospect's family that he would soon be shifting into a flat, the girl, it seems, immediately agreed for marriage. For slum-dwellers, the shift inspires a desire to look after themselves. LIC agent Raju Gaddam, a resident of Indira Nagar slum, who shifted to a flat two years ago says his language and attire have undergone major changes. I even painted my scooter, when I came here. † His apartment, which he proudly describes as â€Å"east-west† facing, gave him the confidence to buy a refrigerator. â€Å"I wouldn't have bought it in my slum, because I didn't know when my house would be broken down. † Not everybody is happy though. Some find the flat culture very impersonal. They miss the joys of hanging out with their shirtless friends in the compound or borrowing chairs without permission from neighbours anymore. Pandal decorator Rakesh Gautam, whose assistants used to sleep in his house, now has to find a new room for them, due to society rules.Earlier, during festivals or weddings, he would volunteer to decorate mandaps for free. Though he would like to continue the charity, Gautam says, â€Å"I won't be able to use the compound for my decorations anymore. † On his assignments, Gautam has come across other chawl members who shifted a few years earlier. â€Å"They would live in the building in pretty much the same way as in the chawl, until new tenants came in,† he says, laughing. Some would put their cupboards in the stair landing. Kids would brush their teeth in the elevator.The liftman wouldn't complain. â€Å"But when the society was formed, and new tenants came in, things changed,† says Gautam. By now, builders know they are luring people who like to carry their world along, wherever they go. Sudhir Das, secretary of a building full of rehabilitated slum-dwellers, recalls his intensive cleanliness drive. â€Å"Initially, people would spit on the staircase or h ang their clothes in the passage,† he says. They would even keep their doors open. But that changed when there was a robbery. Now, almost all doors are shut.The transition from chawls to flats, unexpectedly, has caused ailments too. Lakshmi Sonar says, â€Å"I have severe back pains and have even grown fat here, as I am confined to these walls. † Also, she doesn't know how to react to sweepers or postmen who ring her doorbell asking for Diwali bonus. â€Å"I hardly get any letters, why should I pay him. † Sunny Wadhawan, director of HDIL (Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd. ) which profits from slum rehabilitation, has built his glassy office building on what used to be the Indira Nagar slum in Bandra.Every day, Sunny who has a guard following him everywhere, faces many complaints from irate slum-dwellers, who are like his â€Å"adopted children†. They sometimes come with complaints of water supply and Sunny calmly passes the task to civic bodies. Yet, it's not surprising why poor people want to trust a builder and allow a lucky draw to decide their new notional homes. Though they loved the natural rustic warmth of their chawls and slums, they know that Mumbai and the times have changed. They know that the warmth of the chawls is the warmth of failure.And they also feel, in the present day boom, their children have the opportunity to escape from the poverty that each of their forefathers suffered. If moving into a flat can make an LIC agent paint his scooter, it can also make children believe they have a brighter future. Raju Gaddam, who studied in night school, now sends his three kids to New English school in Bandra. The products of the school, he believes, are now earning Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month. He has just one complaint with the flat culture. â€Å"The passage is too narrow. But then as an afterthought, he adds, â€Å"It's definitely better than a gutter. † Festivals Festivals are the life of the people in chawls. They cannot imagine their life without celebrating anything in their special chawl ways. They regardless of caste, region, religions, sex, creed, age participate in some or the other way. Everyone works single mindedly for the celebrations from preparing the feast to decorations. Everyone contributes in every possible way. Festivals were the most enjoyable period. First festival of the year is Makarsankranti Makarsankranti i. e.Kite flying on 14 Jan. They gather on terraces and it is fun filled day, they give â€Å"Tilgud† going to eachothers house wishing everyone â€Å"Tilgud Ghya God God Bola†( eat sweet and talk sweet). Holi Holi the favourite festival of many is celebrated with a great enthusiasm and zeel. Even after facing scarcity of water throughout the year but in Holi they use water without any hesitation for playing Holi. Even the Government supports them by supplying extra liters of water for them to take bath in the afternoon. Gopal Kala (Dahi Han di) Monsoon session would start with Govinda.They have Handi which is broken with 3-4 Thars (human floors) This is usually local affair but Govindas from various Mandals also go places to parcipate in the competition for breaking the Handis at different places. Ganesh Utsav Ganpati festival the most lovable and appreciable festival of all is Pride of Place. It is not only a festival but also a source of fulfillment and worshipping where people of different religion come together. This festival is not only celebrated in the maharashtrian homes but by people of every religion with the same intensity and Faith in Lord Ganesha.These Chawls have Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Festival and most Marathi homes have Ganpati for 1-7 days and majority of them have Gauri as well. It is 10 days of fun, music, orchestra, competitions,3 act Drama etc culminating in the Grand Visarjan which starts with the grand visarjan pooja and end with immersion of the Ganesh Idols at Chawpathy or beaches till next da y morning, the most difficult part to move and immerse the huge idol requires a great effort and to take it for immersion in deep sea, in darkness with full tide was scary as well.This is difficult also because the emotional trauma they go through while returning home empty handed. In subsequent years focus has moved to huge idols of Ganesh and for them there is nothing to do as cultural programme degenerated to 16 mm movie shows and an evening of orchestra. Navratri Navratri is celebrated by Gujarati residents with Garba and Dandia which is also accompanied by the other members of their Chawl family. They have Dholi and Shehnai and Dandia Ras is more like â€Å"Dholi Tharo†¦ n Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam than what we see these days at Falguni Pathak's show. Diwali Diwali was less noisy-most couldn't afford bursting crackers-and emphasis was on making Kandils usually similar Kandils for entire chawl which gave beautiful look to entire lane and one big Kandil at the enterance of the Chawl. Making sweets, diyas, beautiful Rangolis is a special feature of Diwali. In fact they have Rangoli competition. Entire night is spent in creating Rangoli, some with nationalist or Shivaji themes, others with intricate designs and few with nature as theme.Christmas Christmas and New year were not celebrated as they didn't have Christian families living in the chawls but even then there is a changing trend now a days. YOUTH CULTURE: According to a youngster, who we spoke to, there are many get-togethers taking place in a chawl, as people tend to celebrate their festivals together and also are a part of each other’s sorrows. When we asked him about the places where they usually meet, he told us about what is called the Saarvajanik Vruttpatra Vachanalaya, which also could be called a Public Newspaper Centre.It was rather surprising for us to hear that youngsters choose a place like a newspaper centre to hang out, but what he added on was that, as the place was at the cent re o the colony, and also there was no cost factor involved, it was convenient for the youngsters to meet up in the evenings. We also visited the newspaper centre and sat there for sometime. We saw that there were many newspapers there, but they were either Marathi or Hindi newspapers. This clearly showed that the people staying in the chawls were educated, but in Hindi or Marathi medium schools.And also, what we gathered out of all that is that the majority of the people staying in the chawls are Maharashtrians, and obviously there are people from other castes, but not in huge numbers. We also found out about the small-scale tuition classes, which mainly have students from kindergarten to SSC. These classes have a big market in these chawls, as the parents there are usually working, and they can’t manage the studies of their children. We also spoke to certain friends who stay in chawls. We asked them a few questions regarding the social evils like drugs, prostitution and als o incidents where several crimes are committed on women.They gave us a general idea on things, saying that drugs was not an issue in the chawl as the people there don’t have the kind of time, and more importantly the money to get addicted to drugs. But, it seems that heavy-weight laborers usually drink liquor after they come back from work, and it’s very normal for them to consume alcohol as it lightens their mood, and also relieves them from the stress. Tenement were small so there was no space for residents. You use home to bath,eat food and sleep. Rest of the time you have to be out of the house. So groups were formed according to age and each group had its meeting place.During holidays and vacation half the day was spent in company of friends. With plenty of time on hands you indulge in games-cricket being favorite,but we played Kabbadi,lagori and Marbles. Carrom was very popular,and Table Tennis on small wooden bench. There was no TV, so Radio Ceylon with Binaca G eetmala was hot favorite. We had timeon hand, so could take part in Election campaigns. I remember election meetings of George Fernandes for Lok Sabha. He defeated S. K. Patil of Congress and virtually put an end to Patil's political career in Mumbai. For decades Fernandes was called ‘George the Giant Killer'.In seventy Marathi youth was attracted to Shiv Sena with its ‘Son of soil' ideology. There was constant conflict between socialists and Shiv Sena. Most of us couldn't pursue studies after SSC due to financial constrains. Even passing SSC was tough as at home there was no space to study. We used to go to GMC Gymkhana bldg. on Marine Drive to study. Terrace was another good place. Most got job as clerk in BMC or in Govt. offices. Gujrati boys completed their college education and took jobs in Banks or offices. With hard work and diligence they progressed but couldn't reach very high posts.Very few could break through the Middle class bracket. Caste Systems Residents o f the chawls are predominantly Gujarati and Marwadi,rest are inhabited by Maharastrians. Few of the floor rooms are dorms for those who had come to Mumbai for work leaving their families in village. They work as Mathadi workers and others from Konkan area work as plumbers,painters,peons in small offices. Chawls have Chambhar(Mochi),Bhandari,Khatri,Kasar,Sonar,Brahmins, Desais and Low caste Patels from South Gujarat. There is no caste discrimination. Everyone takes part in Festivals. Even the person who has shoe shop, is in charge of Sarvajanic Ganesh festival .Any Child is not being asked not to play or not to mix with low caste people. Chawl people are aware of the caste but it has no place in their day to day life. This has given Mumbai its unique character. Standard of living: People living in the chawls are mainly from the lower-middle class. They are the ones who actually live lives on meager standards. Normally we do find people living in the societies which consist of the upp er middle class and high class having a high standard of living. They enjoy all the luxuries in life. But this is not the case of the people living in the chawls.Most of the times, they are deprived of the luxuries and rather live life the common man’s way. They rarely go to restaurants to have their meals. According to the survey conducted by us we got to know that the residents of the chawls go to the restaurant just once in two months which is very obvious for them because they cannot afford such kind of expenses. According to the survey, what we found out was that they are people who lead a simple life without any fuss and make the most of whatever they have. Every expense they incur is well planned and thought about. They represent the working class of India.The room is mainly a one room kitchen with a toilet attached as provided by MHADA. We spoke to a youngster who resided in the Nehru Nagar Chawl area which is located near Kurla station. Age Group Wise Activities: Whe n we visited the chawls we decided to categorize the residents living there according to their age group and their activities. 1} Education Class: As the name suggests this class mainly consists of the ones who are still in academics. They are the ones who go to schools and colleges to complete their studies. We may be in an impression that people residing in chawls do not study. But it’s a misconception that we have got.They do work hard and put their hearts out to become prosperous being in the future. But they do have setbacks. Once they sight failure they get distracted from their studies and think money as their only motive. Thus they take up small tasks which yield them money. Thus when studies take a set back they tend to do jobs and that then become a part of their life. 2} Working Class: This class mainly consists of the ones between the age group 30-40. They are the working members of the family. They are the ones who strive hard and earn a living. People living in the chawls do not consider any work small or big.May it be any job; they take it up whole-heartedly and do their work with sincerity. It is their daily bread and butter and hence they do it with dedication. People in the chawls mainly work in small posts. Some of them are agents, private officers, clerks and some of them take up financing and also work in small marketing agencies. Many of them are local garage mechanics who toil the whole day for eating 3 times in a day. They also learn driving and take up driving as their job. The chawl areas do have a lot of drivers. Drivers earn around 4000-5000 every month and carry on their house hold expenses.Many of them get government jobs through influence. For e. g. If a person is already working as a government official, he may use his influence and get a job for his friend. This itself proves the unity within the chawl community. They also do take up small jobs like A/c Mechanic, small electronic goods mechanic etc†¦ 3} Retired and the elderly class: This class consists of the elderly people who have retired from their jobs and have taken a long leave from work. But it is not relief from work for these elderly people. They do get small responsibilities in the house.They do go out to fetch their grand children from schools and kinder gardens. They take care of the small ones if their parents are busy out at work. They look after them the whole day and sometimes also get sleepless nights. But they do enjoy it sometimes but at the same time tends to get very tedious at this very old age. There are some people in this class who have sold their houses and gone to their respective villages to look after their farms. They look after their farms and also sometimes work on it. Thus the elderly and retired people do get to enjoy their long vacation from work but at the same time also work.Thus even at this very old age they have the will power to work and earn a decent sum for the family. Even at this age they prove to be responsible and also help the family in any possible manner. Media and chawls†¦ Still to b added†¦more Katha Centre for Film Studies is back at the Alliance Francaise, Churchgate with a week long program of Film Screenings from Friday, 12th of January to Thursday, 18th of January 2007. After a very successful Inaugural Festival in June 2006, they again bring an eclectic choice of films from the world of cinema specially curate by individuals for whom cinema is a way of life!This festival is in collaboration with the National Film Archives of India, Pane and NFDC. On the 12th and 13th of January, 2007, the Festival began with two days of Indian films dedicated to the theme of Mumbai’s Chawls. Amrit Gangar(a film scholar, writer, curator) had specially put together a package of five feature films, a short film and a compilation on representation of Bombay in films tilted: â€Å"‘CHALCHITRA: CHAWLCHITRA’-:Popular Hindi Cinema and Mumbai's Chawl. † He led an intensive session of discussions and debates on the polemics and politics of space in urban context.They ended the Festival with film enthusiast and cinema buff, Kiran David’s exciting selection which is packed with films from Japanese cinema. Unity In Diversity A Nana Chowk-resident Ranjana Sherlekar said, â€Å"They are so used to being with each other all the time that it’s become a habit. Just the other day, he slipped on a  wet floor while cleaning my kitchen and no one was at home. All he had to scream was ‘help’ and at least ten people came running to his rescue. They’re really like a one big extended family! † she quips.The atmosphere, though filled with camaraderie, may appear a tad stifling to one who has lived in an individual apartment, but it is part of life for chawl residents. For them, living together is their strength Conclusion Change is inevitable â€Å"Change is inevitable, and even the most stable structure cannot avoid that. Chawls have been a victim of changing times: though the occasional bond still remains, its bedrock — which comprised the people who lived there — have all left. They have been replaced by individuals, who have no interest in keeping the community alive,†