Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Epilogue

Epilogue The angel took the book from him, then went out the door and across the hall, where he knocked on the door. â€Å"He's finished,† the angel said to someone in the room. â€Å"What, you're leaving? I can just go?† asked Levi who was called Biff. The door across the hall opened, and there stood another angel, this one seeming to have more a female aspect than Raziel. She too held a book. She stepped into the hall to reveal a woman standing behind her, wearing jeans and a green cotton blouse. Her hair was long and straight, dark with reddish highlights, and her eyes were crystal blue and seemed to glow in contrast to her dark skin. â€Å"Maggie,† said Levi. â€Å"Hi, Biff.† â€Å"Maggie finished her Gospel weeks ago,† said Raziel. â€Å"Really?† The Magdalene smiled. â€Å"Well, I didn't have as much to write as you did. I didn't see you guys for sixteen years.† â€Å"Oh, right.† â€Å"It is the will of the Son that you two go out together into this new world,† said the female angel. Levi went across the hall and took her in his arms. They kissed for a long time until the angels began to clear their throats and murmur â€Å"Get a room† under their breaths. They held each other at arm's length. Levi said, â€Å"Maggie, is this going to be like it always was? You know, you're with me, and you love me and everything, but it's only because you can't have Josh?† â€Å"Of course.† â€Å"That's so pathetic.† â€Å"You don't want to be together?† â€Å"No, I want to, it's just pathetic.† â€Å"I have money,† she said. â€Å"They gave me money.† â€Å"That's good.† â€Å"Go,† said Raziel, losing his patience. â€Å"Go, go, go. Go away.† He pointed down the hallway. They started walking down the hallway, arm in arm, tentatively, looking back at the angels every few steps, until at last they looked back and the angels were gone. â€Å"You should have stuck around,† the Magdalene said. â€Å"I couldn't. It hurt too much.† â€Å"He came back.† â€Å"I know, I read about it.† â€Å"He was sad because of what you had done.† â€Å"Yeah, so was I.† â€Å"The others were angry with you. They said that you had the greatest reason to believe.† â€Å"That why they edited me out of their Gospels?† â€Å"Good guess,† she said. They stepped into the elevator and the Magdalene pushed the button for the lobby. â€Å"By the way, it was Hallowed,† she said. â€Å"What was Hallowed?† â€Å"The H. His middle name. It was Hallowed. It's a family name, remember, ‘Our father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.'† â€Å"Damn, I would have guessed Harvey,† Biff said. Afterword Teaching Yoga to an Elephant And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. JOHN 21:25 Can you really teach yoga to an elephant? Well no, you can't, but we're talking about Jesus here. Nobody knows what he could do. The book you've just read is a story. I made it up. It is not designed to change anyone's beliefs or worldview, unless after reading it you've decided to be kinder to your fellow humans (which is okay), or you decide you really would like to try to teach yoga to an elephant, in which case, please get videotape. I researched Lamb, I really did, but there is no doubt I could have spent decades researching and still managed to be inaccurate. (It's a talent, what can I say?) While I've made some attempt to paint an accurate picture of the world in which Christ lived, I changed things for my own convenience, and sometimes, obviously, there was no way of knowing what conditions really existed in the years 1 through 33. The available written history about the peasant class, society, and the practice of Judaism in the first century in Galilee degenerates quickly into theory. The role of the Pharisees in peasant society, the Hellenistic influence, the influence of an international city like Joppa nearby: who knows how these things would have affected Christ as a boy? Some historians postulate that Yeshua of Nazareth would have been little more than an ignorant hillbilly, while others say that because of the proximity of Sepphoris and Joppa, he could have been exposed to Greek and Roman culture from an early age. I chose the latter because it makes for a more interesting story. The historical life of Jesus, beyond a couple of references by Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, and the odd mention by Roman historians, is again mostly speculation. What we can know today of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is included in the four slim Gospels found in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For those readers who know the Gospels (bear with me), you know that Matthew and Luke are the only two to mention Christ's birth, while Mark and John cover only the ministry part of Jesus' life. The wise men are mentioned only in one short passage in Matthew, and the shepherds are mentioned only in Luke. The slaughter of the innocents and the fleeing into Egypt are mentioned only in Matthew. In short, Jesus' infancy is a jumble, but the chronicle of his childhood is worse. Of the time from Jesus' birth to when he began his ministry in his thirties, the Bible gives us only one scene: Luke tells us of Jesus teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem at age twel ve. Other than that, we have a thirty-year hole in the life of the most influential human being to ever walk the face of the earth. With Lamb, in my own goofy way, I attempted to fill that hole in history, but again, I am not trying to present history as it might really have been, I'm simply telling stories. Some of the historical elements of Lamb are uncomfortable to work the modern mind around. The precocious sexuality comes to mind. That Maggie would have been betrothed by twelve and married by thirteen is almost certain from what we know of Jewish society in the first century, as are the facts that a Jewish boy of the time would have been learning his trade by age ten, would be betrothed at thirteen, and would be married by fourteen. Trying to create empathy for the adult roles of those whom we, today, would consider children, was of no small concern to me when I was writing that section of the book, but it may be the one section where the sexuality of the characters is not historically out of place. The average peasant in Galilee would have been lucky to live to the age of forty, so perhaps the children, by necessity, reached sexual maturity earlier than they would under less harsh conditions. Although there are, I'm sure, many historical inaccuracies and improbabilities in this book, the most blatant that I have knowingly indulged is in the section where Biff and Joshua visit Gaspar in the mountains of China. While Gautama Buddha did indeed live and teach some five hundred years before the birth of Christ, and while his teachings were widespread in India by the time our heroes could have made it to the East, Buddhism didn't make it into China for almost five hundred years after Christ's death. The martial arts would not be developed by Buddhist monks until after that, but to remain historically accurate, I would have had to leave out an important question that I felt needed to be addressed, which is, â€Å"What if Jesus had known kung fu?† The life of Gaspar, as described in Lamb (the nine years in the cave, etc.), is drawn from the legends of the life of the Buddhist patriarch Bodhidharma, the man who is said to have taken Buddhism to China around A.D. 500. Bodhidharma (or Daruma) is credited with the school of Buddhism that we know today as Zen. Buddhist legend does not mention Bodhidharma encountering a yeti, but they do have him cutting his eyelids off to avoid falling asleep and having them sprout into tea plants which later monks would brew to keep awake during meditation (which I left out), so I traded that story in on an abominable snowman and Biff's theory of natural selection. Seemed fair. Bodhidharma is also said to have invented and taught kung fu to the famous Shao Lin monks to condition them for the rigorous regimen of meditation he prescribed. Most of the details of the festival of Kali, including the sacrifices and mutilations, come from Joseph Campbell's Oriental Mythology, from his Masks of God series. Campbell cites eyewitness accounts of the bloody ritual from nineteenth-century British soldiers and states that even today over eight hundred goats are beheaded for the festival of Kali in Calcutta. (Anyone who had trouble with this passage, please write to Campbell in his current incarnation.) The cited verses from the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita are actual translations of those revered writings. The verses from the Kama Sutra are completely from my imagination, but you'll find weirder stuff in the actual book. Theologically, I made certain assumptions about who Jesus was, mainly that he was who the Gospels say he was. While I used the Gospels heavily for reference, and there are a couple of references to the Acts of the Apostles (specifically the giving of the gift of tongues, without which Biff could not have told the story in modern American idiom), I tried not to draw on the rest of the New Testament, specifically the letters of Paul, Peter, James, and John, as well as Revelations, all written years after the Crucifixion (as were the Gospels). These missives eventually went on to define Christianity, but no matter what you may think of them, you have to agree that Jesus would not have been aware of them, or the events in them, or certainly the consequences of their teaching, so they had no place in this story. Joshua and Biff, as Jewish boys, would, however, have been familiar with the books of the Old Testament, the first five of which made up the base of their faith, the Torah, and th e rest which were referred to by people of the time as Prophets and Writings, so I referred to these when I felt it was appropriate. As I understand it, however, the Talmud and most of the Midrash (illustrative stories explaining the law of God) had not yet been formulated and agreed upon, so they were not used as a reference for Lamb. From the Gnostic Gospels (a set of manuscripts found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, but which actually may have been written earlier than the canonized Gospels) I've drawn only slightly on the Gospel of Thomas, a book of Christ's sayings, because it fit well with the Buddhist point of view (many of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are also found in Mark). The other Gnostic Gospels were either too fragmentary, or frankly, just plain creepy (the Infancy Gospel of Thomas describes Jesus, at age six, using his supernatural powers to murder a group of children because they tease him. Sort of Carrie Goes to Nazareth. Even I had to pass.) Lamb is peppered throughout with biblical references, both real and made-up (i.e., Biff quotes liberally from nonexistent books of the Bible such as Dalmatians, Excretions, and Amphibians). My editor and I discussed the merit of footnoting these references and decided that footnotes would detract from the flow of the story. The problem arises, however, that if the reader knows the Bible well enough to recognize the real references, there's a good chance that he or she has decided not to read this book. Our final decision – well, my final decision, my editor wasn't really consulted on this because he might have said no – was to advise those who are not familiar with the Bible to find someone who is, sit them down, read them the passages in question, then say, â€Å"That one real? How 'bout that one?† If you don't know someone who is familiar with the Bible, just wait, someone will come to your door eventually. Keep extra copies of Lamb on hand so they can take one with them. Another problem with telling a story that has been told so many times is that people are looking for elements with which they are familiar. Although I've glossed over many events that are chronicled in the Gospels, there are numerous elements which many people think are there, which simply are not. One is that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. She's always portrayed that way in movies, but it doesn't ever say that she is in the Bible. She is mentioned by name eleven times in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Luke, Mark). Most references to her talk about her preparation for the burial of Jesus, and then being the first witness of his resurrection. It also says that Jesus cured her of evil spirits. No whore references, period. There are â€Å"Marys† without surnames all over the Gospels, and some of them, I suspect, may refer to the Magdalene, specifically the Mary who, soon before his death, anoints Jesus' feet with expensive ointment and wipes them with her hair, certainly one of the most tender moments in the Gospels and the primary basis for my rendering of Maggie's character. We know from letters that many of the leaders of the early church were women, but in first-century Israel, a woman who struck out on her own without a husband was not only considered uppity, but was very likely referred to as a harlot (as was a woman who was divorced). That could be where the myth originated. Another Gospel misassumption is that the three wise men were kings, or, in fact, that there were even three of them. We make that assumption because there are three gifts given to the Christ child. Their names are never mentioned. The names Balthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior come to us from Christian tradition written hundreds of years after the time of Christ. We assume that Joseph of Nazareth, Jesus' stepfather, dies before the Crucifixion, yet it is never stated in the Gospels. He just may not have been involved. We make assumptions based on what we have been fed over the years at Christmas pageants and passion plays, but often, although inspired by faith, that material is little more than what you have just read: the product of someone's imagination. The Gospels do not agree on the order of the events that happen during the ministry, from Jesus' baptism by John to the Crucifixion, so I arranged events from all the Gospels in what seemed a logical, chronological order, while adding t hose elements that allow Biff's participation in the story. There are, of course, elements of the Gospels which I left out in the interest of brevity, but you can always find them in the Gospels if you want. My sending Joshua and Biff to the East was motivated purely by story, not by basis in the Gospel or historical evidence. While there are indeed astounding similarities between the teachings of Jesus and those of Buddha (not to mention those of Lao-tzu, Confucius, and the Hindu religion, all which seem to have included some version of the Golden Rule), it's more likely that these stem from what I believe to be logical and moral conclusions that any person in search of what is right would come to, e.g.: that the preferable way to treat one another is with love and kindness; that pursuit of material gain is ultimately empty when measured against eternity; and that somehow, as human beings, we are all connected spiritually. While historians and theologians don't completely rule out the possibility that Christ may have traveled to the East, they seem to agree that he could have formulated the teachings we find in the Gospels with no more influence than the rabbinical teachings in Galilee and Judea. But what fun would that have been? Finally, this story was set in a dire time, a deadly serious time, and the world of the first-century Jew under the rule of the Romans would not have been one that easily inspired mirth. It's more than a small anachronism that I portray Joshua having and making fun, yet somehow, I like to think that while he carried out his sacred mission, Jesus of Nazareth might have enjoyed a sense of irony and the company of a wisecracking buddy. This story is not and never was meant to challenge anyone's faith; however, if one's faith can be shaken by stories in a humorous novel, one may have a bit more praying to do. My thanks to the many people who helped in the research and writing of this book, especially those who were generous enough to share their beliefs without judgment or condemnation. Many thanks to Neil Levy, Mark Joseph, Professor William â€Å"Sundog† Bersley, Ray Sanders, and John â€Å"The Heretic† Campbell for their advice on religion, philosophy, and history. To Charlee Rodgers for putting up with the fits, starts, whining, and hubris of the process, as well as to Dee Dee Leichtfuss for readings and comments. Special thanks to Orly Elbaz, who was my tour guide through Israel and who showed infinite patience in answering my nitpicky historical questions. Also to my agent, Nick Ellison, and my editor, Tom Dupree, for their patience, tolerance, and advice. Christopher Moore BIG SUR, CALIFORNIA NOVEMBER 2000

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However as soon as Mr Danforth begins to question her she begins to break down. By her second answer her voice has already weakened. As the questioning continues she deteriorates until she is barely audible. She does pick herself up though when she is asked if she is a liar she replies No, sir I am with God now. This makes Danforth angry as it means that he has a battle to determine if all the girls are lying or if Mary alone is lying. Which ever way Mary chooses she is told by Danforth that she will face a perjury charge and go to jail because as he sees it she was either lying in the first place about anybody sending their spirit out to hurt her and therefore there may be no witches in Salem at all and the court may have hanged innocent people, for which all the girls will be committed of perjury and punished or he thinks that maybe she can still see spirits attacking her but chooses to say that she doesnt in the hope that Elizabeth Proctors charge of witchcraft will be dropped and she will be freed. In this case only Mary will be committed of perjury and sentenced. When Mary is told this she simply cries that she is with God repeatedly and then sobs. At this point the other girls accusing people of witchcraft enter the courtroom. There will have been tension in the audience as Danforth has been questioning Mary and they may have felt that Danforth was beginning to believe Mary but as the girls enter the room the audience will immediately sense an increase in tension because included in the group of girls is Abigail, the ringleader and the audience will sense the coming of almost a battle between the two girls each trying to earn the trust and belief from Danforth. Danforth turns from Mary and asks the other girls if any of them will admit that they have been lying about seeing spirits. He asks Abigail Williams to answer for all the girls and she predictably says that they have not been lying. Danforth then sees that he is now going to have to do some hard questioning and gives both the girls a chance to change their positions, claiming to be telling the truth, but both refuse. So Danforth proceeds to question Abigail. Abigail simply denies the implications of Danforths questions or throws them aside as lies. He is obviously the one with the most power as far as law and rules are concerned but it seems that Abigail has more power over him from the way she speaks to him, she almost commands respect from him. I think this is shown especially when she speaks the line: [with a slight note of indignation] It is a lie sir To which Danforth pauses before speaking which seems to show a surprised reaction and I think he does respect her because it has to be remembered that Abigail is only 11 at this time and for any 11 year old to speak with such tones and maturity would be something unusual and interesting to Danforth I think and immediately gain his respect. To make a powerful comparison would be to compare 18yr old Mary Warren to 11yr old Abigail. Abigail is by far Marys junior but is so clever that she can make Mary fear her. Mary doesnt have any of Abigails boldness either which also gives her a disadvantage. Abigail combines her age, beauty and brains to make herself a very fearsome opponent. It becomes obvious that she has Hathorne and Parris on her side and they try to influence Danforth to believe Abigail. Whereas trying to tell the truth there is only Mary, Proctor, Cheever and, the only man of law on their side, Mr Hale.

Analysis of Business Strategy at ASOS

Analysis of Business Strategy at ASOS Chapter1. 1.1 What is E- Business? Electronic Business is very simple the meaning to any reader that Business taking place electronically. E-Business which we are benefiting from has gone through many stages of maturity. One of main reason to choose this topic is that to see how organisation either switching their business to E-Commerce or starting solely only online business. No doubt there are many advantages but its note free of limitations. 1.2 Purpose of Report: There are many Organisations to consider in my report but I am choosing ASOS (As seen on Screen). ASOS is the United Kingdoms one of largest online-only fashion and Beauty store. The purpose to consider this organisation is to highlight in detail how ASOS using E-commerce Technology captured significant market share and Market Reputation. ASOS has targeted the people of age group 16-34, catering to both genders. I would like to focus how they formulated their E-Commerce strategy and how they have chosen a specific age group to Target their business to. ASOS has spent lots of money on Research and Developments. I would like to mention here very recent Example of their Advertising campaign in UK.I have seen in many places specially on Bus stops where they are advertising to give chance to every   individual to visit their website and upload your picture to participate in street style competition. I would also like to consider how their financial position has been significantly increased and showed positive sign of further progress in this Recovery Economic cycle. They also launched US, French and German specific language website which is another addition to their enhanced performance. I will also focus on their statement of core purpose â€Å" Our core purpose is to inspire and power your fashion discovery; without an internal brand and strong people strategy we would not be able to live up to that promise.† www.asos.com http://www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-ecommerce/ Scope of the report: Here, I will discuss how still ASOS is achieving its target and maintaining its consistency in performance. The scope also included to focus on Business to Business(B2B) and Business to Consumer(B2C).The issues to be covered regarding birth of ASOS then how it has been built to reach at this stage, Development in progress, expanding abroad, organising events and their passion for more innovation. The report will also analyse Financial and Non Financial Ratios to reflect their position. Graphical Demonstration is also part of it. Key Results: Research of journals and ASOS financial statements shows the following split of its Fashion category: Women swear Clothing : 56% Womenswear Non-Clothing : 16% Menswear : 20% Beauty/Outlet/Kids : 8% There is significant growth in International markets, now ASOS is shipping to 167 countries. International sales has been increased by 95% in 2009-2010.In 2004/05, Uk sales was   94% and International sale was   6 %,   but in 2009/10, UK sales was 75% and International sales was 25%.It shows how ASOS has expanded all over the world by using its own brands and other existing brands. Currently, trading result has been issued at ASOS website and CEO, Nick Robertson has reported another successful year including highlights for the 2010/2011, Retails sales has been increased 58% on year (UK +24% and International +144 %). As Internationaly becoming an increasingly significant part of   ASOS future, Nick Robertson pleased to see International sales mix exceed that of the UK for the first time, accounting for 52% of retail sales.   http://www.asosplc.com/Doc/pdf/Announcements/Q4_Trading_Update_FINAL.pdf www.asos.com http://www.asosplc.com/Investors/Financials/Annual_~_Interim_Results/JQueryTabs.aspx?id=45 http://www.asosplc.com/Doc/pdf/Announcements/Q4_Trading_Update_FINAL.pdf www.asos.com http://www.asosplc.com/Investors/Financials/Annual_~_Interim_Results/JQueryTabs.aspx?id=45 Summary findings: The research finding shows a continuous growth in the financial and Market growth of the Organisation which is due to its strong E-Commerce bases Business Strategies. As ASOS is only online fashion retail store and up to 2010, 3 website in USA, France and Germany in their languages has been launched. It is E-Commerce who makes it not that hard to get access to one of the largest Economies otherwise it would have been quite costly to enter into larger fashion Markets such as of France and USA.Where physical presence in the form of Retail stores would have been quite challenging Financial and taking in context the strong competitors already present there. How greatly cost effective it is for ASOS, because they have Debt free financing. ASOS is one of those organisation where E-Commerce has played a vital role which are now Multimillion  £ organisation which are experiencing rapid growth due to E-Commerce base business. Chapter 2. Introduction. People thinke-commerceis just people browsing, but theres more to it than that. More and more people are using programs and agents to shop for the best deal, and thats how theyre going to be getting to your site. ~Tim Berners-Lee(June 08, 1955 ) Impact of an E-commerce on an Organisation plays a vital role on any Organisation, which has culture of Adopting this Approach and has Management to cope with approach, when most of the businesses now considering adopting this approach to enhance their performance and considering cost benefit analysis. I have chosen this topic because I mostly use E-Commerce websites and mostly read journals and Articles regarding organisations launching E-Commerce in their businesses. I strongly believe how E-commerce can cut down cost in any organisation. Many Businesses started to shift from Real time Market to Digital Market. The History of Online Shopping in Nutshell E-commerce can be described as: the sharing business information, maintaining business relationships and conducting business transactions by means of telecommunications networks where business transactions take place via telecommunications networks, especially the Internet describes the buying and selling of products, services and information via computer networks including the Internet the conduct of a à ¯Ã‚ ¬?nancial transaction by electronic means Since transactions go through the Internet and the Web, the terms I-commerce (Internet commerce), icommerce and even Web-commerce have been suggested but are now very rarely used. It goes unnoticed that E-Commerce and its underlying technology is around us since almost   4 decades. The term e-commerce was originated   to describe the process of doing   business transactions electronically using technology from the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). These technologies, emerged in late 1970s, usually allowed many organisations   to share information among themselves, typically in the form of electronic purchase orders and invoices. EDI and EFT were theenabling technologiesthat laid the groundwork for what we now know as e-commerce. The Boston Computer Exchange, a marketplace for used computer equipment started in 1982, was one of the first known examples of e-commerce. Then it was in all 1980s when we have seen proliferation of these plastic cards, ATM machines and Phone banking, which was next step in evolution of   E-Commerce. In early 1990s, e-commerce has started to include other enterprise Resource planning (ERP ), Data Warehousing and Data mining. http://www.asos.com/infopages/pgeaboutus.aspx http://sellitontheweb.com/blog/history-of-e-commerce/ http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf http://www.retail-week.com/careers/etail-power-list-2010/01-nick-robertson/5019098.article The world of E-Business. The word commerce and Business doesnt have much difference. Instead it wont be wrong to say that e-commerce is a part of e-business.   Electronic business transactions involves money are â€Å"E-Commerce† activities. when we talk about E-Business, it means have think broadly as E-Business doesnt mean that it is Buying and selling goods   and accepting only credit cards. What about Customer, Marketing, Procurement? This is where E-Business broadly focussed on. Figure 1 is clearly a perfect demonstration of E-commerce and E-Business. http://www.ebusinessprogrammers.com/ebusiness/ecommerce_and_ebusiness.asp As with e-commerce, e-business (electronic business) also has a number of different deà ¯Ã‚ ¬?nitions and is used in a number of different contexts. One of the à ¯Ã‚ ¬?rst to use the term was IBM, in October 1997, when it launched a campaign built around e-business. Today, major Organisations are rethinking their businesses to switch through internet and its new culture and capabilities and this is what some see as e-business. E-business is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. Who is ASOS? ASOS has been established in June 2000 by CEO Nick Robertson. As Nick Robertson is Entrepreneur, he started ASOS with only 3 Employees and after 10 years, he has over 1000 Employees. Nick Robertson has started with step to step approach to capture market share. ASOS has been started in June 2000 and he submitted ASOS PLC holdings to AIM on London stock Exchange. ASOS has launched branded fashions good and then in 2004   first launched its own label product for women, then ASOS has launched ASOS Beauty in 2005 and with this consistent approach, ASOS was the first UK online store to Launch Catwalk in 2006, then ASOS own label for Men has been launched in 2007 and their performance doesnt stopped even in Recession and up to now, ASOS has their website in American, German and French Languages. ASOS has also launched ASOS Little which caters for babies for up to 24 months and Boys and girls from 2-8 years. It includes all High Fashion brands like Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, Miss sixty and True Religion. ASOS also launched its own Magazine, Facebook page and in final Quarter of 2010, had launched three international stores, ASOS USA, ASOS France, and ASOS Germany. ASOS Mobile has been launched In October 2010, which has been designed works through all devices like Blackberry, Android, Symbian and I Phone Operating systems. http://www.asos.com/infopages/pgeaboutus.aspx ASOS and E-Business: ASOS is one of the Largest Online Retail only, catering to the Fashion Retail sector specifically in UK and Great share in International market. They share some really Interesting Results for year 31st March,2010 which clearly shows the Profits they have reaped by adopting E-Commerce as their primary Business   Strategy. The company has gained rapid growth in the retail industry in a matter of few years. Limitation of E-Business: E-Business is not free of limitations as there are areas where any organisation has to be competent and keeps spending to improve what customer demands. In E-Business, Confidentiality and privacy is always key issue which could lead to distrust and hesitation among the customers to use services online Another drawback of the E-Business is that the customers cannot have exact feel and look of the product before purchasing so it depends on the organisation that how clearly and in detail they present the product or service. In this world of internet, networks failure could cause serious disruption customers and business alike, which could result in loss of revenue and productivity. Limitation for the ASOS is that they dont have retail outlets where they could probably miss their targets who may want to see and feel stuff before they buy. Summary of history: In Brief, we can say how ASOS have utilised the E-Commerce business strategy to established themselves in the fashion retail industry having rapid growth in a matter of only 10 years and has now become the one of the Major fashion player in E-Business and it is standing proudly shoulder to shoulder with some of the more established high street competitors. The organisation is a radiant example of a successful E-Business. Procurement : The company executives took a step by step approach, in targeting the customers and implementing the business plan. They have invested in parts and specifically targeted age group after a thorough market research. If we analyse the history of ASOS, we find that it has started with some Famous High Street brands the likes of Diesel, FireTrap, Karen Millen and French Connection etc and then gradually launched its own label products in interval of years. This was a part of their business objective to enhance their financial gains by starting their own company brand. ASOS promotes welcoming ‘Like Minded talent together .It says their people have no fear to enter into the unknown market. .http://www.drapersonline.com/people/next-generation/asos/5021069.article http://www.asosplc.com/Who_We_Are/Our_History/Default.aspx?id=15 http://www.asosplc.com/Investors/Financials/Annual_~_Interim_Results/JQueryTabs.aspx?id=45 Risk Management and Financing: ASOS insisted that all of their investments have been funded using operating cash flows and if any additional working capital required, it uses short term facilities. ASOS group is continuously working to reduce Risk of Interest rates, Foreign Exchanges and other financial risk. Their hedging strategy is to hedge their future foreign currency risk for 6 and 12 months forward. That is the one of the reason that they have got DEBT FREE BALANCE SHEET with increase in net cash to  £ 15.6 million. http://www.asosplc.com/Investors/Financials/Annual_~_Interim_Results/JQueryTabs.aspx?id=45 So how did this tiny start-up become the UKs leading fashion site, at a time when traditional rivals with a much longer heritage were and are struggling? There are many reasons: the site offers something for everyone men and women of course, but also maternity wear, beauty products and kids wear. Although it does sell premium items, the average price is reasonable and accessible, the site is easy to navigate, and it is painless to return items which is more, in Fashion Statements experience, than can be said for some far more expensive online retailers. Then there is the generation it sells to, its key demographic one that expects a snappy online experience as a matter of course. E-Commerce Diagram below describes how the key elements of E-Commerce connected to each other. Information Gathering: In Gathering information for my topic, I have used two main Approaches. Quantitative Approach Qualitative Approach. In Quantitative approach, Research regarding subject has been done through collecting it and then evaluating it through application of Mathematical Models and then demonstrate the Results in the form of Graphs, Statistical data and Tabular forms. Research usually been obtained through internally generated Financial information e.g., periodically (Monthly, Quarterly) performance report/statements with Graphs and statistics as well. In Qualitative approach, it is different in nature; it is like soft data, where data has been gathered through Interview, Observation to interpret the details of finding from the research methods. In the Annual report, it is really helpful to get these data where Company senior management Interviews, statements has been reported There has been both Primary and secondary research involved in my carrying out search for discussing impact of E-Business on an Organisation. For primary search purposes, ASOS website was the main point of getting information regarding their financial and Non financial performance. Primary: ASOS website investor section has been mostly used in my Research Analysis where their Annual report for the year ended March 2010 helped a lot. Structure of report and split of information in different categories, made it easy to focus on required area. It kept engaged while doing research when organisation about us gathering information is ASOS. ASOSs consistency in achieving its objectives and hitting all budgeted and forecasted figures has been exceeding in almost every single year since it has been started. Through participative observation, being a customer of ASOS, I have experience an easy to use feature enriched website which enables the customer to purchase the desired product in a matter of few clicks. Secondary:In secondary search, articles from various weekly magazines, Newspapers, other comparison websites of E-Business, ACCA Text books, Library, Case study helped a lot. Limitation on information Gathering: As ASOS is only virtual business, all relevant information regarding their Strategy, their growth plan, further expansion strategies, the main point of getting all data is online, Magazine Articles, Newspaper. Because if business has got outlets as well then it provides opportunity to get access to any outlets and ask their Management for interview, latest developments, events taking place. No doubt, having own experience by doing that kind of primary research enhance your information gathering. Business Techniques and Models: When we talk about E-Business, its all about Businesses,Goverments and Customers who originate E-commerce.E-Commerce can be divided into further categories, considering perspectives of producers/providers and customers: ACCA P3 Interactive study manual Business-to-Business(B2B_ Business-to-Consumer(B2C) Business-to-employee(B2E) Business-to-government(B2G) Government-to-business(G2B) Government-to-government(G2G) Consumer-to-consumer(C2C) Consumer-to-Business(C2B) http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf ASOS has mainly focussed on the following: B2B ( Business to Business) E-commerce is E-business enable organisations to connect their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly which lead the operations among suppliers and partners to operate more closely, and needs of customers are satisfied and exceed the expectations. ASOS believes and confident to say that actions which has been taken   and there are still more exciting innovation in progress which will keep ASOS apart from other rivals and lead us to drive boost to sales. E-Business has impacting both party, means ASOS selling over 800 brands and plus their own internal brands as well. To some extent using other high street brands they are generating goodwill for their brands as well. It is B2B which are connecting and sharing data among themselves. There are normally 3 groups of B2B in which many E-business could fit in. Direct selling and support to Business. E-Procurement Information Sites. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf Interactive LSBF, P3 study Manual. http://www.asosplc.com/Investors/Financials/Annual_~_Interim_Results/JQueryTabs.aspx?id=45 Recent example of Business to Business is when ASOS has been targeted by Giant Super Market TESCO Plc for Fashion venture, after Tesco has found the excellent recession-Busting growth of ASOS. http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/4255-tesco-targets-asos-chooses-venda-for-fashion-venture B2C (Business to consumer) It is another split of Classification of E-commerce in any Business, where any transaction which ends on serving products or services for the consumer. Any E-business basically do Serve consumers plus retailers as well. ASOS is ambitious doing much for their consumers, they have launched free return to their UK customers in Sep, 2009 and also started Free Supersaver delivery for UK customer which in return gave us a positive reaction and our Items per basket, Frequency of orders have all increases as a direct result of this. http://www.asosplc.com/Investors/Financials/Annual_~_Interim_Results/JQueryTabs.aspx?id=45 For Ecommerce usability is one of the largest contributors to customer conversion and retention rates. Do ASOS follow best practice? If we follow a customer process through focusing onthree key stages of the buying journey, product page, shopping basket and the checkout. The shopping basket which follows many of the best practice recommendations shows clearly that the item is in stock. For reserved items it is clear how long it has reserved this product for this helps tackle the issue of visitors returning to their shopping basket on a subsequent visit only to find the product they had added previously is no longer in stock. ASOS have tried to ensure secure access and use securely on the button wording, which improves the customers sense of trust/security. There is no ambiguity about what standard delivery costs will be, so visitors dont need to wait until they are within checkout to know what delivery costs are. Along with the product thumbnail and title, there is just the right amount of product information provided to ensure you know that you have ordered the right size, colour and quantity Making the delivery costs clear on the shopping basket allows ASOS to make it absolutely clear what the visitor will be paying in total. ASOS makes this a much more customer friendly experience by allowing you to choose other delivery options at the shopping basket stage. This ensures you are going into the checkout process knowing what you will paying and what delivery period you have specified. They clearly display which payment methods are accepted ensuring that shoppers are not confused. Business Model: According to Michael Rapas (P3 Business Analysis Interactive book),General E-business models, ASOSs Business Model was based on Merchant but then as the company business grew, the business model evolved encompassing the Merchant and Manufacturer as well: Merchant:ASOS has started as retailers of goods by using other famous high street brands like All Saints, Mango, and Firetrap etc. A virtual merchant operates only over the web (e.g. Amazon, EBay). Business was started with an Initial Investment of  £1.4m.They has marketed high street market brands and then slowly on step by step Approach. Manufacturer:   After Advertising and hitting targets of their initial strategy of selling external High street brands, ASOS has developed their own internal brands. That is how they have been called as Manufacturer, because it relies on the power of the website to get access buyers directly and then provide distribution channel. ASOS this model is based on Improved, Efficiency, and Customer Service. Brokerage:   As we know, Brokers are those who make markets,they bring together buyers and sellers together and then provide Transaction Facility.Brokers play vital role in businesses like ASOS where there are B2B,B2C markets.ASOS is now operating on combination of Manufacturer and Brokerage Models. The E-business model has always been based on IT Applications and using B2B, B2C, ASOS has chosen CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Tools to support their Strategic Growth Plans. CRM is one the Internal Business Systems Application, is a Business Strategy focuses on Customers with objectives of Maximising Turnover, Customer Satisfaction and Profits. ASOS has chosen this tool from SMARTFOCUS which helps them to keep record of Customer buying, their feedback, refer a friend, Loyalty programmes. Mhairi Brown, CRM Manager for ASOS, said that using Smartfocus will facilitate easy solution and strong marketing strategy and choosing CRM will help to achieve their goal of a Truly Customer Focussed business. http://www.onwindows.com/Articles/Asos-chooses-CRM-for-growth/2812/Default.aspx P3 LSBF Study Manual. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf This framework, was à ¯Ã‚ ¬?rst developed by Kalakota and Whinston, who knows as a Professors of Information Systems, takes a holistic View and identià ¯Ã‚ ¬?es the different components of business and technology which will combine together to form E-commerce. In ASOS, this framework applies equally as in any other E-Business.The following are built on foundation of technology: People and Organisation: People of ASOS are the all key stakeholders like suppliers, customers, Employees, Government, Other regulatory Authorities, which any organisation prioritise according to their level of power and interest in organisation. It is a interaction between People and Organisation which manage to coordinate the Infrastructure, Applications and Businesses and it leads for the functioning of E-Commerce. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf Public Policy: ASOS have to comply with relevant laws and Regulations according to their geographical location. They should follow the relevant tax policies and making sure all payments made according to the relevant Laws and Regulations. ASOS must follow internal procedures and making the most of Tax evasion policies. Company must maintain high level of confidentiality to proceeds as to retain customer confidence; this can be achieved by segregation of duties and applying strong internal control. They must also ensure that security systems are improved to keep the Organisation confidentiality policy competitive globally. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf Technical standards: In Technical standards, all data has been converted into such a way that it can be use universally, means all data can travel seamlessly across different network where it is accessed by range of hardware and software like Palmtops, Computers and other kinds of browsers. ASOS have not got only one website now for user interface and they do meet all Technical standards globally. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf The next part of the Model is Infrastructure and E-Business work by Interlink of both Technology and Infrastructure. Common Business Service : In this part of Infrastructure, once all process of creation of data and content done, its been display and transmitted for user interface, other supporting services has to play their part to facilitate buying and selling. ASOS website in very well structured and one can see how this process works. For finalising transaction on ASOS, one should be feel safe and rely before authorise any payments because of confidentiality issue. This is where Electronic payment like PayPal in ASOS, directories/Catalogues help to check out. https://marketplace.asos.com/basket Message and Information Distributor: This part of Infrastructure is the Engines and fuel, which takes data around the network after Multimedia content of website, is created. But this content then has to be transported for sending and retrieving this information of content. ASOS has its own form of transporting information. Common Examples are EDI, Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, and Email. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf Publishing: It is   Infrastructure of Warehouses and vehicles, where Electronic data and Multimedia content over the Network are stored and then transported using Publishing Infrastructure like World Wide Web(www), Web Servers transport. It depends on website how much Electronic data and Multimedia content it using. Usually HTML and JAVA are used to create Multimedia content. Some websites are Text only or some contain audio, video, graphics. ASOS website is mostly Text and Multimedia where Images has been mostly used. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf Network: Once all of the above completed, and then Network needed to interconnect globally so it could be access anytime, anywhere. As now Technology is so advanced, we can even use ASOS in our Handsets like IPhone; Android Phones etc with Network provider browsing facility, Internet, Telephone wires, Intranets are all form of communication which forms this Network infrastructure. Interfacing: This is the infrastructure where finally customer can get access to all data on website and have user interface with all application. All Technology and infrastructure components interact together to produce the Ideal demonstration of E-Business. These applications are used by Online Banking Sector, Financial sectors, Marketing and Advertising Agencies, Online Shopping. This model really helps for Senior Management to see how important within business or outside for planning and development of E-Business or E-Commerce solution. http://www.sxccal.edu/msccs/ecommerce1.pdf Analysis: Last 3 years of ASOSs Financial performance are incredible. Where UK economy is in Recession and then in Recovery phase now, in these hard times ASOS has maintained their Growth with Consistency. Records sales, Earning per share and Profit has been recorded. Following is details discussion and Analysis of Financial impact on Income, Expenditures, and Profits for last 3 years. Revenue: ASOSs revenue has shown positive signs as in 2008 and 2009, 90% and 104% increased respectively have been reported in Annual report. Then in 2010, 35% increase had made. Increase was not that significant because of increase in international sales. Huge amount of investment has been made in these years for Warehouses to increase their sales volume. Clothes of all genders, Accessories and Footwear are the main sector which result in boost of Revenue Because online user who hit on daily basis the website is increasing day by day and according to latest record, ASOS.com attracts more than 8 million unique Users in a month of which 3.7 millions are registered users and 1.6 million active users (describes as they have shopped in last 6 months).It can be seen that, because of virtual nature of ASOS, the only way of boosting their income is to attract as much users as it can. In only 10 years, its not easy for any business to be in head to head in ranking in various categories in last 3 year s. In top UK shopping website, ASOS was ranked in 2008 17th (2007:40), 12th in 2009. Figure 2.1 and 2.2 give a birds eye view of Retails sales Split for the year ended 2009 and 2010, where we can see Quarterly sales figures for UK and International, which shows a huge increase in International sales of 103% for year 2008/09 and 144% for year 2009/10. Its indication of how just through E-Commerce, without any outlets overseas, ASOS is on way to Business success. Statistical representation of Split of Sales is shown below which compare quarterly change in retail sales as compare to year 2009 ASOS has been ranked 2 year continuously in 2008(4.74%) and 2009(5.13%), 2 nd to Next with 8.96% in 2008 and 6.31%in 2009, in top 10 player as % of Market share list. Figure 1 A demonstrate their actual and forecast % of market share. Annual Reports: for References Expenditures: Because of driving business with new initiatives taken and Passion to be on top of Online Retailers List, ASOS has spent Millions in Development, Management, Marketing and Infrastructure. They have spent Millions on Warehouses for hitting its Targeted Annual sales. ASOS has spent  £20 million for new warehouse with Initial Capability of  £600 million annual sales. They have done adequate investment in IT Systems and Infrastructure, as being a virtual business; it acts as a back bone for the Organisation to capitalise on their potential growth and to take full advantage of arising new opportunities. In last 3 years, E-Marketing Expenditure played vital role for capturing a p

How the Australian Great Barrier Reef Succeeds at Preservation and Sust

How the Australian Great Barrier Reef Succeeds at Preservation and Sustainable Use and How it Applies to a Worldwide Problem Coral bleaching is a somewhat recent phenomenon that has prompted many communities and countries around the world to enact policies and legislation that deal with their dying coral reefs. In early 1998, a mass coral bleaching event took place on the Australian Great Barrier Reef, and broad scale aerial surveys confirmed that most of the inland reefs had experienced at least some bleaching (Lally 1999). The following analysis of the Great Barrier Reef will illustrate that a successful policy process must incorporate the people who live, work, and depend on the fragile environment into the decision-making about preservation policies, regardless of the method or policy tool chosen to do so. Effective management and policy tools must also carefully weigh both extractive and non-extractive uses - to not only preserve, but also sustain, the use of the coral reef ecosystem. First, I will give some background information about why the Australian Reef is of importance and why dying reefs are a worldwide problem. I will then further explain the scientific background of what coral reefs are, what coral bleaching is, and the human activities and other factors that cause it. Second, I will further explain the issues involved with the policy process of preserving coral reefs, and which is the priority that stands above the rest. Third, I will explain who the actors are and what their roles are in the policy process. Fourth, I will define the instruments that are used to guide the policy process. Lastly, I will explain the lessons, outcomes and alternatives that exist in the policy process of preserving coral reef... ...wan, R., N. Knowlton, A. Baker and J. Jara, "Landscape ecology of algal symbionts creates variation in episodes of coral bleaching," Nature, Vol. 388, No. 6639, p. 265-269, July 1997. Warner, M.E., "The Effects of Light and Elevated Temperature on the Photosynthetic Physiology of Symbiotic Dinoflagellates: Potential Pathways To Coral Bleaching," Dissertation Abstracts International Part B: Science and Engineering, Vol. 59, No. 10, p. 5213, April 1999. Warner, M.E., W.K. Fitt and G.W. Schmidt, "Damage to photosystem II in symbiotic dinoflagellates: A determinant of coral bleaching," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 96, No. 14, p. 8007-8012, July 6, 1999. White, M. "Sensitive Marine Environments and the Regulation of Shipping: The Great Barrier Reef Experience," Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1999, p. 219-242.

resistance in denmark :: essays research papers

The occupation of a country subjects both the people and the invaders to a strange game of mutual suspicion: The occupier acts like a new owner and wants the tenants to behave and pay the rent on time, but those invaded feel violated — they know the country, by right, belongs to them, and while they cannot physically throw the occupiers out, they may well want to resist the invader's terms. Perhaps, if the invader finds the game is not worth the effort, he will leave. Or perhaps he will start killing uncooperative tenants. But the game gives one major advantage to those occupied: They will define the extent to which they are going to cooperate. And the offender, ironically, will have to defend his ill-gotten gains. The Danish resisters took the offensive against German occupying forces. Through symbolic and cultural protests, they asserted their right to govern their own lives, and that strengthened public morale — which inspired bolder resistance. Through strikes, defiance at work sites, and damage to physical property, nonviolent resisters attacked the economic interests of the invaders. Through underground publishing, an alternate network of communication was established, to subvert the lies of the occupiers' propaganda. By involving so many civilians in strikes, demonstrations, and other forms of opposition, Danish resisters forced the Germans to stop violent reprisals and suspend curfews. They denied the Nazis their prime goal, on which other objectives depended: making the fact of occupation normal. By definition, a successful military invasion gives the occupier superiority on the ground and in the air, in the ability to use physical force and violence. Despite that, when a military invader loses control of what the people read and believe, of when and if they work, of how they spend their money — when the occupiers are constantly on the defensive, as they try to maintain their position — their ability to command events is detached from their ability to use violence. War contorts the history of the nations it touches, but it also exhibits the greatness of their peoples. The Danes challenged the most barbaric regime of the modern period and did so not with troops or tanks but with singing, striking, going home to garden, and standing in public squares. Yet the power they brought to bear in resisting the Nazis did not come only from these things. It came first from the essential decision

How to Reduce Cheating and Plagiarism :: Expository Process Essays

How to Reduce Cheating and Plagiarism Early in the fall semester, a professor of American studies at Cornell found a three-page paper on the Internet analyzing a poem by Anne Bradstreet. A student in his course had just handed in that very paper. Accused of plagiarism, the student confessed that she had taken the paper from an Anne Bradstreet Web site. She had locked herself out of her apartment the night before the paper was due, she said, and without access to her notes had panicked. Two weeks later, the professor's wife, who teaches psychology, gave an examination to her advanced class. Halfway through the test a student asked to go to the bathroom. She was gone a long time, but the psychologist, who employed the young woman as a lab assistant and was directing her honors thesis, suppressed her suspicions. That evening, she visited the ladies room. In the toilet stall she noticed a sheaf of papers stuffed behind a plumbing pipe. They turned out to b e handouts distributed in the course, covered with notes in what she believed was the student's handwriting. Measured by recent surveys, cheating has reached epidemic proportions in high schools and colleges. In a survey of 21,000 students by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, 70 percent of high school students and 54 percent of middle schoolers admitted that they had cheated on an exam. That is up sharply from a study cited in "The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next," edited by Urie Bronfenbrenner and others.. That study found that 33.8 percent of high school students used a "cheat sheet" on a test in 1969. By 1989 the percentage had risen to 67.8. Furthermore, 58.3 percent of high school students let someone else copy their work in 1969, and 97.5 percent did so in 1989. A recent study by the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University yielded results similar to the Josephson study, with almost 75 percent of college students acknowledging some academic dishonesty. In four focus-group discussions conducted by the Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, many students appeared blas about academic dishonesty. "I guess the first time you do it, you feel really bad, but then you get used to it," said one. Another asserted: "People cheat. It doesn't make you less of a person or worse of a person. There are times when you just are in need of a little help.

Countries trade products Essay

In the world market, countries trade products they wouldn’t be able to produce on their own. Countries like Cuba specializes in cigar production, Japan in electronics, and Russia in rocket technology. However, even if a country has an absolute advantage in producing all goods, they still will benefit from trade. Many economic factors are involved with trade. Among the major factors are opportunity costs, comparative advantage, specialization and finally trade. Opportunity cost is defined as the value of the best alternative forgone when an item or activity is chosen. In other words, opportunity cost is the cost of choice. For example: the opportunity cost of producing a car is the time that could’ve been used to produce something else, say paper. For a country (country A) that has an absolute advantage ( the ability to produce something using fewer resources than other producers use ) in producing both cars and paper, the opportunity cost of producing say, 1 car is the production of 3 tons of paper. Thus, what product a country chooses to specialize on must be chosen so as to produce as much as possible while suffering as little opportunity cost as possible. Which goods the country should specialize on should be monitored by the law of comparative advantage, which states that: the country with the lowest opportunity cost of producing a particular good should specialize in producing that good. By specializing on a certain good, a country lowers the opportunity cost of that good by forgoing production of other goods. For example: Say country A has an absolute advantage in producing cars as well as paper, and the opportunity cost of producing 1 car is 3 tons of paper. Country B however, produces 1 car at an opportunity cost of 6 tons of paper. If these two countries specialized according to comparative advantage, country A produces 2 cars whilst country B produces 12 tons of paper. Therefore, country B should concentrate on solely producing paper and hand over the job of car production entirely to country A. To gain the maximum benefits of specialization among countries, countries should trade their products with products from other countries. In the example above, the total output of cars and paper has increased as a result  of specialization. But exactly how much should both countries trade to gain the highest possible benefits? By trading 1 car for 4 tons of paper, country A will gain 1 ton of paper while country B gains 2 tons of paper. Hence, both countries gain more paper by trade without increasing their resources. Country A Country B Cars Paper (tons) Cars Paper (tons) Without trade: Production and consumption 1 3 1 6 With Trade: Production 2 0 0 12 Trade Gives 1 Gets 4 Gets 1 Gives 4 Consumption 1 4 1 8 Gains from Trade: Increase in Consumption None +1 ton None +2 tons In conclusion, all the economic factors mentioned combined with trade allows benefits even to a country that has the ability to produce goods while using fewer resources than other countries.

Dult learning Essay

Knowles adult learning theory is an attempt to develop adult learning in which he emphasizes that adults are mature people responsible for making sound decisions. There are certain assumptions about the design for learning by Knowles in his theory (Brookfield Stephen, 1994). First, it is assumed that adults need to know the reasons for learning something. Second, adults should learn through experience. Third, adults approach learning as a way of problem solving. Finally, adults learn best whereby the topic is of immediate value. These assumptions are important because they reflect the significance of Knowles adult learning theory. In health care organizations, Knowles theory is of paramount importance because it helps them to handle any form of health problem as a way of maintaining safety at work place. Experience and responsibility is of paramount importance and teaching adults on how to handle health issues at work place controls occurrence of health hazards. There are certain barriers to education or learning which include first, inability of adults to focus on topics. This is a major barrier because the adults have many things to attend to such as family, work and assignments. Second, weak study or critical thinking skills which do not allow the learners to concentrate in class are a major barrier. It is barrier to learning process because the tutor has to commit a lot of his or time trying to explain a simple concept to old adults (Taylor Edward, 1999). Third, unlearning old knowledge and low self-esteem is a major barrier to learning process because of old age which makes adult learners to have low esteem. Fourth, adults have very tight schedule during the day and this means that they have a challenge of time constraints and commitments. References Brookfield Stephen, 1994, Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning: A Comprehensive Analysis of Analysis of Principles and Effective Practices, Open University Press. Taylor Edward, 1999, Adult Education Philosophy Informs Practice, Adult Learning.

Macbeth’s path to evil Essay

In â€Å"Macbeth†, it is clear that Macbeth at the start of the play is a different person to Macbeth at the end of the play. During the course of the play, he changes a great deal, most obviously from a good and faithful thane of Scotland to a cruel and ruthless king. At the beginning of the play, he is at his noblest. He has shown great courage and loyalty: â€Å"brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name†, and is considered a hero by Duncan, the king, for ending the rebellion in Scotland, and is thought trustworthy: â€Å"O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!† He is a great warrior and one of the leaders of the Scottish army: â€Å"like valour’s minion carv’d out his passage.† Yet he is ambitious, and this leads him to become a terrible king, moving from one act of violence to another, seeing one threat after another, so killing conscience and pity. As he is king of Scotland, his evil floods Scotland, making it horribly unnatural and filled with fear: â€Å"A falcon†¦/Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.† However, at the end of the play he still shows that he has not lost his courage as he dies fighting: â€Å"Exeunt, fighting†, but it is somewhat diminished and his fear has grown as earlier in the play he is scared of the apparitions: â€Å"But no more sights!† Yet at the beginning of the play he fought a bloody and gruesome battle in which a single, detached, armoured head (the appearance of the first apparition) would not have been an uncommon sight. It could be said that at the end of the play Macbeth is a villain, as Malcolm does: â€Å"this dead butcher†, or that he is a tragic hero, as he fought, knowing that Macduff would kill him: â€Å"And thou oppos’d, being of no woman born, /Yet I will try the last.† In order to be a tragic hero however, he needs a tragic flaw. This could either be his ambition, which causes him to be willingly swayed by the witches and risk everything, or it could be his courage, as he does not realise that courage is sometimes the ability to say ‘no’. But Shakespeare’s audience would more than likely consider him bound for Hell, as he at no point in the play asks for forgiveness. One of the beliefs on which Christianity is built is that no matter what people do on Earth, if they ask for forgiveness they will be forgiven by God, and Shakespeare’s audience would mostly have been made up of faithful Christians. No matter what people do to redeem themselves, God does not forgive them unless they ask to be. But this change from good to evil does not happen overnight. It is triggered at the beginning by the witches, who open the play in the most unnatural of ways for a Shakespearian tragedy. The scene is very short, only 12 lines long, and it is unnatural in every way possible. The three witches are supernatural beings: â€Å"you should be women, /And yet your beards forbid me to interpret/That you are so,† the weather is unnatural and violent, even the incantatory poetry that Shakespeare gives them is unnatural, as no one else in the play ever speaks in the same way as they do. It is a prologue to the evil events that will occur throughout the play. They have planned out everything and know exactly what will happen when they tell Macbeth that he will be king one day: â€Å"There to meet with Macbeth†, â€Å"All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter.† Throughout the play, Macbeth tries to control the witches, yet he never can: â€Å"Speak, I charge you. Witches vanish†, and he tries the same with the apparitions, and is scolded by the witches: â€Å"He knows thy thought: /Hear his speech, but say thou nought.† He does not realize that he cannot control either Fate or such unearthly creatures as the witches. Also throughout the play, the witches treat Macbeth as one of their own, and he does not realise that he finds them only because they want him to: â€Å"Something wicked this way comes. /Open locks, /Whoever knocks.† Shakespeare makes this comparison between them in Macbeth’s very first line, by giving him almost the exact same words as he gave the witches: â€Å"So foul and fair a day I have not seen.† The witches are also significant to Shakespeare’s audience because there are three of them. There has always been an ancient superstition that the number three is a magical number, yet most of the Shakespearian audience would immediately associate it with the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In â€Å"Macbeth† this has been inverted, as so many other things are. Instead, there is an Infernal Trinity; the three witches or a more elaborate one, made up of the witches, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth. Still, there could also be an incarnation of the Holy Trinity in â€Å"Macbeth†, represented by Macduff, Malcolm, and Banquo. Macbeth’s progression to evil is chiefly marked out by his soliloquies and the murders that he performs, or orders. He starts as a mighty and noble warrior, killing rebels for his King and country. Then, once his ambition has started to take over, he goes on to kill Duncan, an innocent, defenceless, old man: â€Å"Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope/the Lord’s anointed temple†. He puts much thought into this before performing the deed, debating with himself whether to do it or not: â€Å"He’s here in double trust/†¦his host, /Who should against his murderer shut the door/Not bear the knife myself.† And once he has performed the horrific deed, he regrets it bitterly: â€Å"Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!† His hesitation however, is not the hesitation of fear, as he has a terrible courage, but of an intimate, buried knowledge between right and wrong. Then he goes on to kill Banquo, though not personally. He gives less thought to this deed: â€Å"There is none but he/Whose being I do fear;† and he does not regret the deed at all, yet is petrified of Banquo’s ghost at the coronation banquet. Banquo, when he is killed, knows what has transpired: â€Å"I fear, /Thou play’dst most foully for ‘t.† He knows how Macbeth became king and that he killed Duncan, and also knows that he is behind his own murder: â€Å"O treachery!† Macbeth finally orders the murders of Lady Macduff and her children: â€Å"give to the edge of the sword/His wife, his babes†. While killing men was considered a great crime, killing a woman and her children was considered a much worse crime. This is done without second thought and never regrets it at all; he never mentions it to himself after it has occurred: â€Å"The very firstlings of my heart shall be/The firstlings of my hand.† As he becomes increasingly evil, so Scotland becomes increasingly unnatural. This is most obviously shown when Banquo dies to save Fleance, a parent sacrificing himself for his child’s life, which is natural: â€Å"Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!† Later in the play however, it is clear that Scotland has become more unnatural as the Son dies in an attempt to save Lady Macduff, a child sacrificing himself for his parent’s life: â€Å"He has kill’d me, mother: /Run away; I pray you!† This is unnatural and fails, as both Lady Macduff and her Son die. Finally, another sign of Macbeth’s descent to evil is that he becomes more and more secluded. This is mainly shown by the increasing amount of soliloquies that Shakespeare gives him, but is also shown by his relationship with Lady Macbeth. At the beginning of the play they are a happy couple, who love each other intensely: â€Å"my dearest partner of greatness,† yet as the play progresses, especially after Duncan’s murder, Macbeth separates himself from his wife, and once he is king, she must ask to see him: â€Å"Say to the king, I would attend his leisure†. All Macbeth’s deeds are consequently thought out by himself, unlike the murder of Duncan, in which Lady Macbeth did most of the thinking and planning: â€Å"Leave all the rest to me†, and Macbeth keeps Lady Macbeth out of the murder of Banquo even when she asks him what he is planning: â€Å"Be innocent of the knowledge†¦/Till thou applaud the deed.† All of these points show how Macbeth becomes increasingly evil throughout the play, eventually becoming a much feared villain, or a tragic hero.

Family Origin Paper

Trever Sorenson Valerie Wall Individual, Family, and Society October 29, 2012 Family of Origin Paper To start my family origin paper we have to go way back to 1976 when my parents met in Alamo, North Dakota; a town of about 200 people in the northwestern part of the state. They met while going through school playing sports, mainly basketball. Both were pretty good at the sport and won some awards and had chances to play more but decided to get married and start a family instead. Both grew up around the whole farming scene. My mom actually lived on a farm growing up and also as she started her own family.My dad lived in the small town but his grandpa had a farm not far from where he grew up and also helped a lot of the local farms in the area. So they grew up being hard workers through sports and also with the manual work that comes with the farming life. In their early years of marriage they moved to my hometown of Williston, ND, not far from where they grew up. A town with the popul ation at the time around 12 thousand. They got married in 1982 two years after they graduated high school and had their first kid which was a boy and my oldest brother and named him Nevin.Not but two years later they had their second child also a boy and named him Tyler. Then finally they had their third son, me. In the first four years of my life we lived in the town of Williston. But then my parents decided to move to the country because my dad was a farmer and rancher. We moved about 5 miles east of Williston. For me and my brothers we liked it a lot better because we could do a lot of things on the farm like play baseball, hunt, fish, build forts in the trees.Growing up in the childhood I had my brothers and me spent a lot of time together because we didn’t have our friends to come out and play. Which I think is a lot similar to the way my parents were raised with their brothers and sisters. Then when I was getting ready for kindergarten our family moved even more in the country. We were now about 30 miles northeast of town. I remember having to wake up really early for school all the time. My dad would wake us up at six in the morning and we would drive all the way to town for school at eight.My brothers and I did not want to attend country school because when we lived in town those first couple of years we had made some friends and our parents wanted us to have a healthy social life. I think also they wanted us to participate in sports more, which we did. Growing up it seemed that every night we had to stay in town until at least 8 because one of us had a sport practice or game going on. So I think that the competitiveness in sports that my parents faced growing up they wanted my brothers and I to experience that.My brothers and I loved to play sports, a lot of the time when we were not helping my dad we would be playing some sort of competitive sport which usually ended in a fight. Once we moved farther into the country my brothers and me became older and more capable of helping my dad on the farm with chores. So it was in these early years where were learn a work ethic. With having all the cows we did my dad did need help. For me being the youngest I didn’t have to help as much as my brothers. I spent more time helping my mom around the house with things she needed help with.But my dad always made sure I got my hands dirty in the corrals, which I can see helped me with just being able to do manual labor with no problems, and also made me a very observant learner from watching my dad do things on the farm. Also being on the farm you are always in situations where you just have to figure it out for yourself because my dad or brother are busy doing other things. By the time I reached 5th grade my parents decided to move to town because my brothers were getting more involved with sports as so was I.For me I loved the idea of moving to town because I was still this youngster who gets to hang out with his friends more. No w I could ride bike to my friend’s house and be there in 10 minutes, so as a young kid was pretty excited. But even though we moved to town me and my brothers went to the farm and helped my dad a lot whenever we were not playing some sort of sport. I would say for me my middle-aged years were spent more on sports so I develop a lot of relationships with friends. At this time in my life during the summer all I did was play baseball. My friends and I would meet at this field close to ll our houses and play sandlot everyday no matter what the weather was. If we weren’t playing baseball at the field we were at someone’s house playing some sort of baseball related game. Looking back I realize now that from moving to town and not spending as much time at the farm I sort of developed a city life mentality. I started hating going to the farm because I wanted to hangout with my friends and was afraid I was missing out on something. As I got into high school my parents re ally pushed on my sports and always trying to get better which for me didn’t bother me at all.They realized that I was very skilled in my baseball and wanted me to take that very serious, which I did for the most part. But I started wanting that independence from my parents once I got my license at 14. I had my pickup and could go drive around with my buddies I thought I was a stud. I started not spending as much time at home, so from that my parents wanted to know more about what was going on in my life I felt like. So me being a dumb teenage started getting into a lot more arguments and things like that with them.Also my dad wanted me to go out and help him at the farm more because my brothers were busy with college and sports of their own. I didn’t like that at all and would get really mad every time I had to go out there and help. Junior year I started drinking once and a while and I ended up getting caught so my parents got a lot stricter with me. So that made my relationship with my parents even worse. At this point in high school baseball was a good way for me and my parents to communicate but anything else it seemed impossible for them to realize my side.I ended going to Iowa to play baseball for college and our relationship got better. I think because I just had to get out of the house and away to learn things on my own to better understand what they were doing. But one thing that I got from my parents was to always work hard. They always said before every game â€Å"work hard†, so that’s what I did and it seem to get me far in baseball because after Iowa I ended up going Division 1 in baseball but due to a bad arm injury I had to have surgery and things didn’t turn out at North Dakota State University (NDSU).After NDSU I went back home and started working on the oilrigs. It was actually what I consider my first job, because my dad never made me get a job in high school because all I had to do was help him on the far m. Working on the rigs taught me a lot about life and what my parents tried to pound in my head all those years in high school. So now days my parents and I are good and get along a lot better because I am more able to understand where they are coming from. After about 10 months of working in the oil field I decided to go play baseball again and that is what brings me to Friends University.Now days as I look back at the upbringing of my brothers and me and relate it to my parents up bringing I see a lot of similarities. They were brought up in that hard working environment, dawn to dusk kind of lifestyle and they really pushed that on the three of us. I can see that my brothers have more of a better work ethic than me but it is a working progress. I may have been more successful at sports but then are harder workers than me. Also I noticed that growing up my parents didn’t really have someone to come talk to about problems so they had to find a way to deal with their problems .So growing up for the three of us we didn’t address our problems very often with our parents with just found a way to get over it and move on which has helped me a lot but there are some things that I have trouble dealing with but I can cope really well because of that. Another thing my parents really pushed upon my brothers and me was be respectful and responsibility, and I know because they expressed that so much it has helped me in life and also with sports as well. Family also was important, even though they never really verbally expressed it we always had to go to family events no matter how big or small the event was.So as I grew up I just kind of knew that if there was a family event I better go or else my parents would get mad. Now I may have not wanted to go but whenever I left I was glad I did just because I got to see a lot of good people and it usually is a good laugh. I think my parents made us because they had alot of relatives growing up and spent a lot of tim e around them growing up. So I guess I have learned a lot in the last year about life and my family and I am excited to learn more in the future.