Researching Political Analysis Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Researching Political Analysis Report - Essay Example Thus, it came as a surprise when the 2001 and 2005 elections voter turnout statistics was announced. In the 2001 General Elections, voter turnout fell to a historic through of 59.4 percent followed by a slight increase of 61.3 percent in the 2005 elections. The 2001 results alone sent shockwaves throughout the British media and the political system. In a 2004 report by baston and Ritchie for the Electoral Reform Society entitled ‘Turning Out or Turning Off’, the authors opened with a note that the turnout of 3 out of 5 electors was the worst in its post-war record. The last time that the turnout results registered this percentage was in 1918 where many of the registered voters were just beginning to return after the end of World War I. For the first time since 1923, the total number of those who did not exercise their voting rights was larger than the number of voters that determined the winning party. Knowing all of this statistics, the British political system became worried and there was much generated fanfare. The main concern over the 2005 elections was not who wo n for what seat. Instead, it was how many cared to participate in the elections. Why is it that British voters are not turning up in polls? There are different, though not necessarily unrelated, theories explaining this social phenomena. Voter turnout is considered to be an index which can be used to assess the state of democracy in the country concerned. A decline in voter turnout can be considered as a decline in democracy. It can indicate that the political system is becoming authoritative and imposing such that the people are dissuaded or inhibited in exercising their voting rights. The legitimacy of the government is put into question because the decrease may imply lack of representation of certain groups. (Rose, 1997) Another plausible explanation is that it is due to the dissatisfaction of

Recruitment and Selection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Recruitment and Selection - Essay Example To be able to fully benefit from the technology, network and database systems, and media technologies that can be used for interview, high-sped connectivity to the internet is advised and technical support staff are advised (Horwitz et al, 2006). Another key issue that is being focused in e-recruitment is the issue regarding security and fraud. Among the concerns regarding security is the accesses to applicants' information particularly contact details (E-recruitment, 2006). Though e-commerce and related online regulations have already addressed these issues, there are still some fears that information is being sold to third parties or used for other purposes either with or without the consent of e-recruiters (Nickel & Schaumburg, 2004). As e-recruitment also became more popular, recruitment frauds also became prevalent. Aside for standard anti-fraud regulation, most of the efforts to curb the activities have been initiated largely by legitimate e-recruiters (Grabner-Kruter & Kaluscha, 2003). E-recruitment has encouraged the flexibility of labor and has encouraged work migration. It has also been able to improve data basing and management employee information to support other human resource functions (Sridhar, 2005). Another key improvement it has been able to bring to the industry is in the enhancement of communications with prospective employees and hiring agencies. It has allowed real time coordination and management of information that has been effective in shortening and improving efficiency of the whole hiring process (Liu and Wang, 2006). On the part of applicants, it has in turn allowed to more options and access to jobs and companies respectively. The utilization of online applications has also significantly cut the cost of applying for jobs and communicating with perspective companies (Yoon Kin Tong & Sivanand). Development E-recruitment developed in conjunction with the trend of outsourcing of support services as part of down-sizing efforts in the late 1980's. However, e-recruitment has to wait a few more years before it came into the form we know today because of the lack of necessary technological capacity to support it. The first forms of e-recruitment involved either the posting of job vacancies in traditional media or coursing of applications to online addresses or by posting of jobs on online posting boards and coursing through snail mail or offices (Grabner-Kruter & Kaluscha, 2003). The eventual popularity of e-mails, increased capacity of the internet communications and higher computing capacity are the basis of e-recruitment industry as it is known today. E-recruitment models today have to develop the "capability of HR to facilitate the system and to view the staffing process as an end-to-end process" (Kerrin & Kettley, 2006) E-commerce E-recruitment is one of the success stories of e-commerce. The first models took the form of job postings that were part packaged with traditional recruitment outsourcing services. Improvement on the internet and database capacity eventually created the next model of e-recruitment that was an independent service. This model asked for employees to become members of the service by including their information into a database wherein they could view available jobs online (New E-recruitment

Why Is Desalination Becoming So Important?

Why Is Desalination Becoming So Important? Desalination is a technology which includes several processes that remove salt and other minerals from seawater to produce freshwater. In recent decades, this technology developed rapidly and becoming more and more popular around the world. This essay will focus on the effects of using desalination. It begins with the reason why this technology develop rapidly in the recent years. After that, some economic and environmental benefits and drawbacks of desalination will be analysed. Finally, give a conclusion. Water is a basic and crucial resource for survival and growth of life. We can not live without water. However, there is a research by Fiorenza (2002) shows that nearly one fourth of mankind is suffering from inadequate fresh water supply, both of quality and quantity. Considering water shortage concerns about 80 countries and has caused some serious results in many places, the water shortage phenomenon is becoming a serious global problem that affects peoples daily life and hindered the social development. Because of the increasing number of global population and expansion of both industrial and agricultural activities, the water requirement will increasing rapidly in a very near future. It is obviously that the traditional fresh water supply system can not meet the requirement any more. An alternative water supply option is need to help us deal with this problem. Water is so important for human beings, therefore, we have already developed many kinds of water supply systems. But all of them have a common problem and also the fatal problem is that they all need natural fresh water resources. The research by Khawaji (2007) illustrates that nearly 97% of the earthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s water is seawater while another 2% is fresh water but locked in icecaps and glaciers. The available fresh water just accounts for about 0.5% of the earthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s total water supply. Another point should be considered is human activities have polluted a large amount of fresh water resource. It means that all the traditional water supply systems just can use much less than 0.5% water resource. It is obvious that we can not just rely on these traditional water supply systems any more. Comparing with these traditional options, the desalination technology does not need natural fresh water resources, desalination equipment can prod uce fresh water from seawater. This technology give human beings an opportunity that we can use the majority of earthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s water resource. This is really a revolutionary change that we need not rely on natural fresh water resources any more. Because of this unique advantage, desalination has developed rapidly in recent decades and playing an important role in many countries now. For example, according to research by Zhou (2003), in Saudi Arabia the desalination equipment produces more than 6,000,000 m3 of freshwater per day. This technology has become a reliable fresh water source for human beings. In fourth century BC, Aristotle found that when saltwater turns into vapor, salt and freshwater will separated. This was the first desalination theory and it has already been discoverd more than 2000 years. The previous analysis shows that desalination has a lot of advantages, but it can be questioned just used in recent years. It is because the former desalination technology cost too much and was not reliable enough. This is also the main reason why there are many critics against the use of desalination. However, the desalination technology has advanced a lot in the last 30 years, especially, the invention of multi-stage flash process and reverse osmosis. According to the research by Tsiourtis (2001) shows that 86% desalination factory use these two desalination processes now. In addition, these two methods are the most commercially important desalination technologies. Furthermore technological advances were made on the multi-stage flash (MSF) process (materials and process) and on reverse osmosis (RO), with improvement on the membranes and the energy recovery equipment. (qtd. Tsiourtis, 2001) So these technological advances in the last 30 years have driven down the cost of desalinated water very much. The figure 1 illustrats that the price of desalination shows a decreasing trend from 1988 to 2000. The total cost of desalination decreased from1.7$/m3 in 1998 to 0.7$/m3 in 2000. It is an acceptable price for many countries now and due to the decreasing trend, it can be predicted that the desalination will more cheaper in the future. The decreasing cost trend is just one economic benefit of desalination. Another reason is in some situations, desalination is a cheaper water supply option. For example, Chinas water resources are uneven distributed and many places in northern China are facing the water shortage problem. So, the government decides to build a long pipeline to transfer water from the Yangtze River to area in northern China. Research by Liu and Zheng (2002) shows the main canal would be 1150 km long. From the research by Kally (1993) we already find that the cost of transport is around 0.061$/m3 per 100 km. Therefore, it means that the cost of transferring water will more than 0.07$/m3. It is higher than using desalination, additionally, because of the desalination cost has fallen from 1.7$/m3 to 0.7 $/m3 and still keep an decreasing trend. There is no reason to believe that the trend will not continue in the future. So desalination also has its economic benefits in some situations. Desalination not only has economic benefits, but also has many environmental advantages. Firstly, compares with the water transport, desalination does not need so much pipeline and pumping stations. It means that less land will be occupied and less energy will be wasted in the transferring process. After that, because these traditional water supply options need fresh water supply, the overuse of surface water and groundwater has caused many serious consequences. For instance, the ground surface settlement happened in many places in China just because of the abuse of groundwater. Research by Chai et al. (2004) shows that due to the abuse of groundwater, surface surveys of land subsidence is 2 to 3 meters in the central area of Shanghai. Ground surface settlement is harmful to a buildings foundation and will cause dangerous results. However, desalinations resource is seawater, it will never limited and never will have these troubles. So, compare with some traditional water supply optio ns, the desalination system also has some of its own environmental benefits. From the above analysis we find that a desalination system has its own advantages no matter in economic and environmental aspects. But it is undeniable that this technology still has some drawbacks in both aspects. Firstly, the desalination process has a by-product called brine, What is a kind of water that contents double salt of seawater and also contains membrane cleaning chemicals and other chemicals used for scale and corrosion control(qtd .Tsiourtis, 2001). If we can not treat the brine well, it will cause serious pollution. Then there are some chemicals will be used in the desalination process. It also will cause some pollution. After that, noise pollution is another problem, the noise produced by these machines will trouble people. Furthermore, comparing with other water supply options, desalination still a little expensive than these traditional ones in normal situations, many countries can afford this technology as the option to solve their water shortage problems. Overall, desalination is already becoming a very important water supply option, especially in these energy-rich, dry and lack of freshwater resource areas, such as these Middle East countries. This technology give human beings an new option to solve water shortage problem. Although, this technology still have some problems but because of its own advantages and the trend of desalination technology development, we can believe that desalination will have a bright future. This technology will play an more important role in future. Word count: 1294

A Rose for Emily Essay -- essays papers

A Rose for Emily Emily is a woman that has had a hard life. Her family made it so that she was held in high regard in the public eye. She was not suppose to encounter relationships that were below her stature. The town, being the antagonist, drives Emily to her insanity because they will not allow her to lead a normal life. They liked the â€Å"show† they were watching a refused to give it up. The narrator explores how Emily is defined in her position in the town by her name and her father. â€Å"People in our town, [. . .], believed the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were.† (pg.83) Emily’s father had been controlling during her early life and had stopped all suitors from visiting her. â€Å" we had all remembered all the young men her father had driven away, [. . . ]† Emily is forced to live in a house were her father will is paramount to her own. When he dies we understand this lose is almost to much for her to bear. â€Å" Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual with no trace of grief on her face. She told them her father was not...

A Dirty Job Chapter 19

19 We're OKAY, AS LONG AS THINGS DON'T GET WEIRD ALVIN AND MOHAMMED When Charlie arrived home from his mother's funeral, he was met at the door by two very large, very enthusiastic canines, who, undistracted by keeping watch over Sophie's love hostage, were now able to visit the full measure of their affection and joy upon their returning master. It is generally agreed, and in fact stated in the bylaws of the American Kennel Club, that you have not been truly dog-humped until you have been double-dog-humped by a pair of four-hundred-pound hounds from hell (Section 5, paragraph 7: Standards of Humping and Ass-dragging). And despite having used an extra-strength antiperspirant that very morning before leaving Sedona, Charlie found that getting poked repeatedly in the armpits by two damp devil-dog dicks was leaving him feeling less than fresh. â€Å"Sophie, call them off. Call them off.† â€Å"The puppies are dancing with Daddy.† Sophie giggled. â€Å"Dance, Daddy!† Mrs. Ling covered Sophie's eyes to shield her from the abomination of her father's unwilling journey into bestiality. â€Å"Go wash hands, Sophie. Have lunch while you daddy make nasty with shiksas.† Mrs. Ling couldn't help but do a quick appraisal of the monetary value of the slippery red dogwoods currently pummeling her landlord's oxford-cloth shirt like piston-driven leviathan lipsticks. The herbalist in Chinatown would pay a fortune for a powder made from the desiccated members of Alvin and Mohammed. (The men of her homeland would go to any length to enhance their virility, including grinding up endangered species and brewing them in tea, not unlike certain American presidents, who believe there is no stiffy like the one you get from bombing a few thousand foreigners.) Yet it appeared that the desiccated-dog-dick fortune would remain unclaimed. Mrs. Ling had long ago given up on collecting hellhound bits, when after trying to dispatch Alvin with a sharp and ringing blow to the cranium from her cast-iron skillet, he bit the skillet off its handle, crunched it down in a slurry of dog drool and iron filings, and then sat up and begged for seconds. â€Å"Throw some water on them!† Charlie cried. â€Å"Down, doggies. Good doggies. Oh, yuck.† Mrs. Ling was galvanized into action by Charlie's distress call, and timing her move with the oscillating pyramid of man and dog meat in the doorway, dashed by Charlie, into the hallway, and down the steps. LILY Lily came up the stairs and skidded to a stop on the hallway carpet when she saw the hellhounds pounding away at Charlie. â€Å"Oh, Asher, you sick bastard!† â€Å"Help,† Charlie said. Lily pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall, dragged it to the doorway, pulled the pin, and proceeded to unload on the bouncing trio. Two minutes later Charlie was collapsed in a frosty heap on the threshold and Alvin and Mohammed were locked in Charlie's bedroom, where they were joyfully chewing away on the expended fire extinguisher. Lily had lured them in there when they had tried to bite the CO2 stream, seeming to enjoy the freezing novelty of it over the welcome-home humping they were giving Charlie. â€Å"You okay?† Lily said. She was wearing one of her chef coats over a red leather skirt and knee-high platform boots. â€Å"It's been kind of a rough week,† Charlie said. She helped him to his feet, trying to avoid touching the damp spots on his shirt. Charlie did a controlled fall toward the couch. Lily helped him land, ending with one arm pinned awkwardly under his back. â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. There was still frost in his hair and eyelashes from the fire extinguisher. â€Å"Asher,† Lily said, trying not to look him in the eye. â€Å"I'm not comfortable with this, but I think, given the situation, that it's time I said something.† â€Å"Okay, Lily. You want some coffee?† â€Å"No. Please shut up. Thank you.† She paused and took a deep breath, but did not extricate her arm from behind Charlie's back. â€Å"You have been good to me over the years, and although I would not admit this to anyone else, I probably wouldn't have finished school or turned out as well as I have if it hadn't been for your influence.† Charlie was still trying to see, blinking away ice crystals on his eyelids, thinking that maybe his eyeballs were frostbitten. â€Å"It was nothing,† he said. â€Å"Please, please, shut up,† Lily said. Another deep breath. â€Å"You have always been decent to me, despite what I would call some of my bitchier moments, and in spite of the fact that you are some dark death dude, and probably had other things to worry about – sorry about your mom, by the way.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"Well, given what I've heard about your night out before your mom died and whatnot, and what I've seen here today, I think – that it's only right – that I do you.† â€Å"Do me?† â€Å"Yes,† she said, â€Å"for the greater good, even though you are a complete tool.† Charlie squirmed away from her on the couch. He looked at her for a second, trying to figure out if she was putting him on, then, deciding that she wasn't, he said, â€Å"That's very sweet of you, Lily, and – â€Å" â€Å"Nothing weird, Asher. You need to understand that I'm only doing this out of basic human decency and pity. You can just take it to the hoes on Broadway if you need to get your freak on.† â€Å"Lily, I don't know what – â€Å" â€Å"And not in the butt,† Lily added. There was a high-pitched little-girl giggle from behind the couch. â€Å"Hi, Daddy,† Sophie said, popping up behind him. â€Å"I missed you.† Charlie swung her up over the back of the couch and gave her a big kiss. â€Å"I missed you, too, sweetie.† Sophie pushed him away. â€Å"How come you have frosting on your hair?† â€Å"Oh, that – Lily had to spray some frost on Alvin and Mohammed to settle them down and it got on me.† â€Å"They missed you, too.† â€Å"I could tell,† Charlie said. â€Å"Honey, could you go play in your room for a bit while I talk to Lily about business?† â€Å"Where are the puppies?† Sophie asked. â€Å"They're having a T.O. in Daddy's room. Can you go play and we'll have some Cheese Newts in a little while?† â€Å"Okay,† Sophie said, sliding to the floor. â€Å"Bye, Lily.† She waved to Lily. â€Å"Bye, Sophie,† Lily said, looking even more pale than usual. Sophie marched away in rhythm to her new chant, â€Å"Not in the butt – not in the butt – not in the butt.† Charlie turned to face Lily. â€Å"Well, that ought to liven up Mrs. Magnussen's first-grade class.† â€Å"Sure, it's embarrassing now,† Lily said, without missing a beat, â€Å"but someday she'll thank me.† Charlie tried to look at his shirt buttons as if he were deep in thought, but instead started to giggle, tried to stop, and ended up snorting a little. â€Å"Jeez, Lily, you're like a little sister to me, I could never – â€Å" â€Å"Oh, fine. I offer you a gift, out of the goodness of my heart, and you – â€Å" â€Å"Coffee, Lily,† Charlie said with a sigh. â€Å"Could I just get you to make me a cup of coffee instead of doing me – and sit and talk to me while I drink it? You're the only one who knows what's going on with Sophie and me, and I need to try to sort things out.† â€Å"Well, that will probably take longer than doing you,† Lily said, looking at her watch. â€Å"Let me call down to the store and tell Ray that I'll be a while.† â€Å"That would be great,† Charlie said. â€Å"I was only going to do you in exchange for information about your Death Merchant thing, anyway,† Lily said, picking up the phone on the breakfast bar. Charlie sighed again. â€Å"That's what I need to sort out.† â€Å"Either way,† Lily said, â€Å"I'm unbending on the butt issue.† Charlie tried to nod gravely, but started giggling again. Lily chucked the San Francisco Yellow Pages at him. THE MORRIGAN â€Å"This soul smells like ham,† said Nemain, wrinkling her nose at a lump of meat she had impaled on one long claw. â€Å"I want some,† said Babd. â€Å"Gimme.† She slashed at the carrion with her own talons, snagging a fist-sized hunk of flesh in the process. The three were in a forgotten subbasement beneath Chinatown, lounging on timbers that had been burned black in the great fire of 1906. Macha, who was starting to manifest the pearl headdress she wore in her woman form, studied the skull of a small animal by the light of a candle she'd made from the fat of dead babies. (Macha was ever the artsy-craftsy one, and the other two were jealous of her skills.) â€Å"I don't understand why the soul is in the meat, but not in a man.† â€Å"Tastes like ham, too, I think,† Nemain said, spitting glowing red bits of soul when she talked. â€Å"Macha, do you remember ham? Do we like it?† Babd ate her bit of meat and wiped her claws on her breast feathers. â€Å"I think ham is new,† she said, â€Å"like cell phones.† â€Å"Ham is not new,† Macha said. â€Å"It's smoked pork.† â€Å"No,† said Babd, aghast. â€Å"Yes,† said Macha. â€Å"Not human flesh? Then how is there a soul in it?† â€Å"Thank you,† Macha said. â€Å"That's what I've been trying to say.† â€Å"I've decided that we like ham,† said Nemain. â€Å"There's something wrong,† Macha said. â€Å"It shouldn't be this easy.† â€Å"Easy?† said Babd. â€Å"Easy? It's taken hundreds – no, thousands of years to get this far. How many thousands of years, Nemain?† Babd looked to the poison sister. â€Å"Many,† said Nemain. â€Å"Many,† said Babd. â€Å"Many thousands of years. That's not easy.† â€Å"Souls coming to us, without bodies, without the soul stealers, that seems too easy.† â€Å"I like it,† Nemain said. They were quiet for a moment, Nemain nibbled at the glowing soul, Babd preened, and Macha studied the animal skull, turning it over in her talons. â€Å"I think it's a woodchuck,† Macha said. â€Å"Can you make ham from woodchuck?† Nemain asked. â€Å"Don't know,† said Macha. â€Å"I don't remember woodchuck,† Nemain said. Babd sighed heavily. â€Å"Things are going so well. Do you two ever think about when we are Above all the time, and Darkness rules all, about, you know, what then?† â€Å"What do you mean, what then?† Macha asked. â€Å"We will hold dominion over all souls, and visit death as we wish until we consume all the light of humanity.† â€Å"Yeah, I know,† Babd said, â€Å"but then what? I mean, you know, dominion and all that is nice, but will Orcus always have to be around, snorting and growling?† Macha put down her skull and sat up on a blackened beam. â€Å"What's this about?† Nemain smiled, her teeth perfectly even, the canines just a little too long. â€Å"She's pining about that skinny soul stealer with the sword.† â€Å"New Meat?† Macha couldn't believe her ears, which had become visible only a few days ago when the first of the gift souls had wandered into their claws, so they hadn't been tested in a while. â€Å"You like New Meat?† â€Å"Like is a little strong,† Babd said. â€Å"I just think he's interesting.† â€Å"Interesting in that you'd like to arrange his entrails in interesting patterns in the dirt?† Macha said. â€Å"Well, no, I'm not talented that way like you.† Macha looked at Nemain, who grinned and shrugged. â€Å"We could probably try to kill Orcus once Darkness rises,† Nemain said. â€Å"I am a little tired of his preaching, and he'll be impossible if the Luminatus doesn't appear.† Macha shrugged a surrender. â€Å"Sure, why not.† THE EMPEROR The Emperor of San Francisco was troubled. He sensed that something very wrong was going on in the City, yet he was at a loss as to what to do. He didn't want to alarm the people unduly, but he did not want them to be unprepared for whatever danger they might face. He believed that a just and benevolent ruler would not use fear to manipulate his people, and until he had some sort of proof that there was an actual threat, it would be criminal to call for any action. â€Å"Sometimes,† he said to Lazarus, the steadfast golden retriever, â€Å"a man must muster all of his courage to simply sit still. How much humanity has been spoiled for the confusion of movement with progress, my friend? How much?† Still, he'd been seeing things, strange things. One late night in Chinatown he'd seen a dragon made of fog snaking through the streets. Then, early one morning, down by the Boudin Bakery at Ghirardelli Square, he saw what looked like a nude woman covered in motor oil crawl out of a storm sewer and grab a tall, half-full latte cup out of the trash, then dive right back in the sewer as a policeman on a bicycle rounded the corner. He knew that he saw these things because he was more sensitive than other people, and because he lived on the streets and could sense the slightest nuance of change there, and largely because he was completely barking-at-the-moon batshit. But none of that relieved him of the responsibility to his people, nor did it ease his mind about the disturbing nature of what he was seeing. The squirrel in the hoop skirt was really bothering the Emperor, but he couldn't exactly say why. He liked squirrels – often took the men to Golden Gate Park to chase them, in fact – but a squirrel walking upright and digging through the trash behind the Empanada Emporium while wearing a pink ball gown from the eighteenth century – well – it was off-putting. He was sure that Bummer, who was curled up sleeping in the oversized pocket of his coat, would agree. (Bummer, being a rat dog at heart, had a less than enlightened outlook upon coexistence with any rodent, no less one dressed for the court of Louis XVI.) â€Å"Not to be critical,† said the Emperor, â€Å"but shoes would be a welcome complement to the ensemble, don't you think, Lazarus?† Lazarus, normally tolerant of all noncookie creatures great and small, growled at the squirrel, who appeared to have the feet of a chicken sticking out from under her skirt, which – you know – was weird. With the growl, Bummer squirmed awake and emerged from the woolen bedchamber like Grendel from his lair. He immediately erupted into an apoplectic barking fit, as if to say, You guys, in case you didn't notice, there's a squirrel in a ball gown going through the trash over there and you're just sitting here like a couple of concrete library lions! The message thus barked, off he went, a furry squirrel-seeking missile, bent on single-minded annihilation of all things rodent. â€Å"Bummer,† called the Emperor. â€Å"Wait.† Too late. The squirrel had tried to take off up the side of the brick building, but snagged her skirt on a gutter and fell back to the alley, just as Bummer was hitting full stride. Then the squirrel snatched up a small board from a broken pallet and swung it at his pursuer, who leapt just in time to miss taking a nail in one of his bug eyes. Growling ensued. The Emperor noticed at that point that the squirrel's hands were reptilian in nature, the fingernails painted a pleasant pink to match her gown. â€Å"You don't see that every day,† the Emperor said. Lazarus barked in agreement. The squirrel dropped the board and took off toward the street, moving nicely on her chicken feet, her skirt held up in her lizard hands. Bummer had recovered from the initial shock of a weapon-wielding squirrel (something he had encountered before only in doggie nightmares brought on by the late-night gift of chorizo pizza from a charitable Domino's guy) and took off after the squirrel, followed closely by the Emperor and Lazarus. â€Å"No, Bummer,† the Emperor called. â€Å"She's not a normal squirrel.† Lazarus, because he did not know how to say â€Å"well, duh,† stopped in his tracks and looked at the Emperor. The squirrel rocketed out of the alley and took a quick turn down the gutter, falling now to all fours as she went. Just as he reached the corner, the Emperor saw the trail of the tiny pink dress disappear down a storm sewer, followed closely by the intrepid Bummer. The Emperor could hear the terrier's bark echoing out of the grate, fading as Bummer pursued his prey into the darkness. RIVERA Nick Cavuto sat down across from Rivera with a plate of buffalo stew roughly the size of a garbage-can lid. They were having lunch at Tommy's Joynt, an old-school eatery on Van Ness that served home-style food like meat loaf, roasted turkey and stuffing, and buffalo stew every day of the year, and featured San Francisco sports teams on the TV over the bar whenever anyone was playing. â€Å"What?† said the big cop, when he saw his partner roll his eyes. â€Å"Fucking what?† â€Å"Buffalo almost went extinct once,† Rivera said. â€Å"You have ancestors on the Great Plains?† â€Å"Special law enforcement portions – protecting and serving and stuff requires protein.† â€Å"A whole bison?† â€Å"Do I criticize your hobbies?† Rivera looked at his half a turkey sandwich and cup of bean soup, then at Cavuto's stew, then at his runt of a sandwich, then at his partner's colossus of a stew. â€Å"My lunch is embarrassed,† he said. â€Å"Serves you right. Revenge for the Italian suits. I love going to every call with people thinking I'm the victim.† â€Å"You could buy a steamer, or I could have my guy find you some nice clothes.† â€Å"Your guy the serial-killing thrift-store owner? No thanks.† â€Å"He's not a serial killer. He's got some weird shit going on, but he's not a killer.† â€Å"Just what we need, more weird shit. What was he really doing when you had that shots-fired report?† â€Å"Just like it said, I was going by and a guy tried to rob him at gunpoint. I drew my weapon and told the perp to halt, he drew down on me, and I fired.† â€Å"Your ass. You never fired eleven shots in your life you didn't hit the ten X ring with nine of them. The fuck happened?† Rivera looked down the long table, made sure the three guys sitting down at the other end were engaged in the game showing on the TV over the bar. â€Å"I hit her with every shot.† â€Å"Her? Perp was a woman?† â€Å"I didn't say that.† Cavuto dropped his spoon. â€Å"Partner? Don't tell me you shot the redhead? I thought that was over.† â€Å"No. This was a new thing – like – Nick, you know me, I'm not going to fire unless it's justified.† â€Å"Just say what happened. I got your back.† â€Å"It was like this bird woman or something. All black. I mean fucking black as tar. Had claws that looked like – I don't know, like three-inch-long silver ice picks or something. My shots took chunks out of her – feathers and black goo and shit everywhere. She took nine in the torso and flew away.† â€Å"Flew?† Rivera sipped his coffee, eyeing his partner's reaction over the edge of the cup. They had been through some extraordinary things working together, but if the situation had been reversed, he wasn't sure he'd believe this story either. â€Å"Yeah, flew.† Cavuto nodded. â€Å"Okay, I can see why you wouldn't put that in the report.† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"So this bird woman,† Cavuto said, like that was settled, he totally believed it, now what? â€Å"She was robbing the Asher guy from the thrift shop?† â€Å"Giving him a hand job.† Cavuto nodded, picked up his spoon, and took a huge bite of stew and rice, still nodding as he chewed. He looked as if he were going to say something, then quickly took another bite, as if to stop himself. He appeared to be distracted by the game on television, and finished his lunch without another word. Rivera ate his soup and sandwich in silence as well. As they were leaving, Cavuto grabbed two toothpicks from the dispenser by the register and gave one to Rivera as they walked out into a beautiful San Francisco day. â€Å"So you were following Asher?† â€Å"I've been trying to keep an eye on him. Just in case.† â€Å"And you shot her nine times for giving the guy a hand job,† Cavuto finally asked. â€Å"I guess,† Rivera said. â€Å"You know, Alphonse, that right there is why I don't hang out with you socially. Your values are fucked up.† â€Å"She wasn't human, Nick.† â€Å"Still. A hand job? Deadly force? I don't know – â€Å" â€Å"It wasn't deadly force. I didn't kill her.† â€Å"Nine to the chest?† â€Å"I saw her – it – last night. On my street. Watching me from a storm sewer.† â€Å"Ever think to ask Asher how he happened to know the flying bulletproof bird woman in the first place?† â€Å"Yeah, I did, but I can't tell you what he said. It's too weird.† Cavuto threw his arms in the air. â€Å"Well, sweet Tidy Bowl Jesus skipping on the blue toilet water, we wouldn't want it to get fucking weird, would we?† LILY They were on their second cup of coffee and Charlie had told Lily about not getting the two soul vessels, about the encounter with the sewer harpy, about the shadow coming out of the mountains in Sedona and the other version of The Great Big Book of Death, and his suspicions that there was a frightening problem with his little girl, the symptoms of which were two giant dogs and an ability to kill with the word kitty. To Charlie's thinking, Lily was reacting to the wrong story. â€Å"You hooked up with a demon from the Underworld and I'm not good enough for you?† â€Å"It's not a competition, Lily. Can we not talk about that? I knew I shouldn't have told you. I'm worried about other stuff.† â€Å"I want details, Asher.† â€Å"Lily, a gentleman doesn't share the details of his amorous encounters.† Lily crossed her arms and assumed a pose of disgusted incredulity, an eloquent pose, because before she said it, Charlie knew what was coming: â€Å"Bullshit. That cop shot pieces off her, but you're worried about protecting her honor?† Charlie smiled wistfully. â€Å"You know, we shared a moment – â€Å" â€Å"Oh my God, you complete man-whore!† â€Å"Lily, you can't possibly be hurt by my – by my response to your generous – and let me say right here – extraordinarily tempting offer. Gee whiz.† â€Å"It's because I'm too perky, isn't it? Not dark enough for you? You being Mr. Death and all.† â€Å"Lily, the shadow in Sedona was coming for me. When I left town, it went away. The sewer harpy came for me. The other Death Merchant said that I was different. They never had deaths happen as a result of their presence like I have.† â€Å"Did you just say ‘gee whiz' to me? What am I, nine? I am a woman – â€Å" â€Å"I think I might be the Luminatus, Lily.† Lily shut up. She raised her eyebrows. As if â€Å"no.† Charlie nodded. As if â€Å"yes.† â€Å"The Big Death?† â€Å"With a capital D,† Charlie said. â€Å"Well, you're totally not qualified for that,† Lily said. â€Å"Thanks, I feel better now.† MINTY FRESH Being two hundred feet under the sea always made Minty uneasy, especially if he'd been drinking sake and listening to jazz all night, which he had. He was in the last car on the last train out of Oakland, and he had the car to himself, like his own private submarine, cruising under the Bay with the echo of a tenor sax in his ear like sonar, and a half-dozen sake-sodden spicy tuna rolls sitting in his stomach like depth charges. He'd spent his evening at Sato's on the Embarcadero, Japanese restaurant and jazz club. Sushi and jazz, strange bedfellows, shacked up by opportunity and oppression. It began in the Fillmore district, which had been a Japanese neighborhood before World War II. When the Japanese were shipped off to internment camps, and their homes and belongings sold off, the blacks, who came to the city to work in the shipyards building battleships and destroyers, moved into the vacant buildings. Jazz came close behind. For years, the Fillmore was the center of the San Francisco jazz scene, and Bop City on Post Street the premier jazz club. When the war ended and the Japanese returned, many a late night might find Japanese kids standing under the windows of Bop City, listening to the likes of Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, or Charles Mingus, listening to art happen and dissipate into the San Francisco nights. Sato was one of those kids. It wasn't just historical happenstance – Sato had explained to Minty, late one night after the music had ended and the sake was making him wax eloquent – it was philosophical alignment: jazz was a Zen art, dig? Controlled spontaneity. Like sumi-e ink painting, like haiku, like archery, like kendo fencing – jazz wasn't something you planned, it was something you did. You practiced, you played your scales, you learned your chops, then you brought all your knowledge, your conditioning, to the moment. â€Å"And in jazz, every moment is a crisis,† Sato quoted Wynton Marsalis, â€Å"and you bring all your skill to bear on that crisis.† Like the swordsman, the archer, the poet, and the painter – it's all right there – no future, no past, just that moment and how you deal with it. Art happens. And Minty, taken by the need to escape his life as Death, had taken the train to Oakland to find a moment he could hide in, without the regret of the past or the anxiety of the future, just a pure right now resting in the bell of a tenor sax. But the sake, too much future looming ahead, and too much water overhead had brought on the blues, the moment melted, and Minty was uneasy. Things were going badly. He'd been unable to retrieve his last two soul vessels – a first in his career – and he was starting to see, or hear, the effects. Voices out of the storm sewers – louder and more numerous than ever – taunting him. Things moving in the shadows, on the periphery of his vision, shuffling, scuffling dark things that disappeared when you looked right at them. He'd even sold three discs off the soul-vessels rack to the same person, another first. He hadn't noticed it was the same woman right away, but when things started to go wrong, the faces played back and he realized. She'd been a monk the first time, a Buddhist monk of some kind, wearing gold-and-maroon robes, her hair very short, as if her head had been shaved and was growing out. What he remembered was that her eyes were a crystal blue, unusual in someone with such dark hair and skin. And there was a smile deep in those eyes that made him feel as if a soul had found its rightful place, a good home at a higher level. The next time he'd seen her was six months later and she was in jeans and leather jacket, her hair sort of out of control. She'd taken a CD from the â€Å"One Per Customer† rack, a Sarah McLachlan, which is what he'd have chosen for her if asked, and he barely noticed the crystal-blue eyes other than to think that he'd seen that smile before. Then, last week, it w as her again, with hair down around her shoulders, wearing a long skirt and a belted muslin poet's shirt – like an escapee from a Renaissance fair, not unusual for the Haight, but not quite common in the Castro – still, he thought nothing of it, until she had paid him and glanced over the top of her sunglasses to count the cash out of her wallet. The blue eyes again, electric and not quite smiling this time. He didn't know what to do. He had no proof she was the monk, the chick in the leather jacket, but he knew it was her. He brought all his skills to bear on the situation, and essentially, he folded. â€Å"So you like Mozart?† he asked her. â€Å"It's for a friend† was all she said. He rationalized not confronting her by that simple statement. A soul vessel was supposed to find its rightful owner, right? It didn't say he had to sell it directly to them. That had been a week ago, and since then the voices, the scuffling noises in the shadows, the general creepiness, had been nearly constant. Minty Fresh had spent most of his adult life alone, but never before had he felt the loneliness so profoundly. A dozen times in the last few weeks he'd been tempted to call one of the other Death Merchants under the pretense of warning them about his screwup, but mainly just to talk to someone who had a clue about what his life was like. He stretched his long legs out over three train seats and into the aisle, then closed his eyes and laid his head back against the window, feeling the rhythm of the rattling train coming through the cool glass against his shaved scalp. Oh no, that wasn't going to work. Too much sake and something akin to bed spins. He jerked his head forward and opened his eyes, then noticed through the doors that the train had gone dark two cars up. He sat upright and watched as the lights went out in the next car – no, that's not what happened. Darkness moved through the car like a flowing gas, taking the energy out of the lights as it went. â€Å"Oh, shit,† Minty said to the empty car. He couldn't even stand up inside the train, but stand up he did, staying slumped a little, his head against the ceiling, but facing the flowing darkness. The door at the end of the car opened and someone stepped through. A woman. Well, not exactly a woman. What looked like the shadow of a woman. â€Å"Hey, lover,† it said. A low voice, smoky. He'd heard this voice before, or a voice like it. The darkness flowed around the two floor lights at the far end of the car, leaving the woman illuminated in outline only, a gunmetal reflection against pure blackness. Since he was first tapped as a Death Merchant, Minty had never remembered feeling afraid, but he was afraid now. â€Å"I'm not your lover,† Minty said, his voice as smooth and steady as a bass sax, not giving up a note of fear. A crisis in every moment, he thought. â€Å"Once you've had black, you never go back,† she said, taking a step toward him, her blue-black outline the only thing visible in any direction now. He knew there was a door a few feet behind him that was held shut with powerful hydraulics, and that led to a dark tunnel two hundred feet under the Bay, lined with a deadly electric rail – but for some reason, that sounded like a really friendly place to be right now. â€Å"I've had black,† said Minty. â€Å"No, you haven't, lover. You've had shades of brown, dark cocoa and coffee maybe, but I promise you, you've never had black. Because once you do, you never ever come back.† He watched as she moved toward him – flowed toward him – and long silver claws sprouted from her fingertips, playing in the dim glow from the safety lights, dripping something that steamed when it hit the floor. There were scurrying sounds on either side of him, things moving in the darkness, low and quick. â€Å"Okay, good point,† Minty said.

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

Many literary critics were both awed and puzzled with Franz Kafka’s brilliantly written yet absurd, and often, grossly surreal form of writing. Die Verwandlung or The Metamorphosis is Kafka’s longest work, almost resembling a novel, and is also one of the most acclaimed. From the story of Gregor, who woke up one morning to find himself transformed into an insect (beetle), the readers can slowly see the exploration of an individual’s existence and the pain he experiences due to physical isolation and other people’s indifference.Using a purely psychological outlook, it is easy to view The Metamorphosis as a mirror of Kafka’s own demons–for every artist is said to impart a portion of his self into his works. Thus, The Metamorphosis may be Kafka’s own struggle with his past and present, a personal process that gradually made its way to the writer’s conscious writings and developed into a nightmarish plot about the life of Gregor Sam za who curiously transmuted into a physically hideous creature. This is why Kafka stands to gain the empathy and compassion of viewers when the story is told from the standpoint of Gregor.First, Kafka is a struggling writer early on in his life. He lived his life in emotional dependence on his parents. There were mixed feelings of love and hate   and though he longed to marry, he considered   sex as dirty. By choosing Gregor as the main character who experiences the transformation, he elicits the empathy of readers even as he performs a lackluster life.(Franz Kafka. 1883-1924). In the story, Gregor Samza is the pillar that supports his family. He is a fairly successful salesman and earns enough to pay off his father’s debt and bring food on the table. He is the one who strives hard for the family’s upkeep.When the tragedy happens to him and not to any member of the family, then, the repercussions are greater. The pillar of their family is suddenly gone and they hav e to strive to go about their daily lives without his help. In fact, they have to bear the burden of seeing a horrible creature in their house and then to think that the creature is Gregor, back to pretending that their lives are normal, nevertheless.Second, Kafka had no intention of publishing any of his works.   He actually wanted it destroyed. It was his friend Max Brod who pursued its publication. Thus, Kafka, actually had all the liberty to create Gregor as the target of all his frustrations and dependency feelings. He gained all the outlet to release these emotions and then destroy it in the end. It gave a vicarious feeling of relief to him. (Franz Kafka. 1883-1924).Lastly, Kafka felt a certain kind of weakness despite the rebellion he showed. Creating Gregor as the brunt of all his impotence gave an apt target for the same kind of impotence that Gregor had to be imbued with. .(Franz Kafka. 1883-1924).We find reasons for Kafka’s way of telling the story because Kafka never worked as a traveling salesman nor even experienced acting as a primary financier for his family. Yet a parallelism can be seen between the two men, both before and after Gregor’s transformation. Gregor knows his father’s ruthless temper, and with respect for the old man intermingles fear. There are scenes in the story where the older Samsa demonstrates this merciless attitude towards his son because of the latter’s repugnant appearance.Mr. Samsa cruelly shoves Gregor into his room using a walking cane, and during a stressful encounter, pelts him with apples wherein an apple lodges into his insect back and begins to rot (Kafka 37-38). Nevertheless, it was through Gregor that Kafka was able to show how goodness permeates in everyone, but only when instances are happy and perfect. When things turn to worst, individuals resort to a coping strategy that alienates the ugly and the useless.Putting Gregor as the member of the family that is transformed into an in sect gives us a glimpse of how Kafka may have felt at times in his life. Apart from the refined and healthy appearance, Kafka was depressed most of the time. It was known that he suffered from migraine, constipation, and boils, which are all products of pent-up stress and unhealthy emotions common to those with troubled pasts   (â€Å"Franz Kafka†).No wonder that the bizarre dominated his form of expression, probably as a form of a release from the rigid normality that imprisons individuals into normalness. In fact, there is no other way of invoking from the readers such strong feelings akin to the emotions of the writer than by using frightful and graphic images resembling man’s outlandish nightmares.   Then again, Kafka never wanted some of his works published for the entire world to read. Writing is sacred for Kafka, and a refuge from a seemingly menacing and indifferent world (Franz Kafka. Books and Writers).Gregor’s transformation into a beetle is paral lel to Kafka’s acquiring of tuberculosis. The physical degradation means the collapse of a person’s once important status and the revulsion of others. At first, loved ones react with grief whilst trying to be considerate to the afflicted one. In the long run, however, those with debilitating weaknesses are soon scorned. This long-time fear of being weak and being segregated translated into writing, while Kafka tried his best to look normal even when recuperating.Kafka’s tuberculosis purportedly affected his writings in such a way that his stories show â€Å"fear of physical and mental collapse,† which was of course also seen in The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka). Further, the nightmarish plots pertain to â€Å"dehumanization† as exemplified with Samsa’s metamorphosis into an insect. Even more frightening is the effect of this dehumanization, wherein everything beautiful, even Grete’s kind-heartedness, comes to its fearful end.For some re aders, The Metamorphosis is allegorical. Reading the story makes one constantly hope for a totally different conclusion, or if not, for some figurative message hidden behind the lines. Yet what happened in the story is totally literal and blunt: Gregor died as a beetle, his death comes silently in the night. It is devoid of any melodrama or of any dramatic revelations, so that the whole meaning or essence of the story is left for the readers to figure out. Kafka’s literature, The Metamorphosis included, have since served as windows into the late writer’s own life and soul: his experiences, fears and tribulations. His works are full of the complexities that are deemed as representative of the human existence, and most importantly, complexities that endlessly haunted the author until his end.Kafka stands to be redeemed of his supposedly ordinary existence, even if temporary, in the way he depicted Gregor. All the angst that Kafka experienced in his life poured out on Gre gor who had to bear the brunt of his disappointments. He made Gregor useless by transforming him into a hideous insect in order to assuage his own uselessness.   It had to be Gregor because he was the breadwinner. When Gregor dies in the end, the impact is great because as Kafka writes it, that there is a heavy weight lifted from the spirit of the family and their mourning is short.The story ends with the whole family driving into the countryside and their parents’ thoughts wondering about how to find a husband for Grete. There is a great sadness in the way Kafka decides to end his story because Gregor is not missed at all, but instead, his parents just try to find ways of looking for a possible husband for Grete—a replacement for Gregor who was their breadwinner. In the final analysis, Kafka succeeds in getting the sympathy of readers as he wove his story until Gregor’s death.Works CitedKafka, Franz. Appelbaum, Stanley (trans.). The Metamorphosis and Other St ories. New York: Dover. 1996.â€Å"Franz Kafka.† In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 7 Dec 2006. Retrieved Feb. 1, 2007 at:https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Franz_Kafka&oldid=92749510â€Å"Franz Kafka.† Books and Writers. 2002. Retrieved Feb. 1, 2007 at:â€Å"Franz Kafka. (1883-1924).† Retrieved Feb. 1, 2007 at:http://www.levity.com/corduroy/kafka.htm

Electronic Media Essay Example

Electronic Media Essay Example Electronic Media Essay Electronic Media Essay ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND PRINT MEDIA INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC MEDIA This is a type of MASS MEDIA which uses ELECTRONIC Energy in the user end. The most familiar electronic media includes video recording, audio recording, multimedia presentations, slide presentations, CD ROM’S and online contents. Also, recorded broadcasting in television, radio, telephone etc. could be considered as electronic media. THE BASIC USES OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA Electronic Media is probably the most diversified subject of study which is used in many areas including JOURNALISM: Journalism is a field which uses electronic media for broadcasting current events. Journalism is one of the best ways in which people get to know various factors including stock market, price rise and various other economic and social factors. ADVERTISING: Advertisers use electronic media as a source to reach out to people for buying their products. They use televisions, radios and websites to get noticed. Advertisers use various techniques to attract the consumers. EDUCATION: In education sector, various multimedia and slide presentation (A primary electronic media source) is used. The sole aim of such presentations is to create certain expertise among students in the desired field of education. The presentations are simple and easy to understand, the pictorial representation could enhance the understanding level. FINE ARTS: â€Å"A picture is worth a thousand words† and that rightly reflects in an arena like fine arts, which could be put be put to greater use by including audio and various other background scores which will make it have a broader scope. BUSINESS PRESENTATIONS: One fails to understand the use of electronic media if business presentation is not a part of it. Several production and service oriented organisation use electronic media as their main tool to train their employees. They make sure the employees understand the organisational goals and their requisites. ENTERTAINMENT: As this is probably the most basic need of any human being, electronic media acts as a boon by providing us movies, video games etc. There are various other users of electronic media like government sectors, military and NGO’s. BOON OR BANE: The never ending question to which no one will ever have an answer, it’s always debatable and depends on each one’s perspective. As cliched as it may sound, there are two sides to a coin and definitely this topic of discussion has definitely, it’s good and it’s bad. Its positives are many to list out but the most important one is that, it reaches out to people at a rapid speed. The internet, television and radio spread news like fire. Anything happening around the world is known within seconds. For instance, there is an earthquake in remotest part of the world and our friends/relatives live there, we get to know about it within matters of seconds. At heights of boredom movies, games and internet entertain us. It has become an essential part of anyone’s life. People can’t survive without it. Better products with lower price and high quality can be bought only because it’s broadcasted. If it was not, we would have been sticking to what we used. So media helps in improving the quality of our lives. Our lives have eased out due to several factors like online payment and even buying/selling products/goods online. Internet has being a boon for communicating with loved ones throughout the globe at economical rates. There are numerous articles and various help services online. The negative side, which can’t be left out of course, is that the entertainment side of it like TV, internet and gaming could become a bad addiction after a point of time which could lead to several health problems and also divert a person from his/her responsibilities. There could be a situation where entertainment could be on top of priority list and the duties could take a backseat. Also internet could lead to false sense of social connection like talking to total strangers who could be dangerous. Anti-social organisations create havoc in the world, having the easy accessibility to the world and due to a powerful tool like electronic media. People should be clearly made aware of the dangerous involved. There have been misuses in form of bank debit cards, personal mail addresses etc. To avoid those people should be precautious. They should not let out their passwords and personal details to anyone. Kids should be restricted from viewing certain contents in websites. Also care should be taken to ensure that kids do not sit in front of television and internet too much. A CAREER IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA: A career in electronic media means being creative and thinking out of the box. The young generation has a fancy for electronic media as it is regarded as a glamorous field. As technology is improving and getting updated every day there are plenty of opportunities in field of electronic media and there is satisfying source of income. Many companies are in continuous need of quality professional from the field of electronic media. The want for people of the technical section is in greater demand and has better prospect. There are various colleges offering this course. A course in journalism or literature is good enough for a career in electronic media. Anyone can freelance irrespective of their educational qualification provided they have creativity. The job atmosphere is wonderful but could be inconvenient for girls as the timings could be not very convenient. INTRODUCTION TO PRINT MEDIA Print media is a way of reaching out to people by using paper written work. The print media includes newspapers, magazines, brochures, newsletters, books and even leaflets and pamphlets. Visual media like photography can also be mentioned under this sub-head, since photography is an important mass media, which communicates via visual representations. Although, it is said that the electronic or new media have replaced the print media, there exists a majority of audiences who prefer the print media for various communication purposes. Public speaking and event organizing can also be considered as a form of mass media. EXAMPLES OF PRINT MEDIA IN DETAIL NEWSPAPERS: Any current happenings throughout the world are known by newspapers. They are the best way to reach to rural masses that do not have any access to elevision and radios. MAGAZINES: Magazines make people aware of everything from clothes to politics. There are dedicated magazines for health, fashion, politics and even cars and bikes. BOOKS: They are a source of the best entertainment for people. The hugest advantage of books is that they inspire people and as well they don’t cause any kind of illness (such as eye defects and the likes). It helps people become more aware of the pre historical culture etc. BROCHURES: The biggest boon for avid travellers is brochures. They are those guidelines for what to do what not to do at a place and also where to visit. Brochures are given in hospitals too, for general health advice ADVANTAGES OF PRINT MEDIA: The advantages of print media are more than its disadvantages. The utmost important is that there are loyal readers for print media and that paves way for advertising. Also if a particular area is in target it is more rational to advertise in newspapers rather than internet. DISADVANTAGES OF PRINT MEDIA: If a major disadvantage has to be brought into consideration then it would be the fact that the current happenings would not reach everyone at a rapid speed. For example, there is a bomb blast and in that case people have to wait till next morning till the news is known. In television or the internet, the news is known at a rapid pace. A CAREER IN PRINT MEDIA: Print media is still the strongest and most influential source of news all over the world. Newspapers, journals and magazines are read and appreciated by a lot of people. And it seems that print media is not going to spare its position to audio, audio visual or new media in near future. Hence, a career in print media is not only attractive, but secured too. Many people believe that you need to be a journalist to enter into print media. That’s not the fact. There are many career options in print industry. You will be overwhelmed to see the list of opportunities available in print media. People can take up jobs from being a reporter to freelance writers. Hence, there are thousand reasons to be interested in print media jobs. People, who are not word-savvy, can still build up a career in print media. Newspaper production requires technical people to operate multicolour newspaper printing machines, repair machine parts. Most newspaper company’s use offset printing machines and they hire professional offset machine operators to ensure smooth and flawless production. There are institutes that train people on how to handle newspaper production. A degree in printing technology or prior experience of working in printing industry might help you crack print media jobs in the production. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND PRINT MEDIA Print media is challenged by its counterpart electronic media. Print media is capable of providing better localized news that may interest city residents. Also print media lets people store news which may be referred to in the future. Print media is a great way of advertising compared to electronic media. Real estate agents, educational institutions, travel agents etc. refer to advertise in newspapers as it gives a better impact. Electronic media lets people know the news immediately. Electronic media reaches out to people who are illiterate also. The standard of television news is deteriorating much when compared to print media. Intense competition between both leads to lot of speculative news being spread. CONCLUSIO N: Electronic media and print media have been played an immensely huge role in our lives and they have become an integrated part of our lives and let’s face it, there is no room for survival without the entertainment, information and many other things they provide.

Five Misspelled Idioms

Five Misspelled Idioms Five Misspelled Idioms Five Misspelled Idioms By Maeve Maddox Some idioms are confused in the speaking; others just in the spelling. The following idioms are usually pronounced correctly, but they are often misspelled in writing. 1. waiting with bated breath The word bated in this expression is often misspelled â€Å"baited.† For example, â€Å"Were waiting with baited breath  to hear if Rosie ODonnell is officially coming back to daytime screens.†    The word  bated is from a shortening of the verb  abate.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"To bate† means â€Å"to reduce, to lessen in intensity.† The expression â€Å"bated breath† is the only survival of the word in modern English. Read more here. 2. lo and behold People use this to mean something like â€Å"and then see what happened.† The idiom is frequently misspelled as â€Å"low and behold.† Lo is an old form of â€Å"look.† Read more here. 3. pore over Not to be confused with the noun pore (an opening in the skin), the verb pore means, â€Å"to study or examine carefully.† In expressions like â€Å"pore over a book† and â€Å"pore over my taxes,† the word is often misspelled as pour (to transfer liquid). Read more here. 4. toe the line This expression derives from the practice of lining up with one’s toe touching a line that has been drawn on the ground. Competitors line up to begin a race or some other competition. When everyone â€Å"toes the line† in this way, conformity has been achieved. In modern use, the expression occurs almost always in a political context with the meaning of â€Å"to conform to a political party’s platform.† It is often miswritten as â€Å"tow the line.† Read more here. 5. pique one’s interest/curiosity The French borrowing pique means â€Å"to stimulate.† The word is sometimes misspelled as peek and peak. Here are some examples, one of them from a site that offers marketing advice: â€Å"It was that statement that peeked my interest in acting,† says Loretta. Lingerie styles, construction, and cultures have always peeked my curiosity. Udemy has really  peaked my interest. Headlines That Will Have Peaked My Curiosity Read more here. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Opening Lines to Inspire the Start of Your StoryWriting the CenturyComma Before Too?

Asylum seekers

The word Asylum seekers is not an unknown topic to Australia. The Asylum seekers or ‘boat people’ have been contentious issue in Australian politics for many years. According to Google dictionary an Asylum seeker is: â€Å"a person who has left their home country as a political refugee and is seeking asylum in another.†The big debate surrounding the area of asylum seekers is how to moderate the amount of boat people coming into Australia. The Malaysian Solution was one of the approaches to reduce the amount of asylum seekers arriving to Australia by boat. The Solution was this: If Malaysia accepted 800 of Australia’s next ‘boat people’ then Australia would accept 4000 of Malaysia’s ‘genuine refugees’ and integrate them into Australia. This so called solution from the Labour government however was ruled against by the high court of Australia due to legal and ethical issues The High court ruled that the scheme was unlawful. One of the reasons is because Australia could not send asylum seekers to Malaysia because it is not legally bound by international or domestic law to provide access for asylum seekers to effective procedures for assessing their need for protection (Alison Rourke, 2010). It would be unethical to send asylum seekers to a country in which their basic human rights were to be at risk. Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention as well so there is no guarantee that the asylum seekers processed there would be safe. Many Australian governments are trying to introduce offshore processing as a deterrent to the ‘boat people’. By introducing the offshore processing ‘boat people’ will be faced with having to be processed as a ‘genuine refugee’ in another country rather than within Australia. With introducing Offshore processing it decreases moderation of the amount of people risking their lives by traveling by boat into Australian waters. Australians are also known to be against the idea of granting citizenship to refugees. By keeping the flow of refugees into Australia at a minimum it is less likely to cause a big uprising and attention to the area. Offshore processing however also has its flaws such as the excessive expense costs of transporting the asylum seekers to the offshore locations. It can be  estimated that to process 1 person in Malaysia would cost the government and tax payers up to $500 000 dollars per person. The Rejection of the governments Malaysian Solution by the High Court of Australia was for numerous reasons. The Scheme in many ways was illegal and did not improve the safety and human rights of the asylum seekers. Head of the Department of Immigration, Andrew Metcalfe, holds a firm view that offshore processing was ineffective and should not be reintroduced to process asylum seekers

Pasadena city college Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pasadena city college - Essay Example He noted that the truths of psychology are universal in that  people everywhere have minds, goals, desires, and beliefs.  In light of this, he defined a baby’s naà ¯ve psychology by exploring what babies know about the minds of others using the looking-time methods. He equally reckons a sympathetic parent’s acceptance to the popular claim that babies are wonderful learners. However, developmental psychologists negate this popular claim by noting that the ignorance of human babies extends well into childhood (Bloom Web). Bloom relates with other psychologists that the ignorance of human babies extends well into childhood and adopts the convectional view that young humans take a surprisingly long time to learn basic facts about the physical world and about people than they do to learn about morality. There are various studies, using the looking-methods to explore what babies know about the minds of others. In a study by his wife, Karen, he found that babies could do rudimentary math with objects. In this study, babies expect the same number of items like adults and are thus surprised if the contrary happens against their expectations. In another study, babies proved to have an actual understanding of mental life where they grasp how people think and why they act as they do. Indeed, though babies expect inanimate objects to move as the result of push-pull interactions, they expect people to move rationally in accordance with their beliefs and desires. Other studies show the existence of behavior in to ddlers that is â€Å"altruistic† in an even stronger sense where they give up their time and energy to help a stranger accomplish a difficult task. In a study investigating what babies, think about two particular kinds of action involving helping and hindering, a three-dimensional display in which real geometrical objects, manipulated like puppets, acted out the helping/hindering situations was in application. The study found out that

Redbox Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Redbox - Essay Example ly, the Redbox provided video games that are good sources of entertainment of children thereby relieving their parents once they are in stores and restaurants among other places (Redbox Corporate Managemen 00: 01:46). Notably, other than being initiated by the McDonald’s management, the Redbox was introduced to other retail outlets including mass retailers, grocery and convenience stores, and pharmacies among other fast food restaurants. Finally, it is worth noting that despite the Redbox not only started its operation as a movie selling store kiosk, but also majored on items including grocery items including eggs, milk, and sandwiches. However, of all the store kiosks, the DVD rental kiosks became more successful of the other grocery kiosks thereby making the company to focus on the DVD market (Redbox Corporate Managemen 00: 08:22). Notably, the same success of the DVD kiosks has made the company to be thinking of expanding the market to other regions with the immediate region in mind being

Subsidies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Subsidies - Essay Example Both direct and indirect payments can be part of an economic subsidy package. In the literature of economics, subsidies have been criticized for distortions and for wasting state or government resources. However, the criticisms from economics have not deterred states from providing subsidies. Some of the state or government policies may be responding to political expediency or convenience and this may be the reason why the criticisms from economics on subsidies have been failing to deter states and government from providing subsidies. Further, it is also possible that considerations other than economics have been determining state and government attitudes towards subsidies. For example, it is possible that national security can be invoked to defend a subsidy even if the literature of economics covers public goods in which issues of national security are included. Economic winners and losers in the new garbage facility. The economic winners in the subsidy include those in the supply chain of the new garbage facility. This means that the new garbage facility and their suppliers will benefit from the subsidy. Of course, the industry to which the new garbage facility will input into will also benefit from the subsidy. The economic losers in the subsidy can include the firms in the more developed part of the city. Although, the city government may not be likely exacting new payments from the said firms, it is possible that they can end up as economic losers just the same based on lost opportunities. However, they may not end up losers if the economic subsidy is just enough to compensate for the lack of profitability in the less developed area of the city. Citizens who will be living in the less developed city can be considered as winners in the subsidy because they will be able to avoid the possible discomfort without the subsidy. At the

Effective Collaboration and the Ideal Scenario Essay

Effective Collaboration and the Ideal Scenario - Essay Example The economic problems of adults with learning disabilities are primarily concerned with basic production and consumption. Sometimes the selection of, often preparation for, usually entrance upon, and almost surely progress in an occupation come during the adult years. The role of collaboration is not merely to care for the health of these individuals, but train them to become more productive and enable them to become self-sufficient. With rapid changes in the world of work, many adults find it necessary to learn new things or take a major leap in terms of their careers once or more during their working lives. Different agencies will have to discover new ties among government offices as well as partnerships with the private sector and NGOs to guarantee quality and accessibility of the benefits provided by the adult learning disability incentives by the government. Agencies will not only need to overcome traditional reluctance to work with each other to maximize benefits of scale in this case, but also will have to learn to actively participate in creating change within the agencies for the purpose of achieving harmony while in collaboration with other agencies. Collaboration among government entities, private enterprises and NGOs can assist policymakers in crafting meaningful reforms and can expedite the implementation of different policies that help advance adults with learning disabilities and some other disabled individuals. Private sector experts, who deeply understand topics such disability, adult learning, adult care, mental health, can advise government policymakers. The private sector may have considerable expertise that can help meet the challenges of increasing efficiency, capacity, and consumer (that is, citizen) satisfaction. As shown in Appendix 1, there are five main sectors that are qualified to be part of the multi-disciplinary team.  

Whether the No child Left Behind Act has an effect on graduation rates Essay

Whether the No child Left Behind Act has an effect on graduation rates and the economic growth of the State of Georgia - Essay Example For instance, the law requires states to test students in reading and math by 2014 which challenges their learning ability skills. Georgia is the state with most high school dropouts and poorest record in the percentage of high school graduates. Georgia attributes these poor records to the state’s vast economic challenges ever since the Great Recession period. In sum, it is clear from the report that the graduation rates as per ethnic groups in the U.S have increased since the implementation of the NCLB act. Evidence from the data that was statistically proven, it was realized that the African American graduation rate was at 44%; white’s graduation rate was 61% and Latinos was 32%. From the analysis all states in the U.S need to ensure that all students attend schools in order to increase graduation rates. Additionally, policymakers need to ensure that all ethnic groups attend schools to avoid the increase in number of school dropout as it is the case in Georgia. Center for Civic Innovation (CCI) At the Manhattan Institute. (April 2002). High School Graduation Rates in the United States. Web. 12 April 2014 Retrieved from

Subsidies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Subsidies - Essay Example Both direct and indirect payments can be part of an economic subsidy package. In the literature of economics, subsidies have been criticized for distortions and for wasting state or government resources. However, the criticisms from economics have not deterred states from providing subsidies. Some of the state or government policies may be responding to political expediency or convenience and this may be the reason why the criticisms from economics on subsidies have been failing to deter states and government from providing subsidies. Further, it is also possible that considerations other than economics have been determining state and government attitudes towards subsidies. For example, it is possible that national security can be invoked to defend a subsidy even if the literature of economics covers public goods in which issues of national security are included. Economic winners and losers in the new garbage facility. The economic winners in the subsidy include those in the supply chain of the new garbage facility. This means that the new garbage facility and their suppliers will benefit from the subsidy. Of course, the industry to which the new garbage facility will input into will also benefit from the subsidy. The economic losers in the subsidy can include the firms in the more developed part of the city. Although, the city government may not be likely exacting new payments from the said firms, it is possible that they can end up as economic losers just the same based on lost opportunities. However, they may not end up losers if the economic subsidy is just enough to compensate for the lack of profitability in the less developed area of the city. Citizens who will be living in the less developed city can be considered as winners in the subsidy because they will be able to avoid the possible discomfort without the subsidy. At the

Whether the No child Left Behind Act has an effect on graduation rates Essay

Whether the No child Left Behind Act has an effect on graduation rates and the economic growth of the State of Georgia - Essay Example For instance, the law requires states to test students in reading and math by 2014 which challenges their learning ability skills. Georgia is the state with most high school dropouts and poorest record in the percentage of high school graduates. Georgia attributes these poor records to the state’s vast economic challenges ever since the Great Recession period. In sum, it is clear from the report that the graduation rates as per ethnic groups in the U.S have increased since the implementation of the NCLB act. Evidence from the data that was statistically proven, it was realized that the African American graduation rate was at 44%; white’s graduation rate was 61% and Latinos was 32%. From the analysis all states in the U.S need to ensure that all students attend schools in order to increase graduation rates. Additionally, policymakers need to ensure that all ethnic groups attend schools to avoid the increase in number of school dropout as it is the case in Georgia. Center for Civic Innovation (CCI) At the Manhattan Institute. (April 2002). High School Graduation Rates in the United States. Web. 12 April 2014 Retrieved from

Tesla in Automotive industry Strategy project Essay Example for Free

Tesla in Automotive industry Strategy project Essay 1. Introduction The Encyclopaedia Brittanica defined the automotive industry as all the companies and activities involved in the manufacturing of motor vehicles, including most components, such as bodies and engines; but excluding tires, batteries and fuel1. The automotive industry started with the production of what is widely considered to be the first ever automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886. Although the first car was originally manufactured in Germany, in the many decades to come, the United States led the world in total automobile production until the start of the 21st century, when China took the top position. Today, China produces nearly 20 million units per year, almost double the amount of the United States. It is one of the world’s most important sectors when measured by revenue and it is a business that is still growing significantly. Last year for example, over 87 million automobiles were produced worldwide, a 3. 6% increase compared to the year before and a 43. 82% increase compared to 20032. Needless to say, the automotive industry is big business and it is very probable there are business opportunities that are yet to be exploited. Tesla Motors is an American car manufacturer that tried to exploit such a business opportunity. It’s an American company that designs and manufactures electric vehicles and electric car components3. Founded in 2003, Tesla’s goal was to lessen the world’s dependence on petroleum-based transportation and drive down the cost of electric vehicles. Moreover, Tesla’s aim is to prove that electric vehicles can be awesome as well4. This might not sound particularly unique, but Tesla Motors does have a very distinct strategy in the sense that it wants to enter the automotive market by first focusing on high-end luxury cars and sports cars. Later, when Tesla’s products and consumers acceptance have matured, they would move into the market for the middle-class consumer, which is larger but also significantly more competitive5. The idea is to establish a strong brand name at first, which will aid the company in a later stage when the decision is made to start producing lower-priced automobiles. Tesla’s first 1 http://global. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/45050/automotive-industry 2 http://www. oic a. net/category/production-statistics/ 3 http://www. te slamotors. com/ 4 http://www. teslamotors. com/about 5 http://www. greenc arreports. com/news/1022275_msnbc-calls-ev-drivers-lunatic-fringe 3 model, the Roadster, had a base price of approximately $100. 0006. Their second car, Model S, is priced at $63. 750 including a $7. 500 tax credit. The company now has plans to launch a $30,000 small SUV the Tesla Model X 7. Eventually, Tesla wants to become a mass producer of electric vehicles and service both upper- and middle-class customers8 This discussion aims to analyze Tesla’s strategy. It is clear that Tesla has a very differentiated strategy and we will want to determine whether or not Tesla is likely to succeed in achieving its goals and become a successful enterprise. Firstly, we will take closer look at the ‘environmental’ automotive industry using Porter’s theory. Secondly, we need to closely look at Tesla’s strategy. How will Tesla try to win a respectable share of the market? As mentioned before, Tesla is a very young company and it will inevitably face fierce competition from incumbent firms. A clear plan to establish a foothold in such a market will be essential for the firm’s survival. The next step is to see if Tesla identified all relevant factors and industry forces, and if it has defined a strategy that takes all of these elements into account. It will surely need to attain a unique strategy if it wants to position itself in a key position in the market. What is it exactly that differentiates Tesla from other car manufacturers and in what way could this be beneficial for the firm? Does their strategy have a high chance of success? How can Tesla create a network of electric chargers? Before evaluating Tesla’s strategy, we must first clearly take a closer look at the company Tesla Motors itself and define the market in which the company is active. Even though they are currently operating in a smaller niche market (mid to high-end luxury cars), the plan is to eventually address the middle-class consumer and enter the ‘standard’ automobile market. This will inevitably complicate our discussion but it is essential for determining the chance of success. The paper includes a discussion on the high entry barriers that are typically associated in the automotive industry and the possible presence of strategic entry barriers raised by incumbent firms to reduce the likelihood of new entrants. We will also mention any other strategies adopted by firms in the automotive industry who want to improve their competitive position. Furthermore, the extent to which the industry is concentrated will be discussed, as well as the possible presence of strategic complements and substitutes. Moreover, Tesla will also need to take the non-market environment into consideration. Typical for the automotive sector is that it is an industry with very strict safety regulations. Tesla of course will also 6 http://jalopnik. com/5135290/tesla-increases-prices-on-already-ordered-roadsters 7 http://onpoint. wbur. org/2009/09/25/teslas-elon-musk-on-a-sub-30000-electric-car 8 http://www. marketwatch. com/ story/strategic-corporate-profile-of-tesla-motors-global-operations-2014-01-13 4 have to face the challenge of producing vehicles that respect these requirements. On top of that, the relatively recent discovery of global warming, partially caused by car emission (CO2), has led to the implementation of a series of emission standards that aim to reduce the greenhouse gasses emitted by petroleum-powered vehicles. This may not seem relevant for Tesla Motors at first since its goal is to produce electric vehicles. These regulations are however accompanied with a credit system, which means that car manufacturers that do not meet the standard are penalized and have to buy credits from other manufacturers that have a surplus of credits9. Since Tesla Motors only produces emissions-free vehicles, it has a major surplus of credits which it can sell to other car manufacturers. General Motors for example has to buy additional credits from Tesla in order to respect the regulation. This implies large transfers of wealth across car manufacturers. As a result, companies selling cars with a (too) high emission must raise prices to pay for the credits. On the other hand, the beneficiaries of these wealth transfers such as Tesla can now use the extra revenue to lower prices and take on a more competitive position in the market. All of this will of course be discussed more thoroughly in our discussion below. The paper concludes with a summary of the discussion and our prognosis regarding the future success of Tesla Motors in the automotive industry. 2. Market definition This paper only looks at models available in the US because it’s the largest electric car market, the EU is the second largest market but is much more complex because EU-countries have different legislation for electric cars. Some countries have large subsidies for electric cars and thus large market shares such as Norway, on the other hand some countries have almost no market share. The Model S is the only available model at the moment targeting the middle to high-end luxury car market. This model costs between 63. 750$(base model, 7500$ tax credit) and 125. 220 $(full option, 7500$ tax credit). 10 Because the model S is all electric, we can compare the car to slighter cheaper models because of lower long term ownership cost thanks to lower cost for electricity compared to fuel. The base model is a full-size 5 adult seat sedan powered by a fully electric 60 kW-h motor achieving 302hp. Top speed is relatively low at around 200km/h but acceleration is very good at 5. 9 seconds to 100 km/h, this is typical for an electric engine. More expensive models offer better range and performance and a warranty with unlimited kilometers on the battery for 8 years compared to 200. 000km for 8 years on the base model. 9 http://mitsloanexperts. mit. edu/californias-auto-emissions-policy-hits-a-tesla-pothole/ 10 Teslamotors. com 5 We will consider the mid to high-end luxury market containing one electric the Tesla, a couple of hybrids and a lot of traditional cars. Mid-end starts at prices of approximately 50. 000 $ with cars such as the BMW 5-serie, Audi A6 and Mercedes E-class. 11 High end stops at prices above 130. 000$. For the following analyses we will sometimes look at broader markets containing cheaper alternatives because even though these cars aren’t substitutes they are still relevant. Research show that tesla owners were most likely to previously own a Toyota prius hybrid or secondly luxury BMW and Mercedes. 12 3. Industry attractiveness and profitability In this section the overall attractiveness of the ‘environmental’ automotive industry is assessed using Porter’s influential five forces model. The term environmental indicates those vehicles that do not solely rely on the combustion of fossil fuels to power their engine. Examples are electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Both the pure electric automotive industry as well as the overarching environmental automotive industry is presented, as these cannot always be seen separately. In his model, Michael Porter identifies five key competitive forces that determine the structure and profitability of a certain industry. The five forces are the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the threat of substitutes, the threat of entry and the rivalry among existing competitors. Porter’s model enables managers, in an easy and straightforward way, to understand their industry environment and to shape their firm’s strategy accordingly. As a rule of thumb, the stronger the five forces, the lower the industry’s profit potential and hence the industry’s attractiveness to competitors. The most influential forces that have shaped and continue to shape the environmental automotive industry are discussed in the following paragraphs. A first restraint on the overall profitability of a firm is the bargaining power of its suppliers. For the environmental automotive industry the bargaining power varies among the suppliers of different components. An important component in the construction of hybrid and electric vehicles is the battery. The bargaining power of the battery companies is low as there are a lot of manufacturers present on the market. Tesla Motors, for instance, buys Li-ion cells from different manufacturers. Consequently, in the case any problems occur with a particular battery supplier, Tesla can easily switch or threaten to switch to other suppliers at low costs. Among others, Tesla works together with Daimler AG and Panasonic to develop battery packs and chargers (Boyke, Cheng, Clevers, Schroeder, Strupp, 2010). Another important component of any vehicle is the chassis. For the construction of the chassis 11 http://buyersguide. caranddriver. com 12 h%p://www. wired. com/2014/03/tesla-model-s-toyota-prius/ 6 specialized engineering skills are required. These skills can often be obtained through strategic partnerships with other car manufacturing companies. In the case of such strategic interdependence the bargaining power of the suppliers is higher than in the ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ battery case. In the past Tesla had an exclusive partnership with Lotus for the physical construction of the Roadster13. As of recently Tesla and Toyota Motor Corporation also agreed to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, the production system and engineering support14. In conclusion, however, the overall bargaining power of suppliers in the automotive industry is low. The supplier firms must contend with substitute products for sale to the industry. Tesla has more than 150 suppliers around the world, which provide over 2000 parts to Tesla. For the production of the Model S, Tesla uses a highly integrated manufacturing approach, even negotiating with suppliers to manufacture products on site to use the excess capacity. In this way, the integrated approach enables Tesla to alleviate its dependence on supplier performance (Boyke, Cheng, Clevers, Schroeder, Strupp, 2010). A second force that determines the profitability in an industry is the bargaining power of buyers. The bargaining power of buyers concerns the pressure buyers can put on the margins of producers by demanding a lower price or a higher product quality. In the environmental automotive industry the bargaining power of buyers is rather low. For Tesla in particular this is even more so. For starters, Tesla does not sell products in bulk. This means that for the consumers that purchase the finished products no real scale effects are present. Moreover, Tesla has a quite unique position on the market. Tesla is the only manufacturer on the US market that produces high-end, full electric cars that can drive autonomously for over 400 km. By employing a highly skilled, technocratic labour force and management team, Tesla has branded itself as a cutting-edge, innovative firm. They manufacture high quality electric vehicles that are very performing while being environmental-friendly and fun at the same time. The buyers of the Model S also have the possibility to entirely customize the vehicle to their taste. This creates a sense of exclusivity among the clients. Besides the B2C applications Tesla has also established a strong position in the B2B environment 15. Tesla for example licenses its patented processes and technologies to other companies. Especially in the area of battery technology 13 http://www. teslamotors. com/blog/lotus-position 14 http://www.teslamotors. com/about/press/releases/tesla-motors-and-toyota-motor-corporation- intend-work-jointly-ev-development-tm 15 http://www. slideshare. net/joseangeldf/darden-school-of-business-tesla-strategic-analysis 7 and the construction of ‘supercharging’ stations Tesla has a lot of expertise16. The proper licensing of these assets will benefit the entire environmental automotive industry as a whole. An especially important force in the electric automotive industry is the threat of substitutes from outside the given industry. Hybrid vehicles and more specifically PHEV provide a similar functionality as the full electric vehicles. Those manufacturers within these strongly related industries, which produce vehicles and services with an attractive price and performance, pose a serious threat to the established electric car manufacturers. For the Model S the most important substitutes are those mid to high-end hybrids. These vehicles offer low emissions and a good fuel economy at a similar price as the Model S. The most successful alternatives within the US automotive industry are discussed in the next chapter. In the specific price range of the Model S the threat of substitutes is still limited as Tesla is gradually positioning itself as a high-value, exclusive and environmental brand with a growing number of enthusiasts17. Nonetheless, a possible future expansion into the mid-end and low- end market segment will significantly increase the threat of substitutes. There are, however, some complementing factors that might reduce the threat of substitutes both for Tesla as well as the electric automotive industry in a whole. The scope for future development in battery technology, the presence of several tax and parking incentives for electric vehicles and the expected rise in oil prices in comparison to electricity prices might spur the attractiveness of the electric automotive industry. These market dynamics both play on the level of customers as well as producers. One possible negative factor in the realisation of potential sales is the low availability of charging and home charging facilities. However, Tesla Motors is addressing this issue by investing heavily in strategically located charging facilities and by expanding the power and endurance of the battery pack 18. Tesla’ s battery pack technology is critical to the company’ s positioning and competitive differentiation. The low cost of the battery pack allows Tesla to not only design cars with battery ranges greater than the competition but also place equal emphasis on design, performance, and energy efficiency. On the short term, the threat of new entrants in the electric US market is rather limited because of several entry barriers. The industry is characterised by high capital requirements and high sunk costs. 16 http://www. sl ate. com/articles/technolog y/technolog y/2013/05/tesla_model_s_the_electric_car_compa ny_is_a_little_bit_apple_a_little_bit. html 17 http://www. wikiwealth. com/five-forces:tesla-motors, http://www. teslamotors.com/blog-and-press- releases. 18 http://www. slideshare. net/joseangeldf/darden-school-of-business-tesla-strategic-analysis, http://www. reuters. com/article/2014/02/26/us-tesla-battery-panasonic-idUSBREA1O1MF20140226, http://www. t eslamotors. com/supercharger 8 Moreover, advanced, often patented, technologies and processes as well as a highly skilled workforce are required to successfully manufacture an electric car. The success of a firm in the industry is also largely determined by its brand image and the realisation of economies of scale19. Therefore, it is not easy for a potential new entrant to establish a foothold. This is even enhanced by the fact that the incumbent firms have a large and flexible production capacity that can be used as a retaliation device in case of entry (Boyke, Cheng, Clevers, Schroeder, Strupp, 2010). However, established vehicle manufacturers with deep pockets that have currently missed the ‘environmental train’ or disruptive innovators like Tesla Motors might overcome these entry barriers in the long run. The current competition in the US environmental automotive industry is moderate. Only a few major brands are competing. Because of the high entry barriers and the threat of substitutes not a lot of brands risk burning cash in an innovative and insecure business. However, as the sector matures and more people consider switching to an electric car this will change. In a recent report of the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) a global goal of 20 million electric passenger cars, including plug-in hybrid vehicles, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles, in stock by 2020 is set forward. This is still a long way to go as the total worldwide electric vehicle stock at the end of 2012 only amounted to a large 180. 000 units. In 2012, 38. 585 PHEVs and 14. 592 BEVs were sold in the US. The cumulative stock in the US in 2012 was 71. 174 units (Clean Energy Ministerial, Electric Vehicles Initiative, International Energy Agency, 2013). In 2013 roughly 96. 000 electric vehicles were sold in the US environmental automotive industry(including hybrids)20. The three top selling brands are the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S. It is clear that the popularity of electric vehicles has significantly increased over the last few years. It is expected that this trend will only continue in the future as the number of models on the market increases. The share of electric cars is still only about 3,5% of the total number of cars that are sold annually in the US market21. Hence, the growth potential of the environmental automotive industry is huge, this both on a domestic as well as an international level. In conclusion of this section an assessment is made of the overall profitability of the environmental automotive industry. As previously argued, the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers is rather limited in the industry. Therefore, the vehicle manufacturers can attract more profits than their up- and downstream partners. The industry is also characterised by several entry barriers, especially on the 19 http://www. wikiwealth. com/five-forces:tesla-motors 20 http://www. greencarreports. com/news/1089443_plug-in-electric-car-sales-for-2013-almost-double- last-years 21 http://electricdrive. org/index. php? ht=d/sp/i/20952/pid/20952 9 short term. The effective prevention of possible entrants reduces the pressure on prices and allows incumbent firms to attract a significant share of the profits. The threat of substitutes is one of the most important restrictors on the profitability within the industry. Because of the similarity in functions between electric brands and hybrid brands it is important for the incumbent firms to create a positive consumer image towards their products. The growth potential of EVs is the most important driver of future profitability of the industry. Until now incumbent firms have undertaken a lot of RD initiatives in the area of battery and charging technologies. The sales numbers in the US market show that these investments are finally starting to pay-off. In the long run, with a growing global popularity of EVs, it is to be expected that also other companies will consider entering the environmental automotive industry. 4. Tesla in the market Tesla differentiates itself by producing environmental responsible cars that have all the benefits of a luxury vehicle. By equally emphasizing on speed, handling, design, comfort, and zero-emissions, Tesla creates a unique balance between performance, efficiency and aesthetics. Through the offering of this first fully electric luxury sedan car, Tesla attained a first mover advantage. Together with its ‘Silicon Valley’ culture, an approach that is innovative, competitive, and effective, Tesla achieved a solid brand name in the automotive market. (Mangram, 2012) Tesla’s battery technology is also critical to the company’s competitive advantage. With its cutting-edge battery technology, combined with essential technology research, Tesla is able to design and produce electric cars with a far greater range than its competitors. Its lithium-ion based battery, for instance, is 250 kilograms lighter compared and has a range of up to 500 kilometers. Bron ? vergeleken met wat ? But even with a supercharger a full charge is approximately one hour. Moreover the company produces many of its key parts in-house, thus making it harder for competitors to replicate. With the expansion of its own retail shops and the establishment of a network of free recharging points for its customers, Tesla keeps challenging the traditional car companies (The Economist, 2013). Tesla’s main strategy can be seen as a reflection of the innovative marketing approach Apple used for its ingenious technology. It holds that any new technology is often very expensive and wealthy customers are regularly the first to accept it. Consequently, Tesla produced its first vehicle, the Roadster, for the premium sports car consumer segment. Nowadays, with the production of the Model S Sedan, the middle to upper- middle class consumers are being targeted. Finally, by 2015 Tesla plans to produce and market an electric car available at a mass-market consumer price range (Tesla Motors, 10 2014). Although this ‘Apple Computer’s business model’ is considered to be rather exceptional in the automobile industry it helped the company to position itself as groundbreaking, self-determining, and cool. Tesla BMW Daimler AG General Motors Toyota Revenue 2 billion 60 billion 117 billion 155 billion 22 trillion Net Income -74 000 2 billion 6,4 billion 5,35 billion 962 billion Sales Growth 387% 7,2 % 3,22 % 2,08 % 18,73 % The luxury car market is highly competitive, with several incumbent companies with loyal customers. Tesla’s main competitors in the luxury car segment are BMW, General Motors, Toyota and Mercedes. While the number of any competitive electric car is still low, an increase can be expected. General Motor’s Chevrolet Volt is one of the main competing vehicles in the market. It covers a wide target market and comes at a notable lower price than Tesla’s Model S. Toyota remains the global leader when it comes to selling hybrids. Although Toyota has 4 electric cars (the Prius, the RAV4 EV, the FCHV fuel cell car, and the Scio IQ-EV), it strategically collaborates with Tesla to improve the electric car development. This alliance has been one of the main factors of Tesla’s growth as Tesla consumers can get customer service in Toyota sites (Toyota Motor Corporation, 2014). The chart compares Tesla’s main competitors on the basis of revenue, net income and sales growth. As we can see, its sales growth is overwhelming. Given that is a rather new company, it indicates its rapid expansion on the electric car market. However, Tesla’s net income remains negative. Nonetheless, the company’s share is currently being traded at 20 times its earning, and as the company continues to grow these numbers are expected to rise. According to an article by Wall Street, 43 new hybrid, electric, and fuel-cell vehicles will be produced in the US market by 2015. Moreover, the market share of alternative fuel cars will increase from 3% in 2012 to almost 5% in 2014 (Wall Street, 2013). New electric vehicle entrants and existing plug-in hybrids manufactures will continue to compete with Tesla in the near future. While the traditional car manufactures are firmly entrenched, Tesla’s competitive advantages could develop to the securing of a significant market share in the electric car market. 5. Sustainability of the competitive advantage. This chapter analyses the degree of sustainability of Tesla’s competitive advantage. First the relevant trends and developments in the automotive industry are briefly reviewed. Furthermore, the 11 predominant isolating mechanisms in force given the market position of Tesla are discussed. We argue Tesla is a textbook example of a disruptive technology. To conclude, strategy recommendations hereupon are formulated. The primordial focus of our analysis shifts in this chapter from the luxury car market to the overarching automotive industry. The rational hereof is clear-cut. On the one hand, the trend analysis for the automotive industry applies to and sufficiently covers the luxury car segment. On the other hand, Tesla continuously voices the strategy to level down through the segments. Furthermore, the majority of car manufacturers produce for multiple segments of the industry. The sustainability of Tesla’s competitive advantage thus strongly depends on the industry rather than the Model S market segment. 1. 1 Trends in the automotive industry The automotive industry is, may be argued, rather conservative. The market structure is little dynamic, without change in market leading firms for long. Furthermore, the industry evolved the past century merely through optimising the traditional ‘automobile’, with limited major breakthroughs. To illustrate, though fuel efficiency and exhaust of the combustion engine has greatly improved, working principles remain unchanged. The emergence of (electrical) alternatives that are sold commercially is only a recent phenomenon. We review three developments that will impact the automotive industry. First, the society-wide surge of environmentalism a fortiori impacts the automotive industry. A thickening body of government actions forces car manufacturers to produce cleaner cars. This both directly, through legislation (e.g. CO2 output limits for new cars), or indirectly by altering consumer behaviour through excises or tax incentives. Furthermore, consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious. Bottom-line, car sales undeniably grow more eco-friendly. Furthermore, the panoply of driver assisting technology that brakes automatically for obstacles or parks the car will be further developed. Self-driving cars may be short-term everyday reality, with Google pulling the cart. Lastly, Gen Y is argued to focus on services rather than ownership. The emergence and success of car sharing by Zipcar or Cambio illustrates this shift in mentality for the automotive industry. 1. 2 The isolating mechanisms The electric car is strongly based on the century old inventions of Serbian engineer Nikola Tesla. We nevertheless argue that the electric car is a text book disruptive technology. This technology, spearheaded by Tesla, will herewith potentially overturn the automotive industry, challenging the 12 incumbents. The early-mover advantage in this creative destruction may enable Tesla to sustain its competitive advantage. The disruptive technology concept is extensively reviewed in the of literature. We apply the framework to the Tesla case. First, the environmental movement and increasing fuel prices created momentum for alternatives of the traditional combustion engine. Both incumbent car manufacturers and many start-ups invested in research. The hydrogen car made the press as a promising technology, but proved little feasible. Eventually the electric car showed market-viable. Many innovators inter alia Fisker, failed. However, as statistics dictate tech start-up Tesla got ahead in the race at the expense of dominant car manufacturers. The 2400 Tesla Roadsters produced, sales manifestly unattractive   toincumbents, were a great success and learning opportunity for the start-up. The Tesla Model S unprecedented battery range no longer forces consumers to trade off fuel efficiency for convenience. Herewith it can shift from niche product for wealthy eco-hipsters to head on competition for the traditional luxury sedan. The Model S proves superior to its competition threefold. First, the position of the battery pack lowers the gravity centre of the car for superior handling (and creates a spacious trunk in the back and front). The electric engine also delivers instant torque, further allowing sporty driving. Furthermore, the Model S was granted a record safety score of 5,4 out of 5. Lastly, electric engines are maintenance free. Note that the electric car still offers greater potential for technological progress than the more tried and tested combustion engine. The incumbent firms are wary of this potential shift to electric for the automotive industry, note the growing number of electric cars offered. However, extensively studied, the difference in investment dynamics with nimble start-ups impedes them to appropriately and successfully commit to the disruptive technology. The sunk cost and replacement effect are strong in this case. Therefore, it is Tesla that has a head start, with Daimler and Toyota asking the new kid on the block for help. The early-mover advantage of Tesla will sustain its competitive advantage threefold. First, we consider the economies of the learning curve. The first car manufacturer to fully grasp the paradigm shift Tesla benefits hereby manifold. The design-from-scratch approach is inevitable to exploit the electric car technology to the full. The Model S is a thus a step ahead of the build-on competitors, quickly adding to Tesla’s experience with every unit sold. Furthermore, the superior battery packs are en route to continue to offer greater range and faster charging at a lower unit cost. Note that Tesla supplies its electric powertrain to Toyota and Daimler, further adding to its cumulative experience. Moreover, the strong experience gained is further protected from imitation through multiple patents. The literature further arguments the reputation for quality to be an important source of early-mover advantage for experience goods. Thus, the brand image of an electric car brand may be considered important, notwithstanding the ubiquitous possibilities for test drives. Tesla has a rock solid reputation 13 for quality, though much like Apple it has irrational haters22. To illustrate, the Tesla recall threat due to 3 car fires was resolved by an overnight software update that would slightly raise the Model S when driving on the highway. The Tesla stock price had a field day23. Furthermore, the Model S production cannot keep up with sales. Herewith, Tesla doesn’t spend a dollar on marketing. Thirdly, Tesla benefits from network effects to sustain its competitive advantage. Tesla heavily invests in the supercharger network, that quickly expanding adds to the convenience of driving an electric car station by station. For competitors it is meanwhile.