Internet gambling Essay

This document will inform you about the history of internet gambling, the existing issues, and a number of concerns involved with online gambling. Prior to the launching of the World Wide Web in 1993 which changed the setting of gambling, people had to travel great distances to gamble. The world’s first virtual online casino, Internet Casinos, Inc. (ICI) commenced operation on August 18, 1995 with 18 different casino games. Most of these online gambling companies are located outside of the U. S.to avoid government prosecution. ICI operates out of the Turks and Caicos Islands (Kish, 1999). One of the main reasons internet gambling started was because of costs. The value to start up an internet gambling site is around 1. 5 million dollars, which is half of what it costs to actually construct a casino. ICI estimates that the company averages about a twenty four percent profit margin, versus the typical United States casino, which ranges from eight percent to sixteen percent of each dollar wagered (Kish, 1999). An estimated twenty million people are currently online with a projected 160 million online by the year 2020. The overall market for online gambling is estimated to be approximately $49 billion worldwide (Kish, 1999). The history of internet gambling is only a decade old, however, its history will hold on for several more. There are several existing issues facing internet gambling. The first issues we will discuss are how to regulate internet gambling. The question raised by the emergence of Internet gambling is whether old laws–based mainly on a world of atoms–are still viable, and if not, in which way the Internet should be regulated (Walther, 2000). Some scholars believe that internet gambling needs to be regulated, and of course there are those that say let the owners of the sites regulate themselves. Regulatory procedures can be targeted at either or both of the providers and the consumers of gambling services. In the case of consumers, regulation is usually implemented by age, through prohibition of the participation of minors. Procedures might also be contrived to prohibit problem gamblers or undischarged bankrupts from engaging in gambling (Clarke, 2000). Another existing problem with internet gambling is The Wire Act which was intended to assist the states, territories and possessions of the United States, as well as the District of Columbia, in enforcing their respective laws on gambling and bookmaking and to suppress organized gambling activities. Subsection (a) of the Wire Act, a criminal provision, provides: â€Å"Whoever being engaged in the business of betting or wagering knowingly uses a wire communication facility for the transmission in interstate or foreign commerce of bets or wagers or information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest, or for the transmission of a wire communication which entitles the recipient to receive money or credit as a result of bets or wagers, or for information assisting in the placing of bets or wagers, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both† (Rodefer, 2003). During the House of Representatives debate on the bill, Congressman Emanuel Celler, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee stated â€Å"[t]his bill only gets after the bookmaker, the gambler who makes it his business to take bets or to lay off bets. . . It does not go after the causal gambler who bets $2 on a race (Rodefer, 2003). What the government is having a problem with is that most internet gambling sites are run ran in foreign countries, and they cannot enforce this act against them. What they are trying to do is change the act to include these third parties. An example of this is the introduction of the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997 (Walther, 2000). The bill would have prohibited Internet gambling by extending the Wire Act’s prohibitions on traditional forms of gambling by phone or wire to the Internet (Walther, 2000). This amendment would provide penalties for online bets and wagers. This so far seems to be the best solution, however ethical and moral dilemmas still rest in the hands of our lawmakers today. The next issue facing internet gambling is taxes. This seems to be the government’s biggest issue. This is because of the billions of dollars we mentioned for profit by these online sites, government can gain significant amount of money from it. The legalization of Internet gambling may cause states to lose some revenue generated from legalized gambling operations because many gamblers would spend their money online (Lassani, 1998). Moreover, states lose revenue by not being able to tax gamblers who win over the Internet. Gamblers who win over the Internet have an incentive not to pay taxes on their winnings because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lacks the resources to track online gamblers (Lassani, 1998). The likelihood of addiction to Internet gambling among both children and adults is an extremely important concern. In relation to addiction, children are more likely to become addicted to something new than adults (Smith, 2004). For example, the video game-like nature of virtual casinos, labeled the â€Å"crack cocaine of gambling,† could make online gambling a temptation difficult to resist. Furthermore, the fact that the Internet gambler need not leave the comfort and privacy of his or her home could mean that an individual might become easily addicted. This is the worst thing about internet gambling, because there will not be anyone to detect if a person is addicted or not. Consequently the only aid they will get is their selves, and that leaves the player defenseless against the dependence of gambling. Having to go to the casino to gamble has better chances of knowing who is addicted and who is not, they have hired hands to detect this problem, unlike the home atmosphere. Kevin O’Neill, Deputy Director of New Jersey’s Council on Compulsive Gambling says â€Å"The real threat comes from the isolation and secrecy of the betting activity itself. † â€Å"I call this threat the cave syndrome due to the gambler’s isolated behavior and hidden activity† (Wharry, 2001). In closing the short lived World Wide Web as created pandemonium with our lawmakers. The dilemma of how everyone interprets the Wire Act is a major concern. The efforts to amend it to make all users liable for using the websites are tiresome, and stopping foreigners from creating internet gambling sites seems never-ending since the United States cannot control them. In just over a decade there are over twenty million users, expected to increase to 160 million in the next 14 years. Its revenue is over 49 billion dollars and increasing. There are more profit margins with online gambling than the traditional casino. The cost to create a gambling web is 1. 5 million dollars compared to the 300 million to build a casino, this creates profit and increases attendance because of its trouble-free access. One important concern with internet gambling is addiction. Children are easily addicted to new things than adults and it will make it harder to control and detect gambling addiction. Internet gambling is a good creation for those people who can control themselves, but for those who cannot have a greater chance to end up bankrupt. Thus we can see from this example alone, why lawmakers are having such problems to secure the problem, do they let it carry on or let people put themselves in jeopardy of losing everything. Michael Bolcerek the President of The Poker Group said, â€Å"It’s a personal liberty issue with regard to how you spend your money and what you see over the Internet†(Roth, 2006). References: Clarke, R. (2000, December). The feasibility of regulating gambling on the internet . Retrieved May 5, 2006, from Regulations of internet gambling Web site: http://www. anu. edu. au/people/Roger. Clarke/II/FeasIGR. html Kish, S. (1999). An analysis of the government’s role in addressing internet gambling. Betting on the Net, 51(no 2), 449-6. Lessani, A.M. (1998, May). How much do you want to bet that the internet gambling prohibition act of 1997 is not the most effective way to tackle the problems of online gambling. Retrieved May 4, 2006, from The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act: An Analysis Web site: http://www. gseis. ucla. edu/iclp/alessani. html Rodefer, J. (2003). Federal wire wager act. Retrieved May 5, 2006, from Gambling-Law- US. com Web site: http://www. gambling-law-us. com/Federal-Laws/wire-act. htm Roth, B. (2006, April 25). Foes try to squelch online gambling. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, [1]. Smith, A. (2004). Controversial and emerging issues associates with eybergambling (e-casinos). Online Information Review. 28(6), 435-443. Walther, F. M. (2000). A comparative u. s. -swiss perspective. Retrieved May 5, 2006, from Internet Gambling Related Regulatory Questions and Enforcement Problems Web site: http://stlr. stanford. edu/STLR/Events/gambling/contents_f. html#note5 Wharry, S. (2001). E-Gambling threat worries addiction experts. You Bet Your Life, 165,325.

Hasty Decisions in Romeo and Juliet Essay

The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet hosts a plethora of hastily made decisions. As ill-fated as the two star-crossed lovers may have been, the root of all their problems can be traced back to their rash decisions. The reason Romeo and Juliet meet in the first place is because Romeo and Benvolio decide on a whim that they are going to go to the Capulet party to show Romeo that there are other beauties besides Rosaline. After this all of the decisions of the characters are made on the spot, with little to no forethought going into them. Had the characters thought their choices through a bit more thoroughly then perhaps they wouldn’t have had to deal with the resulting tragedy. These are but a few of the flawed choices that ultimately lead to Romeo and Juliet’s untimely demise. As mentioned the decision that caused the ignition of this ill-fated romance was when Romeo and Benvolio made the choice to go to the Capulet party. They hear about it when reading the Capulet messenger’s letter and rashly decide to go to the party so as to help Romeo get over Rosaline. The fact that they willingly decide to go to their enemy’s party to find women is abhorrent since they know the troubles that could ensue if they got caught. If they had put a little more thought into the consequences of such actions then maybe Romeo and Juliet would not have ended up in such a turbulent romance. Another poorly made decision was when after knowing each other for a single day Romeo and Juliet decide to get married. The amount of flaws in their logic whilst deciding upon this course of action is numerous. First, after such a short amount of time they hardly know each other, second, before making such a huge step for their futures it would’ve been wise to first see if they could do anything to help end their families feuding so that they wouldn’t have to keep their love a secret. Their secret marriage inescapably leads to many problems including that Juliet’s dad wants her to marry Paris. Since she is already married this idea throws her into a fit of rage and despair. This leads to another whirlwind of events that in the end forges the way to one of Romeo and Juliet’s final and greatest mistake. The last and quite possibly the biggest mistake that the lovers make is when they decide to take their own lives to be with each other. The reason this happens is due to even more hastily made decisions. The first event that leads to this tragic ending is when Friar Lawrence decides to give Juliet a potion to make her sleep for a day despite not having mentioned any f their plans to Romeo. The friar does send a letter but it gets delayed so Romeo has no idea that Juliet’s death is a hoax. Instead of doing something rational Romeo then decides to purchase a vial of poison and kill himself at Juliet’s grave. At the grave Romeo ends up killing Paris and a few minutes before Juliet is suppose to wake up takes the poison and dies. If Romeo had waited a little longer or tried to go to Friar Lawrence to see about what had happened this catast rophe could have been avoided. Shortly after Romeo dies Juliet wakes up and is stricken with insurmountable despair at his death. When the friar tries to get her to leave the tomb she finds a dagger and kills herself. Juliet’s decision to kill herself because she is unable to be with her lover in life is quite a brash and thoughtless decision. After she woke up she could have left with the friar and tried to sort out her feelings first before making such a permanent decision, but instead her forthright nature gets the best of her and she ends up dead because of it. Romeo and Juliet perfectly depict that rash decisions lead to defective conclusions. In conclusion Romeo and Juliet can be more accurately described as a tale of hastily made decisions leading to unfortunate conclusions rather than the story of two star-crossed lovers who were destined to be kept apart. The key events that lead to their deaths are all caused by someone caught in the heat of the moment and not thinking clearly. From the decision to go to the Capulet party to all the events that contributed to their fast paced romance, perfunctory decisions have overshadowed them all. Through these choices the tragic flaws of Romeo and Juliet are revealed. It becomes apparent early on that Romeo’s tragic flaw is his impulsiveness and inability to control his love for Juliet. Juliet’s tragic flaw is her loyalty towards Romeo which leads to her death when she is separated from him. Romeo and Juliet were the victimized by themselves, and ultimately it ends up leading to their untimely deaths.

Why is it important to understand the boundary conditions of any information systems project?

Before data may be automated, it must be evaluated for completeness. Examine the data tables that Kudler Fine Foods maintains for inventory. Resources: Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization, sample pivot table, andMicrosoft ® Excel Pivot Table tutorial Review the sample pivot table, available on the student Web site for this course, and the Microsoft ® Excel Pivot Table tutorial, available at http://office. microsoft. com/training/training. aspx? AssetID=RC010136191033 Access the Inventory Reports data table in the Kudler Fine Foods Virtual Organization intranet site, located under the Finance and Accounting tab.The table description is located under the Information Technology tab. Prepare a brief of no more than 750 words for Kudler Fine Foods management in which you address the following: Evaluate the design elements of the data tables from an accounting perspective. Create an entity relationship diagram illustrating the existing data tables. Recommend improvements to the data tables. Create a pivot table in Microsoft ® Excel using the general ledger inventory data located on the Kudler Fine Foods intranet. Explain how the information in thepivot table may improve decision making for management at Kudler Fine Foods; include an example from the data.Discuss this week's objectives with your team. Your discussion should include the topics you feel comfortable with, any topics you struggled with, and how the weekly topics relate to application in your field. Prepare a 350- to 1,050-word paper detailing the findings of your discussion. This week’s objectives focuses are on technical skill building with databases and its importance to AISs. Emphasis is placed on the basic concepts, organizing, manipulating, managing data, and finally the construction of database forms and reports using Microsoft Access.The most enlightening aspect of this week’s discussion topic is the importance of data records to a company. Databases can be one of the most im portant structures of a company and often times are irreplaceable. Valuable and sensitive information about a company’s economic and business events is stored in a database management system. The privacy of this information should be guarded at all times against unauthorized access, data loss, and inexperience users. Database records are maintained in a database management system by a database administrator.In order to keep track of data information, a data dictionary is used to document database records. A data dictionary is a â€Å"database that describes the data fields in each database record† (Bagranoff, 2008, p. 413). The data dictionary tracks assigned passwords, restricted users, field names, field size, data field type, etc. Without database oversight, a company’s livelihood is at stake. Bagranoff, N. A. (2008). Core Concepts of Accounting Information Systems. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Allocation Issues in Healthcare Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Allocation Issues in Healthcare - Dissertation Example Over a period of time, the focus has been on the nature and status of the material resources rather the nature and role of medical professionals. Allocation issues in healthcare can be defined as a shortage of medical and healthcare resources in the form of money, donated organs, trained staff, medical costs and medical tools. All these resources play an important role in treating patients along with revamping the image and operational framework of healthcare industries across the world (Butler, 1999). The shortage of healthcare resources occurs at a varying degree in different parts of the world. Some of the these shortages can be taken care of by increasing the number of resources through effective strategies and planning while some of the resources need proper balancing and equitable distribution. The major responsibility of the healthcare professionals is to make health care a superfluous process and activity by offering desired medical and healthcare support to people needing th e most. ... When resources are considered as social goods, allocation may or may not proceed on the basis of the competition by producing the greater amount of goods for large number of people in the social environment. On the other hand, when resources are assumed as commodities, economic considerations play an important role in deciding the allocation of resources. At the micro level, the issue can be addressed by the ability to pay for the resources while at the macro level, the issue is addressed by analysing the economic structure, healthcare policies and survival of the social and economic structure that is engaged in the production and distribution of resources. Healthcare resources when understood in terms of materials and human terms are always limited. It needs to be understood that healthcare resources are delivers by public and private organsiations and these organsiations often face problems pertaining to the availability of healthcare professionals. In healthcare industries, not ev eryone can become a professional and thus the supply of human resources is always going to be limited. Moreover, approach and attitude of human resources also matter in terms of dealing with allocation issues in healthcare. The research will try to investigate the allocation issue in healthcare by analysing and underpinning the QALY system based on utilitarianism, distributive justice and role of British Laws pertaining to the healthcare allocation issues. All these elements have been discussed in three chapters stating the overall advantages and disadvantages of the current healthcare practices and systems in the United Kingdom. The researcher has also tried to identify the best possible method to deal with health care allocation issues in a critical and

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

History - Essay Example They loathed anything that was even remotely communist in nature. This feeling was partly fuelled by the innate anti-communist spirit as well as the effect of the vendetta by the politicians. This was a part of the wider policy of containment followed by the United States of America (Addington, 2000). The war ended with the takeover of Saigon by the North Vietnamese in the year 1975 and the cessation of war which was a byproduct of the Case-Church agreement. Military intervention by the Americans was a strategy that was followed with great effect in the Korean War. However, the defeat in the Vietnam put a serious mark on the policy of containment that concentrated on the military intervention as a deterrent (Daum & Gardner, 2003). The war showed a lot of inadequacy on the part of the Special Forces in the country. Even the American marines also failed severely in the war. It put into doubt and criticism on the American military’s policy of attrition. This policy came under hea vy fire as that led to a lot of casualties on the war front. This particular war showcased the vulnerability of the American forces towards guerilla warfare. The Vietnam War caused a widespread imbalance on the industrial front. The factories that would be used for the production of domestic goods were used for the production of military goods. The funds were mainly overseas, that caused the incidence of a weak dollar (Isserman & Bowman, 2003).

Music - Rock and Roll Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Music - Rock and Roll - Essay Example This principle helps them to look and differentiate between ordinary and underground music. Modern Garage movement tries to show people how they are engrossed in their own doings and how individuals can reform themselves within the normal capitalist. The movement tries to prevent the idea of capitalist manipulation over individuals. This idea was mostly practiced by the traditional and underground music (Abbey, 2006, Pg 50). Garage movement has addressed the importance of people practicing uniqueness and avoiding indulges in normal actions. The movement has come up with a way to teach individuals on ways to become engrossed in the normal actions of the society. This is because of how the group has provided a longing of music for times and periods. The engrossment to mainstream society activities has given people an option to how people should become biased to capitalist involvement of individuals. When Garage rock was starting its movement, they received unexpected responses from peo ple at the market places. This is a normal encounter to any emerging music movement because it has not yet established itself properly. The movement found this uncertainty to be helpful to them since they were able to show people the difference between ordinary music and the way to perform real music. The movement enjoyed the mixing of the music people longed for and the changing of the past with severity and sarcasm of the current America. Modern Garage movement started with the aim of supporting an American society and still has the goal of addressing the importance of uniqueness. The first Garage group that was successful incorporated both characteristics of the past, and connected them in the modern background. This was a challenge for the underground music because they thought that Garage style was not going to be successful. This was not hard-core or confrontation music, but it brought actual rock music. The underground music became the concern with those involved with Garage music, but they also offered a chance for new music to come up. Modern Garage shows interest to go back to periods when revolt was taken lightly (Fox & Chings, 2008, Pg 44). This is demonstrated by how they play their music and the attitude presented in the performance. Modern Garage music is related to self-longing version within people’s culture. These versions started from Britain and the backgrounds of the 1960 Greek culture. It is also noted that Hollywood films have demonstrated these versions of rebellion, which are acceptable in the societal customs. Some participants claim that these actions are intrusive, and can result to violent actions while others suggests that the music is a set of music that force people to the principles of music standards. There are people who are fond of the mainstreaming music while others have a negative feeling about the music and they are interested in the underground music (Fox & Ching, 2008, Pg 57). There are certain times that indivi duals are given an opportunity to come up with modern Garage music within certain periods of longing rebellion. The periods that are demonstrated are those that show times in which revolt were realized in the societies and made people be shocked because of certain happenings. The current world has denied people a chance to revolt. This is the reason as to why people get involved into Garage rock so that they can demonstrate some rebellion as they are

Professional Sports - NBA Players are Greedy Essay

Professional Sports - NBA Players are Greedy - Essay Example haritable causes or other community-focused tactics to show their support for ethics and social integrity, the root of their motivations is greed and it can be supported with solid evidence. â€Å"NBA players are much in demand by groupies, partiers and wife wannabes† (Bender and Jackson, 2000, p.28). Because there is a high social demand for basketball, these games are televised and broadcast both nationally and internationally in an environment with much spectacle and bright, flashing lights. This type of environment appeals to the social personality type who likes the thrill of ongoing excitement, making the NBA player the obvious object of these complicated emotions. Basically, the thrill of the sports broadcast and the theatrics of the arena provide fanatics with the idea that they should be chasing potential relationships or parties with these players. At the psychological level, greed does not necessarily have to involve financial desire, greed can include the need for the spotlight and to be surrounded by attractive young women. The message, at the social and marketing level, keeps getting reinforced that basketball players deserve celebrity status. NBA p layers begin to believe this and begin defining themselves and their future ambitions by the smoke and mirrors of sports broadcasting and marketing. This sets an initial seed of greed into aspiring basketball players who believe that when exposed as a high-performing player, they will have their own dedicated group of followers, fanatics, and relationship-minded con artists. NBA players are so greedy that they even are willing for forfeit education just to have this money and social spotlight. One professional in higher education offers that an ambition to be an NBA player is â€Å"a recipe for disaster† and â€Å"instead of athletic ability serving as a means to a valuable end (education), the hoop dream has become the goal itself† (Graves, 2004, p.10). Students who believe that they are going to become the

Prevalence and incidence rates for diseases or health conditions allow Term Paper

Prevalence and incidence rates for diseases or health conditions allow us to make comparisons between communities - Term Paper Example This essay will compare and contrasts obesity and overweight of the blacks in San Diego against other communities in the country and against the national obesity situation in Canada. CDC (2012) defines body weight affected by a mixture of genes, culture among others; on the other hand, obesity is known as the condition of overweight in which a person has body weight which is more than is considered healthy for that individual’s height. Often the body mass index (BMI) is used to measure this condition however; most medical professionals do not need to use this method as mere observation of the patient can be used to evaluate the condition. According to Shields, Carroll and Ogden (2011), amongst children aged between six to ten years old, it is defined to be at or above the sex and age specific ninety seventh percentile of BMI. On the other hand in adults it is measured as a Body Mass Index of at least 30kg/m2. In the county of San Diego, the number of blacks who are obese is ve ry high and as will be shown below, this community in the county has a high percentage of more then forty percent amongst the adults. Other recent reports have predicted that the number could even be higher amongst children. Adults that may be described as neither overweight nor obese according to the 2009 to 2010 survey of adults in the county amongst the blacks stood at a mere 23.2 percent. In the paragraph below, it is important to compare it against other ethnic and racial communities in the county (California Healthcare Foundation, 2010). In the county of San Diego, the four major ethnic and racial communities used in obesity survey are; blacks, whites, Hispanics and Mexican-Americans. In a survey conducted between 2009 and 2010, blacks had on average the highest number of adults with obesity. Hispanics and Mexican Americans were on average had the highest number of people who are overweight; therefore, the number of adults was determined as people who had the at least 20 years . The percentage number of white people in the county who are obese stood at 33.2 whilst a higher percent of 33.5 percent were overweight. The percentage number of blacks in the county who are obese in the county was the highest at 46.6 percent while only 28.3 percent of the black population in the county was overweight. The percentage number of Hispanics in the county, who are obese, was 38.4 percent and 39.3 percent for the overweight. In the county during a 2009 demographic research, the central region of the county had the highest percentage of obese adults at approximately 29.3 percent whereas the North Central region had a meager 14.2 percent, the lowest in the county amongst obese adults (Ogden et al., 2012). An analysis conducted in the year 2007 and 2009 in Canada to gauge the rate of obesity in the country revealed that the incidence in that country was 24.1 per cent. Unlike in the county of San Diego where there is significant number of blacks amongst the population, Cana da actually has a higher number of South Asians. Over the same period, both reports have revealed some damning information; the prevalence rates of obesity in both regions have increased significantly. The two reports have further noted that the number of obese amongst blacks in San Diego and the population in Canada amongst adult men aged 60 to 74 are very high. In general, whist black population have a

Peer to Peer Networking In Business Research Paper

Peer to Peer Networking In Business - Research Paper Example The technology is beneficial in business development and application following economic returns, and its downsides are not any better. Business ethics and legal action indicates implications that are equivalent to theft due to infringement of copyright laws and theft of intellectual property. The above brings about the demerits of running p2p technologies in the world of business for both offices and file-sharing. Peer to peer file sharing is also known as P2P file sharing, and has an important role in its application to the conventional world. This is following office application and business ethics in terms of infringing on people’s rights, as well as benefits for business ideas. Application of p2p technology in business based on the above terms is explored based on how it runs and with its consequences in business and ethics. Working P2P file sharing works in different ways based on the employment of the protocol, such as file querying from server based services to respond on the presence or existence of a file. With this use, the response prompts the owner of the given file to provide the file to the peer who needs it. In fast track protocol, files are based on nodes on a two-tier basis: super nodes and ordinary nodes. Individual computers form nodes, while super nodes are the act as directories for the centralized servers as used above. With p2p software, ordinary nodes connect to super nodes, which query the directory and respond with a list of matches for the user to create a direct peer-to-peer connection (Koskela et al, 2013). This is aimed at fetching the desired file directly from the selected peer. The bitTorrent program is the last protocol of p2p file sharing and is based on a simple concept of sharing. In this program, files are not shared, but rather bits of files are broken down to bits and distributed by different peers at equal sizes to different peers. A single copy of the file piece is distributed to different peers and then the peer s with the different pieces provide them to one another. The peer with the original, complete file is known as a seed. Business Applications Peer-to-peer file sharing is highly beneficial to all users and other potential users based on the intent of use. In this regard, installation of bit Torrent clients is simple, as so is the configuration of all computers on the sharing network. With this in mind, time is saved for purposes that are more constructive rather than spending extended periods working on it. In addition, all resources required for file transfer are shared amongst peers making the file transfer process efficient. This is due to the elimination of servers that store content and are more susceptible to failure, which inconveniences users (Light, 2001). For this reason, p2p allows users to continue functionally without influencing other users thus; is more reliable as compared to server based sharing. In addition, it is relatively cheap as compared to other networks due t o the few resources required and elimination of additional hardware. Maintenance and administration is barely required, making it an easily efficient system as each user manages his or her computer/ node thus controlling resource use at no additional cost of inconvenience. Commercially, p2p can be used for distribution of premium content to consumers, such as games, movies, music and software among others (Light, 2001). This facilitates easy trade in digital content, especially legally licensed content. It can also be used for more services such as video on demand and leasing of copyrighted content by artists and private or independent content producers. In regard to business, p2p

The Smell Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Smell - Essay Example " "Yeah." his friend agreed, "He was really good looking and smart. But his personality doesn't really match his intelligence and appearance." I believe that this is the typical way we assess someone. We might look at their appearance and their behavior. We might listen to them while they're talking and sometimes hear about their reputation from other people. These are the basic interactions we encounter and do everyday. The senses used to assess an individual are not without restrictions. We cannot simply judge the person based on just seeing, hearing, tasting or feeling them. And we cannot simply just touch a person without reason; the same goes with taste. However there is one among the five senses that is oftentimes undervalued as a basis for judging a person's character. Nobody evaluates someone by starting with, "That guy smells." in a normal conversations. They can be read in some forms of literature like romantic novels or poetic impressions. But the writers had these words thought of prior to producing their literary works. In other words, they were planned. These things do not really happen instantly. Now that we look at it, does it mean that the sense of smell as a judge for a person's character is not worthy of merit Is the sense of smell being overlooked Probably some people think of smell as simply saying, "I have a great fragrance." or "I do not stink!" There is, however, another defi nition. When writers or chatters mention "the smell" in their writing or in conversations to describe someone, the role of smell doesn't end in the statement, "I do not stink!" Smell is further defined as the faint aroma coming from the body. I want to say that this is a more sophisticated way of judging a person, when we merge each part into one big package. I have had a very inspirational and sensational impression from one book called Das Parfum by Patrick Suskind. The main character, Grenouille, was extremely gifted in the fleeting realm of scent. Unfortunately he went through a difficult childhood and had only hatred in him. The combination of the two-his gift and his hate-drove him to his erroneous cling to "the perfume." His obsession led him to murder a woman so that he can use every part of her body, including her hair, to make the greatest scent that is the only one in existence in the entire world. The scent he created was not artificial, but rather it contained the natural essence of the woman while she was still alive. What Grenouille did was to preserve her every waking moment as fresh as possible. The people who experienced to get a whiff of the perfume felt as if they reached the goal of desire, as if the snow melts in the radiance of the morning sun and collapses down on the ground. Grenouille was not only an expert in c ompounding but he also had an amazing skill of pulling out what's real from the public. That skill was his unique sense of smell which distinguished the real meaning of other peoples scent. Today, people are still conscious about how they smell. To illustrate, what is normally our task after rising from our beds What is our top priority; the first thing in our minds that we should do We could have a coffee with toast, or if we had more time, we could read the newspaper. Normally after finishing our morning routines, we would then go to work or school. Sometimes though, when we are really in a hurry, we tend to skip or forget to eat our bountiful

Finland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Finland - Essay Example he largest lake in this country, holds the record of being the fourth largest in the all of Europe (see Statistics Finland http://www.stat.fi/index_en.html). As to its landscape, more of the areas of Finland are flatlands with few hills. Today, this country is one of the most progressive nations in Europe. Most of the areas of Finland are covered with forest trees (see Statistics Finland http://www.stat.fi/index_en.html). The culture of Finland is a mixture of indigenous heritage defined by its Nordic and European culture (see CIA World Fact Book). According to CIA World Fact Book, the culture of Finland has been strongly influenced by the adjacent countries of Sweden and Russia. The traditional Karelian melodies and lyrics are said to be the primary source of inspiration for the music of Finland (see CIA World Fact Book). Accordingly, the Karelian culture is said to be the purest expression Finnic culture (see CIA World Fact Book). In the field of visual arts, handicrafts and architecture, Finland has gained a reputation for its handicrafts and industrial designs (see CIA World Fact Book). Like many countries in Europe, Finland as its share of ethnic groups. According to the CIA Work Fact Book, 93.4% of people living in Finland are Finns or the natives of Finland, 5.6% are Swede 0.5% are Russian, .03% are Estonian, 0.1% are Roma or Gypsy and 0.1% are Sami. Based on the 2009 edition of the CIA Work Fact Book, the emigration rate of Finland is at .06 migrants /1,000 population. Since majority of the people in this country are Finns, the official language in Finland is Finnish while the second official language is Swedish (see Statistics Finland http://www.stat.fi/index_en.html). Other languages spoken in Finland are Russian, Estonian, Finnish Romani, Finnish Sign Language and Sami language (see Statistics Finland). According to Statistics Finland, there are three Sami languages spoken in Finland. These are the Inari Sami, Northern Sami and the Skolt Sami (see

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman Essay Example for Free

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman Essay 1st chapter reflections: This chapter which introduced me to Lia’s family was interesting. I was shocked to read that in her mother’s country of Laos, Lia would have been born by her mother squatting on the floor! They also used special created remedies to solve health issues without relying on hospitals or clinics. It was also interesting to read how important the Hmong people believed in sprits and how their life decisions where decided around the sprit actions. For example, they believed that male sprit’s held up their house roof, if the male’s placenta was buried near the central pillar of the house. Lia was even blessed by the elders because her parents believed that it was a way of protecting her from ever getting sick. If anything, reading this chapter quickly gave me a quick preview of the clash that Lia’s cultural beliefs will have with the American doctors when she gets sick in the future chapters. However, I’m hoping that this book will pick up a little faster and have less history moving forward (being honest lol) 2nd chapter reflections: This chapter started in a class at college; it continued to explain how a Hmong student spent extra time on his speech to talk about how people make fish soup in his culture. Once I finished the first page in this chapter, I understood that the young man was trying to explain to his class that we as humans should be more careful about how we select our foods because we are all connected in different ways. However, I didn’t pick up whether his class was interested after he was done with his speech. This chapter preceded to dig deeper into the Hmong history by detailing their live in north China; N. China was were the Hmong people was subjected to wars, because they did not like to be told what to do or how to behave as a people. However, the Chinese did not like the Hmong people and called them degrading names because they wanted to overrule them. In response to this, the Hmong had to migrate many time and the Chinese finally applied enough pressure to overtake them. Even with the takeover, the Hmong people refused to show any respect to the Chinese emperor. Besides all of this history, I have yet to see how this will tie into Lia’s future health issue. 3rd chapter reflections: This chapter starts to now focus on Lia and detail her first epileptic seizure that started when she was three months old. It was interesting to read that Lia’s parents blamed her seizure on their older daughter slamming the apartment’s front door. They believed that the front door slamming caused Lia’s soul to become frightened and lost from Lia’s body which triggered the seizure. I soon realized the book’s title â€Å"The spirit catches you and you fall down† is associated with the word epilepsy. It was also interesting to read that Lia’s parents saw her illness as a high distinction and a sign that Lia will grow up to heave a healing sprit within her. It was sad to read that Lia had over twenty seizures before her parents became scared enough to take her to an emergency room at MCMC. At first this hospital had a hard time communicating with Lia’s parents because they only had a few interpreters and the doctors quickly concluded that Lia’s illness was because her parents were giving her veterinary medicine. The doctor’s conclusion was heighted when the baby came to the hospital twice coughing badly and showing signs of pneumonia during which the doctors prescribed antibiotics. Lia was seen the third time by chance with a visiting doctor named Dan Murphy and during this visit he wrote a report that stated he did not feel that her parents were not that frightened. Dr. Murphy and his wife quickly became interested in the Hmong people and worked on reviewing Lia previous documented visits.  This chapter showed how cultures seen Lia’s illness differently; the American doctors wanted to give medication to cu re or control the issue, while her parents thought it meant something special. 4th chapter reflections: This chapter showed how the Hmong people viewed the American medical system because they did not understand why certain doctor procedures such as blood drawing had to be done. It was funny to read that they asked one Hmong women that returned to Laos about why American doctors ate people livers, kidneys, and brains! If anything, I read and understood that there was a HUGE difference between how American and Hmong people saw medical. The Hmong people believed that doctors done nothing but made people worse by invading their body sprits with all the test and medication. 5th chapter reflections: This chapter returned to Lia’s illness and explained that she was sent to the hospital seventeen times before he was even five years old! It was sad for me to read how worse the illness was getting and how Lia started to become aware of when she was about to experience one. This chapter also highlighted the fact that doctors believed that her obesity contributed to her epilepsy events and it made her intravenous access difficult. However, her parents focused on making Lia fat because they believed that this showed that a child was healthy and extremely taken care of. The hospital staff was also upset because Lia’s parents would move her in the hospital bed when they were previously requested not to for health reasons. The relationship between Lia’s parents worsen because the doctors felt that her parents were not giving her the proper needed medication and felt that they were part of the reason why Lia’s health continued to decline. After many attempts to get the parents on board, to give medication, Lia was placed in a foster care. This chapter was heartbreaking for me because I felt and understood both sides that wanted to care for Lia. 6th chapter reflections: This chapter explained in detail about how the Hmong people living in camps, shared horrible news about living in America and dealing with the medical system. In my opinion, this chapter confirmed how bad the cultural differences split people apart from seeing a common ground and added stress on her US healthcare system because Hmong people only came into the ER when they were gravely ill and not for prevention. 7th chapter reflections: This chapter explained how much of a power trip people had when it came to offering the best option for Lia’s health. It was noted that Lia did not do well in a great foster home and her developmental skills decreased more as she stayed. Her seizures also increased and the only time she started to show so signs of improvement was when she admitted to a hospital in Turlock where the people she was staying with lived. Receiving care in Turlock casued a decrease her medication requirements and her allowed her to return home. However, I felt that if anything, everyone involved in her health care was guessing and using Lia as a test dummy at her expense. 8th chapter reflections: This chapter was interesting because I was surprised to read that the doctors at the MCMC told the author not to look into Lia’s case because her parents were not friendly. I also thought that the hospital was trying to protect themselves by keep the author in the dark about certain information regarding the handling of Lia’s health. For example, the hospital kept a close eye by setting up a community meeting with the author and the Hmong people through their own nurse’s aide (who also was Hmong). If my opinion, the author was doomed to begin with because the Hmong people resented the MCMC and any staff that communicated with them. This is why I believe that the author had such a hard time during this meeting with them and a more welcoming one when she went and was introduced by Ms. Waller. This meeting is where the Hmong people opened up and tried to explain their culture to her without bring angry. This chapter proved that being from a different culture is fine ; people not respecting other cultures besides their own is what causes these deep miscommunications. 9th chapter reflections: This chapter was sad. I thought that Lia’s health was going to continue to improve after the doctor mentioned that the parents were giving her the correct medicine. However, I wasn’t surprised that the Lee’s thought that the doctor’s took Lia because they were angry at them. I was shocked to read that she fell off the swing and went back into having bad seizures. I dont think I would have allowed my child to even be on one if he or she had health issues like Lia. Sad to think that her parents thought that their child’s troubles were over and that she was going to live a productive and happy life up until this fall. Like everyone else in this chapter, after the tubes and everything, I also saw death coming later on. I’m just hoping that she doesn’t suffer. 10th chapter reflections: Ok. This is (again) is one of the things I did not enjoy about the book. I dont understand why this extensive history about the Hmong people and Vietman/ American war has anything to do with the previous chapter on Lia’s health condition. Only thing I learned from this chapter was that the Hmong people really resented the American culture which includes why the Lees has trouble trusting the doctors treating Lia. 11th chapter reflections: This chapter was the saddest part of the book that I have read thus far. I had to stop midway through the pages because it reminded me so much of my mother’s last struggle when lung cancer ( I cried reading this). I felt every page of this chapter because Lia’s parents and everyone else that loved her wanted to try everything instead of allowing her to pass peacefully. I also can relate to how Lia parents were treated in the hospital because I was in their position where I did not understand what was going on with my mom†¦ but the doctors were pressuring me to turn off her breathing machine. I noticed that Lia’s parents got to a point where they did not care that there were â€Å"issues† between them and the American staff†¦ they just wanted their child saved.. I felt the same way during my mother’s last rush to the ER because she couldn’t breathe. This girl wasn’t going to have a long happy life and I’m hoping she did n’t suffer because of everyone else stubbornness! 12th chapter reflections: Another history chapter and after the previous chapter, I was drained. I understand that hardship that this culture had to endure and I hope that our entire health care system has learned from this little girl’s mistreatment amongst all parties involved. 13th chapter reflections: So I started reading this chapter believing that Lia was going home from the hospital in Fresno. I was surprised to read that she was sent back to the MCMC and placed in the pediatric unit. In my opinion, there was nothing left they could do that would not require the poor child to suffer. I wasn’t shocked to read that Lia’s father tried to steal his child out of the hospital; the attitudes of the hospitals staff, nurses, and Lia’s parents were so negative that this craziness was bound to happen. Sadly, even with the little girl not functioning, the doctors and her parents enter another struggle to control the fate of Lia. Even though the doctors said she would die soon after leaving the hospital, I’m glad that the lee had personal time for closure at their own house because she didn’t die yet. I refuse to get into the â€Å"who was more right†. 14th chapter reflections: Another chapter on their Hmong history; This chapter details the issues they had with adjusting to American life and how no one wanted to be on welfare. No comments on my part.. Besides I didn’t enjoy this section lol. 15h chapter reflections: This chapter picked me up, made me sad and made me smile all at the same time. Reading through this made me think how differently her life could have been if everyone around her were open-minded when she first entered the hospital for treatment. Her current condition is considered a â€Å"persistent vegetative state† but how her parents treated her has not changed. This chapter showed that she is highly still loved and cared for even though she is not aware of anything. But she had a lot of potential to be a much healthier child if both cultures (American Hmong) would have been willing to accept each other†¦ her health decisions got lost in their hardheadedness! 16h chapter reflections: This chapter discuses history again but focuses on how the Hmong people ended up living in Merced; I’m not shocked that they created their own community here and cling to each other because I would of done the same thing if I was displaced. 17h chapter reflections: This chapter refocused Lia’s case and talked about how much could have been done differently to change her outcome and I agree. I ashamed of the hospital staff that believed that the lees should be grateful because they allowed them $200,000 of free medical cost( that should never be on a person mind when you talking about saving someone’s life) and I wish the parents would of learned how to be more open after their child’s health issue†¦ I see that people STILL want to place blame on Lia’s condition instead of accepting the fact that everyone placed a role in creating her current health state. 18h chapter reflections: This chapter shared a lot of my own opinions about Lia’s case. I do understand that some cultural difference will never be resolved because of the history of mistreatment that has occurred within that person’s culture. Our race issues in American is no difference, some people will always see things and their interactions with people as a â€Å"race† problem and nothing more. However, if you work in a hospital helping other people, you need to be able to look beyond that, not take things personally, not judgmental, and be open to learn about the different people that enters the doors for help. 19h chapter reflections: This chapter showed that despite Lia’s current condition, her family still believes that she will change and become a full functioning child again once her soul returns. Finishing this chapter, and reading the author notes throughout the book, I now see that Anne Fadiman started the story sort of believing that the doctors at Merced done everything they could to help Lia. However towards the end I felt that the author wanted people to understand the lee family and their hardship with adjusting to living in America and dealing with our health care system.

The History Of Subtitles In Media

The History Of Subtitles In Media Soon after the invention of film, many efforts were made to convey the dialogue of the actors to the audience. It was started with what we now call intertitles which texts are drawn or printed on paper then filmed and placed between the sequences of the film. In 1903, they were first seen as epic and descriptive titles in Edwin S. Porters movie, Uncle Toms Cabin. However, there are some argument saying this technique may have been invented by cartoonist and filmmaker, J. Stuart Blackton. The titles were called as subtitles since 1909 as they were used in the same way in a newspaper. In the early years, the subtitles were already been placed in the moving image. However, this is very rare and only applicable to a few moving images such as in Porters College Chums (1907), Judex (1916) and Mireille (1922). In the early days of film subtitling the main problem was to place the subtitles on the distribution copies, as the negative was usually in safe keeping in the country of origin. Norway, Sweden, Hungary and France quickly took the lead in developing techniques for subtitling films. However, the first attested showing of a sound film with subtitles was when The Jazz Singer (originally released in the US in October 1927) opened in Paris, on January 26, 1929, with subtitles in French. Later that year, Italy followed suit, and on August 17, 1929, another Al Jolson film, The Singing Fool, opened in Copenhagen, fitted with Danish subtitles. (Gottlieb, p. 216) Jan Ivarsson (2004, November 17). A short technical history of subtitle in Europe. While it is still in the era of intertitles, it was very easy to solve the translation problem. The original titles were simply removed, translated, filmed and re-inserted back into the movie. An alternative is where a speaker was used to give a simultaneous interpretation of the intertitles such as the French Bonimenteur and the Japanese Benshi. To start with, attempts were made to breathe new life into the technique invented in 1909, i.e. manual projection of slides with printed texts directly onto the screen, but very soon, methods of copying photographed titles on to the film copy itself came into use. A frame containing the title was kept in position while the film negative and the positive print strip were fed forward and exposed. Jan Ivarsson (2004, November 17). A short technical history of subtitle in Europe. In fact, the very first subtitles in the modern sense have already saw the light of day since the silent film era. In 1909, M. N. Topp came out with a device which rapid showing titles for moving pictures other than those on the film strip. With this method, the projectionist can easily use the sciopticon (a kind of slide projector) to show the subtitles on the screen below the intertitles. However, this was never much more than a curiosity as similar technique with the titles on a film strip instead of slides have been used from time to time up to the present day in 2010. In 1930 a Norwegian inventor, Leif Eriksen, took out a patent for a method of stamping titles directly on to the images on the film strip, first moistening the emulsion layer to soften it. The titles were typeset, printed on paper and photographed to produce very small letterpress type plates for each subtitle. Later, in 1935, a Hungarian inventor, O. Turchà ¡nyi, registered a patent for a method whereby the plates were heated to a sufficiently high temperature to melt away the emulsion on the film without the need for a softening bath. Jan Ivarsson (2004, November 17). A short technical history of subtitle in Europe. Literature Review Function of subtitle: There a few main functions of subtitle. Among the functions of subtitle is to help the viewer in understanding the speeches or conversations that are ongoing in the movie. According to DePorter, B. and Hernacki, M, (1992) in QUANTUM LEARNING: Unleashing the Genius in You, there are three types of information modalities in human which are visual, auditory and kinesthetic. In this case, the creation of subtitle might help those people who perceive information visually. Another main function of subtitle is to translate foreign language speeches in a movie to aid the native viewer in understanding the foreign movie. As the world is much globalised now, people can watch movies from across the world which might have different languages used and so the role of subtitle here is important which is to translate the foreign language into a particular natives language. Subtitle also helps the audibly impaired movie viewers in watching movies. Although audibly impaired people cannot hear anything, they are still visually potent. Therefore, they can never be neglected as potential customers of filming industry. With the existence of subtitle, it encourages this group of people to watch any movie they like. Positive Effect: A large number of researches based on observations and feedback from students have been done to determine the positive effect of monolingual subtitles on viewer-learners. This type of screen translation, known as subtitle helps a lot in the language acquisition process by providing them with written comprehensible input, which can help the viewer to understand better in the movie. This will indirectly motivates them to continue watching and encourage them to extend their learning and intake of the language. Subtitles encourage positive learning reaction by presenting the movie in both visual and hearing perception, allowing the viewer to have multi-semiotic reception. In most of the case of foreign language viewers, they often learn through hearing, reading and visual perception of images. When an oral dialogue is transformed into written textual material, the outcome must be very accurate and always follows the paste of the speech by actor so that the subtitle can easily combine with the audiovisual make-up of the film or TV program. This is an important part in monolingual subtitling for learning purposes, especially the correspondence between the spoken text and written text as this could ensure the learners feedback is not only exposed to the phonological and orthographic inaccuracies but also to semantic confusion. For example, the movie Bend it like Beckham which uses different linguistic expression has create confusion in the viewer, unless they are gradually guided with explanat ion throughout the movie. Simultaneous presentation of soundtrack and written text improves recognition memory for spoken words and can aid novel word learning, as assessed by explicit and implicit memory tests (Bird and Williams, 2002: 509). Memory and learning are closely related. Annamaria Caimi (2006). The journal of Specialised Translation (6), 14. The term learning is often referring to the process of getting of information, while the term memory is always refer as the storage of information. However, this may be merged together which is considered by psychologists as a mean of incorporating encoding, storage and retrieval of information. Recently, memory researchers discovered that sometimes past events influence our present behavior without our conscious awareness. Such memories are referred as implicit memories. On the other hand, explicit memory refers to conscious and intentional collection of experiences. Implicit memory is been measured by using indirect memory tests while explicit memory has always been measured by using direct memory tests like recall and recognition. A group of university student which consist of fifteen members have volunteered themselves to attend a series of experimental class modules on intralingual subtitled videos. In the early stages of the experiment, the students were been tested on lexical, semantic and visual recognition memory after attending the first module of lessons which they viewed some intralingua subtitled videos. The analysis of their answer shows positive results only if the quality of the subtitles is good and appropriately adapted to the plot, speed of speech, images and scenes. The use of imagery and text as an elaborative study task is examined to determine its effects on tests that are adapted to an explicit recognition memory perspective. The tests are based on word-stem completion, dialogue completion, paraphrasing completion, questions on context, colour/object association, true/false questions, old/new questions, yes/no questions and summary completion. Annamaria Caimi (2006). The journal of Specialised Translation (6), 14. The tests with provisional results have shown that explicit test performance is greatly improved after the students perform an imaginary study task. This improvement is significant as the students are able to imagine the referent of visually presented words and sentences. However, it is very important that the subtitle is kept with its optimal requisites so that the improvements are maximized. Such optimal requisites for a subtitle demand the professional ability of the audiovisual translator, who has to transfer the relevant verbal dialogue into written text to be presented without any changes of meaning. It is very obvious and important that a professional audiovisual translator is not paraphrasing the cues, but rather transforming the dialogue in a concise way by eliminating the redundancies, and sometimes if necessary safeguarding the kernel message which is crucial to the understanding of the scene. The reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, word recognitio n, and overall motivation to read among students will only be improved only if these tight and crucial rules subtitling are been followed appropriately. Negative effects of subtitle: Although subtitle brings benefit to all movie viewers, there are still a few flaws in it. According to Holger Mitterer from Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen and James M. McQueen from Behavioural Science Institute and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, foreign subtitles help but native-Language subtitles harm foreign speech perception. Native-language subtitles appear to create lexical interference, but foreign-language subtitles assist speech learning by indicating which words (and hence sounds)are being spoken. Holger Mitterer from Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen and James M. McQueen from Behavioural Science Institute and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Foreign Subtitles Help but Native-Language Subtitles Harm Foreign Speech Perception, PLoS One. 2009; 4(11): e7785. Published online 2009 November 11. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007785 It is shown that native-Language subtitles harm foreign speech perception as one cannot really perceive foreign language speech due to the fact they perceive them by using the lexical and phonics of their own native language. This way of perceiving will create wrong perception about the lexical and phonics of foreign language as the structure of foreign and native language can never be the same. Imagine an American listener, fluent in Mexican Spanish, watching El Laberinto del fauno [Pans Labyrinth, 3]. She may have considerable difficulty understanding the European Spanish if she is unfamiliar with that language variety. How might she be able to cope better? We argue here that subtitles can help. Critically, the subtitles should be in Spanish, not English. This is because subtitles in the language of the film indicate which words are being spoken, and so can boost speech learning about foreign speech sounds. Holger Mitterer from Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen and James M. McQueen from Behavioural Science Institute and Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Foreign Subtitles Help but Native-Language Subtitles Harm Foreign Speech Perception, PLoS One. 2009; 4(11): e7785. Published online 2009 November 11. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007785 Besides that, subtitle may not completely display all the text speeches in the movie due to time constrain. This will result in poor quality of subtitle; hence, the movie viewers cannot totally rely on subtitle as an aid in capturing and understanding the speeches and conversations that are ongoing in the movie. In this case, if one relies too much on subtitle, he or she may not completely capture the content of the movie. There is one uncommon case about the negative effect of subtitle which is movie subtitle encloses computer virus. According to BitDefender PressCenter, BitDefender has tracked down a spying program which encloses itself in DIVX film subtitle library in the internet. Details inside the virus body may indicate that the author is a Romanian fan of underground music.It tricks users into executing the backdoor, using the name of the movie Kill Bill. The ZIP file was specially crafted, so most antivirus products will not identify the file inside as executable, Mihai Neagu, Virus Researcher at BitDefender Lab said. The backdoor sends network and internet passwords, as well as statistical system information by email, to the virus author, Mihai added. BitDefender PressCenter, 16th October 2010. Previous Studies on Subtitles First study This study was conducted by Abdul Samad.A. He is a student from University of King Ahmed(2006). Abdul Samad.A analyzed the translation of English conditional sentence in The Network Conspiracy movie and its subtitle which is done by Said Saqqaf. Abdul Samad.A took the data from the movie and the subtitle. He studied the process of the translation from spoken language into written language. He interested in study the translation varieties of English conditional structural sentence into Arabic conditional structural sentence. He also analyzed the type of the translation and the message equivalence. Results: He found that there are 21 varieties of the English conditional sentence translated into explicit, implicit, and another Arabic conjunction. Also he found five types of translation into the subtitling (literal translation, word-for-word translation, pragmatic translation, dynamic translation, ethnographic translation) Second Study This study was conducted by Abdul Rauf. A. (2006). He is a student of University of King Ahmed. S. Abdul Rauf studied the comissive utterance in The Hurt Locker movie and its subtitle which is done by M. Hamid and Hnadi. S. Abdul Rauf took the data from the utterance of the movie and its subtitle. He studied the process of the translation from spoken language into written language. He analyzed the equivalence politeness and the accurateness of translation of comissive utterance by using the equivalence and the accurateness translation theory. Results: His study shows some accurate translation and some inaccurate translation. There are 15 (fifteen) from 20 (twenty) data (95.19%) are accurate translation and 6 (six) data (5.81%) are in accurate translation. Related to the politeness equivalence, he found four politenesses in the movie and its translation (positive politeness, negative politeness, bald on record, and off record) Third Study This study was conducted by Windarta (2008). She is a student from Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta. In this study, Windarta analyzed the condensation strategy in subtitling of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Film. She took the data from dialogue of the actors of the movie and its subtitle. She studied the translation process from spoken language into written language. Then she analyzed the condensation strategy in subtitling the movie. Results: The study showed three main results. First, there are five types of condensation sentence are used in the subtitle (positive interrogative sentence, positive and negative declarative sentence, positive and negative imperative sentence). Second, the reasons of using condensation strategy in this subtitle are related to providing maximum appreciation and comprehension and readability and to the temporal parameter / duration. Third, there are some condensation sentence are non-equivalence. Movies Reviews Journey to the Center of Earth Movie Review: The pioneer live-action feature to make use of new digital 3-D technology has to be Journey to the Centre of Earth. The film producers, however, has lost track of the need to tell a compelling story to enhance the eye candy in producing what amounts to a 90-minutes theme park ride. Although taking its name from one of the most well-known science fiction novels of all centuries, Journey to the Centre of the Earth is as feeble when it meets with fiction as it is when it meets with science. It is undeniably a lengthy gimmick, a chance for special effects whiz-turned-director Eric Brevig to impress the audience with his technical brilliance. In absence of lawful script with credible characters, and with 3-D, a little goes a long way, the thrill ended long before the movie ended. The movies plot is bad. The relationship between Trevor and Sean is dull; neither is developed as more than a puppet to manipulate with in the 3-D surroundings. It is Hannahs role to make Trevor looks like a fool and in the end provide some unexciting romance. The attempt to import some charm by Brendan Fraser that he showed it in The Mummy to this film has generally failed. Trevor is basically just a human face to enter into a world that is a cross between Jurassic Park and Land of the Lost. On the whole, it is just all about its striking 3-D, but after 30 minutes (or so) of pretty images, one begins to desire for more and it makes the movie cant deliver. Take away the 3-D, and theres little remaining. The Karate Kid Movie Review: The karate kid is among the most satisfying and interesting movie Ive seen all year. I like the new star Jaden Smith, who is only 12 years old and the main character in this movie. Smith plays Dre, a Detroit pre-teen who moved to Beijing as his mother was transferred here because of her job. He was able to make fast friends with an American boy and a cute Chinese girl named MeiYing. But a school bully named Cheng makes his life in China a living hell. For many times Dre has given up and please her mother to bring him back to Detroit. Finally, Dre get knew to a local repairman named Mr. Han who teaches him martial arts to defend himself for an upcoming tournament. While teaching the boy, Mr Han learnt some important lessons of his own which is very remarkable. I think this movie has discovered a right and important truth, the audience watching a pre-teen to get bullied and fight back is a lot more powerful and touched than if they are adult. For example, it is quite hard to imagine those kids facing the kinds of chest-caving punches and kicks. It is also a little weird and new to watch kids this little to romance each other while it is less awkward for audience if they were older. The most important is, The Karate Kid also treat the Asian locale with respect, which gave the whole film a greater sense of seriousness and sincereness. Moreover, there are also some acknowledgement of the cultural differences between America and China. The Karate Kid has gorgeous and attractive scenery, and the filmmakers make the most of the local, with the most amazing forbidden city, as well as a nice peek into a temple studying kung-fu deep in the mountains, which is quite a beautiful shot. Jackie Chan, the famous Chinese actor who act as the repairman, Mr Han, has been in bad situation lately in North America, but in Asia, he is moving towards to become a character actor with big films like Little Big Soldier. Jackie got the best role he ever had in America as Han. He really acts very well in this movie, especially in his big emoting scene, in which we get knew to his tragic past, is among the finest acting I have ever seen from him. Finally, I am confused with why is this movie called The Karate Kid but not Kung-Fu Kid as there is absolutely no action of Karate in this movie. I also agreed that the kids who fought Dre were too evil and cruel, so as their coach. Furthermore, this movie is also too long; it runs about 130 minutes, which is too long for an audience to enjoy it. However, this was my only disappointment towards the nice movie. In overall, I think this is a good movie and is a very suitable and worth to watch movie. In fact, I honestly cant remember the last time I felt myself enjoy so thoroughly while I am watching such as well and prefect sort of movie. The Findings Based on our studies, we definitely understand the movie The Journey to The Centre of The Earth better because it has English subtitles. The other movie which is The Karate Kid, it has Chinese subtitles. The movie itself is in English, therefore with the English subtitles, we were able to catch every word spoken by the actors and actresses. Besides that, we learnt how to pronounce it properly. This will helps us in improving our phonics in English language. It is not that we did not understand the Karate Kid movie but surely there are many words that we missed. Having the Chinese subtitle definitely did not help me at all as not everyone knows Chinese. As a consequence, it forces us to download either our own native-language subtitle or English language subtitle from the internet. Downloading subtitles from the internet will put our computers at risk of being infected by virus which is found recently by BitDefender. Thus, to be cost wise, it is safer to have a movie that has both sub titles and speeches in a same language. If we were to say that Mandarin subtitle can help someone who is learning English especially the Chinese themselves, it is definitely a major error of learning English as it is proven that foreign speeches are better off to be with subtitle in the same language. This is because native language subtitle harms foreign speech perception, like in this case of English speeches with Mandarin subtitles. For instance, the Chinese themselves especially those who are not well verse with the basic of English language structure itself, will perceive the structure of English language and Mandarin language whether it is grammatically, lexically or speeches, as the same with each other. Therefore, it is not encouraged for people to learn a foreign language by looking at native language subtitle in a movie; instead they should look for movies that have both speeches and subtitle in the same language. Furthermore, when we use subtitle which is in the same language with the movie, of course it will help us improve our language acquisition process in that particular language as it will expose us to accurate usage of grammar and vocabulary and phonics. If it is the other way, we could get confuse of a particular word spoken and the meaning of it. Because for example, for every line spoken, in the subtitle it will be translated for the whole line. It will not be translated word by word as some English vocabularies are not found in Chinese vocabulary and it would carry different meanings and sometimes it would not even make sense. So, basically the reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, word recognition, and overall motivation to read among students can be improved in this way. Based on the functions of subtitles, it is very essential for a subtitle to present the speech of the actors in a nice and clear way. Somebody can understand the movie better by looking at the subtitle in the same language with the movie while some prefer their mother language. From the positive side of view, a suitable subtitle language can encourage positive learning reaction by presenting the movie in both visual and hearing perception. These will indirectly motivate them to continue watching and encourage them to extend their learning and intake of language. This is very important especially for children and students who are in the process of learning a language and spending most of their time watching movies. Moreover, only when we really understand the movie, then we can really get into the movie and enjoy what the movie is really about. Then, from the negative side of view, sometimes a foreign language subtitles may cause conflict to a person towards the movie as the subtitle may not completely display all the text speeches in the movie due to time constrain. The audience cannot totally rely on subtitle as an aid for capturing and understanding the speeches in the movie. From our own experiences, with the help of subtitles it does make me understand better. We become excited in learning English and it does give me the motivation to learn more as well as mastering the language. We, personally, more prefer subtitles with the same language with the movie itself because to me it is far better if you want to improve a particular language with enjoying the movie at the same time. Like the saying goes, it is like killing two birds with a stone. So, the two hours will not be wasted just for the sake of enjoyment if you can also dig something else out of it. Thereby, the movie of Journey to the Centre of Earth which both of its speeches and subtitles is in English is more understandable than Karate Kid that has English speeches but Mandarin subtitle. Closure In general, I think the subtitles provided do improve my English language. It is very important for a movie to have subtitles so that I can easily understand the story line. For example, sometimes the actor speaks too fast or the actor has weird accent such as British or American accent, I find it quite hard to get what they said, so now subtitles is needed for better understanding. With subtitles, we can learn more about English speaking in other countrys accent. This really helps a lot especially if you are a traveller who travels very often to other country. For an English movie, the subtitle can be in various type of language. In Malaysia, we normally use our four main languages as the subtitle in our movie, which is English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. These languages reflect our country as a multi-racial country which consists mainly of Malays, Chinese and Indians. For subtitle in English language, the subtitle is absolutely same as what the actor is speaking. Therefore, I can learn to speak and the correct pronunciations of a specific word by listening to the actor. Furthermore, I can also easily spot new words in the movie by having the subtitle, thus I can get know to many new vocabularies just by searching those new words in the dictionary. I can also remember the word better if I can see and hear it rather than just hearing it. Next, English subtitle also helps to improve my reading skill. We need to read fast enough so that we can always follow the subtitle and get knew to what the actors really meant in their speaking. Next, for subtitle in Malay, Chinese and Tamil, these are the mother language of our majority race in Malaysia. With these languages as subtitle, we can easily get knew to the new word spoken by the actor as we are very familiar with our own mother language. Furthermore, when watching an English movie with these mother languages subtitles, our brain automatically translate the subtitle into English. Therefore, our English is also indirectly been improved in this way. In conclusion, subtitles in an English movie will definitely help to improve our English language. We must appreciate the work done by all those film makers in making their movies complete with subtitles. Together we watch movie with good subtitle and develop an endless love towards our English language which is one of the most powerful language in the world nowadays.

The Business process of the Ferrero organization

The Business process of the Ferrero organization Introduction For my Business Process module of the BA Business Enterprise course I looked into several companies, some small and some large. However, still undecided on which company to pursue, I took a walk to my local shop to buy my two sons a special treat. The shop has a vast array of goodies for children including both chocolate and toys. My two boys both wanted a Kinder Surprise egg as they get both chocolate and a toy. This made me think, I remember Kinder Surprise eggs when I was a small boy and how excited I use to get when I went to the shop to buy one. This made me think, how a product can maintain the reputation, sales and recognition from generation to generation without fading away or being challenged by competitors? With all this in mind I decided to base my project on the Ferrero Company. During the research gathering process I have compiled the following reasons why Ferrero will be an ideal company for my project:- Massive company growth and Globalisation Multi Generational Marketing (Kinder Surprise Egg) Devotion and relationship with all their employees Outstanding contribution to the community Problems the company has faced in the past Strategic advantage over competitors Dedication to their Corporate and Social Responsibility Utilising IT development to enhance distribution Relationship with competitors One of the top ten confectioners in the world This project (Course work 1) will introduce you to the Ferrero Company itself, its fantastic history and I will also talk about its massive global success. I will explain the Organisational structure of the company, the five levels of resources (Strategic, Tangible, Intangible, Unique and Core Competences) and compile a PESTEL report. Ferrero The Beginning Born in 1898, Pietro Ferrero began his career as a pastry maker in Dogliani, Italy. He opened his first pastry shop in Turin but was forced to move to Alba during World War II. Ferrero sought to develop new products in order to overcome the short supply of traditional pastry ingredients. By the end of the war, Ferrero had developed a new spread which combined hazelnuts, cocoa butter and vegetable oil. Ferrero called the paste pasta gianduja which he began selling in 1946. In that year his brother, Giovanni and son, Michele joined the company which had now been incorporated as Ferrero SpA. By the end of 1946 the company had employed more than 50 workers and had approx 200 delivery vans distributing their product around Italy. In their first year sales had topped  £660, Ferrero began contracting farmers to ensure the supply of hazelnuts continued and at the same time improving their quality. 1948 On 4th September 1948 a huge flood had isolated the factory and put its existence in great danger. However, due to the fantastic relationship the family had with all their workers, they all; including Pietro and Giovanni worked solidly for 4 days and 4 nights in order to save the factory. On 2nd March 1949, Pietro Ferrero died aged 51, his brother Giovanni took the Helm. The 50s By the 1950s Ferrero had developed its own efficient distribution network around Italy and opened several depots. By 1954 Ferrero was a household name in Italy. 1956 In 1956 Ferrero opened its first factory abroad in Stadallendorf, Germany. They produced just two products for the German market and both had an extraordinary success. 1957 Giovanni Ferrero died in 1957 and Michele Ferrero took the helm. Michele renewed the production plants in order to boost production through increased technology and sophisticated machinery The 60s Ferrero moved into France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, UK, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. In 1964 Michele Ferrero created Nutella In 1968 he launched the Kinder Chocolate, especially made for children. The 70s 80s Ferrero USA opened in 1969 followed by Canada, Latin America, South East Asia and Australia. By the 1980s Ferrero was strategically placed in all five continents. In 1985 two new production plants were opened in Southern Italy to help the people devastated by the Irpinia earthquake. The 90s Ferrero developed into Eastern Europe including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic along with a new plant in Poland. Again in November a terrible flood hit Italy killing many people and damaging the Alba plant. Production was interrupted but just like back in 1948, the employees worked alongside the Ferrero to rebuild the plant and get back on its feet. Some of the employees helping to rebuild the plant had just lost their homes to the flood. In 1997, Michele Ferreros sons Pietro and Giovanni became Chief Executive Officers of Ferrero International. The 2000s In 2006 a new production plant in Canada was opened and by 2009 there was more than 20,000 employees worldwide, over 20 different products and a turnover of more than 6 billion Euros. Business Units Years Production Plants Years Germany 1956 Italy Alba 1946 Belgium 1958 Germany 1956 France 1960 France 1960 Italy 1964 Italy Pozzuolo 1965 United Kingdom 1966 Australia 1974 Switzerland 1966 Ireland 1975 Sweden 1968 Ecuador 1975 Austria 1971 Italy Balvano 1985 Ireland 1975 Italy SantAngelo 1985 Netherlands 1980 Belgium 1989 Spain 1988 Poland 1992 Poland 1992 Argentina 1992 Luxembourg 1993 Brazil 1994 Hungary 1994 Canada 2006 Czech Republic 1994 Cameroon 2006 Russia 1997 India 2007 Ukraine 2003 South Africa 2007 Croatia 2003 Russia 2009 Greece 2005 Repackaging Centre Years Romania 2006 United States 1969 USA 1969 Social Enterprises Years Canada 1974 Cameroon 2004 Australia 1974 South Africa 2005 Puerto Rico 1975 India 2007 Hong Kong 1976 Japan 1978 Argentina 1992 Mexico 1992 Brazil 1994 Sri Lanka 2004 India 2004 South Africa 2004 Turkey 2005 China 2006 Ferreros main competitors are Kraft Foods, Mars and Nestle, however you will see in Course work 2 how integrating with the competitors can be of a huge benefit to all parties and the environment. Success I believe Ferrero is one of the world leaders when it comes to business growth and success, this I have measured by the following means Phenominal amount of Global business units and Production plants Amount of Employees The annual turnover Their ability to develop their own production machinery in order to gain a strategic advantage over competitors Their use of Multi Generational marketing (Kinder Surprise) Their contribution to society and charitable work Annual profit of  £6 billion More than 20 different products From the small pastry shop in 1946, Ferrero has become according to Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/world-reputable-companies-leadership-reputation-table.html) the worlds most reputable company as of May 2009. As shown by the history of Ferrero, the growth of the company has been outstanding; this is mainly due to the passion and commitment of its owners and employees as well as the development of its unique brands and its commitment to develop its own production machinery to maintain its strategic edge. Ferrero group dedicate a lot of their time and money into other schemes such as Opera Sociale set up as a group to help and welcome retired employees and give them a sense of belonging. Social Enterprises, Ferreros commitment to enhancing the living conditions and develop the populations in some of the poorest areas in the world. United Kinder of the World, is set up to enhance the health and development of children and young people. Kinder + Sport, developed to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage sports. Since 2007, Kinder + Sport has involved more than 6 million children worldwide in activities in 17 countries. Has you can see Ferreros success isnt just measured by the amount of awards it has won or the amount of profit it has made. I believe the level of success that Ferrero has achieved can be seen on the faces of the people and children that the company aid as well as the commitment by all employees. The company Moto of Work, Create, Donate is a clear target of what the company aims to achieve and clearly they have achieved this, thus successful. Organisational Structure The table below displays the number of employees and how it is subdivided; these figures are taken from the CSR Report 2009, Number of Employees As of 31/08/2009 Workers 12,993 (60%) Employees 6,067 (28%) Executives and Officers 1,724 (8%) Managers 771 (4%) Total 21,555 Type of Contract As of 31/08/2009 Indefinite Contracts 17,460 (81%) Fixed Term Contracts 4,095 (Including seasonal workers 11%, interns 1% and fixed term contracts 7%) Total 21,555 44% of employees are women and 56% are men. 83% of staff are based in Europe The Ferrero Company is based around a Functional Structure with their main Headquarters being in Italy. The Ferrero board will meet and discuss initiatives and business and then forward on their decisions to each Director of each separate sub company i.e. Ferrero Belgium Ferrero Germany. The companies are run in a mirror image scenario, each sub company will have its own HR team, Production team, marketing and purchasing team. However each sub company will run exactly like each other in respect of what product they are producing, how the HR Function is run and where they get their produce. The only difference will come from the marketing team because each country has a different social network and need. The Ferrero Company also works on Standardising inputs and outputs model. Each sub company are standardised to what they produce, how they produce it, how the HR Function is run, where they get their produce and how their staff are trained. Ferrero have endorsed a huge training package for all employees run by the Ferrero Learning Lab which encompasses several training packages to cover all aspects i.e. Managerial, Nutritional and technical. With this standardisation approach, Ferrero have been able to offer exactly what they do national but globally, without any major issues and disparity. PESTEL Analysis FERRERO Pestel Analysis Political Negative Positive With any company dealing globally, the risk of countries becoming unstable and possible war is always going to be a risk to production and distribution worldwide. Ferrero has grown considerably since 1946; this has been possible due to the rapid increase in the European Union, from starting out with 6 members it has now grown to having 27 member states. This growth has allowed for the harmonisation between several countries and its overseas distributions and has allowed for easier expansion through standardised strategies. Ferreros continued support to its Social Responsibilities, mainly that of its support to third world countries has allowed for an excellent relationship and reputation world wide, this has assisted Ferrero with its continued growth throughout these countries. Economic Negative Positive Increase in VAT rate and import costs may have an affect on consumer purchasing and may increase the price on products due to both these increases. Price increase on products may not affect sales due to extremely strong brand reputation with the consumers. Ferrero and Mars have teamed up on a joint distribution initiative, both products will be distributed to the same warehouse and then both distributed out together. This will decrease the distribution costs. Social Negative Positive Sales of confectionary products as a whole decrease during summer months. (see graphs below) Kinder Surprise egg utilises Multi Generational Marketing and has become a collectible item worldwide. Each country produces its own toys in respect to its countries niche at the time. E.g. Super mini Smurf parade issued in Germany. It is a well known fact that more chocolate is sold at Christmas and Easter than any other times and will continue to do so. The reputation institute in New York awarded Ferrero 1st Place as the company with the best overall reputation with the consumer public. Excellent long term relationships with suppliers. Technological Negative Positive Ferrero implemented the SAP Extended warehouse development application which will increase distribution, decrease wastage, increase production, increase distribution timeliness and maximise storage capacities. Ferrero have developed at least 50% of their own production machinery and technology in order to hold a strategic advantage over their competitors. Environmental Negative Positive The prospects of global warming will always be an issue with regards to growing and producing its raw materials i.e. Cocoa, palm oil and sugar cane. Ferrero prides itself on its contribution to protecting the environment and is actively contributing to saving energy and increasing raw material production. The Corporate Social Responsibility report 2009 details all contributions and future projects Ferrero have implemented and are implementing. The 5R recycling project by Ferrero on all packaging it produces helps the environment and the companys reputation. Legal Negative Positive The Kinder Surprise Egg was banned in the USA since 1997 due to the Consumer Product Safety Commission deeming it being a hazard to small children because it may contain a choking hazard. The Egg also falls foul to the US 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic act which prohibit embedding non-nutritive items in confections. Ferrero counter acted the US Laws by producing and selling the Kinder chocolate without the surprise, this was again a huge success. The Kinder Surprise egg however, is still sold illegally around the US by shops importing them in from other countries. The law as made the Kinder Egg some what a highly sort collectible in the US and as indirectly assisted in the marketing of the egg. This graph below shows the average sales of the Sugar and Chocolate sales throughout the year (calculated in weeks). As mentioned in the PESTEL Report the summer moves takes a clear dip in sales. The graph below shows Ferreros annual turnover in 2006 driven by season. The red line represents the average sale during the year. As you can see 80% of sales were achieved out of the summer months and only 20% during the summer months. Resources Strategic Capabilities Tangible Resources Intangible Resources Unique Resources Core Competencies Produce 50% of its own production machinery and technology Ferrero have production plants and offices worldwide Excellent worldwide reputation Powerful brand name with the Kinder Surprise and TIC TAC mints Kinder surprise has become a collectors item worldwide and will continue to do so The new implementation of the new distribution and warehousing IT software All employees are motivated and made to feel like part of the Ferrero family High level of training provided Developed their own unique product the chocolate and hazelnut paste Cremino Teamed up with Mars to increase distribution speed and cut cost and help cut down CO2 emissions Excellent Training and Human resource management Unique ties with raw material sources worldwide Multi generational marketing Coursework 2 CW2 will be focussing on Ferreros Value chain, Supply chain management, SWOT Analysis and I will be make my own conclusions and recommendations on Ferrero

Philosophical Theantropy as the Principle of Religious Ecumenism :: Biblical Religion Christianity Essays

Philosophical Theantropy as the Principle of Religious Ecumenism ABSTRACT: One universal constituent element of human consciousness is belief in the existence of a divine reality that is experienced by persons as the most intimate and essential part of human life. Belief in transcendent reality, which is an immanent part of human nature, constitutes an awe-inspiring mystery (mysterium fascinans et tremens) — that is, a theantropy. Strictly speaking, ‘theantropy’ is a theological term which is used to express the "union of the divine and human natures in Christ" (as defined by Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary). The novum of my understanding of theantropy consists in the application of the concept to the phenomenological experience of the religious consciousness of humanity. Henceforth, I designate theantropy to mean an ontic union and an inherent disposition of the ‘human’ and ‘divine’ constituents in/of every human being. I will examine and reflect on theantropy as the philosophical principle of religious ecumenism as well as compare various solutions of theantropy not only with regard to a particular system of beliefs, but as it is experienced in each and every human being by following Augustine’s principle: "In interiorem hominem redi: ibi habitat Deus" (or in "intimor intimo meo"). In each and every human being, there is a specific polarization between the human and the divine dimensions, which one can call theantropy. In the strict sense 'theantropy' is a theological term, and is employed to express "the union of the divine and human natures in Christ." The novum of this author's understanding of the term 'theantropy' consists of the application of this concept to the phenomenological experience of religious consciousness of man. Henceforth, in this paper, 'theantropy' means "an ontic union and an inherent disposition of the 'human' and the 'divine' constituents in/of each and every human being." Theantropy so understood, can be described as a perpetual striving of man for unity with the 'Inner-Word' of human soul for establishing one spiritual oikoumenÈ of all people into one divine community of believers (Cf I Pe.:2,5; Eph.:2,19; I Tim.:3.15; He.:3,6; etc.). Referring to the Gospel of St. John, St. Augustine writes: I implore you to love with me and, by believing, to run with me; let us long for our heavenly country , let us sigh for our heavenly home, let us truly feel that here we are strangers. What shall we then see? Let the gospel tell us: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Philosophical Theantropy as the Principle of Religious Ecumenism :: Biblical Religion Christianity Essays Philosophical Theantropy as the Principle of Religious Ecumenism ABSTRACT: One universal constituent element of human consciousness is belief in the existence of a divine reality that is experienced by persons as the most intimate and essential part of human life. Belief in transcendent reality, which is an immanent part of human nature, constitutes an awe-inspiring mystery (mysterium fascinans et tremens) — that is, a theantropy. Strictly speaking, ‘theantropy’ is a theological term which is used to express the "union of the divine and human natures in Christ" (as defined by Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary). The novum of my understanding of theantropy consists in the application of the concept to the phenomenological experience of the religious consciousness of humanity. Henceforth, I designate theantropy to mean an ontic union and an inherent disposition of the ‘human’ and ‘divine’ constituents in/of every human being. I will examine and reflect on theantropy as the philosophical principle of religious ecumenism as well as compare various solutions of theantropy not only with regard to a particular system of beliefs, but as it is experienced in each and every human being by following Augustine’s principle: "In interiorem hominem redi: ibi habitat Deus" (or in "intimor intimo meo"). In each and every human being, there is a specific polarization between the human and the divine dimensions, which one can call theantropy. In the strict sense 'theantropy' is a theological term, and is employed to express "the union of the divine and human natures in Christ." The novum of this author's understanding of the term 'theantropy' consists of the application of this concept to the phenomenological experience of religious consciousness of man. Henceforth, in this paper, 'theantropy' means "an ontic union and an inherent disposition of the 'human' and the 'divine' constituents in/of each and every human being." Theantropy so understood, can be described as a perpetual striving of man for unity with the 'Inner-Word' of human soul for establishing one spiritual oikoumenÈ of all people into one divine community of believers (Cf I Pe.:2,5; Eph.:2,19; I Tim.:3.15; He.:3,6; etc.). Referring to the Gospel of St. John, St. Augustine writes: I implore you to love with me and, by believing, to run with me; let us long for our heavenly country , let us sigh for our heavenly home, let us truly feel that here we are strangers. What shall we then see? Let the gospel tell us: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.