The Value of Liberal Arts Essay Example for Free

The Value of Liberal Arts Essay Liberal Arts can be defined as the study of general knowledge, humanities, fine arts, natural science and social science, instead of technical studies. These subjects are considered necessary for people in society. A Liberal Arts education is valuable because it is intellectual, it teaches you how to think, and heightens creativity. Studying Liberal Arts will enhance my skills and will develop me into a well-rounded person with a Nursing career. Unlike most professional studies with a focus on career goals, Liberal Art prepares at student for the real world. Most students are not aware of the importance and value of a Liberal Arts education. Courses like English, History, Psychology, Philosophy, and Christianity teaches you how to write and understand. It gives you a better understanding of the world and improves your communication skills. With such a variety students will be more decisive about ideas, beliefs, problems, and choices. This will prepare them for the dilemmas they will face in the world. Higher education is not about simply finding a good job after graduation. A liberal college gives you values and standards that will make you a better person. With a nursing major I will need the communication skills that a Liberal Arts education will give. This will help me interact better with my patients and co-workers and understand differences. Working in a nursing home or hospital I will experience different people and beliefs. I have some skills, but an education with a variety will give me an advantage over nurses with a basic 2-year degree that is career orientated. I interpret it as HBU giving me a foundation. Nursing pre-requisites concurrent with Liberal Arts pre- requisite gives me stepping stones into the nursing program. I will gain more knowledge this way and once I do enter the program I will be well balanced. Some of my acquaintances think that the pre-requisites are harder than the actual program because of the variety, but I disagree. Some of my high school classmates wanted to attend HBU but were deterred because of the Liberal Arts and Christianity requirements. They felt social gatherings like convocation and bible studies were unnecessary and boring, but they help you develop better morals and discipline. They will lack these features that I will have. Liberal studies require you to be artistic and think outside the box. Managers at the odd jobs I have had lacked those features, and that’s why they were bad employers. A liberal college gives students a smaller learning setting which enables us to develop relationships with teachers and students. It’s much better than a major that’s strictly pre-med or pre-pharmacy. It’s very different from a non-liberal college. It helps develop relationships between the teachers and students. This is impossible at a school with over a hundred thousand students. I was not aware of how liberal this college was until my SOAR orientation. Courses like Philosophy and Psychology can be applied to life. In my opinion, high school wasn’t liberal enough. My friends and I would find ourselves asking, â€Å"When are we going to use this stuff?† and â€Å"Why don’t they teach us stuff that’s useful?† Where can we apply chemistry if we’re not a Chemist? I thank GOD for bringing me to HBU. When I graduate I know I will be well prepared for the world. The medical field is a stressful career. You really have to be well- rounded because you are dealing with people. As a nurse you have to understand your patients especially when you are in a nursing home. Overall, I am really enjoying this experience. HBU has this spirit that makes me feel great.

The Importance of Commodity Derivatives

The Importance of Commodity Derivatives Equity Commodity Investment â€Å"A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN EQUITY COMMODITY INVESTMENT OPTION† ABSTRACT India, a commodity based economy where two-third of the one billion population depends on agricultural commodities, surprisingly has an under developed commodity market. Unlike the physical market, futures markets trades in commodity are largely used as risk management (hedging) mechanism on either physical commodity itself or open positions in commodity stock. For instance, a jeweller can hedge his inventory against perceived short-term downturn in gold prices by going short in the future markets. The study aims to know how of the commodities market and how the commodities traded on the exchange. The idea is to understand the importance of commodity derivatives and learn about the market from Indian point of view. In fact it was one of the most vibrant markets till early 70s. Its development and growth was shunted due to numerous restrictions earlier. Now, with most of these restrictions being removed, there is tremendous potential for growth of this market in the country. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SYNOPSIS FOR THESIS DESIRED AREA Investments Commodity Market in India TITLE OF THE THESIS Comparative Study between Equity Commodity Investment Options† PROBLEM DEFINITION / HYPOTHESIS / RESEARCH OBJECTIVE To have a comparative study between two major Investments options Equity Commodity on the basis of their returns. To study simple properties of commodity futures as an asset class and analyze the hedging properties To understand the possible returns by investing in Commodity Futures when the Commodity Spot Prices are falling and comparing them with those in Stocks and Bonds. INTRODUCTION / LITERATURE TO THE AREA OF RESEARCH In the Capital Markets of the world, preferably in India, Stock is considered as the first option of investment. But, as we all know that there are many other options available with the people to invest / park their hard earned in some of these options are Derivative Market, Mutual Funds, NSC, KVPS, Insurance, FD, Savings A/c’s obviously less considered is the Commodity Market. In the above mentioned options there are some options that do not have the risk factor in it thus they give less return, while others having risk gives more return to the investor. One does not know that the Investments in Commodities will also yield almost the same returns as compared with the Stock, having the same amount of risk involved. SCOPE This research would throw light on the mentioned objectives make people aware of Commodity Futures as an Investment option – which is at its growing stage. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Primary Data Collection Guidance from the External Guide. Guidance from the Internal Guide. Help from Faculties. Commodities Dealers. Commodities Players (Investors). Secondary Data Collection Web sites Journals Magazines (Financial) Newspapers Research Papers on the same topic Reports of Experts â€Å"Investment is a term with different closely-related meanings in business, finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. An asset is usually purchased, or in a similar way a deposit is made in a bank, in hopes of getting a future return or interest from the same. Literally, investment means the action of putting something somewhere else In finance, investment can be referred to as buying securities or other monetary assets in the money markets or capital markets, or in fairly liquid real assets, such as gold, real estate etc. Valuation is the method for finding the true value of an asset. Different financial investments include shares, bonds and other equity investments. These financial assets are then expected to provide income/ positive future cash streams, and may increase or decrease in its value giving the investor capital gains or losses. Trading in contingent claims or derivative securities do not necessarily have future positive cash flows, and so are not considered assets, or securities or investments. Nevertheless, since their cash flows are closely related to or it is derived from cash flow of specific securities, they are often treated as investments. Banks, mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies, collective investment schemes, and investment clubs can be used to make investments indirectly. An intermediary generally makes an investment using money from many individuals, each of whom receives a claim on the intermediary, though their legal and procedural details differ. LITERATURE REVIEW The capital market (securities markets) is the market for securities, where the companies and the government can raise funds for long term. Stock market and the bond market form part of capital market. Financial regulators, such as the RBI and SEBI, keep a watch on the capital markets in their respective countries to ensure that investors are protected against any fraud. The capital markets consist of the primary market, where the company floats new securities to investors, and the secondary market, where existing securities are traded. STRUCTURE OF CAPITAL MARKET Primary Market Secondary Market Derivative Market Commodity Market International Market IPO Public Issue) Right Issue Private Placement Sale purchase of existing share debenture Mutual fund Option Future Call Option Put Option Gold Silver Material Etc. NYSE Composite NASDAQ Composite Dow Jones I.A. S4P 500 NIKKEI – 225 NSE BSE Dealing in MCX dealing in STRUCTURE OF SECURITY MARKET Primary Market Secondary Market Derivative Market Commodity Market International Market IPO Public Issue) Right Issue Private Placement Sale purchase of existing share debenture Mutual fund Option Future Call Option Put Option Gold Silver Material Etc. NYSE Composite NASDAQ Composite Dow Jones I.A. S4P 500 NIKKEI – 225 NSE BSE Dealing in MCX dealing in A) Primary Market: It is that part of the capital markets that deals with the issuance of new securities. Companies, governments or public sector institutions can obtain funds through the issue of a new stock or bond which is called initial public offering (IPO). This is typically done through a syndication of securities dealers which in return earn a commission that is built into the price of the security offering. B) Secondary Market: The secondary market is the market for trading of securities that have already been issued in the market. Aftermarket is known as the market that exists in a new security just after the new issue. Investors and speculators can easily trade on the exchange once a newly issued stock is listed on a stock exchange, as market makers make bids and offers in the new stock. C) Derivative Market: Derivative Market Future Market Option Market Future Contract Say – One month – Two month – Three month Call Option Put Option Premium will change at the time of buying No Risk Premium will change at the time of sells No Risk Future Contracts: The future contracts are the future contracts or bids for some specific period like one month, two months and three months, accepted from investor in capital market which is put. Option Market :- The option market is the place where trading is for call and put or buy and sell and only the premium is charged for all call and put trading. D) Commodity Market: Commodity trading might sound like a strange term, but simply put, commodities are items like, wheat, corn, gold and silver, and Cattle and Pork Bellies, and Crude Oil and it has emerged as an important player in the way that people invest in and speculate. INVESTMENT ALTERNATIVES INVESTMENT Financial Assets Real Estate Marketable Financial Assets. Non-marketable Financial Assets Treasury Bills C.D. C.P. Repo Govt. Fixed Insurance bond Govt. Securities Debenture Shares Mutual Fund Equity Pref NSS Bank Deposit Post Office KVP NSC Company Deposit EPF/PPF LIC Gold Silver Previous objects Painting /Art Land / Building Machinery/Equipment etc MARKETABLE FINANCIAL ASSETS Equity or Preference shares Govt/PSU/Pvt/other bonds Mutual Funds Shares (Equity and Preference Share): If you have equity shares of a company, you have an ownership stake in that company. This essentially means that you have a residual interest in income and wealth of the company. Equity shares are classified into the following broad categories Blue chip shares Growth shares Income shares Cyclical shares Speculative shares Bonds: Bonds or debentures represent long-term debt instruments where issuer of a bond promises to pay a stipulated stream of cash flow. Bonds may be classified into the following categories Government securities. Savings bonds Government agency securities. PSU bonds Debentures of private sector companies Preference shares Money Market Instruments:- Money market instruments are debt instruments which have a maturity of less than one year at the time of issue. The important money market instruments are: Treasury bills Commercial paper Certificates of deposit Mutual Funds: A Mutual Fund is a trust that collects the savings of a number of investors, and invest in capital market instruments such as shares, debentures and other securities who share a common financial goal. Unit holders share the income earned through these investments and the capital appreciation in proportion to the number of units owned by them. Mutual Fund offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at a relatively low cost and thus is the most suitable investment for the common man. NON-MARKETABLE FINANCIAL ASSETS: A good portion of financial assets is represented by non-marketable financial assets. These can be classified into the following broad categories. Bank deposits Post office deposits Company deposits Provident fund deposits/EPF LIC NSC NSS KVP Life Insurance: Life insurance can also be considered as an investment as insurance premiums represent the sacrifice, and the assured sum represents the benefit. The important types of insurance policies in India are : Endowment assurance policy Money back policy Whole life policy Term assurance policy REAL ESTATES AND OTHERS Real Estate: Residential house is the most important asset in the portfolio for the bulk of the investors. More affluent investors are likely to be interested in the following types of real estate, in addition to a residential house Agricultural land Semi – urban land Commercial property Precious Object: Precious objects are items that are highly valuable in monetary terms. Some important precious objects are ; Gold and silver Precious stones Art objects Financial Derivatives: A financial derivative is an instrument whose value is derived, from the value of an underlying asset be it a real asset, such as gold wheat or oil, or a financial asset, such as a stock, stock index, bond or foreign currency. Forwards Contracts A forward contract, as it occurs in both forward and futures markets, always involves a contract initiated at one time; Performance in accordance with the terms of the contract occurs at one time; Performance in accordance with the terms of the contract occurs at a subsequent time. Further, the type of forward contracting to be considered here always involves an exchange of one asset for another and the price at which the exchange occurs is set at the time of the preliminary contracting. Actual payment and delivery of the good occur afterwards. Futures Contracts A futures contract is highly standardized forward contract with closely specified contract terms and it calls for the exchange of some good at a future date for cash, with the payment for the good to occur at that future date like all forward contracts. The buyer of a futures contract undertakes to receive delivery of the good and pay for it while the seller of a futures promises to deliver the good and take delivery of payment. The price of the good is determined at the initial time of contracting. Option Option contracts grant the right but not the compulsion to buy in the case of a call or sell, in the case of a put a specified quantity of an asset at a predetermined price on or before a specified future date option contract would expire if it is not in the best interest of the option owner to exercise. Swaps Swaps normally trade in the OTC market but there is monitoring of this market segment. Swaps are agreement between two parties to exchange cash flows in the future according to a approved formula and In case of popular interest rate swap, one party agrees to pay a series of set cash flows in exchange for a sequence of variable cost. When compared to global derivatives markets Indian derivative markets are still in the emerging stage. Indian derivatives markets share in the world derivatives market’s value and volumes are very small. But with the starting of trading in different financial and commodities segment, Indian markets are growing very fast. Indian markets are operating with high efficiency and on parity with international standards. The major exchanges and the derivative products traded in India: 1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 2. National Stock Exchange OF India Ltd (NSE) 3. National Commodity Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) 4. Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) 5. National Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (NMCE) INVESTMENT ATTRIBUTES For evaluating an investment values, the following attributes are relevant. Rate of return Risk Safety Profitability Purchasing power risk Maturity Marketability Tax shelter Convenience Rate of Return: The rate of return on an investment for a period (which is usually a period of one year) is defined as follows: Rate of return = Annual income + (Ending price – Beginning price) Beginning price To illustrate, consider the following information about a certain equity share. Price at the beginning of the year: Rs. 80.00 Dividend paid in the year: Rs. 4.00 Price at the end of the year: Rs. 87.00 The rate of return of this share is calculated as follows: 4.00 + (87.0-80.00) = 13.75 percent 80.00 Yield In general, yield is  the yearly rate of return  for any investment and is expressed as a percentage, With stocks, yield can refer to the rate of income generated from  a stock in the form of regular dividends and is often represented in percentage form, calculated as the annual dividend payments divided by the stocks current share price. Investors can use yield to measure the performance of their investments and  compare it to the yield on other investments or securities. Generally, higher risk securities offer higher expected yields as compensation for the additional risk incurred through ownership of the security. Investors looking to make income or cash flow streams from equity investments commonly look for stocks  that shell out high dividend yields, in other words, stocks that give a relatively large amount of annual cash dividends for a relatively low share price. Annual income (interest or dividends) divided by the current price of the security. This measure looks at the current price of  a bond instead of its face value and represents the return an investor would expect if  he/ she  purchased the bond and held it for a year. This measure is not an accurate reflection of the actual return that  an investor  will receive in all cases  because bond and stock  prices are continuously changing due to market factors. Capital Appreciation: It’s the rise in the market price of an asset. Capital appreciation is one of two major ways for investors to profit from an investment in a company. The other is through dividend income. Risk The risk of investment may be classified in following ways Type of Risk Internal Rate of Return Risk Market risk Inflation Risk Default Risk Business Risk Financial Risk Management Risk Liquidity Risk The rate of return from investments like equity shares, real estate, and gold can vary rather widely. The risk of investment refers to the variability of its rate of return: How much do individual outcomes deviate form the expected value? A simple measure of dispersion is the range of values, which is simply the difference between the highest and the lowest values. Other measures commonly used in finance are as follows: Variance :This is the mean of the squares of deviations of individual returns around their average values Standard deviation:This is the square root of variance Beta :This reflects how volatile the return from an investment is, in response to market swings. Risk = Actual Return – Expected Returns Condition: If, Actual Return = Expected Return = Risk Free Investment If, Actual Return > or Low Variance (Low Risk) High Variance (High Risk) Expected Return Marketability: An investment is highly marketable or liquid if: (a) it can be transacted quickly: (b) the transaction cost is low; and (c) the price change between two successive transactions is negligible. The liquidity of a market may be judged in terms of its depth, breadth, and resilience. Depth refers to the existence of buy as well as sell orders around the current market price. Breadth implies the presence of such orders in substantial volume. Resilience means that new orders emerge in response to price changes. Generally, equity shares of large, well – established companies enjoy high marketability and equity shares of small companies in their formative years have low marketability. High marketability is a desirable characteristic and low marketability is an undesirable one. How does one evaluate the marketability of an investment like a provident fund deposit which is non-marketable by its very nature? In such a case, the relevant questions of ask is: can withdrawals be made or loans be taken against the deposit? Such as investment may be regarded as highly marketable if any of the following conditions are satisfied: A substantial portion of the accumulated balance can be withdrawn without significant penalty; A loan (representing a significant portion of the accumulated balance) can be raised at a rate of interest that is only slightly higher than the rate of interest earned on the investment itself. Tax Shelter: Some investments provide tax benefits; others do not. Tax benefits are of the following three kinds. Initial Tax Benefit; An initial tax benefit refers to the tax relief enjoyed at the time of making the investment. For example, when you make a deposit in a Public Provident Fund Account, you get a tax benefit under Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act. Continuing Tax Benefit: A continuing tax benefits represent the tax shield associated with the periodic returns form the investment. For example, dividend income and income from certain other sources are tax – exempts, upto a certain limit, in the hands of the recipient. Terminal Tax Benefits; A terminal tax benefit refers to relief from taxation when an investment is realized or liquidated. For example, a withdrawal from a Public Provident Fund Account is not subject to tax. Convenience: Convenience broadly refers to the ease with which the investment can be made and looked after. Put differently, the questions that we ask to judge convenience are: Can the investment be made readily? Can the investment be looked after easily? The degree of convenience associated with investments varies widely. At one end of the spectrum is the deposit in a savings bank account that can be made readily and that does not require any maintenance effort. At the other end of the spectrum is the purchase of a property that may involved a lot of procedural and legal hassles at the time of acquisitions and a great deal of maintenance effort subsequently. A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF VARIOUS INVESTMENTS ALTERNATIVES A summary evaluation of these investment avenues in terms of key investment attributes is given in Exhibit below. It must be emphasized that within each investment category individual assets display some variations. Exhibit: Summary Evaluation of Various Investment Avenues Return Current yield Capital appreciation Risk Marketability / Liquidity Tax shelter Convenience Equity Shares Low High High Fairly high High High Non – convertible Debentures High Negligible Low Average Nil High Equity Schemes Low High High High High Very high Debt Schemes Moderate Low Low High No tax on dividends Very high Bank deposits Moderate Nil Negligible High Nil Very high Public provident fund Nil Moderate Nil Average Section 80 C benefit Very high Residential Moderate Moderate Negligible Low High Fair Gold and Silver Nil Moderate Average Average Nil Average INVESTMENT VERSUS SPECULATION While it is difficult to draw the line of distinction between investment and speculation, it is possible to broadly distinguish the characteristics of an investor from those of a speculator as follows. Investor Speculator Planning horizon An investor has a relatively longer planning horizon. His holding period is usually at least one year. A speculator has a very short planning horizon. His holding may be a few days to a few months. Risk disposition An investor is normally not willing to assume more than moderate risk. Rarely does he knowingly assume high risk. A speculator is ordinarily willing to assume high risk. Return expectation

Essay --

Dubliners by James Joyce is a novel with a collection of short stories. A mutual theme establish throughout Dubliners is the feeling of paralysis that is felt by the characters in the stories. It is not hard to detect the idea of paralysis after reading Dubliners but can easily be overlooked. Therefore, the idea of paralysis is a common theme. In most of the stories in Dubliners, such as â€Å"The Sisters†, â€Å"Araby†, â€Å"Eveline†, and â€Å"The Dead† a character has a want, but has difficulties to overcome. Yet, would eventually yield and not pursue his/her aspiration. The events of paralysis demonstration the characters’ incompetence to change their own lives. They have the chance or opportunity to change their lives, but freeze up when push comes to shove. â€Å"The Sisters† is the first story in Dubliners and is about a priest who died. Father Flynn was friends with a young lad. Also, Father Flynn had two sisters giving the story its title. The world paralysis even in italics is mentioned in the first paragraph of â€Å"The Sisters†. Therefore, Joyce not only mentioning paralysis in the first paragraph, but making it italics. Should give the reader an indication of how important paralysis is going to be not only in â€Å"The Sisters† but throughout the entire novel. â€Å"The first story of the Dubliners collection, â€Å"The Sisters†, opens the Dubliners sequence and explicitly introduces the topic of paralysis, one of Joyce’s major concerns† (Walter 3). However, like before it is easy to miss this important detail or to go as far as to miss understanding the context of paralysis. â€Å"Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the word paralysis† (Joyce 3) . The explanation for this possible misunderstanding is that the character wh... ...out â€Å"Eveline†. Eveline is once more torn between doubts and hopes, fear and joy. She thinks about the possible disappointment of Frank and asks herself if she could still draw back after all he had done for her. She is paralyzed and afraid of the oncoming. The final example â€Å"The Dead†, he precisely discusses that he dislikes his country and is tired of it. It seems that someone who dislikes his own country would leave and go elsewhere. However, Gabriel does not leave instead he remains numb and paralyzed. This is the paralytic mind of the people of Dublin. They are stuck in their old ways and they cannot change from them because they are too scared of change. All the short stories in Dubliners, can be seen as a collection to a novel itself because it has a general theme for all of its characters regardless of age or gender and that one theme is paralysis.

Totalitarian Regime in Nineteen Eighty Four and the Partys Methods of

1984, written by George Orwell and published in 1949, follows the life of Winston Smith and his attempts to rebel against the totalitarian state in which he lives. Winston lives in London in the country of Oceania, led by Big Brother, a strict party which maintains power and control by censoring everyone's behaviour and thoughts and trying to recreate people in the party's image. Throughout the book, the party attempts to gain complete control over Oceania in many different ways, some, similarly used, currently. In many ways, 1984 could be described as reflecting many political issues in reality, for example, the nazi regime and Hitler's way of controlling the country. This is quite likely as the book is written at about the time that Hitler was in power, and some say that 1984 is a depiction of how life would be like, if the world had continued to be run in a totalitarian way. The description of Big Brother, himself, is very similar to Hitler's appearance - a man of about forty-five with a heavy black moustache and like Hitler, big brother has an idea of what people should be like and how they should behave. The fact that Big Brother targets young people, in particular, and tries to brainwash them into loving the party, is similar to Hitler?s attempts to get young people on his side and to get them involved in his conquest. This is one of the main ways in which Big Brother gains control over Oceania. By targeting the younger generation, they can be sure that they don?t have many previous t houghts and aren?t as logical as adults, to work out when Big Brother has twisted the truth or tried to cover up the past. They also make the party appeal to the children, by having songs, processions, banners and celebrations and even tur... ...ting in books or reading, is forbidden as you can not express yourself or show any individuality. The language is being replaced by ?newspeak?, a language where there is no variation in words and the only way to exaggerate something is by using plus on the front of the word so that the only purpose of language is for communicating and it can no longer be enjoyed. All of these methods which the party has used were successful in 1984, in gaining the power. If the party were to continue to be in charge of Oceania after 1984, no-one like Winston would exist any more, and everyone would believe what Big Brother was saying from day to day, without getting any enjoyment out of life. It is easy to imagine that in the end, there will be no separating man from woman, the war would continue on forever and the only purpose of the human race would be to serve Big Brother.

Apple and the Personal Computer Revolution :: Technology Computers Steve Jobs

Apple and the Personal Computer Revolution Let’s take a trip back in time and review the evolution of a computer company. It’s not IBM or Microsoft. This company is Apple Computers, Incorporated. In the year 1976, before most people even thought about buying a computer for their homes. Back then the computer community was only a few nerds building simple computers from hobby kits. When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs sold a van and two programmable calculators for thirteen hundred dollars and started Apple Computers, Inc., in Jobs garage, the reach for success seemed far. But these two young business men, Wozniak 26 years old and Jobs 21 years old, had a vision. â€Å"Computers aren’t for nerds anymore,† they announced. â€Å"Computers are going to be the bicycle of the mind. Low cost computers for everyone.† From the first day on the founders of Apple kept their vision intact, and they spoke it at every turn. They only hired people into the company that had the same visions as they did. In early 1976 Wozniak and Jobs finish work on a preassembled computer circuit board. It has no Product keyboard, case, sound or graphics. They call it the Apple I. They form the Apple Computer Company on April Fool's Day and sold the Apple I board for $666.66 at the Home brew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. In 1977 the Apple II is available to the general public. Fully assembled and pretested, it includes 4K of standard memory, and comes equipped with two game paddles and a demo cassette. The price is $1,298. Customers use their own TV set as a monitor and store programs on audio cassette recorders. Compare this price with computers today. The price about the same, but the computer has changed tremendously. In 1979 Apple II+ is introduced, available with 48K of memory and a new auto-start ROM for easier startup and screen editing for $1,195. Apple II Pascal is also released. In 1980 Apple FORTRAN introduced and proves to be a catalyst for high-level technical and educational applications. Apple III announced at the National Computer Conference. It has a new operating system, a built-in disk controller and four peripheral slots priced at $3,495, the Apple III is the most advanced system in the company's history. Product In 1981 Accessory Products Division formed to handle production of printers, modems and other peripherals. The Apple Language Card is introduced.

Four Great Revolutions in Philosophy Essay

Throughout the history of the universe, there have been revolutions that shaped the history of the world. However, none have had such a great impact as the four great revolutions in thought and religion. Included, are the philosophy of China, religion in India, religion of the Jews, and Greek Philosophy. They all have many things in common, but each are unique as well. The four great revolutions occurred in or near original river valley systems, and they were all born through a crisis. Each of the reformations is responsible for much of the cultural history of the world, because once the cultural pattern was set, it endured. Finally, it all began when people started to question their existence. When the, relatively speaking, â€Å"modern† philosophy of the east was created, China was going through a crisis. New territorial states were replacing the traditional city-states. Peasant armies with new technology were replacing old nobility. The old etiquette and old rituals were crumbling. People yearned for a new, peaceful society. Thus, Confucianism was born. Confucius was born in 551 BCE in northeast China. He was educated and was a member of the lower-nobility. When Confucius was young, his father died, so he knew what it was like to be without. Confucius didn’t believe in an afterlife, and in the Analects, he was quoted as saying, â€Å"How can you understand death if you cannot understand life?† Later in life, he became a traveling teacher, trying to persuade rulers to buy his ideas to return society back to the times of the Chou Dynasty, where everyone in society had a role to play. These roles consisted of five relationships: Ruler to subject, father to son, husband to wife, older brother to younger brother, and friend to friend. Confucius believed that if everyone stood to their position, society would be in harmony. However, when the well-being of a society depends on individuals living up to their responsibilities, things can go wrong fairly quickly. It became obvious that returning to the Chou Dynasty was impossible. By the time Confucius died, in 479 BCE, he was unable to find a ruler to accept his  teachings, but one thing made sense to the people. The ability to have a good government is dependent on the appointment of good men. This is evident in American society today when we elect a new President every four years. Another revolution took place about fifty years earlier in India. In 600 BCE, India had a priest-centered, cult dominated upper-class that controlled society. They had elaborate animal sacrifices, and believed in magic. In an attempt to bring more people into participation, a group called the Upanishads began to propose meditation on the meaning of ritual. They had two main emphases: 1) Knowledge was over ritual and immortality was escaping afterlife, and 2) â€Å"From the unreal, lead me to the real. From death, lead me to immortality,† which reverts the emphasis back to knowledge. Gods were merely a part of the total scheme. The Upanishads believed that life was a never-ending cycle between life and death. Life after death was known as samsara. The key to resolving samsara is karma (work or action) in which the goal is to have more good deed than bad deeds. There were two basic ways to achieve this goal. First, one sought to maximize good, and minimize bad. Second, a person should seek liberation from existence, escaping all karmic effects. This, when followed out completely, resulted in escaping action itself. This brings us to the Jains. An Indian man named Mahavira found and taught â€Å"the way† to save the soul from its karmic bonds. Jains believed that there is no beginning or end to existence. They believed that the universe was alive and had infinite souls that were all trapped in samsara. Words and deeds have a reaction, and one must take care of everything. Mahavira’s focus was to eliminate evil thought and act that was especially harmful of others. He isolated himself for twelve years, meditating, until he found true enlightenment. When thinking of â€Å"enlightened ones,† many would think of Buddha. Buddhism was â€Å"India’s greatest contribution to religion.† Siddhartha Gautama is the most renowned Buddha. He was born in 566 BCE into an upper-class, if not noble, family. As Siddhartha grew older, he began to think about aging, sickness,  and death. He was disgusted by his sensual desires and sensual pleasures he obtained from the material world, so he set out to find an end to the endless cycle of existence. It is said that Siddhartha Gautama sat under a Bodh tree, smoked, meditated, and found the answer. He then devoted the rest of his life to teaching others his findings, known as The Middle Path. The Middle Path is the core to Buddhist faith and practice, and begins with Four Noble Truths: 1) All of life is suffering, 2) The source of suffering is desiring, 3) The cessation of desiring is the way to end suffering, and 4) The path to the end is eight-fold. The fourth truth is not just metaphorically speaking. The Eight-Fold Path consists of the following: Right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. The emphasis on Buddhism was compassion. The goal, through The Four Noble Truths, was to attain nirvana (extinguishing all karmic bonds). To succeed in this, one had to give up many things, so there were very few willing to make the sacrifice. There was no deity. If one just stopped wanting, he or she would stop suffering. Now we come to the first big difference in thought and religion; the religion of the Jews. The Hebrews tried to create a monotheistic life from a polytheistic society. They believed that there was one universal creator/sustainer of the universe, and that was God. All things were linked to God’s â€Å"divine plan.† There were two central ideas to Judaism. First, significance of history on the divine plan. Second, the idea of God (justice and goodness). God was righteous, so he expected humans to be also. He demanded moral behavior. God’s â€Å"divine plan† included a man named Abraham, who is considered the patriarch of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. Abraham made a covenant with God that if Abraham and all of his children would worship God alone, then God would protect them. The final Great Revolution took a central â€Å"god† and threw in many different  gods. Greek Philosophy offered different approaches and answers to the same concerns as original monotheists. The Greeks were logical. They looked at the universe as a whole. They investigated cures for sicknesses and didn’t rely solely on the gods for healing. During the mid-fifth century BCE, an influential debate began with professional teachers, called Sophists. They received pay for teaching persuasion and rhetoric, which were very highly valued in Ancient Athenian Society. Sophists preached on the nature of the polis (city-state). This was when the crisis began. All philosophers were concerned that everything was falling apart, because of outsiders. The Sophists argued that the law was in accordance with nature. If everyone followed the law, the polis would be fine and protected. This sounds much like Confucius’ idealistic belief that people could just stay in one role and be happy in that relationship. It is quite obvious that there have been revolutions that shaped the history of the world. However, none have had such a great impact as the four great revolutions in thought and religion. Included, are the philosophy of China, religion in India, religion of the Jews, and Greek Philosophy. They all have many things in common, but each are unique as well. The four great revolutions occurred in or near original river valley systems, and they were all born through a crisis. Each of the reformations is responsible for much of the cultural history of the world, because once the cultural pattern was set, it endured. Finally, it all began when people started to question their existence.

The Lady from Lucknow

Stereotypes and racism are all around us, many times affecting what we do and how we act. Quite often however, we do not realize the impact that they have on others and even ourselves. Bharati Mukherjee's short story, â€Å"The Lady From Lucknow† is about Nafeesa Hafeez, a young woman who moves from Lucknow, a city in India, to America with her husband and family. Although they are well off, Nafeesa struggles to enjoy her life and fit in with the world around her. Nafeesa then meets James Beamish, an older, married man, and the two have an affair.I will argue that Nafessa's suicide is caused by the varying degrees of racism that she experiences through her numerous attempts to assimilate in this new country and be recognized as an equal to others. Nafeesa first encountered James Beamish and his wife, Kate, at a reception for foreign students where both the Beamishs and the Hafeezs would play host to an international student. While the Beamishs were trying to find the student t o whom they would host, Nafeesa decided to strike up a conversation with them.Kate however mistakes Nafeesa as just another student and says to her, â€Å"I hope you'll be very happy here. Is this your first time abroad? † (Mukherjee 323). Each host wears a blue name tag to differentiate them from the students, and Kate could clearly see this, yet she still assumed that because Nafeesa was Indian that she was just a student. Kate continued to talk down to Nafeesa, and refused to accept her as an equal. After this initial meeting, Nafeesa and James continue to meet in secrecy, engaging in an affair.While at James' house one day, she was looking at pictures of his daughters and realized that she was more worried and afraid about what they would think about her than, â€Å"any violence in my [Nafeesa] husband's heart† (Mukherjee 326). The woman is so desperate to find belonging that she is more worried about what complete strangers will think of her, than how her husband will feel when he discovers what she is doing. One day while Nafeesa and James are together, Kate comes home unexpectedly and catches the two of them together.Instead of getting mad or yelling, Kate instead sits on the bed next to Nafessa. The look that Kate gives Nafeesa is what hurts her most, for it made her feel like she was, â€Å"a shadow without dept or colour, a shadow temptress who would float back to a city of teeming millions when the affair with James had ended† (Mukherjee 327). Nafeesa feels absolutely invisible to Kate. Despite having just caught the woman sleeping with her husband, Kate still looks down on Nafeesa as though she will never be her equal.Nafessa eventually is unable to deal with the pain she feels from living in this invisible state any longer and hangs herself. Her constant attempts to be viewed as equal, and the racism she battles in society while wanting nothing more than to fit in, push her over the limit and lead to her taking her own life. W orks Cited Mukherjee, Bharati. â€Å"The Lady from Lucknow. † 1985. Elements of Literature. Fourth Canadian Edition, Eds Robert Scholes et al. Don Mills: OU Press, 2010. 321- 327. Print.