Ashley Flores Missing Person Hoax - Urban Legends

Ashley Flores Missing Person Hoax - Urban Legends Chain emails and online postings seek help locating Ashley Flores, a 13-year-old girl allegedly missing in Philadelphia. Description: HoaxCirculating since: May 2006Status: False (details below) 2012 example:As shared on Facebook, April 2, 2012: I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this msg on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE. My 13 year old girl, Ashley Flores, is missing. She has been missing for two weeks It only takes 2 seconds to forward this. If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get. Louise Louw Tel: 27 31 303 1001 Cell: 27 82 509 6676 SFTBC 2006 example:Email contributed by M.M., May 11, 2006: Subject: Missing Girl from PhillyPlease pass this to everyone in your address book.We have a Deli manager (Acme Markets) from Philadelphia, Pa who has a 13 year old daughter who has been missing for 2 weeks.Keep the picture moving on. With luck on her side she will be found.I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE. My 13 year old girl, Ashley Flores, is missing. She has been missing for now two weeks. It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone any where knows anything, please contact me at:HelpfindAshleyFloresyahoo.comI am including a picture of her. All prayers are appreciated!! Ashley Flores missingIt only takes 2 seconds to forward this.If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get. Analysis: This is a hoax, circulating since May 2006. Neither the Philadelphia Police Department nor the National Center for Missing Exploited Children lists (or has ever listed) a missing child by the name of Ashley Flores. No Amber Alert has ever been issued in her name. Moreover, the viral message contains none of the critical details one would expect to find in a real alert for example, a physical description of the missing person, the time and place of disappearance and contact information. Another giveaway is the presence in the body of the message of several sentences copied word-for-word from previous missing child hoaxes (see Penny Brown and C.J. Mineo). The Ashley Flores / MySpace Connection Though she never really went missing, it appears that Ashley Flores does exist and lived in Philadelphia when these alerts first started going around. By following hyperlinks embedded in a version posted on MySpace.com, I found an exact match (long since deleted) for the image above in a photo gallery on Photobucket.com, along with several others (long since deleted) that were uploaded by the same user and featured a young woman named Ashley who bore more than a passing resemblance to the girl pictured above. The images were posted by someone using the screen name Vixter609, whom I found blogging under the same alias on MySpace.com with her given name listed as Vicki, her age as 17 and her city of residence as Philadelphia. When I contacted Vicki to ask what, if anything, she knew about Ashley Flores and her status as a missing person, I received the following reply (reproduced verbatim): ashley flores is not missing it was a merly a joke that got completely out of hand please imform everyone that e-mail that she is NOT missing it was a joke im sorry about any confusion Subsequent inquiries went unanswered. That this little joke caused confusion is putting it mildly. 2009 Update After a version of the Ashley Flores email containing the contact info of the Rolla, Missouri police department circulated in 2009, said police department was forced to change its telephone number because it was receiving up to 75 calls per day on the matter. The citys online FAQ page still contains a reference to the hoax. The Flores alert is listed on the U.S. Department of Justice Amber Alert website as a known hoax. Further reading: Weekly Press Gets PunkdPhiladelphia Will Do (blog), 1 June 2006 Missing Girl Hoax SpreadsSydney Morning Herald, 28 June 2006 Fake Amber Alert Spreading Throughout UtahDeseret News, 10 February 2009

Whats the Most Stolen Book from Libraries

Whats the Most Stolen Book from Libraries It may not come as a huge surprise that the book thats most stolen from public libraries is The Guinness Book of World Records. The books popularity is irrefutable. It serves as a form of trivia, entertainment and to settle arguments over any kind of fact, whether its whos the fastest runner, which is the biggest city or the most populous country. Whatever you can imagine, the Guinness Book has it all. The Idea Is Born The concept of creating such a book took place 60 years ago when Englishman Sir Hugh Beaver, Director of the Guinness Brewery that brews the famous Guinness Beer, attended a shooting party. An argument occurred over which European game bird was the fastest. There was no record or reference book that could settle the argument. The First Edition Sir Hugh, with the assistance of twins Norris and Ross McWhirter who ran a fact-finding industry in London, founded the company Guinness Superlatives. The twins research formed the first Guinness Book of Records which was released in the UK in 1955 and became a bestseller in its first edition. The following year, it was released in the United States and also became an immediate bestseller. International Acknowledgment Since its first publishing, the book has gone on to worldwide success. Today, its published in 31 languages including Mandarin, Icelandic and Arabic. Its also expanded into the entertainment industry, with several television programs in different countries including the United States, Portugal, China, Turkey, Italy and Germany, among others. The shows have all been highly successful and often feature live performances by record holders. The first Guinness Book of Records show was launched in the UK where the books original researchers Norris and Ross McWhirter answered questions posed by children in the audience. The twins were known to have encyclopedic memories and were able to recall even the most obscure facts on the spot. Today, there are several Guinness World Records museums in cities like Hollywood, Tokyo, Copenhagen and San Antonio. The franchise sells interactive DVDs and a video game for Nintendo Wii. There is even a Guinness World Records Day founded in 2005. The book itself has been cited as holding world records. In 1999, it set the record of being the largest single print run of a case-bound book in color with 2,402,000 copies printed. In 1995, the company earned a visit to the London office by Queen Elizabeth II on its 50th anniversary. In 2006, Michael Jackson visited the New York Office where he received a special award for his record breaking album Thriller. Types of Records The type of records in the book can be as varied as you can imagine. The man holding the record for most tattooed human is Lucky Diamond Rich, who set the record in 2006 with 100% of his body covered in tattoos including his tongue, the rims of his eyes, inside of his ears and his â€Å"delicate† areas. In 2009, Ashrita Furman of Queens, New York, won the record for being the â€Å"Person with the most records† with 100 confirmed records. Over the years, some decisions were made to eliminate certain records from the book in order to promote public safety. Eating and drinking records, as well as sword-swallowing records were taken out in order to avoid potential legal suits for publishing facts that promote hazardous behavior. Proving a record is no easy feat and Guinness teams are responsible for analyzing claims in order to ensure their veracity. Claims are made through written applications that take 4-6 weeks to process. A quicker response can be gained by paying a fee of $450. With such a rich and entertaining history, its no wonder that the book also holds the record for being the most stolen book from public libraries.

The Meaning of Jargon in English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Meaning of Jargon in English - Essay Example    A personal peeve is a way people constantly use percentage points to emphasize their readiness and dedication towards a particular job or area of their lives. We regularly hear people exclaiming that they were more than ready to give a 100pc to something. Now, this would not be so bad if they had stopped there. But now we suddenly find that giving a 100pc is simply not enough. The stakes have risen to 200pc, 1000pc etc. This is an example of how tired the English language has become. How do you measure someone’s dedication and commitment to hard work? Is a person who states that he or she is a thousand times or a 1000pc ready to commit themselves better than someone who simply states that they would try their best?       Another peeve is the abundance of â€Å"like† in the conversation of a teenager. The word â€Å"like† appears not simply as a conjunction in the middle of a sentence but often has the honor of starting the sentence. So we routinely hear sentences like â€Å"Like it was hot so I went to the pool.† The above examples point to a lazy and slovenly mind, one that sacrifices clarity for convenience.        George Orwell in his essay â€Å"Politics and the English Language† does not consider slang as particularly offensive. He makes this clear when he states that good writing has nothing to do with â€Å"Americanisms† or with proper use of grammar and syntax. One the pivotal point in his essay is that the meaning must decide the words and not the other way around. Language must be used for the sake of clarity of expression and not evade giving a true picture of things.         A new pressure in our times is the need to be politically correct. This pressure is faced by our politicians, companies and even the average person. No one wants to be perceived as rude, insensitive or offensive or more importantly, face litigation for being politically incorrect. This need to be politically correct can go to extremes. While the move from â€Å"chairman† to â€Å"chairperson† and from â€Å"handicapped† to â€Å"differently abled† can be lauded, other terms are a mass of hilarious confusion.

The Holocaust Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Holocaust - Research Paper Example The state of Germany led by Adolf Hitler killed six million individual from the Jews community between1933 to 1945. Since the Holocaust years, it is 50 years down the line but relevant questions are still being asked by not only the Jews community but also the international communities across the globe. â€Å"How could a modern state carry out the planned murder of a whole people just because they were Jews?† (Rossel, 12). It is also a perturbing issue since the whole world watched, as six million innocent souls were murdered in cold blood. In addition, it is even hard to find an individual who can give an explanation of what really happened? In spite of having the survivors of the holocaust, by then they were children. Giving an ear to them to explain is like history in pieces. But as time goes by historians give clear description of the Holocaust. It is indeed strange to hear politicians and professors reports claiming that there is nothing like years of Holocaust. On the ot her hand, the social scientist can claim that sacrifice by blood is ridiculers’ thing, since it impossible to encounter a group of individuals who can do such an act in such a long period. Furthermore, the politicians may claim that Holocaust story was told by the Jews community, as a plot or for evil reasons. ... Weiss describes that the writing of Luther as â€Å"more obscene than even Hitler’s Mein Kampf† A unique brand of the fascisms in Germany was as a result of the waiving out of the nationalism which was peculiar as it was introduced in Germany that came with the revolutions, capitalism with enlighten and the 20th Century war that were fused together. In addition, it is still moot to explain the extent at which the Holocaust covered, but studies that have been done locally show that the Germaine’s were attracted to the anti-Semitism since they were drawn to be part of the Nazism but not the anti-Nazism. It is therefore obvious that the anti-Semitists power was in the Holocaust. However, the anti-Semitists in Germany resulted to different situations as well as having unique outcome compared to the anti-Semitist in other countries with the same characteristics, Christianity was at bay. Between years 1933 to 1945 there was a concentration camp since the beginning, the y were founded with an aim of holding political prisoners and they were later used to hold the â€Å"asocial†. However, there were high death rates that were recorded with 50 percent rate of the mortality rate which were not meant to be or be centers of killings. While 1942 was approaching Germany had 6 extermination camps and they were large in size. There was a difference in the concentration camps since individuals who were sent in the 6 camps were killed. The camps continuously became a site where the Jews and the POWs were brought to their death dates. A part from being killed they were forced to be slaves, laborers, torture and were as well undernourished. In addition, German went ahead and established 15,000 more camps in countries where they had occupied such as

Video Games Are Good Essay Example for Free

Video Games Are Good Essay Video games do not cause violence or aggression towards others, but may benefit you in various ways. Video games are an optional thing to play and can be beneficial to you with interacting with others. Video games also hold an age limit for certain types of games, if the game is gory then it will most likely be for kids eighteen and older. Video games may do not only stray away from violence, they teach these kids how to handle life or death situations, it is truly for the better. Teenagers most likely a will learn violence and aggression from home, or real life situations. When young men who don’t normally play a lot of video games are exposed to violent video games, changes occur in the way their brains function, new research shows. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the scientists conducted that document altered brain response time after playing these video games. A lot of these changes had affected them in the long term also. It is proven that video games do have an affect on your brain, but it is still not proven whether the affect is positive or negative. Video games may also cause long term damage, but in my opinion are worth it because they are a great experience to play. Some may say video games do promote violence and aggression and I’m here to say, you don’t know until you can prove it. Exposing children and adolescents to violent visual media increases the likelihood that they will engage in physical aggression against another person. A single brief exposure to violent media can increase aggression in the immediate situation. One short term affect is that general arousal increases, which tends to increase the dominant behavioral tendency. A long term affect is it decreases the cognitive accessibility of nonviolent ways to handle conflict. Some may also say that video games do not promote aggression and I know this because you cant prove that they do yet. When the people say that exposing children can cause them to think aggressively and violently, there is an easy solution to this problem, do not let them play or limit the hours played. Also when they say just a brief exposure may cause this is false. This is false because when playing for a brief moment you are limited to the exposure of gore and other various violent actions will not affect your decisions in life. The long term affects can honestly happen to anyone who watches tv too much or exposed to the t screen too often. I just think that people shouldn’t tell their kids or peers to not play video games, for me especially this would be heart wrenching, I happen to love video games and can say they are a part of my life. Playing video games is trying to be labeled as a crime when it obviously is not. Most kids I know love video games, and although they can be addictive they also have a purpose in educating young adults and adolescence into knowing real life situations. Video games should not be labeled in a bad way and I for one and completely against looking at them in a negative way. Video games are good.

The Fall of Both Mubarak’s Regime and the Legal Opposition Essay

Introduction : By the end of Mubarak’s rule, the legalised political opposition in Egypt was already a mirror to the regime it was presumed to challenge: discreditable, central, aging and undemocratic. Systematic state repression and internal divisions fragmented the opposition and deviated it from the role assumed by its counterparts in liberal democracies. Instead of competitive interaction with the regime, the legal opposition stationed itself as an integral part of the authoritarian polity. Years of regime-opposition dynamics ended with the latter’s alignment with the regime and becoming more of a domesticated opposition. This clientelist relationship was necessary for the survival of the semi-authoritarian regime. It enabled it to claim legitimacy by presenting cosmetic democracy/pluralism measures while at the same time keeping the dominance of its ruling party. It also lured the weak fragmented legalised opposition into competing to gain the regime’s support. Overview: Egypt moved from full-scale authoritarianism under Nasser to liberalized autocracy under Sadat and Mubarak. During its early rule in the 1980s, Mubarak’s regime showed relative political tolerance and moderation (stacher 2004), giving hope to legal opposition that the break up of the single-party system was the beginning of a transition phase that will lead to democratization and the possibility to compete on even terms with the ruling NDP. During this period it was the Neo-Wafd which had the most comprehensive organizational capacities and was designated to lead the legalized opposition camp from which Islamist movements were excluded (Shehata, 2009). However, those expectations proved to be naive as the regime soon made clear that it was not inte... ...e, E. (1998), More than a Response to Islamism: The Political Deliberalization of Egypt in the 1990s’ Middle East Journal, Vol. 52, No. 2, p. 219. 3- Stacher, J. (2004), Parties Over: The Demise of Egypt’s Opposition Parties , British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, pp 215–23. 4- Albrecht, H. (2005) How can opposition support authoritarianism? Lessons from Egypt, Democratization, pp 378-397. 5- Shehata, D. (2009), Islamists and Secularists in Egypt: Opposition, Conflict & Cooperation, London, Routledge. 6- Arafat, A. (2009), The Mubarak Leadership and Future of Democracy in Egypt, New York, Palgrave Macmillan. 7- Kassem, M. (2004), Egyptian Politics: The Dynamics of Authoritarian Rule, Colorado, Lynne Rienner publishers. 8- Kienle, E. (1998), More than a Response to Islamism: The Political Deliberalization of Egypt, Middle East Journal, Vol. 52, p. 219.

Hemingway’s “The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

The text â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber† is a short story written in 1936 by an author called Ernest Hemingway. The story revolves around three people; a man called Francis Macomber, his wife Margot and another man called Robert Wilson. The story isn’t narrated from a fixed point of view, but changes multiple times throughout the story. The story isn’t chronological, as there is a long flashback in the middle of the story. Francis Macomber is a very wealthy American man. Although we aren’t told what his profession is, my guess would be that he is some sort of big-name businessman, as we are told that his wealth is only going to grow, and he is regularly featured in magazines together with his wife. Many people will probably describe Francis as a pushover, but I wouldn’t say so. He does strike me as being extremely passive, and never takes action when he feels that something isn’t going the way he wants it to. In spite of this Francis does have a very developed sense of pride, and when he is dishonored it hurts him a great deal. Margaret Macomber is a very handsome woman, who is married to Francis. She doesn’t seem to have a profession of her own, but we are told she does earn some money off of her beauty. Margaret is a extremely unlikeable character, she is completely stripped of empathy, and seems to care for nothing but her own needs. Robert Wilson is an English professional hunter, who is residing in Africa, earning his money by taking rich foreigners out to realize their dream of killing lions, buffalos, rhinos and other animals that doesn’t live in the western world. Robert seems to enjoy his job of guiding rich people through Africa, not just because of his love for hunting, but also because of the extra benefits that comes along with guiding around the young wives of older wealthy men â€Å"He had hunted for a certain clientele, the international, fast, sporting set, where the women did not feel they were getting their money’s worth unless they had shared that cot with the white hunter. † All in all Wilson seems as the ultimate free man, and therefore fits perfectly with the demands of a code hero. He follows rules when he has to, but doesn’t really respect them, and if he sees them to be unjust, he makes up his own, but only to the point where he isn’t discovered. Apart from this he isn’t bound by anything else, Wilson doesn’t seem to be religious, and he sleeps with a lot of women, but doesn’t feel the need to commit himself. When there is something he doesn’t want to do, he simply doesn’t do it. Francis and Margaret Macomber are on a safari in Africa, to hunt for wild animals. It isn’t long though before we find out that not everything is going exactly as they had planned. â€Å"He was dressed in the same sort of safari clothes that Wilson wore except that his were new, he was thirty-five years old, kept himself very fit, was good at court games, had a number of big-game fishing records, and had just shown himself, very publicly, to be a coward. †. The four people seem to try to ignore it, as they go on with their routines without showing indications of any major events having taken place. This facade isn’t kept for long, as Margaret storms of in tears. When she leaves the 2 men stay behind, and we get some more info on what has happened earlier on. We are told that Francis had run from something, but we aren’t told exactly why he did so, and from what he ran. As Margaret returns and the three of them eat there are dropped some more subtle hints on what had happened. Maragaret taunts Francis with his cowardice, and also drops some ironic remarks about the lion, which leads us to thinking that it was the lion that Francis ran away from. We are then told the story about the lion. Francis thinks back on the night before, where the lion’s roars had kept him awake, and they terrified him a great deal. The following morning Margaret can tell that he isn’t feeling well, but being a man, who values his pride he doesn’t want to tell her, although, he eventually does. But after breakfast they go out to hunt for the lion. They find it at the side of a river, and Francis has the lion set up for a pretty good shot, but his nervousness gets the better of him, and he doesn’t get the kill shot in. Because of this the lion is able to escape, and hide in the tall grass. Wilson tells Francis that the lion is even more dangerous now that it is wounded and desperate, and Francis becomes even more scared and tries to escape the dangerous situation, via some ludicrous suggestions. But there’s no way out of it. And of course the expected happens, once the lion starts moving around Francis gets scared out of his mind, and starts running around like a crazy person. Margaret sees all of this, and is obviously disappointed with her husband; so much even that she turns to Wilson. â€Å"While they sat there his wife had reached forward and put her band on Wilson’s shoulder. He turned and she had leaned forward over the low seat and kissed him on the mouth†. To once again highlight Francis’ passiveness he sits through this without even saying a word. As they return to the camp Francis realizes that his and Margaret’s marriage might as well be over, but he also realizes that it will never end, as Margaret is now too old to get a better man than him, and he isn’t very good with the ladies. â€Å"but she was not a great enough beauty any more at home to be able to leave him and better herself and she knew it and he knew it. She had missed the chance to leave him and he knew it. If he had been better with women she would probably have started to worry about him getting another new, beautiful wife but she knew too much about him to worry about him either†. This confirms, once and for all, that there is absolutely nothing passionate about their marriage. The very same night Francis wakes up in the middle of the night, and finds that Margaret isn’t laying by his side, and she doesn’t come back for another two hours. And as if that isn’t enough Margaret again shows her complete lack of empathy, as she doesn’t even apologize to her husband, but just goes to sleep, as if nothing has happened. The next morning at breakfast Francis develops a great deal of animosity towards Wilson, and he ultimately throws quite a fit. Even so, Francis goes on to hunt for buffalos, and this goes a lot better than expected. Something happens with Francis and he is set free from the prison that is his own restraints. However, this newfound freedom doesn’t last for long, as Margaret shoots because one of the buffalos were charging for him.

Segmentation: Marketing

What are the weaknesses of mass marketing, as opposed to segmented marketing? What advantages does a company gain from market segmentation, as opposed to treating the market as single entity? MASS MARKETING:- Mass marketing is a market strategy in which firm or industry treat market with single offer or one strategy. In this marketing term wide range of customers and audience are concentrated. As there is no segmentation and focusing concern so large amount of customers are possibly exposed to the product.For example as audience is focused on radio, television and newspapers in which large and broad audience are targeted by the companies and industries towards their product. Mass marketing is the opposite of segmented marketing as it focuses on high sales and low prices. Mass marketing aims is to provide services and products that will appeal to the whole market. Segmented marketing targeted a specific or particular segment of the market for example specialized services or goods with few or no competitors.WEAKNESSES OF MASS MARKETING AS OPPOSED TO SEGMENT MARKETING:- Mass marketing focus to produce one type of goods and services to consumers, it is possible to reduce the level of risk involved in implementing this marketing term by market research although there is always a danger that demand for the product may fall. To determine any risks that may occur, a business must continuously examine the life cycle of their products and to analyze their product portfolios, this should ensure that the business goods continue to satisfy the market. The high cost of fixed capital costs that are incurred may prevent many businesses from operating a market. * Developing a product that would appeal to a mass market is difficult as it must appeal to all customers. Appealing to individual customers would be very challenging for the business. * Businesses in mass marketing can be defenseless to fluctuations in demand. A decrease in demand would lead to unused spare capacity tha t would effectively increase the unit cost per product. SEGMENTATION:- Market segmentation is the concept in which markets certain group or people are targeted and focused.Researcher has shown that racial similarity, role congruence, labeling intensity of ethnic identification, shared knowledge and ethnic salience all promote positive effects on the targeted market. In market segmented we have seen that their customers and consumers are loyal and strongly affinity to the particular brand or product. As in market segmenting the market is divided into individual markets with similar wants and needs as on the products consumption. Broadly markets can be divided according to a number of general criteria, such as by industry or public versus private.Although there is difference in industrial and consumer market segmentation but both of them have similar objectives. Why segmentation? One of the main reasons for using market segmentation is to help companies to better understand the needs of a specific customer base. Mass marketing assumes that all customers are the same and will respond to the same advertising. By looking at ways in which potential customer groups are different from each other, the marketing message can be better targeted to the needs and wants of those people.Often. Dividing consumers by clearly defined criteria will help the company identify other applications for their products that may not have been obvious before. These revelations often help the company target a larger audience in that same demographic classification, improving market share among a specific base. Segmenting the market can also serve to identify smaller groups of people who make up their own, previously unknown subsets. SEGMENTATION OR SINGLE ENTITY MARKET:-Segmentation is much more valuable market strategy as compare to the market as a single unit because it’s much more hard and difficult to focus and know about the demands and needs of, customers and consumers if they are spread in a larger quantity. Market as a whole is difficult to handle if the areas of it are specifically are not defined and segmented well enough to know about them. There are all sort of customers found in market, each of them are different in needs and wants, and their budgets and choices also differ, so to reach and fulfill their necessities market must be segmented and defined sufficiently.Is it possible to segment a market too far? What are the potential disadvantages of segmenting a market? Choose a market to provide examples of these potential disadvantages? Market segmentation is one of the best market strategies to apply and survive in market conditions. As in it product and services are enhanced and polished for the specific audience who demand, need and purchase them. In big wide world of billions of different types of people each and every company or industry first of all have to segment and target the specific group to at least introduce their product and check th e result from audience as it goes in profit or loss.But if the segmenting occurs again and again and went to deep in the specification and selection then it will be quit a difficult issue to solve and face, because there are certain criteria for segmentation if those will not be fulfilled then segmentation will give negative effect, some of them are given as follow:- * It is potential to measure. * It must be large enough to earn profit. * It must be stable enough that it does not vanish after some time. * It is possible to reach potential customers via the organization's promotion and distribution channel. It responds consistently to a given market stimulus. * It can be reached by market intervention in a cost-effective manner. * It is useful in deciding on the marketing mix. As it’s obvious that each an everything, strategy or planning have its own positive and negative side as well, so we can only try to minimize those disadvantages by research and investigations. Some of the disadvantages of over segmenting market are given below:- * The segment will be simply too small to be addressed economically or meaningfully. * Customers are misinterpreted on their needs by too much segmentation. As there is always competitor market segment also working in market which will increase the costs and lesser profit margin of your product. * Further segmenting introduce new products in market which need higher mass of advertisement to make its place in market, which will be needing lots of market research and risk as well because of new entry in market. The type of segmentation you use will depend on a lot of factors including the cost not only of conducting the research, but also of implementing the solution and the business impact.Consequently ideally for each segment or group you want to know what the economic value and the economic potential for each group is and have some idea as to whether this is increasing or falling. Consequently most quantitative segmentat ion studies are detailed and complex. A more cost-effective approach is to develop groups based on qualitative research. Typically a business wants to minimize the number of segments it has as each costs money to target properly (database marketing and digital printing techniques allow for far finer targeting without too much additional cost).With small numbers of big segments, a good researcher will be able to identify these groups within a programmer of qualitative research. This will not gather economic data, but it enables deeper insight into each group and, if monitored over time, provides core information about how segments change and develop. For example:- As we have seen that APPLE products and software’s are well known in market and are consume by thousands of customers around the world. They target the lead class of public with higher prices and best services in return.There applications can only be installed by APPLE STORE as from which soon of them are free and ot hers are paid as well as they bound their customers to do so. But if to maintain or increase their prestige, they will further segment there applications only to be installed after payment, then it will be too much expensive to afford that market term which will for sure affect their sells. As in market their competitors are developing day by day and offering really cheap amount for the look alike product and services as compare to them. The application provided by them are also free and approx. similar as given on APPLE STORES.

Thomas Hardy and Penelope Lively Essays

Thomas Hardy and Penelope Lively Essays Thomas Hardy and Penelope Lively Paper Thomas Hardy and Penelope Lively Paper You could get people wrong, Sandra realises in The Darkness Out There. Assess how effectively Thomas Hardy and Penelope Lively explore this theme in their characterisation techniques. The Withered Arm and The Darkness Out There are two different stories with a common theme. Both include main characters that change even though they are from different centuries and backgrounds. The Darkness Out There is told through the eyes of Sandra, a girl going to help at the home of Mrs Rutter. Her views and ideas are immature and undeveloped, she only sees the surface of things and is quite naive. Towards the end of the story she realises these views are not realistic and her opinions change. One of the best ways to learn about a character is found in the way they live. Mrs Rutters environment gives the overriding impression of a harmless old lady. Her house is homely, filled with china ornaments of safe, nice characters like big flop-eared rabbits and beribboned kittens. There are numerous mentions of flowers, which she likes, for example She brought out a flowered tin Look at the little cornflowers. And the daisies. These features are typical of a stereotyped old lady, who is deemed safe and trusted. However, in amongst the safe, innocent atmosphere, Penelope Lively briefly mentions there was a smell of cabbage, which hints there may be something more dark and sinister about the place. In the earlier stages of the story, Lively depicts Mrs Rutter as a generous, welcoming sweet old woman. As Sandra and Kerry arrive at her house she offers them tea and puts them to work in a friendly way without ordering I daresay youd like to She affectionately calls one of them, my duck. This is a very conventional way of showing her outside, explicit character. Mrs Rutter has a suspiciously inquisitive nature. We can tell this because she asks both Sandra and Kerry a lot of questions about themselves, for example Still at school, are you? I expect youve got lots of boyfriends, though, havent you? This factor could just mean she is politely interested, but she asks too many quite personal questions and seems quite lonely. It appears she has not had children of her own here, as she strongly stereotypes both Kerry and Sandra. She sends Kerry outside to work quite early on I expect youre a nice strong boy, arent you?- to enable her to chat to Sandra, who does traditionally female jobs such as cleaning and dusting. Whilst chatting to Sandra, she appears quite lonely as she asks a lot of questions and makes personal remarks. As when describing her environment, Lively inserts one slightly disconcerting point to Mrs Rutters speech and actions Mind your pretty skirt, pull it up a bit, theres only me to see if youre showing a bit of bum. Although this could be a harmless comment, it is rather full on to say it to a stranger. Lively also describes Mrs Rutters darting eyes. Some of her comments embarrass or maybe worry Sandra. This is all part of the way Lively gradually reveals parts of the darker side of Mrs Rutter. During the latter stages of the story, Lively reveals more about Mrs Rutter as she allows her to speak for herself. It should be noted that the character is more honest about herself when under pressure, as most people are. The stress of talking about her husband and reliving the trauma of the war make her less on-guard and more liable to say what she really thinks, without dulling it down for the sake of Sandra and Kerry. The second half of the story backs up the negative aspects found in the first half. The sinister, mean woman was there all along, one realises at the end, but this was very implicit whereas it is shown more obviously in the second half where Mrs Rutter tells her story. Lively has thought about the different mentality of the war years from when the story was written so Mrs Rutter is not entirely blamed for being bitter about the Germans during the war, yet it is realised as unacceptable to leave one to die. There is also the minor point about her husband being killed early on in the war, which would leave someone with a lot more hatred towards the country. Lively also writes about Mrs Rutter having a lot of old things in her house The walls were cluttered with old calendars and pictures torn from magazines. She has shown the character doesnt like to move on and is living in the past, which explains why she feels no remorse for what she did to the German and also why she stereotyped Kerry and Sandra. Penelope Livelys use of figurative language helps characterise Mrs Rutter from the moment she enters the story. She seemed composed of circles, a cottage loaf of a woman. Whilst explicitly stating she is fat, the cottage loaf metaphor depicts a homely, traditional woman which is greatly reflected in what she says and does in the first half of the story. Chins collapsed one into another, This explicitly reflects on her size, yet hints implicitly that as she has many chins it could also mean she has many sides to her personality. The writer again in this paragraph inserts a negative point in amongst many positive, stating, her eyes snapped and darted, as if the character was suspicious. The description of her eyes appears again later in the text Her eyes investigated, quick as mice. Mice also came up later on, the cupboard smelled of damp and mouse. The ongoing simile of the mouse shows she is alert and investigative. Lively made the connection between the mouse and Mrs Rutters actions but added strong contrast to her appearance, making Mrs Rutter mouse-like in character but the opposite in physique. This is to prevent too many connections being made with such a timid creature before finding out what she is really like. Only when Lively allows Mrs Rutter to speak for herself fully in the second half does her true character show. The Withered Arm by Thomas Hardy is another story in which characters can be misjudged. One of these characters is Farmer Lodge, a yeoman farmer from a rural village in 19th Century England. As in The Darkness Out There, Hardy uses environment effectively to convey aspects of Farmer Lodges character. It plays a bigger part in outlining Farmer Lodge than in the previous story, because there was more social order at the time The Withered Arm was written. Knowing the fact that Farmer Lodge was very near the top of the social hierarchy, certainly above dairymen and other peasants, Hardy clearly enforces his higher status with the way he acts and others act around him. Farmer Lodge obviously knows he shouldnt mix with the lower classes, as this is backed up with the fact he had a son with Rhoda (a peasant) and saw it as a mistake which Rhoda and Jamie realised -What did he say or do? Just the same as usual. Took no notice of you? None. As he would have been brought up in the higher class and probably inherited his estate, he seems knowledgeable on what should and shouldnt happen in his environment. The reader can see he was right, he mixed with the lower classes and was punished with a son. Therefore he had good reason to be wary when he implied Gertrude shouldnt talk to the people of the village yet she did, and was hurt. It is possible to think most people in Farmer Lodges position would have warned their new wives off, it is an intelligent thing to do because he learnt from his mistake. Hardy uses this to implicitly give background and meaning to why Gertrude shouldnt go to the village. Hardy also conveys Farmer Lodges intelligence through his difference from the peasants. They believe in witchcraft and the powers of Conjuror Trendle, not products of a learned background, and strongly stereotype Rhoda thinking she is a witch. His new wife, Gertrude, believes the kind of things they do and Farmer Lodge, in a rather condescending fashion, is disgusted at the fact she chose to mix with them Damned if you wont poison yourself with these apothecary messes and witch mixtures some time or other. He also orders her to see a real doctor and doesnt recommend the conjuror. After setting this scene, Hardy goes against his previous comments, Gertrude commenting My husband says it is as if some witch, or the devil himself, had taken hold of me there, and blasted the flesh. If Farmer Lodge was not supposed to believe in magic it is rather confusing that he himself should suggest this. Although he doesnt show it, Farmer Lodge is probably feeling threatened that Gertrude is taking matters into her own (withered) hands. He is used to being the dominant character, in those days always the man, and having his partner do what he tell her, yet she goes against his will which was unheard of. Hardy is deliberately contrasting her strong will with his obsession with appearances, a situation guaranteed to draw the reader in expecting a great event. As his status will allow, Hardy shows Farmer Lodge realises the importance of appearances. He knows it is important to be seen with his pretty wife beside him, attending church and not sleeping around in the village. We can tell this from his new marriage, he is trying desperately to make up for his mistake with Rhoda by getting it right the second time. However, as mentioned earlier, Gertrude is a strong character and doesnt like to be drawn attention to, as was expected of her. Hardy shows she notices something of her husbands trait Men think so much of personal appearance. We can also see this part of his character in the church scene, Farmer Lodge has a designated seat for himself and one for his wife, again showing his higher status and knowledge of the fact. As in The Darkness Out There, what Farmer Lodge says and does is important in characterisation. There is also a difference in the character in each half of the story. In the first half of The Withered Arm, Farmer Lodge is put across as a stern, heartless, high status yeoman farmer who only cares for appearances. This is the opposite of Mrs Rutter, as Lively depicts her as a nice, kind old lady and Hardy shows Farmer Lodge to be harsh and uncaring. The second half of the story is also like that of The Darkness Out There, in that Farmer Lodges caring side shows through when he finally accepts responsibility for his son. In the early stages of the story Farmer Lodges aloofness shows when he advises Gertrude not to mix with the lower classes. He appears to have no apparent responsibility, however some more favourable early hints show a final good side in the end, for example I once thought of adopting a boy; but he is too old now. And he is gone away I dont know where. This suggests he was starting to accept responsibility, but still didnt. Small comments like this which go against the general theme of the story, which are not often picked up on, are featured in The Darkness Out There aswell, like the cabbage smell for example. The two writers use this technique well to convey slightly different aspects of their characters. Towards the end of The Withered Arm, Hardy conveys Farmer Lodges caring side by him setting up a reformatory for boys. He has a sympathy for boys, solely because of Jamie but perhaps because he was one. He feels sorry for Jamie, his great appearance would be dented if he had adopted as it is a bit too charitable and nice for an aloof lord. Hardy decides here that Farmer Lodge really is a genuine person, trapped in the social status that says he must be apart from everybody else and respected for his position, which also reflects the society of the times. As in real life, we learn a lot about people through how others react to them. There are two ways in which the other characters in the story react to Farmer Lodge, they refer to his role, for instance Jamie is fearful of him when he is collecting the hares and the people are deferential to his face, talking about him behind his back but leaving his place open in church. They also refer to his actual person; they discuss his business behind his back and for example Rhoda is very bitter. As is often in good stories, particularly in The Darkness Out There and The Withered Arm, the authors use of language plays a large part in their characterisation techniques. Although Penelope Lively used more figurative language in The Darkness Out There, Farmer Lodge is described with two main methods. The driver was a yeoman in the prime of life, cleanly shaven like an actor,This simple simile has more meaning than his smooth complexion. Although it merges in as a conventional introduction to the character, it implicitly suggests there may be something different about Farmer Lodge, as an actor often wears masks and pretends to be somebody else, rather like the description of Mrs Rutters face. The overriding impression is that he is not what he appears to be. The other factor in Hardys use of language is the use of imperatives by Farmer Lodge You must expect to be stared at damned if you wont poison yourself with these apothecary messes and witch mixtures some time or other. Hardy chooses his language carefully to reveal certain aspects of Farmer Lodge, the imperatives showing his high status as both a man and a yeoman and the impression of a tough, intimidating lord. These add up to a man who speaks in orders, which although is partly accepted with his position in society is slightly more than that, perhaps as a defence mechanism to stop people knowing too much about him in mind of protecting his status. The Withered Arm is told entirely in the third person, authorial voice. This is the most explicit and conventional way of telling a story, it distances the reader from the events and only when written very well can it engage the reader emotionally. The reader is treated as a distant, objective onlooker, remote from the action, and a lot is expected of them to understand the feelings of the characters instead of just reading them, which is why many people dont try. Each of his points is told so explicitly there is no point in looking into it. Only once does Hardy implicitly make a point, the simile about the actor, but he could have honestly meant it as a description with no hidden meaning. Although simple yet challenging to analyse, this approach all the way through the story conveys the message in a rather patronising, boring way. The Darkness Out There uses mixed narrative, a more sophisticated manner using both third and first person. The story starts through the mind of Sandra, where it is easier to read between the lines and believe the dominant first persons ideas. Many readers are taken in by what Sandra thinks and her opinions of Mrs Rutter, so that when later on in the story the authorial voice takes over it is more of a shock to find out how different she was. This helps the reader identify with the dominant character from the start, although some readers will automatically become wary when seeing the story is told in the first person, as their opinions may not be correct. When the reader gets more involved in the story from the characters point of view, their opinions change too. For example, all the description of Packers End is told through Sandras eyes so the readers impression of it would be that of Sandra. Kerry noticed Mrs Rutters traits earlier on in the story, so perhaps if The Darkness Out There was told entirely in the third person the reader would have noticed too but Sandras juvenile opinions overshadowed this. This is how many readers also get people wrong. As we enter Sandras mind and become her, we make the same mistakes as her. Some of the points made in The Darkness Out There could easily have been made explicitly by the third person, but they werent and this is what makes it a better read than The Withered Arm. It is a more challenging read if one wants to take the psychoanalytical approach to the characters and their actions, but overall by far the better story for getting the message across of you could get people wrong. This is because the reader himself learns from experience the mistakes Sandra makes. All early views of Mrs Rutter are by Sandra and Lively cleverly prevents the reader from noticing until Mrs Rutter is allowed to speak for herself, by which time it is too late, they have already been taken in. This is by far the better story for getting the message across as it involves the reader, whereas The Withered Arm keeps them at (a withered) arms length.

The Useful Generic List in VB.NET

The Useful Generic List in VB.NET Generics extend the power and flexibility of VB.NET in a lot of areas, but you get a bigger performance benefit and more programming options in the generic List object [List(Of T)] than with any other. To use List(Of T), you have to understand how to implement the many methods that the .NET Framework provides. Below are three examples using ForEach, FindAll, and Sort, that demonstrates how the generic List class works. The very first step is to create a generic List. You can get the data in a lot of ways, but the simplest is to just Add it. The code below shows how to classify my beer and wine collection! Starting Code There first needs to be an object that will represent a bottle from the collection. In a Windows Forms application, the Form class has to first be in a file or the Visual Studio designer wont work correctly, so put this at the end: Public Class Bottle Public Brand As String Public Name As String Public Category As String Public Size As Decimal Public Sub New( _ ByVal m_Brand As String, _ ByVal m_Name As String, _ ByVal m_Category As String, _ ByVal m_Size As Decimal) Brand m_Brand Name m_Name Category m_Category Size m_Size End Sub End Class To build the collection, Add the items. This is whats in the Form Load event: Dim Cabinet As List(Of Bottle) _ New List(Of Bottle) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Castle Creek, _ Uintah Blanc, _ Wine, 750)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Zion Canyon Brewing Company, _ Springdale Amber Ale, _ Beer, 355)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Spanish Valley Vineyards, _ Syrah, _ Wine, 750)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Wasatch Beers, _ Polygamy Porter, _ Beer, 355)) Cabinet.Add(New Bottle( _ Squatters Beer, _ Provo Girl Pilsner, _ Beer, 355)) All of the above code is standard code in VB.NET 1.0. However, note that by defining your own Bottle object, you get the benefits of multiple types in the same collection (in this case, both String and Decimal) and efficient, type safe late binding. ForEach Example The fun starts when we use the methods. To begin, lets implement the familiar ForEach method. The Microsoft documentation includes this usage syntax definition: Dim instance As List Dim action As Action(Of T) instance.ForEach(action) Microsoft further defines action as delegate to a method that performs an action on the object passed to it. The elements of the current List(T) are individually passed to the Action(T) delegate. Tip: For more on delegates, read Using Delegates in Visual Basic .NET for Runtime Flexibility. The first thing you need to code is the method that will be delegated. Misunderstanding this one key point is the source of most of the confusion of VB.NET students. This function, or subroutine, is where all of the customized coding for the Of type objects is done. When performed correctly, youre essentially done. Its really simple in this first example. An entire instance of the Bottle is passed and the subroutine selects anything needed out of it. Coding the ForEach itself is simple too. Just fill in the address of the delegate using the AddressOf method. Sub displayBottle(ByVal b As Bottle) ResultList.Items.Add( _ b.Brand ) ResultList.Items.Add(-) Cabinet.ForEach(AddressOf displayBottle) End Sub FindAll Example FindAll is a little more complicated. The Microsoft documentation for FindAll looks like this: Dim instance As List Dim match As Predicate(Of T) Dim returnValue As List(Of T) returnValue instance.FindAll(match) This syntax includes a new element, Predicate(Of T). According to Microsoft, this will represent the method that defines a set of criteria and determines whether the specified object meets those criteria. In other words, you can create any code that will find something in the list. I coded my Predicate(Of T) to find anything in the Beer Category. Instead of calling the delegate code for each item in the list, FindAll returns an entire List(T) containing only the matches that result from your Predicate(Of T). Its up to your code to both define this second List(T) and do something with it. My code just adds the items to a ListBox. Private Sub FindAllButton_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles FindAllButton.Click ResultList.Items.Clear() ResultList.Items.Add(FindAll Example) ResultList.Items.Add(-) Dim sublist As List(Of Bottle) sublist Cabinet.FindAll(AddressOf findBeer) For Each r As Bottle In sublist ResultList.Items.Add( _ r.Brand - _ r.Name - _ r.Category - _ r.Size) Next End Sub Function findBeer(ByVal b As Bottle) _ As Boolean If (b.Category Beer) Then Return True Else Return False End If End Function Sort Example The final method this article examines is Sort. Again, Microsoft uses some terminology you might not be familiar with. There are actually four different overloads of the Sort method: Sort()Sort(IComparer(T))Sort(Comparison(T))Sort(Int32, Int32, IComparer(T)) This lets you use sort methods defined in the .NET Framework for the list, code your own, use a system defined comparison for the type, or sort part of the collection using a starting position and count parameter. In this example, since I use the following syntax to actually perform the sort, Im using the third overload. x.Name.x.Name.CompareTo(y.Name)(y.Name) Ive coded another delegate to my own comparer. Since I want to sort by my Name, I pull just that value out of each instance of the Bottle object that is passed and use the Sort(Comparison(Of (T))). The Sort method actually rearranges the original List(T). Thats what is processed after the method is executed. Private Sub SortButton_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles SortButton.Click ResultList.Items.Clear() ResultList.Items.Add(Sort Example) ResultList.Items.Add(-) Cabinet.Sort(AddressOf sortCabinet) For Each r As Bottle In Cabinet ResultList.Items.Add( _ r.Name - _ r.Brand - _ r.Category - _ r.Size) Next End Sub Private Shared Function sortCabinet( _ ByVal x As Bottle, ByVal y As Bottle) As Integer Return x.Name.CompareTo(y.Name) End Function These methods were selected to demonstrate the major ways that the Framework methods in List(T) are actually coded. Theres a whole raft of other methods, however. Thats what makes List(T) so useful!

Business Environment and the Analysis of the Financial Health of Bank Essay - 1

Business Environment and the Analysis of the Financial Health of Bank of America Corporation - Essay Example The study discusses the impact of globalization on the business strategies of Bank of America Corporation (BAC). The Bank of America Corporation is a Delaware Corporation in addition to being a ‘bank holding company’ as well as a financial holding company. It is headquartered in Charlotte in North California. BAC provides a varying array of banking as well as nonbanking financial products and services all over the United States in addition to certain overseas markets, through their banking and nonbanking subsidiaries. BAC functions in six business divisions, namely, Deposits, Global Commercial Banking, Global Card Services, Global Banking & Markets, Home Loans & Insurance, and Global Wealth & Investment Management. As of December 2010, BAC operates in all the states of the United States of America and 40 other countries across the world. BAC caters around 80% of the population of the United States through their retail banking segment. The business environment and the mar kets in which the BAC carries out its business are dynamically influenced by the developments in the economies of the US and other countries. In the year 2010, the worldwide economy continued to recuperate, though the growth was not even across the various regions. The US, the UK, and Europe showed modest growth, while the countries like China, Brazil, and India demonstrated rapid expansion. The US economy started to improve at the beginning of 2010 as a result of reasonable development in consumption level as well as inventory rebuilding in the nation. However, the growth slowed down in the mid of 2010 as a result of the escalation of the financial calamity in Europe. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the modest economic augmentation in 2010, BAC generated free cash flows worth $1.5 trillion from their nonfinancial businesses as a result of their vigilant financial practices in the business. Furthermore, the credit quality of bank loans improved considerably in the year 2010 and the co ntinuous economic revival enhanced the atmosphere for bank lending. Since the latter part of 2010, bank commercial as well as industrial loans amplified, illustrating augmented loan demand as a result of stronger production and capital spending in addition to inventory building.

Effects of Globalization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effects of Globalization - Research Paper Example Migration is proxied by the number of immigrants to the United States. Historically, before about 1870, none of these flows was sufficiently large to warrant the term globalization†. At such, several countries like China which used to be idle and locked itself into a closed society for several years, welcomed the idea of economic revolution and gradually rise above the others, having a second chance in economic freedom. The recent upsurge of the economy of China is one of the various effects of globalization which they started to develop in the last thirty years. Considered as one of the largest countries in the world, China has acknowledge the need to reform their economic policies and embrace the power of open economic relations with outside territories since the great Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping assumed position in 1977 after the Cultural Revolution. Slowly, the country planned all-out market-oriented strategies to save them from the negative effects of socialism advocacy o n the economy. New economic reforms were established giving emphasis on vital concerns like agriculture, industry and foreign trade and investment. Agriculture was treated as a household responsibility instead of a collective activity, local government officials were given an increased authority in the industrial sector and private and public enterprises were tolerated to take over the services and manufacturing sectors though most of them are still state owned. Agriculture was treated as a household.