God Clockmaker Vs Chess Player Religion Essay Essay Example

God Clockmaker Vs Chess Player Religion Essay Paper With the Reformation in the sixteenth century, a new faith emerged. Protestantism, a faith based more on the reading and personal reading of the Bible, attracted many followings. Naturally, every person s reading was non the same. Sects formed within the Protestant faith, one of which was the Puritans. The Puritan religion revolved around the position of God as a vengeful, unforgiving cheat participant who controlled every facet of his followings lives. These more extremist Protestants besides viewed human nature as of course iniquitous and evil. Many of the Puritans were unhappy with the manner the Church of England was learning the Christian religion, and moved to the New World to put up churches and spread out Puritanism. As more and more of the population began to read the Bible and construe it in different ways, a more scientific and sensible religion surfaced. Termed Deism, the new faith attracted some of the greatest heads of the English settlements, most notably Benjamin F ranklin. Franklin viewed God as more of an all-knowing clocksmith and human nature as inherently good. These positions differed greatly from those of the Puritans. While the Puritan beliefs towards God and human nature required a more pious attack to life, the Deist rules of Franklin called for a more hands-off, self dependent manner of life. We will write a custom essay sample on God Clockmaker Vs Chess Player Religion Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on God Clockmaker Vs Chess Player Religion Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on God Clockmaker Vs Chess Player Religion Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The Puritan God s intercession was non limited to those who had evidently sinned though. Mary Rowlandson, a devout Puritan, was kidnapped when Indians raided her small town of Lancaster. She watched as most of her household and townsfolk were slaughtered, and so taken prisoner for an drawn-out period of clip. During her parturiency, she saw some of her household being traded or yielding to the changeless menace of decease. Rowlandson viewed the full episode as a Job-like spiritual test, and afterwards felt that she genuinely knew what sorrow and affliction was ( 8 ) . Rowlandson ended the history of her narrative by saying that she learned to look beyond present and smaller problems, and to be quited under themaˆÂ ¦stand still and see the redemption of the Lord ( 8 ) . Her experience brought her closer to God and made her more aware of his changeless presence. Puritans and Deists were genuinely similar in merely a individual manner: both believed in the being of a Supreme Being. Benjamin Franklin begins his booklet with There is said to be a First mover, who is called GOD, Maker of the Universe ( Franklin 6 ) . Not merely does Franklin admit to the obvious being of a Higher Being, he implies that this Maker of the Universe is more of an perceiver of life, when he calls God the first mover. Where the two beliefs differed was in the function of this divinity. Unlike the Puritans, Deists like Benjamin Franklin believed that God took a more removed attack to regulating His Creation. Although Franklin s parents raised him as a rigorous Genevan, he began to oppugn his religion every bit early as 15. Franklin states that after doubting by bends of several points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself ( Franklin 5 ) . Franklin came to see the Bible as no less than a book of fabrication s, and questioned whether Jesus was genuinely a divinity. This belief was true for all Deists. To those who practiced this religion, God was non a Christian cheat participant, who controlled the actions of all, but more of a clocksmith, who created adult male, so took a measure back into a more experimental function. The positions of the Puritans and Deists differ on more than merely the function of a higher being. Their several beliefs about the position of human nature were complete antonyms. Puritans, through reading of the narrative of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, believe that worlds are born of course iniquitous. In a 1645 reference to Massachusetts legislative assembly, Governor John Winthrop states that our [ People s ] nature is now corrupt ( because all people are evildoers ( Winthrop 1 ) . Winthrop was discoursing natural autonomies, which he described as the freedom to make whatever one wants. He goes on to state that when given free reign to exert this autonomy, work forces turn more evil and in clip to be worse than beast animals ( Winthrop 1 ) . This public reference exemplifies the Puritan take on human nature. All people are evildoers and when left to make what they want, will perpetrate beastly acts. To forestall this, the settlers needed an elective authorities under the authorization of Christ. As New England Minister Thomas Shepard stated, good workss can non acquire anyone into heavenaˆÂ ¦human Black Marias are disgusting sinks of all godlessness, buggery, blasphemy, slaying, prostitution, criminal conversation, enchantress trade [ and ] sodomy ( Wigglesworth 4 ) . He subsequently says, [ people s ] best responsibilities are tainted, poisoned, and mingled with some wickedness and hence are most abominable in the eyes of a holy God ( Wigglesworth 4 ) . Shepard s statements once more represent the Puritan belief of corrupt, built-in human nature. He is connoting that no affair how good one s actions are, they are stained by the crud of original wickedness. He besides hints at the thought of predestination, connoting that if one who has non been granted redemption efforts to derive it through good workss, he or she is dissing the Lord through their actions. The Deist position of human nature is the complete antonym. While the Puritans argued that God was holy and vindictive, Franklin stated that the expostulation that God permits evil actions to be done, for Wise terminals and intents destroys itself. He argues that whatever an boundlessly good God [ creates ] must be good, is thereby made good, and can non be otherwise ( Franklin 6-7 ) . In other words, because God is an all-good being, his Creation can be nil less than this ; human nature is inherently good. This belief wholly contradicts that of the Puritans. Of class, this does non intend that Franklin did non acknowledge that worlds are capable of morally evil workss. In order to battle any human desire to perpetrate bad workss, Franklin set up a list of 13 virtuousnesss to help him in his quest to make moral flawlessness ( Franklin 12 ) . He boldly declares that he wished to populate without perpetrating any mistake at any clip ; I would suppress all that either natural disposition, usage, or company might take me into ( Franklin 12 ) . Franklin recognizes that there are built-in human desires to perpetrate morally incorrect workss and sets up a program to control said desires. His principles were placed in an order for him to make them and included moderation, silence, order, declaration, frugalness, industry, earnestness, justness, moderateness, cleanliness, repose, celibacy and humbleness. The simple fact that Franklin was on a pursuit for moral flawlessness illustrates his Enlightened, Deist believing. Franklin sought to go the best that he could be through a set of criterions that he had created himself. This self dependent manner of t hought was rather contrary to that of Puritans at that clip. Puritans did non believe in the simple construct of moral flawlessness and if they did, it surely could non be achieved without monolithic aid from Christ. Alternatively, Puritans were much more dependent on the word of God to help them in life and assist do of import determinations. This is apparent in both the narratives of Mary Rowlandson and John Dane. In Dane s autobiography, he recalls picking up a Bible and turning to a random poetry to assist him make up ones mind whether or non he should travel to America. The first 1 he finds reads Come out from among them, touch no dirty thing, and I will be your God and you shall be my people ( Dane 6 ) . Dane interprets the optimistic tone of the transition to be a clear mark from God stating him to travel to New England. Dane s Puritan parents rapidly agree and help him travel. Like Dane, Rowlandson used a Bible poetry to help her in her battle as an Indian prisoner. When all seemed lost, she read Psalm 94:18, which read when my pe s slipped, thy clemency, O Lord, held me up ( Rowlandson 7 ) . After happening new hope in the Psalm, Rowlandson finds out that she is shortly to be released. Her religion in God gave her the aid and inspiration needed to maintain traveling. The Puritan religion and the Deist religion were merely genuinely similar in one manner: the belief in a Higher Power. The two faiths differed in every other manner, including the good or immorality of human nature, and most significantly, the function of God in mundane life. To Deists like Franklin, God was merely the first mover, a clocksmith, who created adult male, so took a measure back. To Puritans like Rowlandson, Dane, Winthrop and Wigglesworth, God was involved in every facet of human life, and interfered when He felt fit. To them, God was an almighty cheat participant.

Right to Choose essays

Right to Choose essays In America, we are blessed to have many freedoms. Freedoms of expression and freedom of speech among many others. We have been privileged to choose and decide many things for our benefit also. I think included with the right to choose should be a woman's right to decide whether or not she wants to have a baby. Abortion should be a woman's choice. It should also be limited to restrain the abuse of its practice. There are many woman that have to decide whether or not to continue with their family's expansion by having their baby. There are many situations when woman face important decisions. From religion beliefs to professional needs, there are reasons why a woman decides to have an abortion. This decision however, helps her to end with a situation that could change the way she lives her life. The changes are very different in every case. Two of the many reasons why a woman decides to have an abortion is because they could not afford the baby (twenty one percent) and the matching second reason is because they were not ready for the responsibility (twenty one percent). Abortion ends a pregnancy before birth takes place. When an embryo of fetus dies in the uterusand is expelled by the body, it is called a spontaneous abortion. After twenty weeks of pregnancy a spontaneous abortion is also called a "miscarriage." When a woman decides to end her pregnancy voluntarily, she has an induced abortion. There are different ways of conducting an abortion. The decision of an abortion should be taken between the mother and her doctor. Approximately eight eight percent of all induced abortions are performed during the first trimester of the pregnancy. In fact, more than half are performed within the first two months of pregnancy. Tese abortions are usually performed at a clinic, health center, or in a doctor's office, and women are usually able to return home am hour or so later. I believe that an abortion is not agai...

Nursing home administration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nursing home administration - Assignment Example He is normally the key advisor to the senior most leaders like the chairperson and the vice-chair person of a nursing home. His general responsibilities include the provision of the managerial as well as the business administrative affairs of a nursing home. He also helps to budget, providing expertise in the medical fields related to finance, providing strategic plans, collection of the revenue as well as expense controlling, heading the human resource department, program developments, research grant administration, space maintenance, managing information systems as well as the contract agreements with the stakeholders of the nursing home. He also provides leadership to the nursing home in the event that the chair and the vice of the nursing home are not available to discharge their administrative functions to the nursing. Medical director This is a person who helps to provide a medical perspective expertise in the medical field of the therapeutic applications as well as the renal p roducts applications. He plays a key role in the provision of the reviewing as well as the oversight services in the clinical matters regarding the new product development of the nursing home (Polifko-Harris, 2004). ... Moreover, he also functions to provide the consultancy services to a nursing home in order to help in the engineering of the functions that help to support the label changes of a nursing home, provision of the pharmaceutical vigilance services, the nursing home risk assessment as well as the evaluation of the nursing home product complaints (Booyens, 2004). Director of nursing This is a person is involved in the supervision of all the nursing personnel at a nursing home as well as establishing the necessary required nursing standards in a nursing home and how they can be maintained for a long time. He also provides the responsibility and accountability services required for nursing services. In addition, he advices the CEO, the HR, COO, the clinical managers as well as the medical staff in relation to the medical nursing services. Additionally he consults with the medical director in regard to the clinical issues that might emerge from a nursing home. Additionally, a director of nurs ing is responsible for the completion of the special medical assignments in a nursing home as assigned by the medical director as well as the implementation of the medical reports. Moreover, the director of nursing participates in the interviewing process of the medical staff. Furthermore, he participates in the planning, the implementation, as well as the evaluation of the nursing home programs and services. However, there are occurrences of some health cases in a nursing home that might end up causing the roles of each of the above officers to overlap. Such a scenario is so despicable to speak since the officers might end up engaging themselves in supremacy battles at the nursing home; causing many conflicts in the

Economic issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Economic issues - Essay Example This is true owing to the two groups of spectators being charged $ 150 for lower-yard customers and $ 50 for upper-deck customers in professional sport stadia (Dobson and Goddard, 169). The discrimination method used in this case is the location of the seats of the spectators in the stadium to result in the different prices being charged for different spectators exemplifying a case of price discrimination. 2. Limiting property right on new buildings to 20 years will discourage investment in new buildings, as this will limit the benefits associated with investment in new buildings. The benefits that would be accrued from investment are property rights forming the main reason to augment the incentive to invest in new buildings. These advantages will be reduced when property rights are limited to 20 years reducing the incentive for investment in new buildings. The need to have property rights on new buildings spanning more than 20 years augment the incentive for people to invest in new buildings as they can be able to access rights from their investment in buildings increasing the number of houses being built by

Website Optimization Using Taguchi Method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Website Optimization Using Taguchi Method - Essay Example In this method, different useful combinations are tested to reach a maximum benefit result. Multiple Variable Testing isolates the elements on a page and helps to find out what elements matter and which combination is the strongest (Roche). The fundamental design of the Taguchi method is to use more and more variables at a single point of time at once. Now if it is applied in ad optimization, instead of testing two web pages (each with a different headline), it can be tested 40 different versions of the pages, like different headlines, different graphics, different forms, including a testimonial or not, shifting the order of copy, whatever imagined (Wirken). Now for deciding the factors contributing the most to the objective, some complicated mathematical technique is applied by the system. Then all the factors are observed carefully and the optimized page is determined. These findings are compared with that of the old ways.The marketers earlier use the simple and unusual A/B split t esting. Two pages each with different headline is made and the test are done to discover the winner. Then by changing another thing in the matter, two different pages are again made to find out the winner. In this manner to complete all the forty elements, a lot of money, energy and time are wasted. But now Taguchi method is the solution.The logic behind using the Taguchi method to use in advertisement optimization can also be established with the fact that a lot of people are using this method. To find out this information.... In this method, different useful combinations are tested to reach a maximum benefit result. Multiple Variable Testing isolates the elements on a page and helps to find out what elements matter and which combination is the strongest (Roche). The fundamental design of the Taguchi method is to use more and more variables at a single point of time at once. Now if it is applied in ad optimization, instead of testing two web pages (each with a different headline), it can be tested 40 different versions of the pages, like different headlines, different graphics, different forms, including a testimonial or not, shifting the order of copy, whatever imagined (Wirken). Now for deciding the factors contributing the most to the objective, some complicated mathematical technique is applied by the system. Then all the factors are observed carefully and the optimized page is determined. These findings are compared with that of the old ways. The marketers earlier use the simple and unusual A/B split testing. Two pages each with different headline is made and the test are done to discover the winner. Then by changing another thing in the matter, two different pages are again made to find out the winner. In this manner to complete all the forty elements, a lot of money, energy and time are wasted. But now Taguchi method is the solution. The logic behind using the Taguchi method to use in advertisement optimization can also be established with the fact that a lot of people are using this method. To find out this information, a simple search on the Internet will give the data of the people using this method for improvement of their rankings on search engines. So if the people are willing to pay

Feminism And Feminist Epistemology And Science Sociology Essay

Feminism And Feminist Epistemology And Science Sociology Essay The word feminism is very challenging and difficult to describe specifically but it has a greater value in todays society mostly in the developing areas like Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh etc. The women of developing countries are facing so many problems like inequality from political issues to even in their house. To eradicate such inequality problem from the existing society the word feminism developed. Feminism refers to the beliefs that are injustices against women and they have been devalued and denied full equality (1). Feminism helps to exaggerate the women roles, power and their contribution to the society. It gives the full freedom to the women about their choices of lives. This feminism refers to the equality between men and women. They have equal rights and responsibility towards the society. In the mid-1800s the term feminism was used to refer to the qualities of females (2). The term Feminism was derived from the French word feministe in the 1892 after the first international womens conference in Paris. The term feministe means belief in and advocacy of equal rights for women based on the idea of the equality of the sexes. Although the term feminism in English is rooted in the mobilization or women suffrage in Europe and the US during the late 19th and early 20th century (3). The feminist movement is divided in to three waves; First wave begin during the 19th century and it refers on a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities (4). The second wave in the early of 1960s, feminism saw cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and this movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own lives as deeply politicized and reflective of a sexiest structure of power (5). The third wave movement arise ideology of A post structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality in the early 1990s (6). These three movements encourage the women for their rights and their equality. The ideology of feminism starts influencing throughout the society after this movement. It brings a revolution in the way men and women are equal to each other and effects fundamental change in society. It entails that the women have equal rights and duty as a man in all aspect. What is feminist epistemology and science? Epistemologist focus on the nature, origins and the limits of human knowledge (7). It is the nature of knowledge itself and its study focuses for acquiring knowledge and differentiate between truth and falsehood. Epistemology concerns every scientific discipline which helps to the collective efforts of human beings. In the modern days the epistemology is the debate between the empiricism (i.e., knowledge is obtained through experience) and rationalism (knowledge can be acquired through reason). There are many aspects of knowledge like social, economical and many more but many of the epistemologist focus on the social aspect of knowledge where the production creation and discovery concerns. Social epistemology is the study of the relevance of social relations, interests, and institutions to knowledge (8). Feminism has also roles in social investigation of knowledge and its epistemology is concerned to the whose knowledge is being considered. Feminist epistemologist does not confess about the empirical evidence but instead of that it suggests knowing the social contexts and social beliefs because of its factuality. Feminist epistemologists of science typically argue that the way science is done includes cultural and social standards in the description of nature. Gender is both part of the cultural idea that shapes how nature is described and is also described by the process of science. The feminist critiques of science: The feminist critique of sciences is a crucial subject where the science may be negatively impacted by postmodern or feminist critiques in a similar way to humanities and social sciences. There is also a debate between the realism and relativism. Realism is that there is an objective world which people learn about. Relativism is the idea that truth is relative in one way or another. It is easy to fall into the trap that a feminist social epistemology-and any field which it makes a statement about, even science-is relativist, and many thinkers have addressed this, either making cases that relativism is correct or making claims for a realist feminist science. Background for the feminist studies of objectivity in sciences: Objectivity is commonly taken to be the extent to which we allow our scientific beliefs to be driven by some impartial and non arbitrary criteria rather than by our wishes as to how things ought to be (9).1 Science is more objective than other areas such as art and literary criticism. To be a science the research programs must follow some criteria, certain norms and rules (i.e., scientific method) rather than the prejudices, guesses and emotions. According to the great philosophers, Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend suggested the views that emphasize the degree to which what we call science is constituted by factors that seem to fall outside the realm justification. They are not trying to focus on the extent to which science is independent of who does it but instead of that it raise the questions about the real level of objectivity in science and how the scientist outline or modeled which hypothesis or theories pass for scientific knowledge. It is the crucial things to distinct between the real sciences and the rest things (non sciences). Another philosopher, Quine also raised a question about how autonomous science is from the other subjects such as prejudices, guesses and emotions i.e., metaphysical commitments. He suggested that science is not separable from other social, political beliefs that we have. The ideas given by Kuhn and Quine raise a question about the objectivity of science and these doubts arose well within what is sometime considered traditional philosophy of science.9 When the issue of gender was raised mostly many feminists were interested in determining what the possible factors of gender counts are as a scientific knowledge. A feminist tries to find out how the gender plays a role in recreation of scientific knowledge. Moreover, Gender is related with the sexism here the word sexism refers to the male, female and assumption about the superiority of one gender to the other gender however there is no conclusive evidence for that assumption. The way of women are ignoring and demoralizing in almost every field so the feminists began to criticize on those things in which science excluded women, ignored scientific issues pertaining to women and even the scientific theories influencing by the womens societal views reveal a question about the real objectivity of science. Science as Social (Helen Longino Harding): The problem seen by Harding regarding the objectivity in science is that she assumed the traditional conceptions of objectivity. To revealing and assessing the role of cultural and personal interests and values in sciences is very difficult to measure and assess. If the role is being played by cultural and personal interests and values then it is judged to be bad for science, or if the role played is considered inappropriately large then it is argued that it need have a way to eliminate or mitigate this role, thus increasing the extent to which science is objective(10). Harding was the person who finds the way to reveal and assess interests and values in science is to examine them from an alternate point of view, and she claims that current conceptions of objectivity are inadequate for these tasks. Helen longino also face the same problem as seen by Harding and longino tries to solve this problem by focusing on how the scientific community is comprised and behaves instead of not givi ng attention to what individual scientists are doing. Longino claims that science is social, in the sense that doing science requires the interaction of individuals. Feminism and post-feminism: Feminism refers to the belief that women are equal to men. Some feminist argue that women need is not equality rather they need to be recognized and valued in their differences from men but some feminists believe that women need liberation from oppression instead of equal treatment and respect for their differences to men. Feminism seeks to improve the lot of those people who have been made into women, but it cannot rightly be said that feminism seeks to improve the condition of women that would be an impossible, self-contradictory mission (11). According to Rosalind Delmar, it makes more sense to speak of a plurality of feminism than a single one (1986:9). It means that there must be some underlying commitment that all feminist share and make them feminist. Valerie Bryson says that all feminists share the belief that women are disadvantaged in comparison with men, and that this disadvantage is not a natural and inevitable result of biological difference but something that can and should be challenged and changed (Bryson 1993: 192). But some feminists would reject even this, perhaps on the grounds that womens biology does disadvantage them but that recent technologies such as the contraceptive pill allow women to overcome their biological limitations (Firestone 1970). Post-feminists believe that women have achieved second wave goals while being critical of third wave feminist goals. The term was first used in the 1980s to describe a backlash against second-wave feminism. It is now a label for a wide range of theories that take critical approaches to previous feminist discourses and includes challenges to the second waves ideas.(39) Other post-feminists say that feminism is no longer relevant to todays society.(40) Amelia Jones wrote that the post-feminist texts which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s portrayed second-wave feminism as a monolithic entity and criticized it using generalizations.(41) One of the earliest uses of the term was in Susan Bolotins 1982 article Voices of the Post-Feminist Generation, published in New York Times Magazine. This article was based on a number of interviews with women who largely agreed with the goals of feminism, but did not identify as feminists.(42) Some contemporary feminists, such as Katha Pollitt or Nadine Strossen, consider feminism to hold simply that women are people. Views that separate the sexes rather than unite them are considered by these writers to be sexist rather than feminist.'(43)(44) Conclusion: 39.Wright, Elizabeth (2000). Lacan and Postfeminism (Postmodern Encounters). Totem Books. ISBN  978-1-84046-182-9. 40.^ Modleski, Tania (1991). Feminism without women: culture and criticism in a postfeminist age. New York: Routledge. pp.  188. ISBN  0-415-90416-1. 41.^ Jones, Amelia. Postfeminism, Feminist Pleasures, and Embodied Theories of Art, in New Feminist Criticism: Art, Identity, Action, ed. by Joana Frueh, Cassandra L. Langer and Arlene Raven. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. 16-41, 20. 42^Rosen, Ruth (2001). The world split open: how the modern womens movement changed America. New York, N.Y.: Penguin. pp.  444. ISBN  0-14-009719-8. 43.^Pollitt, Katha (1995). Reasonable creatures: essays on women and feminism. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN  978-0-679-76278-2. 44 Strossen, Nadine (1995). Defending pornography: free speech, sex, and the fight for womens rights. New York, N.Y.: Scribner. ISBN  978-0-684-19749-4.

Satellite Radio and Howard Stern Essay examples -- essays research pap

Satellite Radio: Will Howard Stern's move make us change the way we think about radio? Howard Stern's plan to move to satellite radio in January 2006 marks a major turning point for the radio industry. Not only has Stern brought the  possibility of subscribing to satellite radio into the minds of the millions in his audience, he has also gotten more people to start thinking and talking about what really distinguishes satellite radio from traditional radio. Satellite radio was first authorized by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in 1997, seven years after initial applications. The delay in approval was in part the result of protests by the National Association of Broadcasters which charged that the service threatened "traditional American values of community cohesion and local identity." Ironically, as these charges were being made, traditional radio was becoming nationalized through use of more national programming and industry  consolidation under Clear Channel Communications and Infinity Broadcasting.  The FCC dealt with these issues by restricting satellite radio to only national programming. Essentially this rule minimizes competition with traditional radio stations that only reach local markets and get the majority of their revenue from local advertisers. Despite there currently being very few small, independent, local broadcasters to protect, this remains the most significant regulation on satellite radio.[1] Today there are two main players in the satellite radio business: Sirius and XM. Though Sirius signed Stern, XM is currently the leader in terms of  subscribers. Both companies have neared bankruptcy at various points in their short history, and both have yet to make a profit. By signing Stern for $500 million over five years, Sirius must gain at least one million subscribers to pay this commitment.[2] Clearly satellite radio has a long way to go, but with steady growth and high-profile contracts (not only with  radio personalities, but with car companies who now install satellite radio  equipment in all new cars), the future remains wide open. Satellite radio is subscription-based, commercial-free, and largely unregulated. This last point appears to be the main draw for Stern. Since  the infamous Super Bowl incident this year, there have been calls for significantly expanding FCC indecency re... ...quot; due to his success with radio, books, television, and movies, but whether his kingdom will extend to satellite radio is yet to be seen. Free  speech is one of the key rights Americans have, but this right has always been in some degree of conflict with decency laws. The progressively stringent restrictions on the content of traditional radio have gotten so extreme in the past few years that, perhaps, finally they have gone too far. Listeners will soon wake up to the reality that what they want to hear in the morning has moved and in order to maintain their rights they must move too. If this is the case and audiences truly value "free listening," satellite radio will mark the end of traditional radio as we know it. [1] http://slate.msn.com/id/2097247/ [2] http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/06/news/newsmakers/stern sirius/ [3] see [2] [4] http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2004/10/06/ap1578735.html [5] http://www.forbes.com/business/2004/10/06/cx sw 1006stern.html?partner=rss [6] Telecommunications Act of 1996 Â § 507 [7] Being commercial-free and having a wider selection of programming in many areas are also deemed to be significant advantages of satellite radio.

Principals-Agents’ Conflict of Interest

Principals (shareholders) – agent (managers) problem represents the conflict of interest between management and owners. For example, if shareholders cannot effectively monitor the managers’ behaviour, then managers may be tempted to use the firm’s assets for their own ends, all at the expenses of shareholders. Discuss the pros and cons of this statement with regard to duties of Board of Directors. Most organisations these days are no more owned by their managers. This separation of ownership and management gives rise to what is called agency relationship. Jensen and Meckling (1976) define the agency relationship as â€Å"a contract under which one party (the principal) engages another party (agent) to perform the some services on their behalf. As part of this, the principal will delegate some decision making authority to the agent â€Å". However, it is important to mention that this relationship is not always peaceful and harmonious; rather, it usually raises some agency problems commonly called conflict of interests between shareholders and managers of the company. These conflicts occur when a person i. . the manager has an obligation not to act in his own personal interest but in another person’s interest i. e. the shareholders. This means that in whatever situation, managers must prioritise shareholders’ benefits. But is this commitment always respected in principals-agents relationships? Hopefully, between these two groups, is the board of directors; directors who are elected by shareholders to act as their representatives by monitoring and controlling managers tasks and ensuring they are in line with shareholders’ expectations. With clear evidence that conflicts of interest are almost unavoidable in any agency relationships, an attempt will be made will be made to get an insight into that issue with regards to board of directors duties. Brennan (1994) states that â€Å" agency problems emanate from the arrangement where the interests of the agents differ substantially from those of the principals because of the impossibility of perfectly contracting for every possible action of the agents whose decisions affect both his welfare and the welfare of the principal â€Å". Therefore, this raises the issue of finding ways to motivate managers to solely act in the best interest of shareholders. However, in a world where the labour market is becoming more and more imperfect and competitive, managers will be more concerned with their personal benefits at the expense of shareholders’ benefits. Since they are the one taking care of the day-to-day activities of the company, they know better than anyone any single details about how the various tasks are being performed and how that affects the company. Therefore, they might be tempted to take advantage of that by consuming some of the organisation’s resources in the form of lavish perquisites such as airplanes. Agency conflicts imply that shareholders wealth maximisation is being subordinated in managers’ goals for the company. Clear evidence of this assumption could be that top level managers are more worried about increasing their salaries, raising their status within the company, creating more opportunities for lower managers or assuring their job security and to achieve all this, their main objective could rather be to enlarge the firm by creating more subsidiaries. Such an action could produce results that do not necessarily maximise the value of the organisation for shareholders, rather, management welfare. We can notice that in conflict of interest, agents are mostly interested in achieving objectives that they feel will be profitable to them, but which are not necessarily or directly for the sake of shareholders. This occurs as a result of the distance created between the shareholders and the management team which prevent the former to effectively monitor and control managers’ behaviour. If agents do things that hurt principals, why don’t they take strong actions against that? In order to remedy to this situation, shareholders rely among others on the board of directors which they elect to look out for their interests and protect them for financial losses due to inadequate managerial actions. Bonazzi L. , Islam (2007) defines the function of the board as a â€Å" collective responsibility to determine the company’s purpose and â€Å"ethics†, to decide the direction, i. e. the strategy; to plan; to monitor and control managers and CEO activities, then to report and make recommendations to shareholders â€Å". To achieve this, they are expected to act in accordance with their four main duties which involve: the fiduciary duty, the duty of loyalty, the duty of confidentiality and the duty of care. In performing their fiduciary duties, directors assumes two roles, the first one as an â€Å"agent† which means acting on behalf of shareholders and the second one as a â€Å"trustee† which means they are in charge of controlling the organisation assets so they have to act â€Å" bona fide â€Å" which means in good faith towards the company; acting only within the scope of their powers and uniquely for the purpose that benefits the business and to avoid being involved in conflict between personal and the company’s interest. First and foremost, the board has as duty to govern the organisation by designing broad policies, and objectives which are intended to provide managers with guidance on how they are expected to run the business, i. e. prioritizing principals’ benefits, and, where they are expected to take the firm to in terms of increasing its value. They must continuously review the performance of the chief executive to ensure that managerial actions are in line with shareholders wishes and given that they are accountable to the former, they have to report to them about the overall organisational performance. Regarding their duty of loyalty, directors must prevent conflict of interest by avoiding transactions which may generate a potential conflict; those transactions according to Professor Bernard S. Black of Standford Law School in an article entitled The principal Fiduciary Duties of Boards of Directors are called â€Å" self-dealing â€Å" transactions. Representing at the same time the boss to one extend and the subordinate to another extend, directors must make sure never to act in ways that will harm either the shareholders or the executives, treat both parties with care and respect and try to make good decisions i. . that will compromise none of the parties, but which will be profitable to the firm. Also, board members have the duty to keep private all dealings, matters and information from the board meeting and the company in order to avoid the disclosure or misuse of information which may lead to a conflict. From the study of board members duties, we can state that companies’ corporate governance rests mostly on their shoulders. So, when effective, it permits the realisation of corporate objectives, risk management, the reduction of agency problems and an increase in the value of the firm. Despite the fact that conflict of interest is quite an obvious issue between shareholders and managers, it is important to keep in mind that the former are the owners of the business and thus, have great powers on the company; for instance through their voting rights at the annual shareholders meeting where they might decide â€Å"to vote with their feet† i. . selling their shares, exposing the organisation to a potential takeover that will lead managers to lose their job. Consequently, managers must at least try to satisfy their principals by aligning their actions and decisions with shareholders expectations; as well as must principals induce their agents to work for their best interest. To achieve this, they must incur some agency costs. In the 1976 Journal of Finance paper by Michael Jensen and William Meckling, it is stated that â€Å"there are three major types of agency costs: (1) expenditures to monitor managerial activities, such as audit costs; (2) expenditure to structure the organisation in a way that will limit undesirable managerial behaviour, such as appointing outside members to the board of directors or restructuring the company’s business units and management hierarchy; and (3) opportunity costs which are incurred when shareholder-imposed restrictions, such as requirements for shareholder votes on specific issues, limit the ability of managers to take actions that advance shareholder wealth†. In a nutshell, conflict of interest is a real fact in every business. Principal-agent relationship can be viewed as complex in terms of how exactly agents are expected to act towards their principals. Obviously, their acts must always be aimed at serving shareholders interest, but this statement seems to imply that either principals’ interests are always morally acceptable or managers might act unethically provided they fulfil shareholders’ expectations. Virtually, all corporate code of ethics addresses conflict of interest because it interferes with the ability of employees to act in the best interest of the firm. The fact is that, the agent is expected to act solely for the benefit of the principal in all matters and situations, yet, the kind of situation or dilemma the agent might be called upon to act in his principal interest are not easily predictable or identified. As optimal solution, it would be advantageous for both parties if they could work in concert prioritising the success of the organisation, and trying to satisfy as much as possible each group’s benefits, because it would help avoiding or at least reducing potential conflict of interest.

Free Essays on Globalization and Music

From Dean Martin to Wyclef Jean: The Affects of Globalization on Music â€Å"Won’t you help me sing these songs of freedom?† -Bob Marley The influence that music has throughout the world is immeasurable. Music evokes many feeling, surfaces old memories, and creates new ones all while satisfying a sense of human emotion. With the ability to help identify a culture, as well as educate countries about other cultures, music also provides for a sense of knowledge. Music can be a tool for many things: relaxation, stimulation and communication. But at the same time it can also be a tool for resistance: against parents, against police against power. Within the reign of imported culture, cross cultivation and the creation of the so-called global village lies the need to expand horizons to engulf more than just what you see everyday. It is important to note that the role of music in today’s world is a key tool in the process of globalization. However, this does not necessarily provide us with any reasons that would make us believe that music has a homogenizing affect on the world. Globalization is becoming one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. We see people arguing over the loss of a nation’s cultural identity, the terror of westernization, and the reign of cultural imperialism. Through topics such as these we explore the possibilities or the existence of hybridization of cultures and values, and what some feel is the exploitation of their heritage. One important aspect that is not explored is that such influences can also be more than just a burden and an overstepping of bounds. These factors can create an educational environment as well as a reaffirmation of one’s own culture. With the music being the highly profitable, capitalist enterprise that it is today, it is no wonder that it is controlled and regulated by a few large conglomerates that exist is today’s world. It is important to m... Free Essays on Globalization and Music Free Essays on Globalization and Music From Dean Martin to Wyclef Jean: The Affects of Globalization on Music â€Å"Won’t you help me sing these songs of freedom?† -Bob Marley The influence that music has throughout the world is immeasurable. Music evokes many feeling, surfaces old memories, and creates new ones all while satisfying a sense of human emotion. With the ability to help identify a culture, as well as educate countries about other cultures, music also provides for a sense of knowledge. Music can be a tool for many things: relaxation, stimulation and communication. But at the same time it can also be a tool for resistance: against parents, against police against power. Within the reign of imported culture, cross cultivation and the creation of the so-called global village lies the need to expand horizons to engulf more than just what you see everyday. It is important to note that the role of music in today’s world is a key tool in the process of globalization. However, this does not necessarily provide us with any reasons that would make us believe that music has a homogenizing affect on the world. Globalization is becoming one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. We see people arguing over the loss of a nation’s cultural identity, the terror of westernization, and the reign of cultural imperialism. Through topics such as these we explore the possibilities or the existence of hybridization of cultures and values, and what some feel is the exploitation of their heritage. One important aspect that is not explored is that such influences can also be more than just a burden and an overstepping of bounds. These factors can create an educational environment as well as a reaffirmation of one’s own culture. With the music being the highly profitable, capitalist enterprise that it is today, it is no wonder that it is controlled and regulated by a few large conglomerates that exist is today’s world. It is important to m...

Compare and Contrast Essay on Sports

Compare and Contrast Essay on Sports Compare and Contrast Essay on Sports Sporting activities are very popular for many people and nations across the world. The reason is that they bring people from different and diverse backgrounds together. They help create a strong bond between societies that participate in the various sports. It has also become a huge economic activity. Many people make large sums of money when they are sportsmen or sports women. Some become millionaires when they are still underage, and this makes their life easier. Sports can also be dangerous. Many instances of deaths have also been reported in sporting events. Due to the financial gain and the fame that results from success in sporting events, many people engage in dangerous sports. The majority of people to engage in sporting for anticipated heath gains, and this has received much attention across the world. However, this gives rise to a debate about the truth of sport being healthy or not. Some sports call for extreme health and fitness because they are so dangerous, and can lead to causing harm to, or, the death of the participants or the audience. Hence, this subject lends itself to compare and contrast essays. How to write a good compare and contrast essay on sports: You need not be a sport expert.  The writer must, however, understand the workings of sport, the different kinds of sport, and the motivations behind the sports. Whether you can play sport is not an essential ingredient for an unbiased essay. You need to deal with success and failure.  The writer of such a comparative essay should analyze the successes and the failures of sports people. However, success should not be only measured by the money that an individual got from participating a sporting activity, but also the health gains that he/she made. Many people who engaged in sports and made fortunes also suffered injuries that end up frustrating their future. Compare the possiblity of riches with injuries.  The writer should compare whether getting such injuries is worth the money or financial gain received. Sportspeople have died after taking part in competitive sports, and left behind all the monies that they accumulated in their sporting career, for example, various Formula One drivers. Others, like Mohommed Ali, got injuries that eventually confined them, and their lives were made difficult without the use of expensive medications. Such negative repercussions should be compared with the positive gains that sports people get. For instance, being a successful footballer is a shortcut for being wealthy and famous. Many people want to be associated with successful sportspeople, and many still believe that sports are the most lucrative investment that one can have. Compare and contrast financial inequalities between different sports.  The writer should also compare the merits and demerits across the different sporting disciplines that exist. For instance, success in boxing and football mean different things. Tennis and golf, or rugby and cricket are not the same. Some of these sports are more dangerous than others, and the financial gains acquired vary across the different sporting disciplines. At custom writing service you have a great opportunity to order a custom essay on any sports related topic.

Report on a professional meeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Modern Misogyny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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