Be A Lean Author, with Patrick Vlaskovits

Be A Lean Author, with Patrick Vlaskovits "Be A Lean Author", with Patrick Vlaskovits Today we interview bestselling author and entrepreneur Patrick Vlaskovits, whose constant search for better ways of working has turned him into a formidable thought-leader in technology and business. His writing has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, and The Browser and he speaks at technology conferences nationally and internationally.We asked Patrick about how he applied his thinking to his into self-publishing with his two books The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development and The Lean Entrepreneur. In his no-nonsense style, he reveals his approach and why a â€Å"Build It and They Will Come† mentality is bad for business as well as books.Hi Patrick, great to have you here! As well as being a serial entrepreneur and startup mentor, you’re also the author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development and The Lean Entrepreneur. What prompted you to write these books?With The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Cust omer Development, back in 2009, I had just come off wasting a lot of time and a lot of my own money building a web startup that failed. Someone mentioned The 4 Steps to the Epiphany to me and I started reading it.At the time, Steve Blank’s work was highly unorthodox – he was the only (?) person saying that â€Å"Build It and They Will Come.† is not a good strategy.I recommended my friends start reading Steve’s book so we could discuss his ideas – but few of my friends took me up on it. Meeting up with Brant Cooper and Hiten Shah in late 2009, they had similar problems – I believe it was Hiten who said â€Å"Someone needs to write the Cliff Notes to Steve’s book.†To which I said, â€Å"Why not us?†We self-published the book in early 2010.The Lean Entrepreneur, published by Wiley in 2013, was an entirely different experience. Multiple publishers had approached us because the Customer Development book had been so successful and they all wanted us to do a book with them.None of the deals made sense until we spoke to Wiley. They made a good deal for us financially and supported our vision for the book, a book that would expand upon Lean Startup and talk about Lean Startup and how to apply it in industries and sectors beyond tech. We wanted a book that would also tell stories visually with fakegrimlock’s artwork.The idea behind the â€Å"lean methodology† is that startups should build their products iteratively, testing and getting customer validation on each new feature before even building it. How is this concept applicable to non-fiction authors? Did you interact with your target audience while writing the books? Are you a lean author?We absolutely interacted and engaged with our readers before, during and after writing the book.For the Customer Development book, we did a lot of price-testing and talking about what was clear or unclear in their understanding of Customer Development.For T he Lean Entrepreneur, we pre-sold +500 books before we even started writing. We cobbled this video together on a landing page -Later on, we had a professionally done book trailer done:For both books, we threw a lot of ideas at them in our in-person talks and presentations, and noted what worked and what didn’t.You self-published The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development back in 2010. What made you go â€Å"indie† back then? And why did you choose to sign with a publisher for The Lean Entrepreneur?For the CustDev book, we had strong reason to believe that no publisher would want to touch a book that was a derivative of another cult self-published book!Self-publishing made perfect sense. I think it was the right choice and we learned a ton.For The Lean Entrepreneur, we wanted to try some new things from a different platform (to us).The main struggle for many authors is marketing, reader-acquisition and discoverability. These challenges similar to those of s tartups, right? How do you think your background in tech/startups helped you approach marketing your book?I think my background in marketing technology helped me tremendously.First, I understood the tools available to market products online – but paramountly, I had no hang-ups about marketing or acquiring customers/readers. Too many authors are too wrapped up in being â€Å"artistes† and mistakenly believe that someone else (i.e. the publisher) should market their ‘art’.Big mistake.We recently wrote a piece on whether it is worth indie authors partnering with a book marketer. You worked with Casey Armstrong on The Lean Entrepreneur. What did Casey do for you? More generally, do you think it makes sense for authors to â€Å"outsource† (part of) the marketing of their books?Casey was a tremendous help. If you can afford Casey, do your best to engage him. He was instrumental in the success of The Lean Entrepreneur.Amongst the many ways he helped â€⠀œ including multiple cool growth-hacks – he helped us prioritize, scale and leverage all of our marketing activities from blog and media outreach, from retargeting to email marketing.I don’t think that authors should ‘outsource’ marketing of their books – but should try to bring a marketer onto their team, define the goal, and figure out what crossing the finish line looks like – and this is important: together hand-in-hand with the marketer.1,000 books sold? 10,000 books sold? 100,000 books sold? And then work backwards from there to derive strategy and tactics as needed, be they SEO, social media, etc.As entrepreneurs, founders or early employees, we live through some pretty amazing experiences, which we often want to share with the world. What would be your #1 piece of advice to aspiring authors from the startup world?You’ll have to wait till my next book for that. 🙂But really, in the meantime, read The War of Art by Steve n Pressfied as soon as possible. Thank me later.Follow Patrick and Reedsy on Twitter:  @Pv  and  @ReedsyHQDo you agree that too many authors still think someone else (i.e. the publisher) should market their books? Or are expectations changing amongst authors?

The Y2K Horror essays

The Y2K Horror essays Over the years, the technological world has advanced rapidly, and humans have come to rely on computers for just about every aspect of daily life from education, to communication, to banking, to electricity, we depend on technology. The Y2K bug seems to be a vicious reminder that our technology is just a tangled connection of imperfect, haphazard systems we have come to let run our lives. The year 2000 or the Y2K problem is caused by a short cut imbedded into many computer and microchips. In the 1960s, to conserve what was then precious and expensive memory space, computer programmers shortened the four-digit year to use a much more economical two-digit method for example, 78 would mean 1978. Unfortunately, computers and microchips that still use a two-number year will recognize 00 as the year 1900, not as 2000. When using data involving dates, the problem will cause failures, and can corrupt databases with incorrect information. A statement issued by the Presidents Council on the Year 2000 Conversion states: This Y2K bug could cause computers to either shut down or generate incorrect data. In our electronic information-dependent society, that could be a big problem. At the time the two-digit year was first used in computer programming, no one addressed or was prepared for a problem when the year 2000 rolled around, because, like today, technology was advanci ng and changing quickly. Computer programmers assumed that the two-digit year would eventually be changed and become obsolete. This, obviously, did not happen. In many cases, the older applications that use the two-digit method have been built on, and are buried deep into systems that are the basis of large corporations and other industries that run civilization as we know it. Computers are everywhere in government, business, utilities, and our jobs. When one system fails, there is a cascading effect to other systems. ...

Final Examination Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final Examination - Assignment Example To study the issue, the research required both a test sample and a control sample. The control sample would be used in order to highlight the differences between those patients who would be given the community posthospital follow-up services and those who did not. The test sample would then be subjected to the community posthospital follow-up services in an attempt to help them during recovery process. Social workers would be used to follow up on these people. The questions would be answered by comparing the performance of the test sample and the control sample in terms f how they fared after they were discharged. The sample size included 143 individuals, 71 as the test sample and 72 as the control sample. The subjects were randomly chosen from the patients being released from the Fresno County Department of Health HFCDH) Acute Psychiatry Unit (APU). There was a discrimination based on a number of factors which could otherwise make the subject inaccessible to the social workers assigned to follow up on them or if the patient was in another program that could interfere with the study. The different variables in the study involved the type of patients because not all patients were at the same level of severity, the length of the contact with the workers, and background of the patients. The independent variables in the study can be said to be the treatment because this is what the researchers could change. This variable is not affected by any other problem, it is the setting factor (variable with which the dependent variables will be compared). The dependant variable is the rate of recovery which is being compared to the availability of the post hospital services. The results of this variable are dependent on the first variable. The findings of the study were that community posthospital follow-up services improve the chances of the patient recovering better and reducing the rates of

Citizen Kane and Deat of a Salesman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Citizen Kane and Deat of a Salesman - Essay Example bears his greatest source of frustration since, despite his looking forward to his elder brother’s prosperity, he ends up a poor man, demoted and stopped from working. His entire life has little depictions of achieving what he ever wanted. On the contrast, Charles seem very prosperous in his life. He is a prominent icon in the journalism department as he makes the deeming decisions at yellow journalism. His prosperity is well defined in his prominent relationship with the president where he ends up vying for the New York state governor seat along with his marriage to the president’s daughter, Emily. When compared to Willy, Charles seems to have anything he needs at his possession. He has a great family; a wife and a son with immense prosperity depicted in the kind of career he lead. We learn that Willy had always wanted to be like his prosperous diamond oriented brother only for him to work for long years with an ultimate termination on his work life. He ends up living on the basis of childhood fantasies of which he never came into a consensus with ideas of his maturity. Apparently, both icons in the two films end up as failures especially in the mannerisms through which they handled relationships. Charles ends up a lonely man, with two divorced wives; Emily and Susan. He does very little to maintain a good relationship both to his family and to himself. It gets to a point that he shuns people from entering his mansion where he only interacted with his workers. It is clear that Charles fails in maintaining healthy relationships though on the other hand Willy succeeds a bit in maintaining his family but dies an unsatisfied man. Unlike Willy, Charles may have experienced a dead end in the kind of relationships he had, but it seems like he has always wanted a life for himself. He is unhappy on losing everything with reference to his nature where he has always wanted everything for himself. Life looses meaning to him to the point that he dies a happy man. He

The Housing Market in the UK Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

The Housing Market in the UK - Research Paper Example In other words, I am analyzing how the dependent variable is affected by the independent variable. My investigation is in B9. In my study, a dependent variable is a number of the bedroom while the independent variable is the price.   The data that I use in this report are first-hand data that I collected in the field. I visited over 100 houses of different types located in different places in the UK. My study covered different places in the UK. These include west London, hull city, North London and Westham Though I didn’t find the prices of some houses, I was able to find them on the agents websites. The agents post the photographs and information about the houses on their websites for the potential buyers from different places to see them. I also visited the agent’s offices to find out some information which was not available on the internet. I obtain questionnaires to obtain information from all the respondents that I met.   New homes have become more popular in the present age than ever. Developers have made efforts to create new homes that boast fabulous designs, energy saving and with excellent building qualities. Thousands of houses are now on sale by these new homeowners in the UK. A study has hence been carried out to obtain the general view of the housing market focusing on the housing prices, type and size of the house for sale.   The collected data is analyzed using different SPSS. The statistical aspects that the analysis looks into include mean, median, skewness, price kurtosis, variance and standard deviation of the collected information.     

HMV PESTLE and SWOT Analysis

HMV PESTLE and SWOT Analysis 1.0 Executive summary HMV group a U.K giant entertainment company is one of the struggling firms that eventually succumbed to closure of its business operation in 2013. This report will explore the HMV company profile, current financial, positioning in the marketplace, current business model, competitive positioning and HMV target market. Why the company’s sales figure have dropped and how the company got into financial crisis that led to its closure in 2013. This report draws attention to the fact that in 1960s, HMV has a strong brand HMV is a major retailer that specialises in music, film, games and technology products, the organisation has been a top dog in the entertainment industry for many years now, prior to the rapidly evolution of technology advancement, which had affected and is still affecting the wider consumer behaviour in regarding to how music, film, games and technology products are being purchased by the consumers. With the rapid shifting of consumers onto online music / movie streaming distribution sites such as iTunes, Amazon, Netflix and so on, where does HMV fit in or how does HMV sustain in the current entertainment or music distribution market which is highly technological advancing and hyper competitive. It is therefore recommend that HMV needs to invest more in technologies to compete in the industry. 2.0 Company profile HMV Retail limited is U.K leading music and Entertainment Company, founded in 1921 on the street of Oxford in London. The success continues with the expansion and creation of the retail branch of the business from 1960s with over 239 stores in UK and Ireland and employing over 5000 staff before the closure of its business operation in 2013. Since HMV is been in operation â€Å"it has made music and entertainment available to its customers in every format imaginable: from sheet music and the earliest gramophone 78s to today’s digital downloads† http://www.hmv.ie/about-us In 1986 HMV Group is formed and the retailer looks to expand and open stores in Ireland and In 1999 HMV media launched an an e-commerce site. In 2002 HMV media went public on London Stock Exchange and changed its name to HMV Group. HMV experience competition from other competitors in the industry such as iTunes, Amazon supermarkets and others in the industry and with increase in illegal download it was necessary to invest in online business. In 2008 HMV launched its â€Å"social network â€Å"Get closer â€Å"which allowed users to import their own music library in a bid to rival online music stores iTunes and Napster† www.retail-week.com/hmv-timeline but prove unsuccessful and was closed in September 2009.. The business also piloted its refreshed ‘Pure Play’ loyalty scheme. HMV fail to respond quickly and compete against online music stores and the increase in illegal downloads the company suspend its shares in January 2012 and months later in April HMV is bought by Hilco for  £50 million and takes over the remaining 141 stores In January 2013 HMV went into administration with over 230 stores closed in UK and Ireland and over 4,000 jobs staff losing their job two months later a new HMV emerge under the new ownership of Hilco. â€Å"Today HMV trades from over 120 stores in the UK and fast rebuilding its presence in Ireland, an updated product mix, refreshed stores and new digital services together with a commitment to bring customers more exclusive in-stores† and experience than ever seen HMV regain its rightful place at the home of entertainment. www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hmv-closes-historic-oxford-street-store-9056780.html The current key executives of HMV are Trevor Moore (CEO) and Ian P Kenyon (Finance Director) http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/HMV:LN/profile 2.1 HMV financial status Decline Financial Status of HMV According to Whetten (1980a) financial decline happen as a result of company’s mismanagement or issues related to internal and external factors. The data below shows how HMV’s financial status started to nosedive from 2006 till 2012 which eventually cost HMV and the company went to administration 2013. 3.0 Competitors Analyses In recent years, thus with the massive influx of online music / audio distribution sites such as iTunes, Amazon, Hulkshare, Soundcloud, Torrent, Mixcloud and many more plus recently infamous Netflix, an online video/ internet streaming subscription services that enables customers / subscribers to rent and watch movies online in the comfort of their own home. In a way Netflix is more or less a movie rental provider, thus all the transactions between Netflix and the customers take place online.  Ã‚   HMV faces a huge challenge in sustaining in the current entertainment market industry in the foreseeable future, as the people’s way of doing things are drastically changing as a result of technology advancement, hence social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blackberry Messenger, Linkedn, Snapchat and many more social networks are developing and emerging on a daily basis. HMV is a physical entity which currently relies heavily on consumer consumption based on how many customers visit its shops and how large the customers purchases are, thus vast majority of people in today’s world actually live in a virtual world, they shop online, interact with friends or make new friends online, study online, bank online, gamble online, game online and more importantly people tend to view the online community as their main source of getting new music e.g. if Lady GaGa intends to release a new single, the quickest way to learn about this is on her Twitter page or Facebook page. Beyonce released her fifth studio album overnight and online on December 13th 2013 without no prior promotional fiasco or press releases, the album is exclusively available to be purchased on iTunes. Amazon â€Å"Amazon.co.uk, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, was launched in 1998. Today, the site provides fast, convenient service for customers in the UK and Ireland† www.amazon.co.uk/About-Amazon Amazon operates online business selling CD’s DVD’s games and books. Amazon adopts the cost leadership strategy their aim is to sell their product at a lower price compare to others in the industry. They have been able to main the cost leadership strategy due to selling purely online hereby saving money to maintain a physical store. Due to lack of physical presence where customer can go into the store and purchase their products Amazon continue to invest heavily in technology to make the shopping easier for their customers. However Amazon is losing a lot of customer especially the older generation who will rather go to store and purchase their goods. However they have been able to maintain their share in the market with their low cost leadership strategy and ease online shopping which has contributed to the massive increase in their sales. ITunes In 2004 iTunes store was launched in the UK serving UK and Ireland due to its huge success in the U.S. iTunes sold over 70 million songs in its first year in the U.S. â€Å"Apples online store is also more than just an online music service; there are other sub-stores too which offer music videos, audiobooks, movies, free, apps, and more† http://mp3.about.com/od/digitalmusicdelivery/tp/topmusicstores.htm. â€Å"Apples iTunes account for 67% of TV downloads, 65% of movies† Kevin Bostic. ITunes success has been attributed to online presence where customers are able to download a single track rather than buying an album or physic disk. ITunes target younger generation than any other in the industry making it easier for them to download music However it is not available for everyone which has greatly reduced its market share it’s only available to Apple device users i.e. iPhone, iPod and iPad. ITunes continue to face threats from Amazon, illegal music downloads and online free music downloads websites. Netflix Netflix was founded in 1997, started its subscription based digital distribution service in 1999 and has been very effective in the United States since then, thus after embarking on the Irish shore and The UK about two years ago, business has not been as usual for the DVD seller and rental stores such as HMV and thus also the likes of Xtra-Vison. â€Å"Digital claims over 50% of all UK music sales value in second quarter of 2013† Fiona Keenan. â€Å"HMV’s recent store closures have hit the high street retailer hard, with its number of shoppers almost halving in the latest 12 weeks compared with the same quarter last year and its market share dropping by 8.4 percentage points†(Fiona Keenan) HMV slipped from its position as Britain’s second largest entertainment retailer to fifth in second quarters as Tesco replaced it as the second largest entertainment retailer in 2013. Percentage share of the entertainment market (includes physical sales of videos, games and music and digital sales of music) 12 wks to 30 Sep 12 12 wks to 29 Sep 13 % change Amazon 18.3 20 1.7 Tesco 11.9 17.1 5.2 Asda 9.8 12.1 2.3 HMV 18 10.6 -7.4 iTunes Music 9.1 8.8 -0.3 Sainsbury’s 6.8 6.9 0.1 Game Group 5.6 6.2 0.6 Morrisons 2.9 2.9 0 Play 3 1.9 -1.1 Other 14.5 13.6 -0.9 http://www.levidepoches.fr/contagiousideas/2013/07/digital-claims-over-50-of-all-uk-music-sales-value-in-q2-2013-kantar-the-research-firm-based-the-sta.html Marketing environment of HMV An organisation must understand its environment if it is to exploit changing market conditions and target its market successfully. BPP (2010:87) this consists of both Macro and Micro environment, within the marketing environment an organisation needs to consider both macro and micro factors. PESTEL Political Government enforces law on how organisation run and responds to competition. Any changes in government policies Environmental protection laws Taxation policy and Employment laws will influence how HMV makes its decisions. In the UK the increase in VAT to 20% has led to decrease in sales of music and putting HMV under pressure Illegal download is a major problem and still continues till today. It is therefore a problem in the music and movie industry. Economics The current economic situation has huge impact on household, HMV decisions will be influenced by economic factors i.e. Unemployment has gone up in the past years people have less money to spend on non-essential items leaving them with little or no money to spend on entertainment. Customers now prefer to shop around for better deal therefore not loyal to a brand anymore. Customers now go online to see what HMV is offering and most go for cheaper options from competitors or even download illegally .HMV needs to find a way to be competitive in the market Social/cultural Social /cultural affects people’s values, perceptions and behaviours. Younger generations are more interested in media and social groups compare to older generation. Entertainment and music is becoming very important in our everyday life most specially the younger generations spending more on games and music. Market for DVD and CD is falling as customers are now turning to alternative such as MP3 players with more people storing music on their phones and laptops. Sales of CD and DVD have fallen massively as people now turn to downloads or streaming sites. HMV needs to understand what is going on in this constantly changing environment and try to market their product to meet the needs of this people. Technology Technology is very important in today’s market environment. Technology has given HMV competitive advantage in 2007HMV launch get closer which was launched via the media and in UK stores. The idea was for fans to discover content through the site and buy more music as a result. HMV also launch a download service through iOS and apps to tempt mobile users to purchase music while on the go. HMV also strike a deal with APPLE to allow users download song from the apps straight into their iPhone gaining competitive advantage over iTunes. Survey conducted by Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) in 2012-2013 shows that digital download increase by 40%. Expanding into digital market gives HMV completive advantage to compete in the market with growing consumer demand. â€Å"In 2009 HMV partner with Curzon artificial to bring the cinema experience to HMV retail outlets across the UK a move which could deliver earnings of  £3m† www.theguardian.com. HMV needs to continue to invest heavily in online business and find a way to compete in the market as online market is continually growing driven by advanced internet technologies and secure payments. Online stores such as Amazon are offering customer’s competitive price due to cost saved running a physical store. Environment Government are putting pressure on organisations to become more responsible to the society by finding ways to reduce pollution and cut down their waste by introducing laws regulating environmental pollution to reduce environment damage and act in a way which benefits the society .People are becoming more conscious about the environment Millions of media disc are thrown away yearly with burning them leading to the release of harmful toxins leading to drive to recycle them. Larger capacity storage CD (album rather than singles) and DVD that can hold a larger amount of media are encouraged to reduce number of disc being made. Amazon is offering cloud drive and cloud computing which can be used to store music eliminating the need for hardware and storage device this is something HMV can do as well. Legal Illegal downloading and Piracy are important issues that have constrained the growth of legal digital channel and severely affected the sales of physical entertainment. There is mass distribution of illegal download product which undercuts the retail price that HMV and others are charging for their product. Until government measures and controls to reduce and eliminate copyright infringement are successful issues such as illegal downloading and piracy will continue. In 2010 the Digital Economy Act was made into law. It was introduced to regulate digital media in the UK, and to protect intellectual property and curb illegal file sharing. The passing of the Act into law was important for HMV, however its effect has been minimal as offenders of music and film piracy are rarely caught or face penalties. SWOT ANALYSIS Strength HMV has a well-known brand name with extensive market presence, since its opening in 1921 with Physical presence across UK, Ireland, Asia, Canada and USA. HMV has vast amount of experience in the music industry hence their relationship with music and film providers because they have been around for a while famous artiste/bands has recorded with HMV. HMV has both physical and digital presence in the market therefore sell to a broader market giving them competitive advantage over their competitors Weakness HMV lack direction and leadership in the past and during market structure change leaving HMV in debt. HMV was slow to react to change with low barriers to entry in terms of online sales. HMV is competing in an industry where physical sales are falling and profit is being reduced by intense competition in the industry, If HMV lower its price and improve its stores appearance they will have competitive advantage over others who are just present online Opportunities HMV need to invest more money on digital market to develop a world beating online presence as few people now go to stores to buy goods and competitors such as Amazon are ahead of HMV in online market if HMV wants to get back their market share they need to invest heavily in online market. HMV will need to improve on advertising to improve brand awareness and save its brand. HMV could also expanded further into international markets as there might be less competition compare to UK and Ireland market this could be more profitable. HMV could open more physical outlets around Ireland and UK currently they only focus on prime shopping district causing them to lose market in other areas There’s opportunity for HMV in cloud digital storage to keep up with competitors like Amazon. Joint ventures with other market i.e. supermarkets for market share growth. Opportunity in e-book and social network, in 2012 Sainsburys acquired HMV Groups shareholding in Anobii Threats The continued growth of technology, internet, and illegal downloads is a threat to HMV. It’s becoming more evident that customer’s wants goods provided from large numbers of services and it is complicated for HMV to meet these needs. There is also impact of recession on music industry people have less money to spend on entertainment and some are finding cheaper way to get their music hence downloading illegally. Illegal download is affecting the purchase of both physical media and online digital. According to Philip Beeching He explained, â€Å"The three biggest threats to HMV are online retailers, downloadable music, and supermarkets discounting loss leader product.† His warnings were ignored www.stratile.com Competition has been growing and continues to impact on HMV profits this Competition threatens to diminish HMV sales and market share as well as their profit. Competitors like Amazon, iTunes and Napster are taking over HMV’s market easily. Supermarkets continue to providing more service in a location that is usually far away from HMV stores to reduce this threats HMV can go into joint ventures with supermarkets. HMV failed to adapt quickly to today’s business model where more than 70% of music and video is bought online Technology is advancing at an exceptional rate and opening new paths of opportunities by helping organisation to compete in the market place and gaining the attention of their customers. E business is the new trend in the music industry, HMV has been slow to embrace the opportunity and competitors such as iTunes and Amazon were the first to set up online music market and took the lead in the market. HMV stores are under high pressure from music and DVD downloading, both legal and illegal. With stores across the UK Ireland, it reaches the more physical customers in the market. This multi-channel distribution would be a strong advantage for HMV if managed well. Security is an issue with online market HMV need to constantly monitor their website against internet threats customers wants to know that their details are protected when shipping on their website if customer know their website is secure this will generate more sales and any issue with security will be a disaster for the organisation.

Capital Punishment Essay -- social issues

Capital Punishment Capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty, and since ancient times, it has been used to punish a large variety of offenses. The penalty of death is reserved for the most serious and detested crimes. The legal system must sentence the death penalty to capital crime offenders. Criminals convicted of murder or rape need to be executed because they are dangerous to the world and the human race. However, America seems to to always want to put people in prison for life, but how is that fair to the criminals who did not commit such a horrible crime, but still gets the same punishment? The death penalty should be used more often, but is the death penalty the answer to crime? The death penalty is not the perfect answer to crime. Criminals should often be put to death; but this supposes a frequency of crimes, and from hence the punishment will cease to have its effect, so that it must be useful and useless at the same time (Black 74). So in other words, in all states whe re death is used as a punishment, every example supposes a new crime committed. To back these statements, facts show that since the reinstatement of capital punishment there has been over 255 executions with Texas at the top with 84 and Florida with 33 (Bender, Leone 103). Another statistic shows that more murders take place in states that use capital punishment. The common-sense argument that death is the best deterrent of crime rests on the belief that people fear death mo... Capital Punishment Essay -- social issues Capital Punishment Capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty, and since ancient times, it has been used to punish a large variety of offenses. The penalty of death is reserved for the most serious and detested crimes. The legal system must sentence the death penalty to capital crime offenders. Criminals convicted of murder or rape need to be executed because they are dangerous to the world and the human race. However, America seems to to always want to put people in prison for life, but how is that fair to the criminals who did not commit such a horrible crime, but still gets the same punishment? The death penalty should be used more often, but is the death penalty the answer to crime? The death penalty is not the perfect answer to crime. Criminals should often be put to death; but this supposes a frequency of crimes, and from hence the punishment will cease to have its effect, so that it must be useful and useless at the same time (Black 74). So in other words, in all states whe re death is used as a punishment, every example supposes a new crime committed. To back these statements, facts show that since the reinstatement of capital punishment there has been over 255 executions with Texas at the top with 84 and Florida with 33 (Bender, Leone 103). Another statistic shows that more murders take place in states that use capital punishment. The common-sense argument that death is the best deterrent of crime rests on the belief that people fear death mo...

Define Individualism And Explain Its Importance Within Liberal Ideology

The liberal ideology is formed on several ideologies. Individualism is considered one of the most crucial. It's involved in most liberal characteristics like freedom, the economy and the role of the state. But there is notable division between modern and classic liberalists as to what it focuses on with modern liberalists focusing on individuality and classics believe in utilitarianism and and social darwinism. However it is widely agreed that individualism is a key concept within liberal ideology.Firstly, to discuss the importance of individualism, it must be defined. Individualism is the social theory favouring freedom of action for individuals over collective or state control. Essentially the belief that the individual is more important than the social group. This is then split further into methodological individualism where the individual is placed at the centre of political theory and ethical individualism where moral priority is given to the interests of the individual.One plac e where individualism plays a key role within liberalism is in the role of the state. This appears in the form of a constitutional government that liberal thinkers view as essential with two other aspects to guarantee individualism. The first is the separation of powers where capability would be disbanded between various parts of government in order to prevent a focused centre of power which would be able to destroy individual freedom. The second is a limited government, where the state is only given enough powers necessary to allow individuals to follow their own eccentric pursuits. Therefore it can be see individualism plays an important role in liberals ideology as liberal government is designed to protect this. John Locke sums this up as ‘the state that governs least is the state that governs best'.Another place where individualism is important within liberal ideology is with regard to the financial market. This became prominent through the thinkings of Ricardo and Smith ( writer of the wealth of nations). They believed that the individual should be enabled to act in their own interests  and this will therefore benefit society overall. This will in theory therefore promote freedom, well-being and prosperity. More recently, John Maynard Keynes put forward the requirement of demand management – that the government should inject money into the economy to ensure the individual can still act in their own interests.Individualism also plays a crucial part in the opinion of freedom within liberal ideology. It is not total freedom but freedom under the state and the rule of law. It warrants for people to develop their own abilities and ambitions. John Locke, a 17th century philosopher considered freedom of the individual to be a natural right.Modern liberals have moved away towards individuality, by suggesting life is about more than a selfish pursuit of ones own joys. John Stuart Mills expressed the desire of individuals to achieve self-realisation a nd autonomy, through ‘high' pleasures, which consist of intellectual and moral pursuits in comparison with ‘low' pleasures which are crude pleasures including activities such as promiscuity, drinking and gambling. This may suggest individualism has less of a role in modern liberalism because there's less focus on the simple pleasures that a classical liberalist would conform to.Classical liberals have an atomistic view of the individual, due to ideas such as Social Darwinism, that the hard-working and talented would survive and the lazy would fail. Spencer stressed this, and the importance of the individual responsibility. Utilitarianism is also a key concept within classical thinking on individualism, the idea that the proper course of action is the one that maximises utility. Bentham suggested this was key as individuals ought to be allowed to follow their own happiness. The focus and analysis of political theorists on what individualism should be shows its importance. To summarise, it is clear that individualism is greatly important in liberal ideology, particularly in the opinion of classical liberalists. In classical liberalism individualism takes a more pivotal role within most aspects of their ideals. However in modern liberalism individualism is slightly more subdued due to the state's larger role. Overall individualism can be seen to play an important role within liberalism as a whole.

Free Essays on Political History And Corruption In Macbeth

To understand many of William Shakespeare’s plays, one must understand the history of the time period. A.L. Rowse gives a history of William Shakespeare’s time, the late sixteenth to the early seventeenth century and how the government of the time was authoritarian but popular. The person of the Monarch (derived from the Greek â€Å"monorchia†, the rule of one), the Crown, was something even the lowest character could understand. The monarchs have many different titles, including king, queens, sultan, emperors, empresses, tsars, and kaisers, depending on the type of governments and the location of the state he or she rules. Oftentimes, the monarch was based on the need for a strong ruler who could gather the countries best men to form and command a military that was used to defend the country. The monarch was absolute and only responsible to God and was considered to be God's representative in all worldly and royal matters. A strong central government was needed to maintain order and provided a stable atmosphere in which trade could flourish. Productive leadership qualities were very noticeable in Henry the VIII, and even more so in his daughter, Elizabeth (Rowse 226-263). Furthermore, â€Å"There is no doubt that she regarded herself as appointed by God to rule over her subjects† (Rowse 264). Henry the VIII inherited a kingdom from Henry the VII which lacked natural recourses yet it was surrounded on three sides by water. Even though Henry’s kingdom was protected by water, the Scots lived to the north and were allied with France. The Scots were England’s ancient and bitter enemy. Henry’s chief concerns had been to control the independence of the nobility and to enrich the crown. He accomplished this by eliminating his enemies and taking their land, by raising taxes, and by avoiding involvement in expensive wars leaving him with an abundance of money which he used to set out on a different course - to expand England’s ... Free Essays on Political History And Corruption In Macbeth Free Essays on Political History And Corruption In Macbeth To understand many of William Shakespeare’s plays, one must understand the history of the time period. A.L. Rowse gives a history of William Shakespeare’s time, the late sixteenth to the early seventeenth century and how the government of the time was authoritarian but popular. The person of the Monarch (derived from the Greek â€Å"monorchia†, the rule of one), the Crown, was something even the lowest character could understand. The monarchs have many different titles, including king, queens, sultan, emperors, empresses, tsars, and kaisers, depending on the type of governments and the location of the state he or she rules. Oftentimes, the monarch was based on the need for a strong ruler who could gather the countries best men to form and command a military that was used to defend the country. The monarch was absolute and only responsible to God and was considered to be God's representative in all worldly and royal matters. A strong central government was needed to maintain order and provided a stable atmosphere in which trade could flourish. Productive leadership qualities were very noticeable in Henry the VIII, and even more so in his daughter, Elizabeth (Rowse 226-263). Furthermore, â€Å"There is no doubt that she regarded herself as appointed by God to rule over her subjects† (Rowse 264). Henry the VIII inherited a kingdom from Henry the VII which lacked natural recourses yet it was surrounded on three sides by water. Even though Henry’s kingdom was protected by water, the Scots lived to the north and were allied with France. The Scots were England’s ancient and bitter enemy. Henry’s chief concerns had been to control the independence of the nobility and to enrich the crown. He accomplished this by eliminating his enemies and taking their land, by raising taxes, and by avoiding involvement in expensive wars leaving him with an abundance of money which he used to set out on a different course - to expand England’s ...

106 Animals With Unusual Group Names

106 Animals With Unusual Group Names Leave it to the animal kingdom to bring us some unusual and fun-to-say names for certain animal groups. While it may be easy to think of all animals in terms of herds and packs, its so much more fun to learn the true group names for some of your favorite animals. Whether its an unkindness of ravens or a cete of badgers, the animal kingdom is rich with clever and creative names for groupings of animals. From a wake of buzzards to a leap of lizards, explore the following odd and awesome animal group names throughout the rest of the article, categorized alphabetically by the animals mentioned and used in fun sentences that I hope tells a compelling narrative of exploring over 100 unique names of groups of animals. From a Rookery of Albatrosses to a Murder of Crows The etymology of why we call groups of animals a particular noun truly derives from humans instinctive nature to categorize and compartmentalize identifiers in their brain. For this reason, collective nouns were created to describe particular animal groups. That way, even without the identifying noun of the animal itself, when referring to collective nouns like a shrewdness roaming the jungle, one can safely assume the speaker is talking about a group of apes. Did you know a group of albatross was called a rookery or a group of alligators called a congregation or that baboons travel in troops while badgers travel in cetes and bats in cauldrons? Its best to be wary when a sloth of bears comes lumbering through the woods, which may occur as a sedge of American bitterns, a chain of bobolinks, a bellowing of bullfinches or a wake of buzzards circle overhead. Hunters may take bloodhounds out in a sute, but a clowder or pounce of cats or kindle or litter of kittens wouldnt be quite right for the job. Still, while roaming through the obstinacy of buffalo, one might notice an army of caterpillars, or more rarely a coalition of cheetahs somewhere on the open plains. Be careful not to step on a quiver of cobras, the resulting scream may set a gulp of cormorants or a cover of coots, or worse yet a murder or horde of crows to flight.   From a Pack of Dogs to a Leash of Foxes Dogs can either be identified as a litter of puppies, a pack of wild dogs, or a cowardice of curs while donkeys travel in groups known as paces. In terms of flying creatures, dotterels travel in trips, turtle doves in pityings, ducks swim in groups called rafts but fly in formations called flocks, while groups of eagles are proudly referred to as convocations. You wont want to miss a parade of elephants or a gang of elk roaming around, and a mob of emus and a business of ferrets are not quite as frightening as they sound. A cloud of grasshoppers, though, truly is terrifying, but you can take solace in that a tribe of goats will likely eat an entire cloud if given the chance. Some names, like a charm of finches, a tower of giraffes, a prickle of porcupines and a stand of flamingos make sense just because of the creature groups they name - finches are charming, giraffes do tower, porcupines do prickle and flamingos typically stand on one leg! However, Ive never seen a leash on a fox, but a group of foxes is called a leash. From a Band of Gorillas to a Parliament of Owls Groups of gorillas are known as bands, which bazars of guillemots or confusions of guinea fowls would certainly enjoy if only they played instruments! Bloats of hippopotamus or cackles of hyenas could bask by the watering hole while a shadow of jaguars, an ambush of tigers, a troop of kangaroos and a party of jays watch from the bushes! Elsewhere in the jungle, a conspiracy of lemurs leisurely hangs amongst the vines as a leap of leopards (or lizards, as the term fits both) and a pride of lions circle the group below. Meanwhile, a mischief of mice and labor of moles fights for control over a hollowed out tree stump they both want to call home while a barrel of monkeys hoots and holler at a passing barren of mules. In the category of flight, lapwings travel in deceits, larks in exaltations, mallards in sords, magpies in tidings or gulps, martins in richnesses, nightingales in watches and owls in parliaments. A pandemonium of parrots or a covey of partridges may also take part in a gathering of birds, while ostentations of peacocks may want to stand apart from the crowds. From a Rookery of Penguins to a Zeal of Zebras Penguins travel in groups called colonies, musters, parcels or rookeries - depending on the type of penguin - while otters travel in romps and jellyfish in smacks. Elsewhere underwater, a pod of porpoises, a fever of stingrays, a shiver of sharks, and a run of salmon frolick beneath the surface.   In the air, ravens travel in kindnesses, snipes in walks, sparrows in hosts, starlings in murmurations, and storks in musterings. Groups of swans are called bevies while groups of trush are called mutations. Turkeys travel in gangs (watch out) and vultures circle in kettles. Waterfowls travel in knobs but wildfowls travel in plumps and woodpeckers descend on trees in groups called descents. On land, a coterie of prairie dogs pops up on an unsuspecting nest of rabbits, a gaze of raccoons, a scurry of squirrels and a building of rooks. A rhumba of rattlesnakes shake their tails as a crash of rhinoceroses and a congress of salamanders pass too close, and a cluster of spiders hide in response.  A mud pit full of pigs can be referred to as a passel or a sounder while polecats specifically travel in chines. Whales travel in pods and wolves travel in packs while groups of wombats are called wisdoms and groups of zebras called zeals.

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 34

Reflection paper - Essay Example The lecture explores various Chinese dynasties and how people migrated and settled within China and beyond. First, West discussed the Han Dynasty, which was organised around the emperor. During this era, there was massive movement of people into the empire, spreading out into Central Asia. There was a significant resettlement in the area. West then advanced to the Tang Dynasty, where he gave a clear talk about how the dynasty displaced the Turks, who originally occupied Central Asia, pushing them further to the north into Tibet and to the south of Vietnam. The Silk Road, which passed along steppes and deserts, provided a channel that the Turks used to reach their new areas of settlement. West also proceeds to the Song dynasty, which existed from 960-1126, marking the end of medieval period and the birth of capitalism. It is from this lecture that it became clear to me that the Manchus emerged from the Southern Song. West argued that the largest migration in the history of China included migration from North to South to the lowlands. The lecture revealed that the Chinese had their expansionist ideology and strategy thwarted in Northern Asia as well as Central Asia. In the process of continuous displacement of the Chinese deeper into south, there was extensive interaction of cultures. Despite the fact that Europe was expanding during this time, the only people who interacted with the Europeans were the Mongols. The Monkey King displays qualities such as endurance, which enables him to successfully manoeuvre through his journey to the West. His smartness can be witnessed in the cases where he explores various means to get to the West, where he even uses clouds as automobile to cover 180, 000 miles in the in an epic span of one somersault. The professor’s lecture is an eye opener into the highly ritualised Chinese society, which the â€Å"Journey to the West† focuses on. West exposed the thinking of the

Cell biology questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cell biology questions - Assignment Example Therefore it can be concluded with lots of confidence that absorption of an intensive color during this process is the primary reason as to why molecule mobility is reduced between membranes. This aspect is used in a number of ways one of them being is to characterize mobility of proteins and lipids in the body whenever need may be or examination of cytoskeletal dynamics. Proteins take several steps to cross from endoplasmic reticulum, where they are produced and processed in readiness to transport to plasma membrane. You find that proteins are synthesized by the Golgi processes in the endoplasmic reticulum before they are sent to any cell. Studies have shown that prior to the proteins going through the endoplasmic reticulum they are transformed from their protein form into amino acids by ribosomes. As the amino acids enter the Golgi for further processing and refinement, they do so while they are facing the endoplasmic reticulum (cis side) and when they leave, they also do so as they face the plasma membrane (i.e. trans side). This technical move process is of great importance because as the proteins make their progress from the cis side to the trans side, they become modified and are packaged in such a way that makes them appropriate for transportation to any cell located anywhere in the body. Thus the protein must pass through the cisternae stack which varies in number and shape and it is known to be organized differently in different cell types. Protein in question here has several forms. First it can be transmembrane protein. This kind is transported by means of embedding itself in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. On another means, it can be water – soluble proteins which easily get through the membrane o the lumena. For a while now, differential centrifugation has continued to be of great help in separating rough endoplasmic from the smooth endoplasimic recticulum. It is a procedure which microbiologist and