Religion8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religion8 - Essay Example ove and caring for all the members of the church, but on the church as an institution love and caring is lost to the achievement of it believed mission. Practices within the church as a community through love and care looks to build up each member of the community. This is essentially through greater focus of sharing of the resources within the community to build every member of the community. In the church as an institution the building up of the individual through love, care and sharing is lost. Instead the resources are used to build the institution called the church. The concentration of practices is on increasing number of individuals that are members. This means there will be greater emphasis on activities on the show of the religion, like increase in the visibility of prayer and hymns to the world, as against the activities of caring, in a community like charity and service of the community. Building of churches, expansion of parishes, and growth of the church would be the mor e prominent practices in the church as an institution, instead of practices aimed at the building up of each member, when the church is a community. (2). Providing a simple meaning to the concept of the sacrament to the church is not easy, for it is a very significant aspect of the Christian church. It can be looked upon as the receiving of the greatest gift of Divine Grace, or restoring it when it is lost, or increasing it, depending on the sacrament. (3). The sacraments offer in them celebrations relating to Christian celebration, Christian life, and Christian hope. The meanings associated with these sacraments lie in the past, present and future providing the import to these celebrations. This makes sacraments no ordinary celebrations, but occasions to remember and experience the saving presence of God. This makes it important for receiving of the sacraments to be accepted in a meaningful manner. The sacraments are the means to remember and celebrate several elements of the Divine

Principles of Social Workers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Principles of Social Workers - Essay Example Thesis Statement Considering the task of social workers this report would intend to discuss the ethical standards and responsibilities of social workers. Thus, the objective of report is to understand various aspects of the moral concerns and other operating principles to be considered by the social workers taking into account the working standards, historical outlooks, confidentiality and ethical responsibilities. Unique Aspects of Social Worker’s Profession Social worker’s occupation has its unique form of understanding, ‘code of ethics’, values, state certifications and countrywide system of qualified education packages. These aspects prepare social workers to syndicate the aspiration and to assist others with the knowledge, abilities and morals which are essential to offer such assistances with efficiency. Contextually, besides various non-governmental organizations, social workers are also found in public organizations, profit-seeking companies, hospit als, universities, police branches, courts and numerous other modern day workplaces serving various people, families and societies at large (National Association of Social Workers, 2012). It is worth mentioning in this regard that professional social workers assist people to restore or improve their abilities for social working through developing societal situations favorable of the accomplishment of their objectives. Hence, the tasks of social work require acquaintance of human behavior of social, financial and cultural establishments and the incorporation of all these characteristics. Furthermore, social workers’ occupation is considered as highly qualified and knowledgeable specialists, which is also regarded as one of the rapidly increasing professions in the United States. The report of ‘Council on Social Work Education’ depicts that in the year 2000, almost 22,163 students were registered in social working programs which was further anticipated to grow by 3 0% in 2010. Unlike other professions, social workers attempt to assist people to overcome the challenges faced by them in their daily lives in terms of poverty, discernment, abuse, addiction, physical sickness, annulment, joblessness, educational limitation, disability and mental sickness. It is in this context that the social workers attempt to inhibit crisis situations and guide people to deal with the pressures of regular life more efficiently (National Association of Social Workers, 2012). National Organization for Human Service Education (NOHSE) Standards In general terms, there are no specific standards which can provide action for every situation that might appear in the tasks of social workers. However, in the year 1995, National Organization for Human Service Education (NOHSE) had approved ethical standards for social workers in order to reduce the conflict of strategies towards determining the course of actions to be taken in certain circumstances. These standards narrated the responsibilities bestowed on social workers defining social work as an occupation which has developed in reaction to the expectation of human requirements and problems. Therefore, social workers should preserve the truthfulness and morals of occupation, encourage welfare of people and improve their professional qualities on a continuous basis.

Analysis of the International Accounting Standards on Inventory

Analysis of the International Accounting Standards on Inventory This eassy mainly introduced the information about the International Accounting standards of Inventory(IAS 2). First, we introduced the background of the IAS 2; then we discussed the major requirements of the standards and the importance of these requirements; after that we critically evaluate the IAS 2. Background The IASs, International Accounting Standards, which issued with the IASC setting up in 1973, are the common standards followed by accountancy bodies. Then, the IASB with new accounting standards (IFRS) and more member countries was founded to replace the IASC. Both of the two committees concerned with the regulation improvement and global harmonisation of international accounting. Inventory valuation plays a vital role in the profit calculation and assets valuation process. However, method differences and controversy still exist in stock valuation among different companies. In terms of that, a consistent benchmark seems necessary to eliminate them and compare companies profit on the same basis. IAS 2 is such an international standard to offer regulation and method for inventory. Its first draft of Valuation and Presentation of Inventories came out in 1974, and was brought into the IAS one year later. The former standard of stock (IAS 2(1993)) set up in 1993 and it took effect on the date of January 1st 1995. Since IASB replaced of IASC, the modified version was published in 2003 and it took effect in 2005. Aiming to obtain the accurate calculation result of cost and subsequently expense of inventory, IAS2 mainly concern with the write-down to Net Realizable Value. In order to allocate cost to stocks, it provides cost principle as well. To be more specific, IAS2 classifies that the inventory includes finished products, goods in process and raw material. Furthermore, it also contains measurement of inventory, fundamental principle of IAS2, write-down to Net Realizable Value, expense recognition and the required disclosures as well. Requirements and importance of IAS 2 There are many requirements of the inventories in International Accounting Standard, in terms of IAS 2 regulate how to analysis the cost of inventories, how to measure inventories, how to assign inventories etc. The first requirement is that the cost of inventories is the total cost to deliver inventories to their present location and condition. According to IAS 2 (2005) cost of inventories shall comprise all costs of purchase, costs of conversion and other costs incurred in bringing the inventories to their present location and condition. The second requirement of IAS 2 is that inventories should be measured at the lower of net realisable value and cost on an item by item basis Once measured, the lower of net realisable value and cost must be used as an asset in the balance sheet. When the inventories net realizable value below its cost, it means that the future economic benefits will less than its carrying amount, which are brought to the companies by inventories. Therefore this part of the loss should be deducted from the value of assets, and included in accounting subjects of current profit and loss. Otherwise, there will be the phenomenon of virtual assets. Thus, we should use the lower of the net realisable value and cost in the stocktaking process. The third requirement of IAS 2 is that the cost of inventories should be assigned by using the First-in First-out (FIFO) or weighted average cost formula unless there are some special inventories. IAS 2 does not require that the fairest possible approximation to the cost should be reflected by the formula used. Therefore, the Standard gives the FIFO, as well as the weighted average cost formula for free choice. Accounting to Wikipedia (2009), FIFO is an abstraction ways of organizing and manipulation of data relative to time and prioritization. This method describes the principle of what comes in first should be handled first, what comes in next waits until the first is finished. FIFO is the formula, which is frequently-used, to bear the cost of inventories which are out and which are still in. Weighted average cost formula is easier than others, also when the market price rising up or falling down, this formula is easy to calculate the average unit cost of inventories, in order to s hare the cost of inventory is more trade-offs and objective. Options IAS 2 offers some optional rules for companies to choose. These options, to a certain extent, affect the internationally implement of IAS. The following essay will list three primary options. Firstly, IAS 2 stipulates two alternative formulas for measuring the cost of inventories, which are first in, first out (FIFO) and weighted average. FIFO assumes that goods sold are those produced earlier. That is to say, the cost of inventories is those produced later. This approach may lead to underestimate cost and overestimate gross profit in the year of inflation. Weighted average is the average cost of all units currently in stock at the time of reporting. (kcsi) IAS 2 is not mandatory for which formulas companies should choose. Obviously, these two optional formulas would measure different cost of inventories. Secondly, IAS 2 stipulates that normally expenditure incurred is not recognized as cost of inventories. Nevertheless, IAS 2 supplies option of including some expense of inventories or not in the cost. For example, it is appropriate that non-productive indirect expense could be part of the cost of inventories if they are for special projects. Apart from that borrowing cost of inventories could be included in the cost under special circumstances. Thirdly, there are two optional techniques in the inventories cost measurement, standard cost method and retail method. IAS 2 requests retail industry use retail method to measuring the cost of inventories. However, other industry could apply either retail or standard cost method, which may result in discrepancy between companies that use different methods. Applicability At present, IAS 2 is widely implemented in Asia and Europe, while US GAAP plays a significant role in North America. This becomes a critical restriction factor of the applicability of IAS 2 internationally. Most stock exchanges in the world incline that quote companies should treat IAS 2 as financial report benchmark. It could improve the transparency and reliability of inventories information if listed companies apply IAS 2. Besides, more and more multinational corporations apply IAS 2 on their own, such as Air France, Nestle and Adidas. Owning to multinational corporations have companies in more than one country, it would be convenient for parent companies to consolidate statement if parent and subsidiary companies all implement IAS 2. Although IAS 2 has been applied by most countries worldwide, during the process of applicability IAS 2 internationally, some deficiencies still have arisen inevitably. Take net realizable value as an example. IAS 2 prescribes it as the estimated selling price in the ordinary course of business less the estimated costs of completion and the estimated costs necessary to make the sale(Birzeit Consulting). With regard to costs of completion and costs necessary to make the sale, IAS 2 does not list exact items, which implies lacking comparability between companies. The defects cause that some countries apply their own national accounting standard which are related to their national conditions. Opportunities for creative accounting The item inventory plays a significant role in companies operation and financial performance since it is not only determines the computation of profit, but also impacts the valuation of assets which displayed on the balance sheet. IAS 2 probably is a comprehensive guidance which prescribes systematic accounting treatments for inventory in terms of the determination of inventorys cost, the recognition of correlative expense, and the formulas for assigning costs to inventory. Despite the constraint of IAS 2, it is acknowledged that there are several stratagems for those unethical companies to manipulate their valuation of inventory, thereby expressing a fictitious favourable performance to the authorities and public. A study from Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) described that there is no area of accounting provides more opportunities for subjectivity and creative accounting than the valuation of inventory. More precisely, because of the close relationship between the inventories and revenues, companies often tend to inflate their revenues by overstating the value of inventories which is a direct and effective measure. There are a number of approaches to manipulate the value of inventory and those methods are mainly categorized into three aspects which are time horizon, NRV and overhead. Firstly, because IAS 2 do not have detailed guidance in respect of time dimension, companies usually like to employ tricks at the end of fiscal year by utilizing cut-off procedures. Assume that goods are delivered to a company at the last day of fiscal year 200X but the invoice date is at the first day of next fiscal year. In this situation, the company probably takes the goods into inventory immediately but not records the purchase invoice. The premature recording of inventory leads to the automatic increase of revenue which displays a false boost on the financial report. Furthermore, companies can falsify a transfer of non-existent inventory at the year-end which is difficult to confirm by auditors. Thus, the overstated value of inventory will generate from these fictitious in transit inventories. Secondly, IAS 2 adopted a specific method which is use the lower figure of net reliable value and cost to measure inventory. This measurement concerned the true value of inventory in a large extent and let this valuation reflects the real market appropriately; on the other hand, it also provides opportunities for frauds because the calculation of NRV is largely depends on accountants anticipations. More specifically, it is obvious that the extent of provisions should be reduce to NRV are highly subjective and manipulative. Just like Barry Elliott argued that a provision is an effective smoothing device and allows overcautious write-downs to be made in profitable years and consequent write-backs in unprofitable ones. Thirdly, although IAS 2 provides guidelines for allocating appropriate overhead into the cost of inventory, the distinctions between diverse of overhead are still hardly to be distinguished exactly. Companies might find opportunities of manipulation and include those overhead which indirectly attributable to production in the inventory valuation, thereby differing the influence of overhead and so rising profits. Weaknesses and Improvement Overall, the statements about the inventory at the International Accounting Standards (IAS) are understandable and comprehensive. However, it seems that problems still obviously exist in the inventory standards. Firstly, the calculation methods for the same industry are not unified. Although IAS2 has cancelled LIFO method, two different methods are still available: FIFO and weighted average method. Different methods of calculation will produce different results. Thus, it makes no sense for the companies of the same industry to compare the ratio results. Therefore, the standard should be more detailed. First, it should select the most appropriate measurement based on the characteristics and nature of various industries. Second, it should be clearly defined that all the companies in the same industry should adopt the same measurement method. These two measures help to eliminate difference, and subsequently to promote development of harmonisation. Secondary, it offers the opportunities for creative accounting. There are many cases about listed companies involved in the stock fraud, and the most famous one is the U.S. Fallmos case. Its creativer Monas first get a pharmacy located in Ohio, and in the subsequent decades, he acquired another 299 stores, then he formulated a company called Fallmo. Unfortunately, all of these brilliants are fraud based on the overestimation of the inventory. Such a fraud ultimately led to the bankruptcy of Monash and his company as well. At the same time, the Big Five firm who provided audit services to it also lost millions of dollars. From these cases, it seems that fraud happened owing to the inadequate inventory management system. In order to prevent companies from cheating by inventory, the standards should require the audit firm to check the companys inventories regularly. The third one is that the International Accounting Standards failed to keep pace with the times process. With the development of enterprises, it generates a lot of new inventory management methods, such as the Just-In-Time (JIT) method. JIT originated from Toyoda in Japan, it was created by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, his son Kiichiro Toyoda and the engineer Taiichi Ohno. Toyota implemented the Kanban management which runs with the physical. For example, when an order which includes the requirements of the delivery time is proposed, Toyotas workers entered these information on the Kanban. The ordering department get the ordering information through Kanban and give the new order to the production department through Kanban, and so forth; all orders will be connected to the entire department. Aiming to eliminate waste, reduce costs and improve economic efficiency, its core is to seek a non-stock production system or to minimize inventory production system. In that case, it is the reverse order of the traditional mode which product first then looking for customers. Although the demands of JIT are high, many companies have adopted this approach, such as Dell Inc. In the JIT, the zero inventory is the main goal. Thus, the traditional methods such as FIFO and weighted average method lost the meaning of their existence, and the traditional fields of the closing stock inventory system and the perpetual inventory system also appears to be meaningless.

How the Houses in Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights Compare :: Emily Bronte Literature Essays

How the Houses in Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights Compare Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are two exact opposites separated by the neutral territory of the moors, a dreamlike place thought of as heaven by Heathcliff and Catherine. Although both estates are wealthy, there is a definite difference in class between them and this bears greatly on the characters from both estates ability to socialise with each other. The two different buildings have their own strengths and weaknesses and the characters reflect their features. On the one hand there is Wuthering Heights with its stark and intimidating appearance but strong magnetism representing savagery and Thrushcross grange with its refinement and pleasant appearance representing civility. Wuthering heights has the characteristics of being a very strong, prominent structure and is described by Mr Lockwood as being a misanthropists heaven. It is a very desolate and lonely place up on a hill exposed to stormy weather with no real beauty and can be seen as an uncivilised place to live. Thrushcross Grange is a very classy, civilised estate and living in a place like this would bring a lot of status with it. It is quite a sheltered place down in the valley and this is something that is common with its children - they tend to be sheltered and spoilt. Thrushcross grange is comfortable and decorative whereas Wuthering Heights is basic and down to earth. Whilst Wuthering Heights has great power in its commanding position up on the hill, it will never be in the same class as the Grange. The features of the estates have a strong association with the people who live in them in terms of mood, emotion and appearance. Heathcliff is a very dark and stormy character of Gypsy blood and is the person who has the greatest association with Wuthering Heights. Mr Earnshaw who found him alone and starving introduced him to the place as a child where he grew up with Catherine and Hindley as an interloper. In adulthood he becomes more and more antisocial and puts up a stone barrier when it comes to showing his emotions. He and the building suit each other as though they were one and the same because whilst he displays all the strength and pride of the Heights, he also has the roughness. Isabella is Edgar Linton's sister and although being a pleasant, well-educated person has the soft and civilised traits of Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff marries her as a way of revenge against Cathy and Edgar and as part of his overall plan to own both estates. Not realising Heathcliffs intentions she is taken in by his magnetism and strength but is too soft a character to stand up to his might and

Violent and Vulgar Rap Lyrics

VIOLENT AND VULGAR RAP LYRICS What happened to censorship? â€Å"Then shall we allow our children to listen to any story anyone happens to make up, and so receive into their minds ideas that often the very opposite of those we shall thing they ought to have when they are grown up? † Plato, The Republic While Plato may not have had rap music to contend with, he posed a question that could be a leading concept for a society concerned with the impact of today’s music on its kids.In truth, Plato would note a archetype shift from a culture that put their family’s social, emotional, and spiritual well being as primary; to a society that is enslaved to whoever or whatever nets the mighty dollar gets to make decisions regarding what is right for our youth. Let us begin with censorship. Most freedoms are taken for granted, because they always seem to be in effect. Censorship keeps freedoms in check, or so it should. There are some things that are not suitable for the whol e population. Children should not be exposed to vulgar or violent media.The young impressionable minds of our youth should not be exposed to media that promotes relaxed morals, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and the glorification of being a violent criminal. There are a lot of arguments regarding censorship, pro and con. I am willing to bet that those opposed to censorship of vulgar music do not have small children, specifically daughters. There are a lot of reasons to support censorship to protect our youth and our future. But those in control, those making major profits from the offensive media, only have their fat bank accounts to protect-not our precious children.On the following pages, I am going to submit some evidence that shows what effects rap music has had on our youth. I am also going to show you some examples of how this insult to our children’s minds, growth and healthy development has been allowed to continue. And finally, since the power’s that be are so hard to stop-I am going to propose a solution that we, as citizens, parents, and teachers can do to help gain some of our power back in educating our youth. The federal government and the states have long been permitted to limit obscenity or pornography. (Deflem) ] While the Supreme Court has generally refused to give obscenity any protection under the First Ammendment, pornography is subject to little regulation. However, the exact definition of obscenity and pornography has changed over time. In fact, federal obscenity law in the U. S. is highly unusual in that not only is there no uniform national standard, but there is an explicit legal precedent (the â€Å"Miller test†) that all but guarantees that something that is legally obscene in one jurisdiction may not be in another. In effect, the First Amendment protections of free speech vary by location within the U. S. , and over time.The â€Å"Miller Test† has 3 basic guidelines for the trier of fact: (a). W hether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the *prurient interest, (b). Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law. (c). Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (The First Amendment, Miller vs Californie,1973) An great example of the ambiguity of the Miller Test was during the 2Live Crew obscenity trial in 1991.Legal scholars have argued against each and every decision the Judge Gonzales made when he used to Miller Test during the first trial when he ruled in favor of the plaintiff and found 2Live Crew guilty of violating obscenity laws. First, it was argued that the Judge’s determination of the relevant community and its standards was overtly subjective. The Judge decided upon a geographical concept of community, but this was inappropriate because the fact that people live in close physical proximity does not automatically suggest that they share common values.Judge Gonzalez was also inconsistent in determining, on the one hand, that the considered community is generally more tolerant than others, and, on the other hand, that he could rely on his personal knowledge of the community standards which he never defined, of which he did not say whether they could change over time, and of which he did not determine the defining criteria. Second, the three standards of the Miller test (prurient interest, patently offensive, lacking serious value) were not met.With regard to determination of the album’s prurient interest, it was argued that there was no clear intention on the part of 2 Live Crew to lure hearers into sexual activity, and, referring to the profit-making motive of the rap band, Judge Gonzalez ignored that motive was irrelevant in aesthetic maters. Next, the patently offensive character of the â€Å"Nastyà ¢â‚¬  album was decided upon as the result of a misinterpretation of the lyrics, based upon Gonzalez’ arbitrary determination of â€Å"the† community standards. Actually, the lyrics of 2 Live Crew’s music should not be taken literally as they are comedic parodies in a culturally specific language.Also, music does not appeal to the intellect but to human emotions and imagination. Finally, the Judge’s ruling that â€Å"Nasty† did not have any serious artistic value was by definition mistaken since the â€Å"as a whole† test fails automatically in the case of a recording which after all always has some serious elements (the Judge never heard all the songs). Judge Gonzalez particularly failed to take into account Professor Henrey Louis Gates’s testimony which indicated the specific artistic style of the â€Å"Nasty† recording.Long pointed to the call and response style, the tradition of â€Å"doing the dozens† (a word game with insults), and the meaning of â€Å"boasting† as part of this type of rap music. Judge Gonzalez thus completely ignored the specific African American cultural values that are manifested by the album. Gates testified on behalf of Navarro, arguing that the material that the county alleged was profane actually had important roots in African-American vernacular, games, and literary traditions and should be protected. [ (Deflem) ] What a slipper slope.Not to mention â€Å"the prosecution suffered a setback when Judge June L. Johnson of Broward County Court agreed with the defense that a transcript of the tape contained comments that might distract the jurors and said that it could not be admitted as evidence†. [ (RIMER) ] When Joanne Cantor was asked to comment on Freedom of Speech issues at a Madison Civics Club dinner on October 12, 2002 this is what she had to share, â€Å"Many people have noted that corporate interests control what gets discussed in the media, and one place where this is obvious is the controversy over the media's effects on children.Research shows that violent television, movies, videogames, and even commercials can produce serious harmful effects on children, such as promoting violent behaviors and inducing intense anxieties. Parents need this information so they can make informed choices about their children's viewing, but the media use their corporate power to censor information that might damage their profits. At the same time, these corporations raise First Amendment concerns when solutions that might help parents are proposed. † Here are the examples of what she was referring to: 1.In 1997, I participated in a taping of The Leeza Show. On that show, parents were highly critical of the TV industry's new age-based rating system that was supposed to help them block harmful content using a device called the V-chip. NBC, which opposed making changes in the rating system, refused to let that program air. And five years later, they still have not gone along with the compromise that the other stations adopted. 2. After the National Institute on Media and the Family released a list of the 10 most violent video games, they were sued by the manufacturer of one of the games on the list.Although the lawsuit was eventually dropped, the costly process caused the organization's liability insurance to double, and they were subsequently lucky to get any insurance at all. 3. The Center for Successful Parenting produced a documentary on the effects of media violence for Court TV, a cable channel that is owned by Time-Warner. Before the program could air, the producers were told to remove the mention of Time-Warner's products. They were also required to include remarks by lobbyist Jack Valenti, who claimed that the research showing harmful effects was inconclusive. (Joanne Cantor) ] These are just a few of many examples of corporate interests using their muscle to restrict the free flow of information to parent s. They say that it's up to parents, not the media, to raise their children. But they make harmful products, which come into our homes automatically through television and radio and the internet. They market them to children too young to use them safely, and they try to keep parents in the dark about their effects. There are many studies that show the effects of violent and vulgar lyrics on our youth.The studies are too numerous to dispute and the results are pretty much the same. Teen pregnancy, STD’s are on the rise and although some studies indicate a drop in crime- they don’t’ show you the rise in crime in offenders under the age of 19, which is significant. I don’t want to go into all the statistics and the sources. I want to focus, instead, on the plan to use knowledge to empower ourselves and our youth-It’s called Media Literacy. The impact of media is critical, especially when it comes to the socialization of our children. Dr.Renee Hobbs wr ites that, â€Å"Media messages are representations of social reality, defined as perceptions about the contemporary world, which are shared among individuals. Messages also represent the social realities of times and places far removed, and help us make sense of the past, present and future. People need the ability to judge the accuracy of particular messages, which may or may not reflect social reality† (Handbook of Research on Teaching Literacy Through the Communicative and Visual Arts, 1998). few understand that media literacy consists of teaching about media as well.So the problem is clear: our students are growing up with media messages, messages that fill the bulk of their leisure time and provide them with information about who to vote for and what consumer decisions to make. Yet students receive little to no training in the skills of analyzing or evaluating these messages, many of which make use of language, moving images, music, sound effects, special visual effects and other techniques that powerfully affect our emotional responses. Educator’s are still focusing on historical context of the past, when cultural survival depended upon the mastery of the printed word.While these skills are even more important today, language is only one of a number of symbol systems which humans use to express and share meaning. Changes in communication technologies over the past 100 years have created a cultural environment that has extended and reshaped the role of language and the written word. Over the past decade, there's been a lot of discussion about how to best help teachers, parents and students be more critical consumers of the media. Quite logically, this response has been called â€Å"media literacy. Media scholar David Considine describes media literacy: â€Å"In an age when most Americans get most of their information from television, not textbooks, pictures not print, we need a wider definition of what it means to be literate. [Media lite racy], then, is an expanded information and communications skill that is responsive to the changing nature of information in our society. It moves from merely recognizing and comprehending information to the higher order critical thinking skill implicit in questioning, analyzing and evaluating that information† (Telemedium, Fall 95).Because the presence of media has become so accepted, we mistakenly presume that consumers of media are able to decode, deconstruct and digest media messages. Most of us received considerable teaching on how to interpret the written word, but we've had zero preparation for â€Å"reading† media messages. In an age when most Americans get most of their information from television not textbooks, pictures not print, we need a wider definition of what it means to be literate. Many of us grew up hearing the proverbs and adages like these: You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.These words are even truer today in a n age not only of computers and telecommunications but of virtual reality and imageneering. Today's technologies represent a startling fusion of sight and sound that frequently make it difficult for us to discern illusion from reality, fact from fiction. Special effects like those seen in movies like â€Å"JFK† and â€Å"Forrest Gump† merge the past with the present, color with black and white, the dead with the living, fact with fiction in such a way that the real truth can often be confused with the reel truth.Censorship and the welfare of our youth can not compete with big business, all we can do is try to arm ourselves and our children with the knowledge and understanding to correctly comprehend the messages that are being spewed from the media. With that power we may not be able to control what our children hear and see, but we can protect them with the knowledge of the motives of the messages. BIBLIOGRAPHY Deflem, Mathieu. Rap, Rock, and Censorship: Popular Cultu re and the Technologies of Justice. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, May 27-30.Chicago, 1993. Joanne Cantor, Pd. D. â€Å"Who's Freedom of Speech is it Anyway? † Madison Civic's Club. Madison: Joanne Cantor, Ph. D, 2002. Kirchheimer, Sid. WebMD Health News. 3 March 2003. 1 April 2011. Piotrowski, by Tom. â€Å"Media messages†¦ more than meets the eye? † The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (2003). RIMER, SARA. â€Å"New Yorimesk T. † 17 october 1990. New York Times Archives. 22 April 2011 .

Ex Memo Essay

Subject: Improvement on written refusals I am writing today to provide all employees with some useful tips on how to compose a customer refusal letter. While the example letter to Mr. Largo is factual, there are some things that could be presented much better. Presentation of facts could determine if we are able to retain customers and reflect the credibility of the company. Some key elements that I want to focus on are: †¢ Tone †¢ Punctuation and Grammar †¢ Professionalism The best way to begin a refusal is by setting an apologetic tone. You do not want to point blame at the customer, even if you feel they are wrong. Show empathy, and see if you can help them in anyway possible. Remember when writing a refusal all that’s representing our company are the words on the page; so we must use correct grammar and punctuation. Thank you for your attention and your time. I encourage our department to utilize these factors when writing a refusal letter. I want all refusals emailed to me, before mailing them. If there are any questions, problems or concerns you can reach me by email (twhitmore@mainappliance. com). MAIN STREET APPLIANCES 576 Main Street Gainesville, FL 33312 To: John Largo From: John Wright, Customer Relations Supervisor Date: July 20, 2009 Subject:$50 discount voucher Dear Mr. Largo, We apologize for not being able to grant your request for a replacement refrigerator. Main Street Appliances values you as a preferred customer, and would like to offer you a $50 discount voucher, to put towards a new refrigerator, with a 1year warranty. The voucher can only be used at the local Main Street location and expires on August 17, 2009. We apologize, again, for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. In the event that we may be of any further assistance, please call our customer service hotline (800-MAIN-STREET ext. 112) or by email (twhitmore@mainappliance. com). Sincerely, John Wright Customer Service