Project Investments in Unilever Company

The choice of a product or service that an entrepreneur wishes to invest in is an important factor to consider before bringing it to the market. Any investment project chosen should produce returns to benefit all stakeholders and other interested parties that the project affects directly or indirectly.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Investments in Unilever Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The paper utilizes axe anarchy fragrance for women, a new product that Unilever Company has launched on the market, as a case product in a bid to show the financial implication or consideration that the case company made before investing in the product. Unilever is a big corporation that deals with production or manufacture of many kinds of household products. Axe anarchy is the latest innovation or rather new product that the company has launched on its market (Unilever PLV, 2012, Para. 3). This product is ther efore financed by the company. The company has put in place enough funds that are used to innovate and manufacture new products on the market. The company is quoted in the securities exchange market as exemplary in terms of the quality of its products. Some of its finances come from the owners of the business who are the shareholders. Because of the high amount of money the company receives from its shareholders, it is able to carry out various innovations besides venturing in the production of multiple types of products. Unilever PLV therefore generates its funds through the sale of shares to its investors, a process known as equity funding (Unilever PLV, 2011, p. 15). This form of acquiring fund is advantageous because investors who buy the shares are not entitled to any interest. Bondholders, on the other hand, require that interest be paid to them. Therefore, this method allows the company to access capital for use to produce and market its products. The investors are only entit led to profits and losses in equal measures. Hence, the method does not have any impact to the company. Another advantage that the company will accrue from this form of financing is that there is no collateral required for this type of investment. Furthermore, the company is only obliged to pay dividends on the earnings that it makes. This therefore protects the company from any court proceedings or accusations when the company fails to make profits on the products.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, the business is not faced with a threat of collapse, as it can come up with other strategies to ensure survival. Furthermore, investing or financing this project through shared capital makes the company have a full control of the funds. The company is able to keep the funds indefinitely without being asked by the investors (Safania, Nagaraju Roohi, 2011 p.78). Furthermo re, the company has an opportunity to make decisions on whether to invest in the product or not. The decision is solely based on the management of the company that has been given the responsibility to carry out managerial decisions on the behavior of the shareholders if they help in the growth of the company besides helping further in accruing of more profits for the organization. Production of new products or services requires the organization to carry out a clear calculation on the total cost of producing the new product or service to ensure that it gets some profits after the product is sold. In this case, Unilever PLC Company will be required to analyze each investment components of producing axe anarchy fragrance for women to the moment it is sold. Therefore, various factors will be put into consideration. One of the investment components of producing this new product is the cost of producing or purchasing raw materials that are required for the manufacturing of the product. Th e cost of transportation of raw material to the company for production, as well as distribution to the suppliers and retailers should be factored in the company’s marketing strategies. The cost of paying salaries to the employees who ensure that the product is manufactured or converted from its raw materials to the time it reaches the consumers should also be provided. Logistic costs are also paramount and worth considering such as storage costs and administration costs among other costs. It is also important to consider the costs related to government taxes. Other costs include marketing. For the product to reach a wide market to attract high sales, the company needs to invest heavily on its marketing strategies. Media must be used to reach a wide audience coverage including television ads, billboards, internet, social media, and traditional forms such as print media among many other mediums. All these costs should be calculated and the right figure known to help the company in determining its price that should be competitive in the market to enable many customers to use the products. The product should also be of high quality to suit the target audience i.e. Young boys and girls.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Investments in Unilever Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More By breaking this cost down, the company will also be able to know the amount of money that it has invested in the new product, as this will enable it to have a clear estimate or projection of the profits that it is likely to accrue from the sale of the product. Furthermore, this analysis is vital is enabling the company to either progress with production of the product or not. For instance, if the cost of production is very high and surpasses the income level of the target audience or customer, it will not be viable for the company to produce such a product. The company can as well seek an alternative source of funding that costs less. In this case, the best option that the company can source its funds is through debt financing. This refers to borrowing of funds in the form of loans that are repaid over a certain period. The company can decide to borrow funds over a short term-less than one year- or a long-term scheme, which extends to more than one year. The major sources that the company can seek for these funds are from government agencies or banks that provide loans with a certain percentage of interest. This option of sourcing for finances has a number of benefits. For instance, the interest that is paid on the loan is deductible. Therefore, the company will benefit from tax advantage. In addition, the company will be able to retain its ownership. The lender of the money, whether financial institution or government agencies, cannot get or receive ownership of the company. Furthermore, lenders cannot claim any future profits or revenues of the company, as the lender will only be given the principle loan plus the interest as agreed between the lender and the party. It is also easy to raise funds using debt financing because it does not require the company or the borrower to comply with the federal or state securities’ regulations. Debt financing is also a very good method of sourcing for funds because a company is able to establish good relationships with the lenders. Hence, it can secure future financial assistance of a short and or a long-term financial health in time of need (Mitton, 2008, p.27). Ensuring that the history of a company is conducive for borrowing, the company is required to ensure that there is balance between the debt and equity ratio. The company must also demonstrate that it can be able to repay the loan within the stipulated duration to time. Furthermore, the company can source its funds from debt financing because it enables the company to have freedom in terms of its financials.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This helps the company to invest in projects or products that it feels can boost its profits. Axe anarchy fragrance for women is such a product. It therefore allows the company the discretion to make its own strategic decisions that can help to promote or stir economic growth of the company. Therefore, the company can opt for this form of sourcing its fund as an alternative method. The debt equity method of sourcing for funds is one of the cheapest and affordable methods that will enable the company to meet its needs including meeting costs of production and marketing of the products. In conclusion, finding the right source of funds for the Unilever Company can influence its operation positively when it comes to investing in new products or services. The paper has used axe anarchy fragrance for women as a case product from the company. Therefore, the use of equity financing whereby the company sells its shares is one of the appropriate sources of funds that Unilever used to seek fun ds and promote this product. Various investment components are however important in helping business decide whether to invest in a project or not. An alternative source of funds that can be used as an alternative is debt financing because it costs less to the company. Reference List Mitton, T. (2008). Why Have Debt Ratios Increased for Firms in Emerging Markets?. European Financial Management 14(1), 127-151. Safania, S., Nagaraju, B., Roohi, M. (2011). Relationship between Long Term Debt- to-Equity ratio and Share Price — a study on NSE, INDIA (2007-2010). International Journal of Business Management Economic Research, 2(4), 278- 283. Unilever PLV (2011). Financial Statement. Web. Unilever PLV. (2012). Latest from out brands: Axes launches its first fragrance for women. Web. This essay on Project Investments in Unilever Company was written and submitted by user Kallie Riggs to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Square Dancing Essay Example

Square Dancing Essay Example Square Dancing Paper Square Dancing Paper Essay Topic: Rip Van Winkle What is Square Dancing? Square dancing was first developed by lonely farmers as a means of entertaining and wooing their livestock (or at least thats the rumor Im choosing to believe/spread). But honestly, how drunk on moonshine and bored with wife-beating did people used to be to develop this Jig of humiliation? More importantly, how†I reiterate HOW is it still around today? I mean wasnt Bugs Bunny mocking this like 60+ years ago? Barnfolk during a hootenanny. Personally, Im for Jettisoning into the sun everyone involved in any non-farming interaction that regularly takes place in a barn. Who the hell wants to dance around a riggin barn?! Barnfolk, thats who† and they permanently forgot to evolve. Lets talk about some things that would be present at any square dance Jig- off. First, its impossible to picture a group of people square dancing without there being that one guy with the obscenely long Rip Van Winkle beard. Of course, he wasnt magically asleep for 20 years when it grew, unless you count his life-long whiskey haze and vow against critical thinking. Second, the band always does that foot-stomp knee-slap head-bob thing, telepathically conveying the message were all a bunch of sinine hicks and we love it! The head-bob is the and we love it part. Third, well you may not see this, but square dancing is the only dance where its easy to picture a random farm animal suddenly standing up on two legs, Joining in, and it seems natural. Another bumpkin seduced by a Jigging goat. Bumpkins promenading across the room with goats and sheep; why not? They make- out with them regularly anyhow. I will admit Im fairly su rprised they called it square dancing at all considering the highest level of schooling in the room is probably a forged G. E. D. like they know what a square is) Bunch of geometrically confused hill-folk buck-toothed and guffawing as they spin around a cow trough. Damn I hate that square dancing still exists! One thing thats hard for me to picture is anyone hearing square dance music coming from a barn and not getting the imperative urge to run in the opposite direction. Speaking of the music, isnt there Just that one swing your partner song and thats it? Photo taken during a rendition of their song Proud to be Illiterate. I guess its nard to play a variety ot tunes when your band consists ot people playing he washboard, broomstick-bass, and blowing into that Jug with the >OCC on it. Stay tuned for my upcoming entry on Jug bands Speaking of the musicians, apparently square dancing was so lacking in class that renamed the violin the fiddle. I can picture that conversation: Hey hairy, drooling Jug band member, is that a violin youre playing? A vi-o-what? Welp, I dont rightly know, mister. An accurate de scription of square dancing. I Just fiddle with it, so I guess thats what it is. a fiddle drool, drool, drool, slurping p drool, more drool* Im sure he also fiddles with other things like the engine of his primer-colored pick-up truck and his malformed wiener whenever his cousin is watching. I dont mean to over generalize, but in reiterating my idea to launch all square dancers into the sun, I propose it would do the world more good than harm. This is exactly what square dancing looks like to me. Im willing to bet that other long-standing traditions like racism, sexism, fear of progress, and hatred for the scientific community would prove directly correlated as they dropped exponentially. Sad Fact 1: Theres an international association of square dance callers named Callerlab. Seriously. An international organization. Sad Fact 2 : Did you know that square dancing has been designated the official state dance in 19 states? State dance?! Why the HELL are there even† Oh I give up! (*gun fires and body hits the floor*) End. Supplemental material: Link to Bugs Bunny in Hillbilly Hare. Excerpt of lyrics from Pickle Up a Doodle, a square dance call. When that devil comes a-courtin, Ah-haw! Hell catch all eight, with a right hand half, Back by the left, go once and a half. Turn the corner by the right, make a wrong-way thar, And ya pickle up a doodle in the middle of the star. Shoot that star, left allemande, gonna pass your partner by, You box the gnat with the next one, and you swing er mighty high. Walk all around that corner, turn a left hand round your girl, Four ladies chain, chain the big, wide, wicked world. Roll promenade a shady lady. Gents roll back, but only one, Promenade, youre gonna have a little fun. It aint no sin to swing and sway, An you pickle up a doodle in the middle of the day.

Lucky Expressions

Lucky Expressions Lucky Expressions Lucky Expressions By Maeve Maddox Reader Emma requests a post on the expression lucked out: The †¦ times Ive heard people using [lucked out] to mean youre out of luck as opposed to expressing good luck or fortune is bordering on ridiculous. The expression to luck out is an American coinage dating from 1954. It means to succeed through luck. Specifically, according to the OED, it is to succeed in a difficult, testing, or dangerous situation. For example: He really lucked out on that exam; every question he had studied for was on it. The expression to be out of luck means to be unfortunate. For example: Youre out of luck: the last train has left the station. Two other uses of luck as a verb are: to luck into: to acquire by good fortune, without effort on ones part. Example: He lucked into a sweet deal on that car. to luck upon: to meet with, to find. Example: He lucked upon some old clothes he had wanted to give away†¦ The noun luck entered English in the 15th century from a Dutch word meaning happiness or good fortune. Its related to German Glà ¼ck, fortune, good luck. The multiplicity of expressions with the word luck, incorporate associations with Chance and Fortune in the sense of the powers that arrange the uncertain fates of human beings. One can have good luck, bad luck, or ill luck. My father used the expression If he didnt have bad luck, hed have no luck at all. People say that its good luck to find a four-leaf clover, but bad luck to break a mirror. Some people are said to have good luck, meaning that they are generally fortunate, while some are said to have no luck, meaning that they are generally unfortunate. Here are just a few more of the many expressions that employ the noun luck: Good luck! said to someone setting off to some uncertain undertaking like an exam or an audition. Better luck next time! said to someone who has failed to achieve some goal. Just my luck! said by someone who has missed out on something desired. To be down on ones luck to be in straitened circumstances, for example, jobless. Luck of the Irish a contradictory expression that can mean either bad luck, or extraordinary good luck, depending on the context. The Best of British luck usually meant ironically, the way Americans might say Good luck with that. The sense is go ahead and try, but youre probably not going to succeed. Trust to luck undertake a difficult task with insufficient preparation, hoping that all will go well. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Regarding Re:Time Words: Era, Epoch, and Eon7 Proofreading Steps

Statutory Interpretation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Statutory Interpretation - Case Study Example Alec took a pecuniary advantage by deception of Vera to gain more money from the woman by dishonestly selling to her a computer that is worth 1000 for 2000. When he supplied the computer to her, he insisted that the computer is worth every penny of the 2000 given to him by Vera. There was no reason as to why the old woman would have thought the computer in question was not worth 2000 and we can not say that he was reckless to the representation of the computer. Alec knew very well the actual cost of the computer since they sold the machine at 1000 but she took advantage of the old woman and charge her double the amount the computer is worth. This act is a criminal offence under s 15 Theft Act 1968 for acquiring extra money from Vera dishonestly from the sale of the computer. For this case, Alec if convicted is liable for imprisonment of a term not exceeding ten years. This Theft Act was brought about to protect ordinary citizens from exploitation by people who want to obtain property from them in a dishonesty manner by deception. 1 For the case where Brian, an employed IT technician obtained services by deception is liable for criminal offence under the s 1 Theft Act 1978. ... Brian was a cousin to Bryan and since they share the same surname, there is no way as to why Wendy would have doubted the representation. Brian held both the season ticket that belonged to Bryan and his driving license and since they share the same surname, we can not say the Wendy was reckless to the representation and he failed to verify the two documents. For this case, Brian if convicted is liable for a criminal offence under s 1 Theft Act 1978. The Act was enacted to bring to book those who dishonestly obtain services by deception. Brian deceived Wendy, the gate attendant to believe that the services of attending to the football match has already been paid for and he was entitled to watch the football. For this case, he obtained services of watching football match by deception hence he is liable for criminal offence under s 1 Theft Act of 1978. 2 For the case where Alec advertised for a post of a qualified IT specialist who was to be graduate of BSc degree in IT but he ended up recruiting Brian who had faked that he was a graduate. Brian obtained pecuniary advantages by deception to be hired by Alec where he pretended to have graduated with a Bsc. Degree in IT where else he was using Bryan degree certificate. There is not way Alec would have noted that Brian was not a graduate since he had a degree certificate. The name Brian and Bryan looks similar and one would not note the difference between the two names and this led to Alec being deceived by Brian and recruited him to the position of a qualified IT technician believing that he was a BSc. Degree graduate. Brian was dishonest since he knew very well that he was not a BSc. Degree graduate and yet he went ahead of applying for position of a qualified IT technician with a fake degree certificate. For

Peloponnesian War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Peloponnesian War - Essay Example Division was evident especially due the two rival systems of alliances where neither could allow the other to be superior to the other. Sparta led the Peloponnesian league while Athens headed an empire of city-states 454 BC, the Delian league treasury, was transferred to Athens. After two years, Athens which dominated the vast Mediterranean Sea naval alliance started treating the league members as subjects rather than partners. Sparta had initially rejected the proposal of formation of the league. Athens then began fighting short wars to force members who had any intentions of defecting from the league to stay and those who had already left to rejoin. 433 BC, Athens, signed a treaty with Corcyra (modern day Corfu) to provide mutual protection, the move was interpreted as an act of provocation by Sparta and its allies and the following year Sparta cancelled her treaty with Athens. 433 BC, Athens, banned trading activities with city-states allied to Sparta. Athens also introduced high taxes to other states that led to the weakening of the Delian league. Sparta then declared war to stop Athenian control and dominance. 431 BC, Spartans ally, Thebes, sent a contingent of soldiers to seize and control a town called Potidea. However, they failed and the soldiers were caught and imprisoned. The residents of Potidea put the advancing troop of 200 to death. A day later Athens sent a messenger to plead with the townspeople against such abrupt action but it was too late as it marked the beginning of a long battle, a war. According to Thucydides the immediate causes of the Peloponnesian war were the Corinthian opportunism. It all began when Corcyra and Corinth began disputing over Epidamnos; the dispute drew Athens and Sparta which lead to the formation of a powerful group of allies. As the initial dispute escalated another one sprung up over Potidea in northern Greece between Athens and Corinth. The squabbles began a free fall into deeper conflict. The Epidamnos and

Mary Kay Ashs Essay Example for Free

Mary Kay Ashs Essay Story By phoebe Mary Kay Ash was a famous American businesswoman and the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. She started her business with a small investment of $5000 in 1963, and soon became one of the most successful business women of her time. Mary Kay Ash was born on 12th May, 1918 in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas. Her childhood experiences shaped the future of this visionary woman, and with a significant impact to the American history. Due to the illness of her father, her mother worked for 14 hours a day at a local food restaurant to take care of the family, while Mary Kay looked after her father along since she was young. Her mother always put the â€Å"you can do it† spirit in the young Mary’s mind. One time, Mary Kay’s mother went to work and she needed to take care of the illness father at home alone, she had to decoct medicine herbs for her father but she didn’t how to do it. So she called her mother to teach her step by step on the phone, but little Mary Kay was afraid, but her mother said to her gently †you can do it † . Finally, she did it. Since then, this sentence has inspired her when she encountered difficulties. When she was only seventeen years old, she married Ben Rogers then soon had three children, while her husband went to serve in World War II; she took the job of direct selling of books. Due to her amazing marketing skills, she earned an amazing $25,000 in just six months. While Mary Kay was enjoying her professional success, things at the personal front weren’t that smooth. Her husband was killed on the battlefield, and left her with three children. After her divorce, Mary Kay took up a job with Stanley Home Products, a direct sales firm. She became very successful in selling home care products but didn’t get enough recognition for her work. Her supervisors not only didn’t appreciate her work but also never raise her salaries. However, if a man did what she has done, somehow he can get an award. The inequality between men and women are very obvious in her workplace. So finally she resigned after worked very hard for 25 years in the firm, at the same time she learned a very important lesson of her life that men could not believe that a woman can be successful in business. Mary Kay turned her attention to writing a book, which eventually changed the course of her life and became a plan for her dream company that had innovative marketing plan for women. But her accountant said that she will close down if you start to open it. It’s impossible, She has seen many of these cases that many people went bankrupt within six month. But Mary Kay never heard of it, she believed that she can do it well. In 1963, with an investment of $5000, only a 500 sq. feet store in Dallas, Texas, Mary Kay and her nine zealous beauty consultant started the Mary Kay Cosmetics Company; it was a direct cosmetic products selling company. In the first year of operation, they made a staggering profit of $200,000. In the two years time, Mary Kay Company was selling products worth one million dollars. By this time, the company she created had become a worldwide enterprise with representatives in more than 30 markets. She applied the strategy of giving incentives over good work and started by giving pink Cadillac to the top salespersons of the year. The other incentives included diamond jewelry, bumblebee pins, and 5-star vacations. This strategy really worked and became one of the reasons for company’s success over the years. If you want, do it, you can, this is her famous wisdom and realized the dream for women and a better life of abundance with heart. She also published three best-selling books during her lifetime. Her book, â€Å"Mary Kay on People Management†, another best seller was included in the business courses at Harvard Business School. Mary Kay received many honors and awards during and after her lifetime. In 1976, she received the Hall of fame Award from Direct Selling Association. Two years after that, in 1978, she got the Cosmetic Career Woman of the Year Award from the Cosmetics Career Women, Inc. The same year she received the Horatio Alger Distinguished American Citizen Award from Horatio Alger Association and so on. Mary Kay Ash passed away on 22nd Nov, 2001. She was buried in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas, Texas. She is the greatest women I paid my full respect to her. She gives women the courage to fulfill our dream not only in Mary Kay Company but also another business sectors and proved that not only men can be successful in business but also women can be. Yes, she did it. It’s a very good piece of work, the detail information are very clear. But it will be a good idea to give one or two more examples on how she relate idea of â€Å"you can do it† in her later successful business life.

Minimalism Essay example -- Essays Papers

Minimalism In order to understand minimal artists’ tendency to produce objects and not images, we need to define minimalism. Michael Delahunt at Artlex (1) refers to minimalism as â€Å"A twentieth century style of art stressing the idea of reducing a work of art to the minimum number of colors, values, shapes, lines and textures†. But I think this definition does not completely reflect what minimal artists did. They did not get interested in ‘complex’ things as colors, values, lines etc. They preferred objects to images or I would rather say ‘brushstrokes’. Because that they believed that â€Å"less is more†, even brushstrokes were too much for them. Minimalists were against self expression. They wanted to use the meaning a ready made object already has in it. This was totally suitable for their purpose of using minimum effort and material for an artwork. Preparing an image would consume too much of the artists’ time and effort. And what’s more, it would have self expression in it. They also believed that art could be concieved by mind before execution. That is, one must be able to explain an artwork to another who hasn’t seen it. For example Mohology-Nagy gave instructions by phone to a factory for one of his works(2). This can be thought as a instruction manual for an artwork (I think we can call minimalism as D.I.Y. art!). But you can’t do this kind of art with a painting. Can you think of it? â€Å"put some yellow there, mix red with brown and put it on the tree with ...

Care of Elderly Persons in American and Hispanic Culture

In the United states, particularly in its more urbanized regions, there is a clear discrimination against the elderly, particularly in its more urbanized regions. This ageism is also apparent in mass media. In American movies, for instance, elderly persons in â€Å"homes† (homes for the aged) are a frequent sight. The nursing home is a potent demonstration of American society's cultural attitude towards its elderly.In American culture, it is acceptable for a child to talk in a straightforward and frank manner to elderly people, sometimes to the point of rudeness. However, most Hispanic children are taught to talk to elders with respect and reverence.Elders often have the last say in the household. From early childhood, Hispanic children are taught to respect older persons, because respect for elders connotes respect for oneself.Today many elderly persons in the United States are isolated from their families, although this kind of treatment of the elderly in the United States w as not always so. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the elderly used to be more respected, perhaps also because of the low life expectancy in those times, so that there were only very few elderly people, making their contributions to society much more valuable.However, the increased life expectancy of modern United States society has dramatically increased the proportion of the elderly in modern societies such as in America, which in turn has led to the increasing irrelevance of the elderly from an economic and practical view. Now American culture reveres youth, but at the same time looks down on old age.Many aging persons in America grow old and become afraid that their family will eventually put them in a home, and that they will have no choice but to concede. Between 17 to 20 percent of all deaths in the United States happen in nursing homes (although this number would be higher if not for the common practice of moving nursing home residents to the hospital almost immediately befor e death.In American culture, independence is highly valued, sometimes to the point of alienation. In contrast, Hispanic culture may be seen by Americans as more â€Å"clingy.† Hispanic culture is very family oriented. Hispanics typically have strong family ties and are more likely to support extended family members, including their elderly.Hispanic culture emphasizes respect for elders, and this is reflected in how their elders are treated. Many Hispanic households have the traditional structure of housing three generations. Many elderly Hispanics are also poor and cannot live independently, but they are welcomed to stay in their children's homes.However, with increasing urbanization, even Hispanic society is increasingly going the route of Americans in this regard.Nursing homes have a â€Å"presence† in American culture that is lacking in Hispanic culture; most Hispanic people assume that they would eventually be taking care of their elderly parents. This is not to sa y that ageism is exclusive to America.It is true that in most cultures a form of ageism exists, but in many Asian and Hispanic countries, this is more of a positive ageism, where elders are given more respect and are listened to and revered (although this seems to be changing with the rise of urbanization worldwide).

The Castle Creative Writing

I walked down the narrow, moonlight lane on my way to the park. I was meeting Summer, Leon and Tiffany. It was really cold and it was beginning to get dark. I felt nervous walking down the lane as there were no lights. Eventually I got to the end of the lane and as I turned the corner I could see the park in the distance. I could hear summer laughing like a hyena. I carried on walking. Leon was shining the bright torch in my face. My eyes stung and I grabbed the torch from his plump, sticky hand. He grabbed it back holding it in one hand while holding a chocolate bar in the other. I explained why I was so late and asked what they were planning to do now that I had arrived. â€Å"We have just been playing dares and Tiffany dared one of us to go in the castle up on the hill at Florence's Gardens, but we're all scared!† explained Summer. She continued, â€Å"Why don't you go in there, Ryan?† Ryan, look ever so slightly scared, refused outright reminding us of all the stories about that castle, especially the one about the boy who went in almost twenty years ago and still hasn't been found. â€Å"Oh, they're just myths and rumours, you're not telling me you actually believe them, are you?† said Summer. â€Å"Well if you don't believe them, then you go in there, as you're so sure they're not true!† I shouted. Summer's smile dropped which made me wonder if she might be beginning to regret what she had just said, but Summer isn't the type of person to back down from a dare so she replied, â€Å"Fine, I will then. I'll prove to you it's all lies.† The castle was tall up on the hill overlooking long stretches of green fields. The walls of the castle were jet black and looked dull and dreary. Some of the windows were smashed and through them it was possible to see a glimpse of the dirty looking rooms inside, which were covered in dust and cobwebs. We began to make our way up the hill. By now it was pitch black and we were all extremely cold. The wind was blowing and the leaves on the trees were rustling and the wind gushed past. I was starting to feel scared. I could sense a creepy atmosphere around the castle; it reminded me of something out of a scary movie. I was beginning to think that I would prefer to be back at home, snuggled up in bed with a warm cup of hot chocolate. I don't know if the others felt the same but I definitely didn't want them to think I was scared so I just kept my feelings to myself and kept walking up the hill towards the castle. When we finally reached the huge wooden door Leon turned to Summer and pointed at it. â€Å"Go on then. If you're so brave, you go in there and come back and tell us what you find.† â€Å"Ok,† she whispered. There was a slight tremble in her voice, even though on the outside she was trying to look confident. As she gently pushed the door open, it creaked loudly. She turned back. Tiffany pushed her forward. â€Å"Go on!† she shouted. Summer turned back and began to make her entrance into the castle. Leon, Tiffany and I looked at one another. We stood in silence listening while we could hear Summer's footsteps as she journeyed further into the castle. The footsteps faded and Tiffany began to laugh. â€Å"I can't believe she is actually in there. I though that when we got here she would change her mind!† â€Å"Me, too,† agreed Leon. We sat down on the damp grass and began to discuss what we all thought Summer would find in there. All caught up in our conversation, we didn't realise how long she had been gone when we heard a long, high pitched scream. We all jumped up. Tiffany had a look of horror on her now pale face. â€Å"What's happened?† Leon exclaimed. I began to shout Summer's name hoping, that she would shout back, laughing, saying she was winding us up, and just trying to scare us. But there was no reply. â€Å"We should never have let her go in there.† I began to say. â€Å"I wonder if she's ok?† â€Å"One of us has to go in there,† said Tiffany sternly. â€Å"We have to go and rescue her. She is obviously in trouble.† Leon looked brave and agreed that he would go in and find Summer. I was extremely scared and nervous as I watched Leon go in the same door as Summer had gone in around half an hour ago. But I knew we had to do something, we couldn't just leave Summer in there. I know it was selfish but at that moment I just thought how glad I was that it was Leon going into the castle and not me. The next 10 minutes passed. Nothing. Leon and Summer were now in the house and neither Tiffany or I knew what was going on or if they were alright. â€Å"We've got to go in there!† whispered Tiffany. â€Å"Give it another 5 minutes† I began. But before I could even finish my sentence, she was running towards the doors and into the castle. I hesitated. I was so nervous it was unbelievable. I was shaking – I don't know whether it was because of the ice cold weather or because I was so scared, but I knew no matter how frightened I was I had to go in there. I slowly pushed open the door and peeked inside. It was pitch black. All I could see were the flickering lights ahead at the end of the long straight corridor that I was approaching. I slowly and carefully made my way towards the light. When I finally arrived at the end of the creepy corridor I was faced with two doors. One on my right and the other on the left. I went with my first instinct and choose the door on my right. I quietly pushed the door open and stepped through. It was another long corridor. There were cobwebs all over the place. Dust covered the dirty walls and carpet. I walked down the second corridor. Palms sweating with the fear of not knowing if I was going to get out of this castle alive. But I knew I couldn't go back now and I just had to keep walking. I must have only been walking for a minute or so, but it seemed like forever, when I caught a glimpse of another door ahead. As I approached it, so many thoughts were running through my head of what could be behind it. I hesitated for a second, then reached out to the door and pushed it hard. I was shocked when I saw darkness and felt a bitter cold come over me. I was in the outside world again! Suddenly, I heard a crash as the door slammed loudly behind me. I turned around and it was then I noticed that I was standing right where I was standing before I went in the castle and the door I came out of was the door I went in. I felt relieved and safe but then it dawned on me that I was alone. I still didn't know where the others were. They weren't anywhere around. I thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that they must still be in the house. Then I remembered there had been 2 doors when I had come to the end of the first corridor. They must have gone into the door on the left whereas I had chosen the door on the right. I had to go back and go through the door and try and find them, but as I tugged on the door handle to enter the castle for the second time something was wrong. The door was jammed. I pulled harder and harder on the door handle but it wouldn't budge. It's now a week on and I haven't seen my friends since. I hate thinking that they are going to be stuck in that castle for the rest of there lives – if they even are still alive.

How did Fidel Castro Take Down Batista Essay Example

How did Fidel Castro Take Down Batista Essay Example How did Fidel Castro Take Down Batista Essay How did Fidel Castro Take Down Batista Essay Castros Revolution Begins In July 1953, Castro led about 120 men in an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The assault failed, Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison, and many of his men were killed. The U. S. -backed Batista, looking to improve his authoritarian image, subsequently released Castro in 1955 as part of a general amnesty. Castro ended up in Mexico, where he met fellow revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara and plotted his return. The following year, Castro and 81 other men sailed on the yacht Granma to the astern coast of Cuba, where government forces immediately ambushed them. The estimated 18 survivors, including Castro, his brother Ra?l and Guevara, fled deep into the Sierra Maestra Mountains in southeastern Cuba with virtually no weapons or supplies. Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades, until handing off power to his younger brother Ra?l in 2008. During that time, Castros regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care, but was widely criticized for stifling economic and political freedoms. Castros Cuba also had a highly antagonistic relationship with the United Statesmost notably resulting in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two nations have no formal diplomatic relations, and the United States has enforced a trade embargo with Cuba since 1960, when U. S. -owned businesses in Cuba were nationalized without compensation.

Discover the History of the ENIAC Computer

Discover the History of the ENIAC Computer As technology progressed in the early and mid-1900s, the need for enhanced computational speed grew. In response to this deficit, the American military invested half a million dollars to create the ideal computing machine. Who Invented the ENIAC? On May 31, 1943, the military commission for the new computer began with  the partnership of John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert, with the former serving as the chief consultant and Eckert as the chief engineer. Eckert had been a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvanias Moore School of Electrical Engineering when he and Mauchly met in 1943. It took the team about one year to design the ENIAC and then 18 months plus half a million dollars in tax money to build it. The machine wasnt officially turned on until November 1945, by which time the war was over. However, not all was lost, and the military still put ENIAC to work, performing calculations for the design of a hydrogen bomb, weather predictions, cosmic-ray studies, thermal ignition, random-number studies, and wind-tunnel design. The ENIAC In 1946, Mauchly and Eckert developed the Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator (ENIAC). The American military sponsored this research because it needed a computer for calculating artillery-firing tables, the settings used for different weapons under varied conditions for target accuracy. As the branch of the military responsible for calculating the tables, the Ballistics Research Laboratory (BRL) became interested after hearing about Mauchlys research at the Moore School. Mauchly had previously created several calculating machines and in 1942  began designing a better calculating machine based on the work of John Atanasoff, an inventor who  used vacuum tubes to speed up calculations. The patent for ENIAC was filed in 1947. An excerpt from that patent, (U.S.#3,120,606) filed on June 26, read, With the advent of everyday use of elaborate calculations, speed has become paramount to such a high degree that there is no machine on the market today capable of satisfying the full demand of modern computational methods. What Eas Inside the ENIAC? The ENIAC was an intricate and elaborate piece of technology for the time. Housed within 40 9-foot-tall cabinets, the machine contained 17,468 vacuum tubes  along with 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 1,500 relays, 6,000 manual switches, and 5 million soldered joints. Its dimensions covered 1,800 square feet (167 square meters) of floor space and weighed 30 tons, and running it consumed 160 kilowatts of electrical power. Two 20-horsepower blowers delivered cool air to keep the machine from overheating. The vast extent of energy being used led to a rumor that turning on the machine would cause the city of Philadelphia to experience brownouts. However, the story, which was first reported incorrectly by the Philadelphia Bulletin in 1946, has since been discounted as an urban myth. In just one second, the ENIAC (1,000 times faster than any other calculating machine to date) could perform 5,000 additions, 357 multiplications, or 38 divisions. The use of vacuum tubes instead of switches and relays resulted in the increase in speed, but it was not a quick machine to reprogram. Programming changes would take the technicians weeks, and the machine always required long hours of maintenance. As a side note, research on the ENIAC led to many improvements in the vacuum tube. Contributions of Dr. John Von Neumann In 1948, Dr. John Von Neumann made several modifications to the ENIAC. The ENIAC had performed arithmetic and transfer operations concurrently, which caused programming difficulties. Von Neumann suggested that using switches to control code selection would make it so that pluggable cable connections could remain fixed. He added a converter code to enable serial operation. Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation Eckert and Mauchlys work extended beyond just ENIAC. In 1946, Eckert and Mauchly started the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. In 1949, their company launched the BINAC (BINary Automatic Computer) that used magnetic tape to store data. In 1950, the Remington Rand Corporation bought the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and changed the name to the Univac Division of Remington Rand. Their research resulted in the UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer), an essential forerunner to todays computers. In 1955, Remington Rand merged with the Sperry Corporation and formed Sperry-Rand. Eckert remained with the company as an executive and continued with the company when it later merged with the Burroughs Corporation to become Unisys. Eckert and Mauchly both received the IEEE Computer Society Pioneer Award in 1980. The End of the ENIAC Despite its significant advances in computation in the 1940s, ENIACs tenure was short. On October 2, 1955, at 11:45 p.m.,  the power was finally shut off, and the ENIAC was retired. In 1996, precisely 50 years after ENIAC was publicly acknowledged by the government, the massive computer received its place in history. According to the Smithsonian, ENIAC was the center of attention in the city of Philadelphia as they celebrated being the birthplace of computation. ENIAC was ultimately dismantled, with sections of the massive machine on display at both Penn and the Smithsonian.

Monetary Unification in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Monetary Unification in Europe - Essay Example Critics were so skeptical on the Europe’s idea of monetary unification claiming that Europe was not close to optimal monetary union. This idea was just a mere political project, which did not give into account economic fundamentals and was doomed to fail the single currency, and Europe’s failure to see monetary unification as an evolutionary process. Over the past few years, the Euro has tremendously challenged the US dollar, which is globally reserved currency, and within a very short period, it has transformed economic and political landscape in Europe. Monetary experiments has never been such an exciting history as there have been no any sovereign state surrendered its currency to a common central bank currency restraining from monetary sovereignty (Charles, 2010:176). Although the need to unify European currency started a long time ago, we begin to review its recent attempts to attain that goal. Prelaunch, which took place in late 1989, witnessed France extract German commitment to monetary union in favor of German reunification. The same year, Jacques Delor, filed a report introducing European Monetary unification in three stages. It comprised of creation of institutions like European System of Central Banks charged with the responsibility to formulate and implement monetary policies. The phases between 1989 and 2002 gave a name to the common currency that was to unify the European states â€Å"euro†, which replaced the old currency unit, the ecu. The institution laid down steps to accomplish monetary unification first of which was abolishing exchange controls that saw capital completely liberalized in European Economic Community on July 1, 1990. On 7 February 1992, leaders from different European countries signed the Maastricht Treaty with the aim of creating a single common currency but without United Kingdom participating by January 1999. Having the treaty approved proved a challenge since countries such as Germany, France, and Denmark were reluctant (Evgeny, 159). Another attempt derived from Stage II of Delor’s report that led to the creation of European Monetary Institute in 1994 that replaced European Monetary Cooperation Fund with Alexander Lamfalussy as the first president. After sometime, there rose a pool of disagreements that led to adoption of euro as new currency on December 1995 doing away with the name ecu previously used as the accounting currency. Theo Wagel suggested the name. He was by then the German’s finance minister. Date 1 January 1999 was set for the launch of the currency name. With the launch of euro in the European Union, credit institutions were able to process real-time payments. This supposedly helped in serving monetary policy needs of Euro system as well as harmonizing business practices in the EU and promoting money market integration(Gertrude and Peter, 2003:13). Owing to the total number of states, the Euro bloc designed and produced new 7.4 billion notes and 38.2 billion coins for issuance to consumers and business operators on 1 January 2002. This attempt displayed some obsolete results with tasks set to educate European people on the new currency and finally on 15 December 2001 banks commenced exchanging euro starter kits. As a matter of encouraging continuous effectiveness and integration of European currency, banks all over Euro zone, offered same high quality services, interfaces, and single price structure irrespective of their location. Such policies facilitated unification of currency across Europe as banks and other financial institutions operate under similar conditions. In the wake of