Article Review of “Fat and Happy” Essay Example for Free

Article Review of â€Å"Fat and Happy† Essay In â€Å"Fat and Happy: In Defense of Fat Acceptance,† Mary Ray Worley offers a poignant account of her participation in a conference held by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She compares attending this conference with visiting another planet. Until she had the opportunity to visit this other planet, she had not realized just how ostracized she felt. (Worley, element 1). Her participation in this conference made her realize that â€Å"20th century American society† (Worley, element 4) is very much responsible for the shame that she and other overweight individuals have been made to feel. While there are several aspects of society that contribute to the alienation of individuals who are overweight, Worley suggests that the medical field bears a great deal of the responsibility: â€Å"Although the data gathered for most current studies indicate that body size is primarily determined by one’s genetic makeup, most researchers conclude–in spite of their own findings–that fat individuals should try to lose weight anyway† (Worley, element 3). She than goes on to argue that oftentimes attempts to diet only result in more weight gain. Worley marvels that â€Å"apparently [scientists] cannot bring themselves to say that since body size is largely a result of one’s genetic makeup it’s best to get on with the business of learning to live in the body you have, whatever its size† (Worley, element 5). She also claims that doctors often make the situation worse: â€Å"Regardless of the ailment†¦your doctor may put you on a diet before she treats your cough† (Worley, element 6). I believe that Worley makes a good point regarding the medical profession, but there is indeed a great deal of research that links obesity with increased heart problems among other things, which Worley ignores in this essay. In her uplifting conclusion, Worley encourages overweight individuals to love their bodies despite what society may say about them. You’re entitled to the space you take up. You can find clothes that show off the gorgeous person you are, you can play and dance without self-consciousness, you can be proud of yourself and never dread unwanted attention, you can be a brave pioneer and a friend to those who have suffered on planets less kind and less joyous than this one (Worley, element 2). In light of the many forces that are stacked against overweight individuals in our society, Worley’s words of encouragement are astute and empowering.

Political Diversity as Manifested in the Jesse Jackson Presidential Bids Essay Example for Free

Political Diversity as Manifested in the Jesse Jackson Presidential Bids Essay Baptist Minister turned Illinois second district congressman Jesse Jackson made two attempts to become the Democratic Party nominee in 1984 and 1988. In the 1988 bid for the White House, Jackson was defeated by Senator Michael Dukakis for the Democratic nomination but not after showing strong in initial state nominating conventions. Jackson then capitalized his racial (black) circumstance and challenged political personalities and organizational corporations (Steele A19). Despite Jackson’s strong impact to the country and American people during that time, his candidacy was expectedly marred with controversies. In fact, if he pursued his bid around that period, Jackson would have been prevented from being a political leader or worst, ended up not winning at all. The reason behind this is what Walton wrote as the Critical Election Theory wherein Jackson’s efforts to be the first Black U. S. President were questioned. Based from the presupposition of the said theory, his position that it was time for blacks to have their ways into the Democratic Party nomination and eventually the White House was evaluated in a manner that it would hurt Jackson more apparently due to his egotistical endeavors (Walton 49). However, the political arena has changed for the past two decades. As Barker wrote, the concern and uncertainty brought by the emergence of the black power and an increased awareness on the need for change created another level of enthusiasm for people to support now the black bids in the likes of Jackson and now with Barack Obama (Barker 3). Had Jackson made the bid this year or if he was the Democratic Party candidate against Sen. John McCain, he could have won the presidency just like Obama. The situation that catapulted Obama to the White House could have also been smartly utilized by Jackson to kick out the incumbent Republican President George Bush. If Jesse Jackson was the Democratic Party nominee for the 2008 elections, he could have handily beaten McCain just as well. Like Obama, Jackson possesses the charms and eloquence which convinced Americans to go for change change in their perception of politics, change in their views on racial discrimination, change to accept a new brand of leadership and change for a better and different United States of America. Obama was simply lucky that a confluence of events conspired to generate a feeling of anger and disgust in the hearts and minds of the American people on the mess created by President Bush who was perceived as insensitive and stubborn. Add to it McCains image of being conservative just like Bush. And both gentlemen were devastated by hurricane â€Å"Change† of Obama that in the process swept the Chicago first term congressman to the worlds most powerful post. Jesse Jackson should, in fact, be credited for paving the way for â€Å"non-whites† to be accepted by the Americans on the national scale. Yes, a lot of Black Americans, Asian Americans and European Americans, among others, won elective positions in several states but only few managed to be recognized as serious contenders for the United States presidency. With Obamas victory, it wont be difficult anymore for â€Å"colored† Americans to vie or the White House. America has truly matured into becoming the worlds melting pot of diverse cultures. Gone are the days that the whites dominate just practically all facets of American life. So when Jesse Jackson introduced himself as a Black presidential contender, it was just a matter of time before America installs a colored man or woman as their president. And just like Jackson, Barack Obama, despite his being a neophyte in politics, came at the right time when America was absolutely ready for change.

Types of Elections in Texas

Types of Elections in Texas Michael Dean Jalal Nejad, Ph.D. The election process is a staple of American politics, though on the national level it only applies to the Presidency and Congressional elections. In Texas though, citizen vote for all three branches of states government offices. There are three main types of elections in Texas, the primary election, general election, and special elections. The primary elections are held on the second Tuesday in March of even-numbered years (Champagne Harpham 135). They are the first step in the electoral cycle, the primaries are used to determine the political parties candidate for the general election. There are three other types of primaries which are the runoff, open, and closed. The runoff primary is when a no candidate wins by majority. When a runoff primary happens if a Democrat voted in the regular primary they cannot in the Republican runoff primary, if there is one. The same goes for Republicans trying to vote in a Democratic runoff. An open primary is where a registered voter can vote for either party, it doesnt matter their affiliation. However, they cannot vote in both primaries. The last type is a closed primary in which one must vote for their registered party. This works by having the voter declare their party before voting. Though voters need to declare their affiliations before voting, it does not bind them to voting f or that specific party in future elections. The next type of election is the general election. The general election is held the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November of even-number years (Champagne Harpham 136). During the general election the main candidate of both parties run against each other for certain offices. The major officials such as governor and attorney general are elected during years that the presidential election is not occurring. Though most of the time it is the main two parties, Republican and Democrat, sometimes third part or independent candidate run as well. Other elections for smaller offices such as school boards, city councils, and local positions are held usually in the beginning of November (Champagne Harpham 136). The last type of major election is special elections. Special elections are used to fill empty official positions, approval of borrowing large sums of money, and amending the Texas Constitution (Champagne Harpham 136). The specific dates for these elections are made by the legislature of Texas. An example of this would be if a Texas Congressman resigns or gets fired, the governor would have to call a special election to fill the void left by their resignation. Another example would be if the Texas legislature wanted to amend the Texas Constitution they would first have to propose the amendment, the voters would have a special election to actually ratify it into the Constitution. To summarize there are three main types of elections in Texas. There is the primary election where nominees of each party go against each other to see who will represent the party in the general election. The primary elections are held on the second Tuesday in March of even-numbered years. The next type of election would be the general election. In the general election the nominees of the Democratic and Republic parties face off to see who will gain the specific office they are going for. Though the general election focuses on the two main parties, there are usually third party or independent candidates running against them as well. The general elections for major offices are held the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November of even-number years, where the minor offices get elected earlier in November. The last type of election is the special election, these kinds of election take place when there is a vacancy in office, a large loan needs to be taken, or an amendment to the Texas Constitution is proposed. Work Cited Champagne, Anthony, and Edward J. Harpham. Governing Texas:. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2013. Print.

The Guardian vs. The Mirror :: Papers

The Guardian vs. The Mirror I am doing an investigation into the statistical differences between the daily tabloid newspapers, and the weekly broadsheet newspapers. My overall hypothesis is that the daily tabloid papers - here represented by the Saturday edition of The Mirror, a daily tabloid - make an easier read than the more comprehensive broadsheet - here represented by the Guardian, a weekly broadsheet - To reach a conclusion, I plan to test three hypothesise in specific area. I will use a range of sampling methods, and presentation of data, in order to form valid conclusions. Planning 1 - My hypothesis is that the number of letters per word will be greater in the Guardian than in the Mirror. Number of letters - I will count the number of letters in every fourth word. In order to make my calculations accurate enough to reach a valid conclusion, I must collect a minimum of twenty pieces of data from each newspaper. I was planning to collect data from fourth word, in the first sentence on each page. However, if my second hypothesis is correct, then the sentences in the Guardian will be longer than those in The Mirror. This would corrupt the results, as some would be more accurate than others. So, I have decided to take the fourth and the eighth word from the first article on each page. The sections of each paper I have chosen are twenty-five pages long, so this will provide more than enough data to support any conclusion I reach, and should incorporate all sections of each newspaper. I will display my results in a data frequency chart. Then I will use averages and histograms, to compare the results and draw my conclusion. 2 - My second hypothesis is that the number of words per sentence will be fewer in The Mirror than in the Guardian. Number of words - I'll count the number of words in the first sentence, on each page. In order to make my calculations accurate enough to reach a valid

Essay --

Parole and probation programs have been designed as alternatives to the confinement of a prison cell. The programs have been created for the portion of offenders who do not pose a threat to public safety. In the year 2008, the average daily cost for supervision of a probationer or parolee was about $4. The average daily cost to house an inmate was about $80. Obviously, if the individual was not a risk to the community they should be placed in these programs rather than be put in prison and suck taxpayers dry. If an offender is placed on parole or probation there are two ways they can end up in prison; committing a new crime or breaching conditions of their probation. Facts prove that life in prison without parole is swift, strict, and specific punishment. Those condemned to life have been sentenced to expire in prison. Between three different states figures varied from $18,000 to $26,000. The death penalty and life in prison are way more expensive than placing offenders who are not h azards to society in programs like parole and probation. Parole and Probation vs. Incarceration Costs Programs such as parole and probation have been introduced as alternatives to incarceration. These programs are designed for offenders who are not considered a hazard to society. Parole is typically granted towards the end of a sentence and probation commonly in place of one, but because the organization is overloaded, financially unstable, and carelessly managed, it often operates as well as a feeder organization, guaranteeing prison cells will not be unoccupied for long. Actually, according to a report compiled by the Pew Center for the States parole violators accounted for over a third of all prison admissions in 2005 and "half the US jai... ..., California accumulated $2,636 per individual. The expense of probation and parole are significantly smaller than the expenses of incarceration (Carlie, 2002). The reality is that there are some offenders who are better off being placed back into the community on probation and parole and helps save taxpayers hard earned money. The death penalty is way more expensive, time consuming with little success, and puts innocent people at stake. Life without parole gives fast, harsh, and specific punishment. It supplies lawfulness to survivors of murder victims. Sentencing dangerous offenders to life without parole is the most reasonable alternative for general security and any victim’s families. For offenders who do not pose a threat to the general public should be placed on probation or parole to help save money that can be used for more useful things within the state. Essay -- Parole and probation programs have been designed as alternatives to the confinement of a prison cell. The programs have been created for the portion of offenders who do not pose a threat to public safety. In the year 2008, the average daily cost for supervision of a probationer or parolee was about $4. The average daily cost to house an inmate was about $80. Obviously, if the individual was not a risk to the community they should be placed in these programs rather than be put in prison and suck taxpayers dry. If an offender is placed on parole or probation there are two ways they can end up in prison; committing a new crime or breaching conditions of their probation. Facts prove that life in prison without parole is swift, strict, and specific punishment. Those condemned to life have been sentenced to expire in prison. Between three different states figures varied from $18,000 to $26,000. The death penalty and life in prison are way more expensive than placing offenders who are not h azards to society in programs like parole and probation. Parole and Probation vs. Incarceration Costs Programs such as parole and probation have been introduced as alternatives to incarceration. These programs are designed for offenders who are not considered a hazard to society. Parole is typically granted towards the end of a sentence and probation commonly in place of one, but because the organization is overloaded, financially unstable, and carelessly managed, it often operates as well as a feeder organization, guaranteeing prison cells will not be unoccupied for long. Actually, according to a report compiled by the Pew Center for the States parole violators accounted for over a third of all prison admissions in 2005 and "half the US jai... ..., California accumulated $2,636 per individual. The expense of probation and parole are significantly smaller than the expenses of incarceration (Carlie, 2002). The reality is that there are some offenders who are better off being placed back into the community on probation and parole and helps save taxpayers hard earned money. The death penalty is way more expensive, time consuming with little success, and puts innocent people at stake. Life without parole gives fast, harsh, and specific punishment. It supplies lawfulness to survivors of murder victims. Sentencing dangerous offenders to life without parole is the most reasonable alternative for general security and any victim’s families. For offenders who do not pose a threat to the general public should be placed on probation or parole to help save money that can be used for more useful things within the state.

Jurassic Park :: essays research papers

Jurassic Park From the story many questions arise about the condition of the future. With the introduction of biotechnology, what we all want to know is, will this technology be used for the good of mankind? Will it be used to create faster and easier methods of working? Will it be used to create bio-technological replicas of humans that will be able to do our work for us or will the technology be used too misguidingly and lead to the downfall of humanity? All the questions and more are what plague the minds of scientists when trying to perfect this technology. As we approach the 21st century we need to keep in mind that the condition of the world can only benefit from this technology if used properly. If we corrupt this new science field, and try to play God and create super humans we will be disturbing nature and this will bring about humanities down fall. If this technology is used to replace all human work, we as a people will forget the manual way to work. If we totally rely on computers in t he future we will be making mankind obsolete.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the story, the mathematician Malcolm is the philosophical voice that questions the durability of the park and the accountability of the science used to re-create the dinosaurs. He challenges the ideas of Dr.Wu and end up being right in the end about the animals. He also states that society will turn into an information society and thought will be banished. By this he is saying that if the world of technology continues on the path it is on now, the future will be run and determined by technology. Humans will leave everything to machines and we will have an era where humans, as I stated above will become obsolete. All humans will fall into a lazy phase and we will be in a mechanical era.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the early chapters of the book, Malcolm states that the whole Jurassic Park idea will not work because of the Chaos Theory. The Chaos Theory states that first complex systems like weather have an underlying order and second the reverse of that the simple systems can produce complex behavior. I do agree with this theory, especially the second part because simple systems can be predictable to a point, but the slightest change in the system can throw off all predictions by a wide margin.

Revenue-Recognition Problems in the Communications Equipment Industry Essay

1) In late 2000, Lucent announced that revenues would be adjusted downwards by $679m as a result of revenue recognition problems. Yet the firm’s market capitalization plummeted by $24.7bn. Why do you think the market reacted so negatively to Lucent’s announcements of the problems? The large drop in market capitalization is probably due to several factors. Historically, Lucent had successfully met analysts’ projections for 15 consecutive quarters before announcing, in January 2000, a major shortfall in profits relative to previous expectations. In June, the quarterly balance sheet reported an operating loss of $301m (for the first time since 1998) while warning of weaker profits in Q4. In addition, the revenue recognition issues announced by the new CEO appointed in October were surely perceived as an indication that Lucent’s management was managing revenues and therefore a possible cause of a future fall in revenues. This led investors to modify their earnings expectations in light of the revenue-recognition problems faced by the firm. Since a company’s share price reflects forecasts of future cash flows, and Lucent’s Q3 and Q4 revenues were substantially written-down, investors would rationally expect future earnings to be affected as well. In an efficient market environment, the $24.7bn in lost market capitalization would equal the discounted value of these expected cash flows. However, it is also likely that the repeated missed expectations caused an overreaction by investors, as the company was forced to revise its revenues downward two times over the span of two quarters. This probably raised fears in the market of more widespread problems with the firm’s accounting practices. It should also be kept in mind that the Internet bubble had just burst and a technology related company announcing an operating loss and lower revenues could easily cause a panic selloff among investors, as typically happens when a speculative bubble bursts. 2) What are the specific revenue recognition problems faced by Lucent? On December 22, 2000, Lucent announced a $679m downward adjustment in revenues  of their fourth-quarter financial statement from September 2000. There were four different reasons for the adjustment. First of all, Lucent stated $125m of recorded sales that did not meet the company’s revenuerecognition rules. These revenues were included in the financial statement due to â€Å"misleading documentation and incomplete communications between a sales team and the financial organization†. Additionally, Lucent sold $452m worth of equipment to system integrators and distributors and recorded them as revenues. In fact, the products were not passed on to the customers, because of their weakened financial condition, and Lucent had already verbally agreed to take back the equipment. Therefore, the sales could not be accounted as revenues. Thirdly, sales teams had verbally offered credits to customers worth $74m and booked them as revenue in order to boost the fourth-quarter numbers. As the credits were meant for use at a later date without an actual sale of equipment taking place, these could not be accounted as revenues in the fourth-quarter. Finally, sold equipment worth $28m had not been completely shipped, leaving the service incomplete. Since this violated the first revenue recognition criteria â€Å"The firm has performed all the services or conveyed the asset to the buyer†, recognition of these revenues is not in line with regulation. 3) What financial statement adjustments will Lucent have to make to correct the revenue recognition problems announced in late 2000? In our treatment of the accounting figures we found it necessary to make assumptions relating to tax rates and COGS, as the information is not given directly. In deciding which tax rate to use for the adjustments we have two obvious alternatives; either assume a corporate tax rate of 35%, or calculate the average tax rate based on the presented financial statement. However, due to certain revenues and expenses being non-taxable we have opted to discard the average tax rate as a suitable estimate, and assumed a corporate tax rate of 35%. In relation to the Cost of Goods Sold, Lucent faces the problem that some of  their goods are tangible (communications equipment) while some are intangible (software licenses, services etc.). We are aware of the fact that Lucent’s intangible assets are subject to different costs as its tangible assets, and therefore have to be restated differently. However, we do not know the costs of neither intangible nor tangible assets due to a lack of information and thus assume a representative cost mix that is proportional to total revenues. Hence, we use the average COGS (69% of revenues in Q4, 2000) when we calculate the restatements. In the balance sheet, we treat the physical goods as â€Å"inventory†, and intangible goods as â€Å"other current assets†. When readjusting the income statement and balance sheets we need to reduce the revenues by a total of $679mn, with a corresponding reduction in accounts receivable. The cost of goods sold is reduced by $470mn, as per our assumption above relating to the average cost of goods sold. On the balance sheet this is reflected in the increase of inventories for tangible sales, and other current assets for intangible sales. This leads to a reduction of pretax income of $209mn, and subsequently a reduction in income taxes of $73mn. In the balance sheet this is represented by a reduction in the deferred tax liability (current liabilities in Lucent’s balance sheet), and finally a reduction in stockholders retained equity by $136mn. 4) How would you judge whether a firm is likely to face revenue recognition problems? Revenue-recognition problems in Lucent’s case emerge from mismanagement of the financial statements by all parties involved in compiling them. For instance, the initial $125 million adjustment was due to miscommunication between the sales team and the financial organization. The lack of a proper internal reporting organization or of efficient external auditors therefore is a sign of increased risk of revenue misrepresentation. It is also important to mention that the events described in the case occurred before the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted. This means that, at the time, financial statements did not require a seal of approval from top management in order to be published. The fact that these reports were approved and published suggests awareness and involvement of the board of administrators in the revenue-recognition problems. Making CEOs accountable  for the financial statements was an important step toward prevention of unwanted accounting practices. From a broader perspective, companies are constantly subject to the need of reaching – and beating – the market’s profitability expectations. Missing these targets may result in a steep share price fall, especially considering the â€Å"herd mentality† that is prevalent during market bubbles. Investors will typically overreact at the first sign of negative news from a company, triggering sharp sell offs in stock, as was the case with Lucent, during the height of the dotcom bubble. Further revenue misrepresentation drivers we can deduce from Lucent’s case are: firstly, firms providing financing solutions to customers may fall into the temptation of using these tools in order to boost their quarterly revenues by granting credits to clients. In fact, computing Lucent’s Account Receivables / Turnover ratio, it is observable that average collection days increase substantially from 1998 (85 days) to 2000 (119 days). This means that Lucent was selling products extending financing rather than collecting cash. Secondly, when companies rely on a distribution network rather than on direct sale it is easier for them to engineer revenue-boosting activities (e.g. provide distributors with more than what can be sold and take back the equipment later on). Thirdly, relying on big clients accounting for a large percentage of revenues increases may enhance corporate relationships, thus facilitating non-transparent verbal agreements or offbalance-sheet operations (e.g. financing, discounts). In addition, any changes in accounting practices and assumptions accounted for in the income statement should be investigated closer as a possible case of accounting fraud, as in the case of Lucent. In the 1st quarter of fiscal 1999 $1.3bn is booked as a â€Å"cumulative effect of accounting change†. This is enough to say that a revenue recognition problem exists, but certainly warrants further investigation. Finally, incentives of a more general nature to accounting malpractice include regular evaluation of company credit quality by rating agencies, and distorted compensation incentives for management. The former occur at regular intervals, providing incentives for management to â€Å"polish† a firm’s balance sheet prior to evaluations by the agencies, while the latter usually  involves stock options. Since employees are only allowed to sell their options at certain dates, they have an incentive to push the company’s share price up through accounting manipulation, prior to executing their options. 5) Assess whether any of Lucent’s competitors are likely to face revenue recognition problems in the coming quarters. Cisco Systems’ multichannel approach to sales and marketing includes a direct sales force to distributors, value-added resellers and system integrators. This could allow them to boost their revenues by selling excessive amounts to distributors close to the end of a quarter and taking the equipment back afterwards. On the other hand, Cisco does not rely on a single client, but has a diversified client base. In addition, the financing that Cisco provides is clearly reported on the balance sheet as noncurrent long-term lease receivables, which clearly differs to Lucent’s approach concerning verbal agreements about credits to clients. Unlike Cisco, Juniper Networks mainly relies on one large customer, WorldCom, who generated 18% of their revenues in 2000. Thus, they were highly dependent on that client and had most likely build up a close relationship with them, both concerning equipment sales and credit granting. This increases the risk of false revenue recognition due to either channel stuffing or the sale of equipment (meant to be taken back if not sold) close to the end of the quarter. Nortel is mainly a service provider, in fact 82% of its revenues are made up by services. This could be a red flag for revenue-recognition issues as services may have no clear delivery date and thus allow revenue management. In addition, Nortel granted credit to its customers of $5.6bn, of which only $1.5bn had been used. This could mean that Nortel is trying to attract customers by aggressively offering financing. On the other hand, Nortel does not depend on any single client. We did not find any significant pattern in insiders’ dispositions of their stock options to indicate fraudulent activity, neither for Lucent or any of their competitors. We also closely examined the two key ratios â€Å"Account Receivables Turnover† and â€Å"Cash Flow Return† for Lucent and its competitors (Juniper Networks has been excluded due to data absence). As can be seen in  the following graph all cash flow returns recently started to decline, which could raise concerns with regards to their revenue recognition policy. In Cisco’s and Nortel’s case one can see that this change is due to a parallel decline in cash flow from operations as well as an increase in sales. However, this movement by itself is not a red flag and could be due to other factors, which calls for a more detailed investigation. We can see that the suspicious decrease in cash flow return is mainly due to a substantial increase in sales and can also be seen in a substantial increase in accounts receivables. Hence, we looked at â€Å"accounts receivable turnover† or more precisely â€Å"days sales outstanding† and found that the average level over the course of the previous three years stays approximately the same while showing a negative trend for Cisco and even constantly decreased slightly for Nortel. This is a very good sign and means that these two still manage to collect their receivables in a timely manner although sales increase rapidly. Cash Flow Returns should therefore stabilize again in the ne ar future. Lucent’s Account receivables turnover on the other hand, as already elaborated in the previous question, steeply increases. This may indicate Lucent was selling products by extending financing to customers rather than collecting cash since we cannot apply the same argumentation as for Cisco and Nortel in Lucent’s case.