Adelphia Scandal and Worldcom Scandal Essay Example for Free

Adelphia Scandal and Worldcom Scandal Essay Basic Questions 1. Rigas Entities were entities that shared a common cash management system with Adelphia and Adelphia subsidiaries, which Adelphia controlled and operated. Since the scandal broke, it is commonly referred as off-the-book entities. 2. EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is essentially net income with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back to it, and can be used to analyze and compare profitability between companies and industries because it eliminates the effects of financing and accounting decisions.-from Investopedia 3. Self-dealing basically refers to when directors of a company improperly uses company finances or resource for personal gain. This can include directors taking company loans that the directors do not intend to repay, using company money for extraordinary personal use, or using company property for personal gain. See more: Is the Importance of being earnest a satirical play essay Advanced Questions 1. Both Adelphia scandal and WorldCom scandal were not prevented by company’s external auditor, though Deloitte and Touche and Arthur Andersen both rated their client as high risk. As for the differences, Adelphia did not have an independent internal auditor. However, WorldCom had an independent internal auditor and blows the whistle. 2. I will say Deloitte and Touche is most responsible for not detecting and stopping. As an external auditor, they should pay attention to organizations financial records and examine on any mistakes or fraud. At least, Deloitte and Touche should have stopped Timothy Rigas from serving as CFO and Director of Adelphia’s Accounting Committee. After all, it was obviously against the rules. 3. Timothy Rigas received a reasonable prison sentence as we can see from the WorldCom case; Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years. As for John Rigas, a former CEO who was guilty of more than 15 counts of fraud. Rationally speaking, it seems to be a fair judgment. However, it sounds too rough to keep an old man who has been suffered from cancer in jail.

Chaucers Canterbury Tales - The Miller’s Tale and the Life of Christ E

The Miller’s Tale and the Life of Christ      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, he created a great majority of the individual tales by "borrowing" and reworking material from various sources. Most of these stories would have been very familiar to his medieval audience, and the changes he made in the standard version of these tales for his work would have been a form of tacit communication that would have added an extra dimension to each of them. Howard says that "... the tales possess a relatedness of their own within a world of other texts. They can be understood only with reference to shared formulas of language or generic traits..." (448). In the Miller's tale Chaucer parodies the Knight's Tale, which itself was "adapted from a longer tale ... from Italy ... from Boccaccio" (Howard 448), by combining and satirizing highly irreverent references to the life of Jesus Christ with the story of Oedipus to make the tale as bawdy and comical as possible. The Miller's tale introduces a carpenter, John, his wife, Alison, and a student lodger, Nicholas. The identification of John as a carpenter immediately causes the audience to relate these characters to another famous carpenter and his wife, namely, Joseph and Mary from the Bible. (quote) The character of John is similar to Joseph not only because of their shared profession, but also because of the shared situations with their wives before marriage. Chaucer mentions how it was a rather rash move for John to marry Alison, a woman much younger than he. He says "He might have known, were Cato on his shelf,/A man should marry someone like himself" (89). Just as Joseph was wary of marrying Mary because she was already pregnant such that he "did not want to expose her to p... ...t flood, cuts loose the ropes holding his tub to the ceiling and falls to the ground, breaking his arm in the process. The ridicule that John receives from the neighbors who have been told by Alison and Nicholas that he is insane, serves to create enough of a triumph as to symbolize Christ's resurrection. The triumph would not have been nearly as dramatic if it had merely consisted of Nicholas's recovery or Absalon's defeat because it would not have fulfilled Nicholas's main goal of "killing" his father and "marrying" his mother. Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. England: Penguin Books, 1977. Howard, Donald R. Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1987. New International Version. Holy Bible. Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1988. Wilson, A. N. Jesus: A Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992.      

Katherine Mansfield Essay

Her feelings of disjuncture were accentuated when she arrived in Britain in 1903 to attend Queen’s College. In many respects, Mansfield remained a lifelong outsider, a traveler between two seemingly similar yet profoundly different worlds. After briefly returning to New Zealand in 1906, she moved back to Europe in 1908, living and writing in England and parts of continental Europe. Until her premature death from tuberculosis at the age of 34, Mansfield remained in Europe, leading a Bohemian, unconventional way of life. The Domestic Picturesque Mansfield’s short story â€Å"Prelude† is set in New Zealand and dramatizes the disjunctures of colonial life through an account of the Burnell family’s move from Wellington to a country village. The story takes its title from Wordsworth’s seminal poem, â€Å"The Prelude,† the first version of which was completed in 1805, which casts the poet as a traveler and chronicles the â€Å"growth of a poet’s mind. †[4] Although the Burnell family moves a mere â€Å"six miles† from town, the move is not inconsequential; it enacts a break with their previous way of life and alerts the family members to the various discontinuities in their lives. Beneath the veneer of the Burnells’ harmonious domestic life are faint undercurrents of aggression and unhappiness. The haunting specter of a mysterious aloe plant and a slaughtered duck in their well-manicured yard suggests that the family’s â€Å"awfully nice† new home conceals moments of brutality and ignorance toward another way of life that was suppressed and denied. [5] As I will propose, these two incidents echo the aesthetic concept of the sublime, as they encapsulate a mysterious power that awes its beholders and cannot be fully contained within their picturesque home. Through her subtle, dream-like prose, Mansfield deploys traditional aesthetic conventions like the picturesque while simultaneously transfiguring, subverting, and reinventing them in a modernist context. The concept of the picturesque was first defined by its originator, William Gilpin, an 18th century artist and clergyman, as â€Å"that kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture. †[6] Thus, a scene or representation is beautiful when it echoes an already-established, artistic conception of beauty, revealing the self-reinforcing way in which art creates the standard of beauty for both art and life. Mansfield presents these picturesque moments in order to demystify them and reveal the suppression and violence they contain. In addition to â€Å"Prelude,† her stories â€Å"Garden Party† and â€Å"Bliss† dramatize the transformation and inversion of picturesque moments of bourgeois life and domestic harmony. While she seems to exhibit a certain attachment to these standard aesthetic forms, Mansfield subtly interrogates many of these conventions in a strikingly modernist way. Through her childhood in a colony, Mansfield also became attuned to the violence and inequalities of colonialism. As Angela Smith suggests, her early writings demonstrate a keen sensitivity towards a repressed history of brutality and duplicity. [7] In her 1912 short story â€Å"How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped,† she questions and overturns the perspective of the colonialist, whose vantage point historically trumps that of the native. The deliberate ambivalence of the word â€Å"kidnapping† dramatizes the conflict between the colonist’s perspective and Pearl’s joyful, eye-opening experiences during her abduction. In a similar way, empire dramatized for Mansfield the way that a picturesque, bourgeois household could suppress alternative perspectives. The Sublime In â€Å"Prelude,† the mysterious, sublime aloe plant disrupts the pleasant domesticity of the Burnell household. Their well-manicured yard with its tennis lawn, garden, and orchard also contains a wild, unseemly side—â€Å"this was the frightening side, and no garden at all. †[8] This â€Å"side† contains the aloe plant, which exerts a mysterious, enthralling power over its awed beholders. In its resemblance to the ocean, the aloe assumes the characteristics of the sublime: â€Å"the high grassy bank on which the aloe rested rose up like a wave, and the aloe seemed to ride upon it like a shop with the oars lifted. Bright moonlight hung upon the lifted oars like water, and on the green wave glittered the dew. †[9] For many writers and poets, the ocean was a manifestation of the sublime because of its unfathomable power and scale that awed and humbled its observers. The aloe’s strikingly physiological effect on its viewers recalls Edmund Burke’s sublime, which overpowers its observer and reinforces the limitations of human reason and control. In his famous treatise on the sublime, Burke writes: â€Å"greatness of dimension, vastness of extent or quantity† is a powerful cause of the sublime, as it embodies the violent and overpowering forces of nature. [10] In a similar vein, the child, Kezia Burnell’s first impression upon seeing the â€Å"fat swelling plant with its cruel leaves and fleshy stem† is one of awe and wonder. [11] In this case, the sublimity of the aloe plant disrupts and challenges the domestic picturesque as it defies mastery, categorization, and traditional notions of beauty. In its resistance to categorization and control, the sublime embodies the part of the ungovernable landscape that the Burnell family cannot domesticate and the picturesque cannot frame. As a result, in â€Å"Prelude,† the magnitude of the sublime interrupts and fractures the tranquil surface of the picturesque by exposing the unfathomable depths beneath it. The colonial backdrop of the Burnells’ yard also contributes to the mysterious, occult power of the aloe. This unruly part of their property hints toward a landscape that eludes domestication and serves as a constant reminder that the Burnell family is living in a land that is not quite theirs and cannot be fully tamed. [12] At the age of 19, Mansfield wrote that the New Zealand bush outside of the cities is â€Å"all so gigantic and tragic—and even in the bright sunlight it is so passionately secret. †[13] For Mansfield, the bush embodies the history of a people whose lives have been interrupted and displaced by European settlers. [14] After wars, brutal colonial practices, and European diseases had devastated the local Maori population, the bush became a haunting monument to their presence. As the Burnell family settles down to sleep on the first night in their new home, â€Å"far away in the bush there sounded a harsh rapid chatter: â€Å"Ha-ha-ha†¦ Ha-ha-ha. †[15] In her subtle way, Mansfield unveils the voices of those whose perspectives are excluded from this portrait of nocturnal domestic harmony. In a similar way, the aloe plant exudes an unfathomable history that is beyond the time and place of the Burnells. Even its age—implied by the fact that it flowers â€Å"once every hundred years†Ã¢â‚¬â€suggests that the aloe exists on a different scale than its human beholders. [16] In its ancient, superhuman scale, the aloe gestures towards the â€Å"gigantic,† indicating a subtle, but implicitly threatening power within, or in proximity of the home. The aloe is a kind of lacuna in the imperial landscape of New Zealand, whose power threatens the colonial household and its control over the landscape. [17] By disrupting and encroaching upon the ostensibly safe domestic sphere, the aloe also echoes the â€Å"unheimlich,† or uncanny, an aesthetic concept explored by Sigmund Freud in his 1919 essay, â€Å"The Uncanny. † The uncanny becomes, in part, an invasive force violating the sacred, domestic sphere and hearkens back to a previously repressed or hidden impulse: â€Å"The uncanny is something which ought to have remained hidden but has come to light. †[18] In â€Å"Prelude,† the aloe is initially depicted as a threatening force that â€Å"might have had claws instead of roots. The curving leaves seemed to be hiding something. †[19] Positioned within the safe space of their property, the aloe is a menacing, ungovernable force that seems to encroach upon it. The plant becomes part of the repressed history of the landscape—a history that is only apparent to Kezia, her mother Linda Burnell, and her grandmother Mrs. Fairfield, who are attuned to the forces below the surface of the picturesque exterior. Violent Underpinnings Beneath many of Mansfield’s picturesque domestic scenes are moments of violence and rupture. In â€Å"Garden Party,† for instance, a poor man falls to his death during the preparations for a much-anticipated social gathering of the wealthy Sheridan family, undermining the convivial spirit of the occasion. In â€Å"Prelude,† Pat, the handyman, slaughters a duck while the children watch with grotesque enthrallment as it waddles for a few steps after being decapitated. â€Å"The crowning wonder† of the dead duck walking hearkens back to Burke’s sublime, which is experienced in â€Å"Prelude† within the confines of the private residence. [20] The sublimity of this apparent defiance of the properties of death acts as a dramatic external force imposing on the observers’ intellect and reason in a profoundly Burkian way. But later that night, when the duck is placed in front of the patriarch, Stanley Burnell, â€Å"it did not look as if it had ever had a head. †[21] The duck’s picturesque dressing—â€Å"its legs tied together with a piece of string and a wreath of little balls of stuffing round it†Ã¢â‚¬â€conceals its violent death. [22] In a similar way, the â€Å"awfully nice† picturesque house is imposed upon the landscape, as if it had never been any other way. [23] Through reconfiguration and transformation, a new imperial order conceals the fact that an older order once lay beneath it. In both cases, the picturesque functions as a way of naturalizing the violent order of domination. As Pat’s golden earrings distract Kezia from her grief over the duck’s death, the duck’s pretty garnish conceals its â€Å"basted resignation. †[24] There is no such thing as a pure aesthetics, Mansfield seems to suggest, as each serene moment is implicated in some act of violence, brutality, or suppression. In â€Å"Prelude,† the good-natured Pat disrupts a pre-existing picturesque scene in which ducks â€Å"preen their dazzling breasts† amidst the pools and â€Å"bushes of yellow flowers and blackberries. †[25] Tellingly, the duck pond contains a bridge, a typical feature of the picturesque that reconciles or bridges the gap between different aspects of the scenery. In this way, the Burnell family’s cultivation of the land by planting and slaughtering ducks disrupts another underlying order. Their unquestioning appropriation of this pre-existing order mirrors the way colonial life disrupted and undermined the indigenous Maori life. Juxtaposing two picturesque scenes that interrupt and conflict with one another, Mansfield questions and unravels the conventional image of the picturesque. This interplay of various conflicting aesthetic orders constitutes part of Mansfield’s modernist style, in which aesthetic forms are ruptured, fragmented, and overturned. As the yard’s landscape bears traces of the Maori past, so the quiet harmony of the Burnells’ domesticity is underscored by deep, unspoken tensions and an animosity that hints at the uncanny. In fact, the only character who expresses any contentment is Stanley, who reflects, â€Å"By God, he was a perfect fool to feel as happy as this! †[26] Yet even he shudders upon entering his new driveway, as â€Å"a sort of panic overtook Burnell whenever he approached near home. †[27] Beneath this veneer of marital bliss and familial harmony, his wife Linda occasionally ignores her children and expresses hatred towards her husband and his aggressive sexuality: â€Å"there were times when he was frightening—really frightening. When she screamed at the top of her voice, ‘You are killing me. ’†[28] Meanwhile Stanley and Beryl, Linda’s sister, seem to have a flirtatious, indecent relationship: â€Å"Only last night when he was reading the paper her false self had stood beside him and leaned against his shoulder on purpose. Hadn’t she put her hand over his†¦ so that he should see how white her hand was beside his brown one. †[29] Dramatizing these dynamics, Mansfield suggests that a â€Å"happy† household outside of town is not as â€Å"dirt cheap† as Stanley boasts; it comes at the cost of servitude, sexual aggression, and a ravaged Maori landscape. [30] Through these layers, which Mansfield subtly strips off one at a time, she artfully exposes the way that an existing political and aesthetic order is not what it seems to be or how it has always been. Her short stories are fraught with their own tensions; while exposing the picturesque as false and absurd, she nevertheless draws on its conventional associations. Similarly, her subtle attempts to question colonial power are embedded in a seemingly idealized portrait of colonial life. Mansfield creates a seemingly beautiful or normal image, such as the happy family in â€Å"Prelude,† â€Å"Bliss,† or â€Å"Garden Party,† and then slowly challenges it through a subtle counter-narrative. In this way, her deployment of modernist techniques is less pronounced than that of James Joyce and her other modernist contemporaries. Just as she challenges aesthetic conventions, Mansfield unravels the reader’s ideas about her own stories by presenting a seemingly beautiful, transparent narrative that is haunted by tensions, lacunae, and opacity. Like the headless walking duck, these fictions of transparency and harmony quickly collapse upon closer inspection.

Case 8 the Accra Beach Hotel Block Booking of Capacity...

Case 8 The Accra Beach Hotel: Block Booking of Capacity during a Peak Period Question 1 What factors lead to variations in demand for rooms at a hotel such as the Accra Beach? Answer: There are 3 factors that will lead to variations in demand for rooms at a hotel, which are seasonal cycle, economic cycle and days of the week. Seasonal cycle - Hotel such as Accra Beach will depends highly on seasonal cycle, hotel will be in low demand on September (64.7%) as it is in peak hurricane season. High demand on January through March (87% to 92%), when Caribbean is in nice weather and people need to get away from the horrid season in North America and Northern Europe. Economic cycle - Business travelers, which are one of the main†¦show more content†¦This will lead the hotel succeeding in filling up all available capacity, which is impossible for single segment. Moreover, serving several segments also bring profits to the hotel. However, there will also be several considerations that will take place in serving several segments. As different segments are on different purposes, they will have different needs, behaviors and expectations. For example, vacationers will tend to dress casually and are having relaxed time. However, business people will tend to dress formally and will always use their mobile phones and laptops in vacation environment. Hostile glances from different segments can lead to a stressful atmosphere. In regards to expenses, serving several segments will have higher administrative expenses, as different approach and promotion may be required for each segments. Planning, implementing and controlling multiple marketing programs will increase the company administrative expenses. Question 3 What are the key considerations facing the hotel as it reviews the booking requests from the West Indies Cricket Board? Answer: There are four key considerations in reviewing the booking request such as: - Financial impact