Platos Allegory Of The Cave: Importance Today

Platos Allegory Of The Cave: Importance Today Our society so values education that sociologists have recognized the problem of over-education (Hadjicostandi). Many people are spending years pursuing degrees which they simply do not need for the jobs they perform. It is therefore prudent for students to question whether pursuing a liberal education is really as important as our society believes. What is the point of a college education? Does it have any purpose beyond its material benefits. Are these benefits worth their cost? These are important questions that need answering. In the end, we may see that there is far more to this debate than simple accounting. Perhaps what makes education worth pursuing is that it gives us the freedom to makes these kinds of decisions about what is best for us. In many ways, this debate over education has its roots in the writings of Plato (Jowett). In Book VII of The Republic, Plato discusses such topics as enlightenment, epistemology, forms, and the duties of philosophers Allegory of the Cave vs The Matrix: Imagine living through life completely bound and facing a reality that doesnt even exist. The prisoners in Platos Allegory of the Cave are blind from true reality as well as the people in the movie The Matrix written and directed by the Wachowski brothers. They are given false images and they accept what their senses are telling them, and they believe what they are experiencing is all that really exists. Plato the ancient Greek philosopher wrote The Allegory of the Cave, to explain the process of enlightenment and what true reality may be. In the movie The Matrix, Neo (the main character) was born into a world of illusions called the matrix. His true reality is being controlled by the puppet- handlers called the machines who use the human body as a source of energy. In the movie, Neo, finds and alternate reality and he has to go on a journey to discover himself and what is around him. Much like The Allegory of the Cave the prisoners in a dark underground cave, who are chained to the wall, have a view of reality solely based upon this limited view of the cave which is but a poor copy of the real world. Both the prisoners of the cave, and Neo from the Matrix, have to transcend on the path of enlightenment to know the truth of their own worlds. The Allegory of the Cave in Different Perspectives The Allegory of the Cave, written by Plato, is an interpretation of a conversation between Socrates, Platos mentor, and Glaucon, one of Socrates students.  ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ §The Allegory of the Cave ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨ can be interpreted several different ways. Imagine men in a cave chained up by their necks and legs, forcing them to only look forward at a wall. An opening behind them lets the light in. Above the burning fire and chains, there is a road. Have these chained men ever seen anything else of themselves or others beyond the cave ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦s shadows made by the fire? Some people would say the truth is only perceived by the shadows seen on the walls of the cave. What if one of these men ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦s chains were taken off and he was free to leave? Would the man feel pain when seeing the real world? Would he be confused on believing what is real? Would it make a difference if the chained man was briefly educated about what he was going to see first? Perhaps he would understand and not be confused about what is real. Will the man think what he saw before was much more real than what he sees now? Questions like these will bring different opinions and meaning to The Allegory of the Cave. ¨ Whose interpretation, if any, is correct when explaining the meaning of The Allegory of the Cave? Does it have mathematical meaning, explain a vision of the whole world, or is it just a comparison to the field of social work? Similarities between Platos and Descartes Epistemologies Summary Philosophy is a subject that can take many twists and turns before it finds an answer to a general question. Sometimes, an answer is still left unfound. Philosophy, in its broadest terms, can be described as the systematic pursuit of knowledge and human excellence. What we are concerned with is knowledge. Many people have theories of knowledge. Amongst them, there are two we will be looking at, Descartes and Plato. We will examine Descartes epistemology in Meditations on First Philosophy and Platos in The Republic. Descartes epistemology is known as foundationalism. In the Meditations, Descartes doubts everything he was taught to believe because it is human tendency to believe what is false. In the first, he claims that most of what he believes is from his senses and that those senses are sometimes deceived. His solution to doubting everything is compared to a basket of apples. You fear that some apples have gone bad and you dont want the others to rot, so you throw all the apples out of the basket. Once this is done, you examine each one and return the good apples to the basket. This is what he does with his beliefs. He keeps only those he is certain of. We must discard our beliefs as a whole and then examine each one individually. We must build on the good beliefs. Descartes, however, does realize we cant throw every belief out because they are a part of us, unlike the apples. We would have no basis for recovering any of our beliefs. We would be unable to justify anything. No belief based on sense-perception is free from doubt. He said it is possible that his life is all a dream and he is being deceived into thinking it is reality. He also holds false anything that is physical exists, including his own body. The only things we should trust are those beliefs that are subject to rational scrutiny. We must also declare our mathematical judgments to be false also because an evil demon might be deceiving us. Now, Descartes has cast doubt on all his beliefs about everything but himself. He cannot be deceived about himself. It is on himself that he will be able to rebuild his knowledge of other things. If he had no knowledge of himself, then nothing can be certain. If he doubts, he must be an existing self which is engaged in doubting. If he doubts, he must also be thinking and Descartes said I think, therefore I am. He must also exist so that he can be deceived. If he is dreaming, then he is also thinking, thus he still exists. This is the first step to acquiring knowledge, to Descartes. You must build on what you know is certain, starting with yourself as the foundation. In the second meditation, Descartes tries to show we know bodies through reason and not through senses. He uses a piece of wax to demonstrate. Over a period of time, a freshly produced piece of wax placed by the fire loses or changes all its specific properties, yet it is known to be the same object. Its taste and odor disappear. Its color, size, and shape are completely transformed. It loses its hardness and coldness to liquidity and warmth. To know the wax, you must be able to anticipate its changes. Descartes argues, though, that the imagination could not possibly figure out all conditions, for they are infinite. One can only know an object through understanding, rather than through images, sensation or imagination. He now has knowledge about himself and any object that he has thought about through reason. We are now moving along nicely in rebuilding our house of knowledge. In the third meditation, we move into another building block of knowledge, God. We look at the example of two plus three equaling five. We see this to be clear and distinct, but it is possible that we are being deceived. He tries to dispel the doubt about propositions of mathematics by claiming that God exists and would not allow such a deception. He makes an argument for Gods existence. Premise one states that we have an idea of God. Premise two states that the only way to have an idea of God is if God exists. Therefore, the conclusion is that God exists. Us having an idea of God means us having an understanding of the infinite. We cant understand the infinite through the finite, but only through the infinite, thus God must also be the cause of the idea of God. We as finite substances cannot cause the existence of an infinite substance. The idea is also an objective reality, thus it can be held as true. God is not deceiving us and now we have added the final building block to our ho use of knowledge. In The Republic, Plato has his own epistemology. His is more along the lines of idealism. The ascent to knowledge is not based upon understanding an object, but understanding the idea of that object. The highest idea or form is the idea of the Good itself. Socrates is the main character of this section of The Republic. He engages in a conversation with Glaucon about knowledge. Socrates gives two images of the ascent from chaotic opinion to orderly knowledge, the image of the divided line and of the Cave. Knowledge is what is certain and true and opinion is what is fallible. This is where we may see a connection between Plato and Descartes. They both agree that knowledge must be certain and all other things false. Plato held that all knowledge can be derived from a single set of principles. Knowledge rests on the Good as its foundation, unlike Descartes, where ones self is the foundation. Plato compares the power of the Good to the power of the sun. The sun illuminates things and makes them visible to the eye. The absolute good illuminates things of the mind and makes them intelligible. According to Plato, the idea of the Good is too much for humans to understand, but can be thought of as the idea of absolute order. The sun is the cause of generation, nourishment, growth, and visibility. The Good is the cause of essences, structures, forms, and knowledge. This is somewhat similar to Descartes because God is the cause of the idea of Himself, thus the cause of everything else also. There are four levels of knowledge. First, there are two ruling powers though. The good is set over the intellectual world and the sun over the visible world. We start with two lines, one for knowledge and one for opinion. Now we cut them once more and now there are four sections, two belonging to the intelligible world and two belonging to the visible world, two belonging to knowledge and two belonging to opinion. The first section is that of images such as shadows and reflections. The second deals with us seeing actual things, sense-perception. Unlike Descartes, we will not discard this, but use it to build on our knowledge. Descartes believes sense-perception to be false, but Plato uses it as a stepping stone towards knowledge. Now we have the two subdivisions of the intellectual. The third section is where the soul has understanding through its assumptions based on images. The fourth section is where the soul moves past the use of any images and strictly reasons things out. One d oes not use objects, but ideas to reason. Next is the Allegory of the Cave. Platos allegory is a copy of the reality of the divided line. Plato realizes people can think and speak without being aware of the Forms. Plato treats these people as prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they are able to see is the wall of the cave and a fire burns behind them. There is a place to walk between the prisoners and the fire. There are others in that place that hold up objects to cast shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these objects behind them. They see and hear only the shadows and echoes cast by these objects. Prisoners like these would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the shadows are real, but would be unaware of the causes. Plato points out that they would refer to the shadow rather than the real object. The only way for the prisoner to see what he is talking about is to turn his head around. We actually name things we can not see, but things that we can only grasp in the mind. When the prisoners are released, they can see the real objects and realize their error. The way we can see the causes of our shadows is by grasping the Forms with our minds. The prisoners now ascend upwards out of the cave( into the intellectual world). When they first leave the cave, their eyes feel pain the same way the jury that convicted Socrates felt pain. They were not used to the light just like the jury was not used to Socrates manner of speaking. The prisoners would, at first, react violently as the jury did and try to descend back into the cave. This is similar to when the jury sentenced Socrates to death. But the prisoners must go on. Once they adjust, they are able to see the objects and what they must possess in itself. This takes us back to Descartes again. Descartes also believed we must look for an objects uniqueness without relying on sense-perception. The light shows them what the external conditions must be and then they finally see the sun, the sour ce of the external condition. Plato and Descartes have their own epistemologies. Platos is that of Idealism and Descartes is Foundationalism. They differ somewhat while they also share similarities. Plato says what we see are shadows, not the real objects. A philosopher is one who strives to see the object and what makes the object unique. Finally, the philosopher will be able to see the idea of the object. Descartes also aims to find the uniqueness of an object and the idea of it through reason, but his approach differs. He casts doubt on what he feels isnt certain and starts to rebuild his house of knowledge on what is, himself being the foundation. Plato is not necessarily looking to cast doubts on ones beliefs, but is trying to expand ones knowledge of it. Their ends are the same, try to reach the Good or God, but their means are different.

Subject Placement in American Gothic, The Third of May, Acrobat’s Fami

Subject Placement in â€Å"American Gothic,† â€Å"The Third of May,† â€Å"The Acrobat’s Family,† and â€Å"The Waterseller† Besides bright or dim colors, and fine or rough brush strokes, artists use centralized composition to convey their interpretations in "The Acrobat's Family with a Monkey," "Amercian Gothic," "The Water-Seller," and "The Third of May,1808.† Grant Wood strategically places objects and characters to emphasize the central object, the pitchfork, expressing an atmosphere of unwelcomness, in his painting "American Gothic." The pitchfork attracts the viewer's attention as the most prominent feature of the painting. Its sharpness and rigidity cause the viewer to feel uncomfortable and uninvited. The elderly couple behind the pitchfork further exemplifies Wood's placement technique. Wood gives the pitchfork more significance by placing it in the center in front of the couple. The pattern in the man's overalls resembles the pitchfork, which is a reference back to the pitchfork, further supporting the theme of the painting. The couple becomes analogous to a "No Trespassing" sign. They do not want anyone to be around. At the top of the painting, the windows of the house resemble a church's windows. The sharpness and straightness in the windows refer to the pitchfork again. Although the house resembles the actual church it is also used to continue the theme of unwelcomeness. A hard to notice aspect of the painting is the cactus near the front door of the home. The cactus replaces the traditional welcome mat. No one would go near the front door due to the possible harm. The sharpness from the thorns of the cactus reminds the viewer again of the pitchfork in the center of the painting. Wood's ... ... lesser experience than the water-seller causes him to defer to the water-seller's maturity; therefore, he stands in the background, watching the process and increasing his knowledge. The water-seller himself stands to the far right of Velazquez’s painting, occupied with pouring water into a glass for the boy. He has lived longer than the other males in the painting and therefore has the most knowledge and the most experience of them all. The water-seller also appears to be the most distinguished of the three: dressed in red robes, which are similar to those that might be worn by a Cardinal, thereby reflective of his position in life. Many of these artists' works contain subtle hints to the author's opinion on the subject. By analyzing their central compositional effects, the viewer can obtain a greater appreciation and understanding for the art.

Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust Essay -- Essays Papers

Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust Synopsis – Hitler’s Willing Executioners is a work that may change our understanding of the Holocaust and of Germany during the Nazi period. Daniel Goldhagen has revisited a question that history has come to treat as settled, and his researches have led him to the inescapable conclusion that none of the established answers holds true. Drawing on materials either unexplored or neglected by previous scholars, Goldhagen presents new evidence to show that many beliefs about the killers are fallacies. They were not primarily SS men or Nazi Party members, but perfectly ordinary Germans from all walks of life, men who brutalized and murdered Jews both willingly and zealously. â€Å"They acted as they did because of a widespread, profound, unquestioned, and virulent anti-Semitism that led them to regard the Jews as a demonic enemy whose extermination was not only necessary but also just.†1 The author proposes to show that the phenomenon of German anti-Semitism was alread y deep-rooted and pervasive in German society before Hitler came to power, and that there was a widely shared view that the Jews ought to be eliminated in some way from German society. When Hitler chose mass extermination as the only final solution, he was easily able to enlist vast numbers of Germans to carry it out. About the Author - Daniel Jonah Goldhagen is Assistant Professor of Government and Social Studies at Harvard University and an Associate of Harvard's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. His doctoral dissertation, which is the basis for his book "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust," was awarded the American Political Science Association's 1994 Gabriel A. Almond Award for the best dissertation in the field of comparative politics.2 Summary - For the extermination of the Jews to occur, four principal things were necessary: 1. The Nazis - that is, the leadership, specifically Hitler - had to decide to undertake the extermination. 2. They had to gain control over the Jews, namely over the territory in which they resided. 3. They had to organize the extermination and devote to it sufficient resources. 4. They had to induce a large number of people to carry out the killings. The vast literature on Nazism and the Holocaust treats in great depth the first three elements, the focus of this book, is t... ...lity and having judged the mass annihilation of Jews to be right, did not want to say "no." It is my belief that the author presents a very controversial view of the causes and implementation of the Holocaust. The root of the controversy is his contention that the German people, as a society, are responsible for the attempted extermination of the Jews. According to Mr. Goldhagen, in the eyes of the Germans, the Jews as nothing more than a cancer that must be removed in order to cure the ills of their nation. In the book Mr. Goldhagen has gone to great extents to prove his views. However, â€Å"†¦his theories will probably remain a point of contention with historians for years to come.†4 The brutality and horror that is described throughout the book is, at times, overwhelming. To realize that one group of people can treat their fellow man with such heartlessness and savagery in what we call a civilized world is almost beyond comprehension. Notes 1. Hitler’s Willing Executioners, Book Jacket, 1996 2. Patterns of Prejudice, Erich Goldhagen, 1978, 12, No.1, 1-16 3. First Things, Richard John Neuhaus, August/September 1996, 36-41 4. U.S. News & World Report, David Gergen, May 24, 1996

Opinion essay, computers Essay

In our present life everything is connected with computers technology. We use computers at homes, schools, banks, hospitals, and many other places. A computer is a helpful and comfortable invention. Most things we know are run or made by computers. For example, cars, traffic signals, medical equipments, and most jobs today require the use of computer. It plays a major role, and has a huge impact on our society. The main three effects of living without computers might be losing time, inaccuracy, and missing many important machines that run or made by them. Computers complete a lot of work for us which normally consume a long time .If we did not have computers, we would need a long time to do many tasks. For example, employs at banks need computers to finish their jobs in short time. Students in school use computers to print reports, do assignments, and research via the internet to get what they need very quickly. By using computers we will save our time, and get accurate results. Computers provide us with accuracy. Many fields need computers to ensure the accuracy in their results. For example, doctors in the medical filed would not have found cures for many diseases if they did not use computers. Most cures were found with help of computers with a high level of accuracy. In addition, space exploration scientists would not achieve a success without computers. Most machines we know are run or made by computers. For example, cars, airplanes, microwaves, traffic signals, and medical equipments. We could not organize the traffic signals with more proficiency without computers. In conclusion, computers have helped us to take a large step into the future. They have played a major role, and have had a huge impact on our daily lives. Living without them could lead to many problems, and the main three effects of living without computers would be losing time, Inaccuracy, and missing many important machines.

ACC557 †Financial Accounting Essay

1. Analyze each company’s history, product/services, major customers, major suppliers, and leadership and provide a synopsis of each company. The Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO ) vs. PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP ) war is one of the greatest rivalries in corporate history, just like Apple vs. Microsoft. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are the two most popular and widely recognized beverage brands in the world. They have been competing in the soft drink sector for over a century and both companies enjoy a high degree of brand consciousness globally. Both companies try to market as part of a lifestyle. At the same time, these two soda giants are among the most popular and respected dividend growth companies in the market, so let’s take a look at the Coke vs. Pepsi debate from an investor’s perspective. Coca-Cola uses phrases such as â€Å"Coke side of life† in their website, while Pepsi uses phrases such as â€Å"Hot stuff† in their web, to promote the idea that Pepsi is â€Å"in syn c† with the cool side of life. Ironically, both Pepsi and Coke have similar beginnings: both were created in the 19th century and both were the results of the experimental work of innovative pharmacists. Coke was created in 1886 by Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton while Pepsi was developed in 1898 by North Carolina pharmacist and drugstore owner, Caleb Bradham. The history of Pepsi began with a man named Caleb Davis Bradham. He was born in Chinquapin, North Carolina on May 27, 1867. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the University of Maryland, School of Medicine, around 1890. After returning to North Carolina, Mr. Bradham taught public school for about a year, and later opened a drug store on the corner of Middle and Pollock Streets in downtown New Bern. In 1902, Bradham launched the Pepsi-Cola Company in the back room of his pharmacy and on December 24, 1902 the Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated in the state of North Carolina. The business began to grow, and on June 16, 1903,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Pepsi-Cola† was officially registered with the U.S. Patent Office. In 1910 there were 250 Pepsi-Cola franchises in 24 states and in January of that year the Pepsi Cola Company held their first Bottler Convention in New Bern. In 1926, Pepsi received its first logo redesign since the original design of 1905. In 1929, the logo was changed again. In 1931, at the depth of the Great Depression, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark. Megargel was unsuccessful, and soon Pepsi’s assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft, Inc. Today PepsiCo, Inc. (PepsiCo) is a global food and beverage company. Through the Company’s bottlers, contract manufacturers and other partners, the Company makes, markets, sells and distributes a range of foods and beverages in more than 200 countries and territories. PepsiCo is organized into four business units: PepsiCo Americas Foods (PAF), which includes Frito-Lay North America (FLNA), Quaker Foods North America (QFNA) and all of its Latin American food and snack businesses (LAF); PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB), which includes all of its North American and Latin American beverage businesses; PepsiCo Europe, which includes all beverage, food and snack businesses in Europe and South Africa, and PepsiCo Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA), which includes all beverage, food and snack businesses in AMEA, excluding South Africa. In 2011 the company had revenues of $66.504 billion and a net income of $6.462 billion. The company has around 29700 employees worldwide. PepsiCo is also listed on the NYSE and is also a part of the Dow Jones Industrial composite. Pepsi Co’s current chief executive is Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi who has been at the helm since 2006. The history of Coca-Cola began with Col. John Pemberton. He was wounded in the Civil War, became addicted to morphine, and began a quest to find a substitute to the dangerous opiate. The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at Pemberton’s Eagle Drug and Chemical House, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, originally as a coca wine. In 1885, Pemberton registered his French Wine Coca nerve tonic. In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca. By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola – sold by three separate businesses – were on the market. A co-partnership had been formed on January 14, 1888 between Pemberton and four Atlanta businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey; C.O.  Mullahy and E.H. Bloodworth. Charley Pemberton’s record of control over the â€Å"Coca-Cola† name was the underlying factor that allowed for him to participate as a major shareholder in the March 1888 Coca-Cola Com pany incorporation filing made in his father’s place. More so for Candler especially, Charley’s position holding exclusive control over the â€Å"Coca Cola† name continued to be a thorn in his side. Today The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation headquartered in Atlanta Georgia. It is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola. The Company owns or licenses and markets more than 500 nonalcoholic beverage brands, primarily sparkling beverages but also a variety of still beverages, such as waters, enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks, ready-to-drink teas and coffees, and energy and sports drinks. It owns and markets a range of nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, which includes Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. The Company’s segments include Eurasia and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Pacific, Bottling Investments and Corporate. In January 2013, Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Company announced that it had been acquired by the Company. Effective February 22, 2013, Coca-Cola Co acquired interest in Fresh Trading Ltd. In November 2013, Coca-Cola Company and ZICO Beverages LLC announced that Coca-Cola has acquired the ownership interest in ZICO. The company offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries and serves over 1.7 billion servings per day. The company’s stock is listed on the NYSE and it is a part of the DJIA, S&P index and the Russell 1000 index. The company had revenues of $48.01 billion in the year 2012 and a net income of $9.01 billion. Coca-Cola has a total asset base of $86.17 billion and 146,200 employees worldwide. Pepsi and Coca-Cola customers include authorized bottlers and independent distributors, including foodservice distributors and retailers. Both companies normally grant their bottlers exclusive contracts to sell and manufacture certain beverage products bearing the respective trademarks within a specific geographic area. These arrangements provide both companies with the right to charge their bottlers for concentrate, finished goods and bottled water (Aquafina & Dasani) royalties and specify the manufacturing process required for product quality (Wyatt, 2012). Since The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo do not sell directly  to the consumer, they both rely on and provide financial incentives to their distributors to assist in the distribution and promotion of their respective products. For the independent distributors and retailers, these incentives include volume-based rebates, product placement fees, promotions and displays. For their bottlers, these incentives are referred to as bottler funding and are negotiated annually with each bottler to support a variety of trade and consumer programs, such as consumer incentives, advertising support, new product support, and vending and cooler equipment placement. Consumer incentives include coupons, pricing discounts and promotions, and other promotional off ers. New product support includes targeted consumer and retailer incentives and direct marketplace support, such as point-of-purchase materials, product placement fees, media and advertising. Pepsi supplies its concentrates to restaurants that they have contracts with. Another market segment that Pepsi targets are grade schools, colleges and universities. PepsiCo main suppliers include; Sandora, Sadochok and Toma juice brands which supply Pepsi’s concentrate, while G.D Searle and company supplies PepsiCo with NutraSweet for PepsiCo diet soft drinks. Ball Metal Beverage Packaging produces Pepsi’s aluminum cans. Amcor produces PETS for Pepsi. It also manufactures plastic bottles for Gatorade (Wyatts, 2012). PepsiCo products generate approximately $108 billion in cumulative annual retail sales. Here are PepsiCo products which had revenues of over $1 billion as of 2009; Pepsi cola, Mountain Dew, Lays, Gatorade, Tropicana, 7up, Doritos, Lipton teas, Quaker foods, Cheetos, Miranda , Ruffles, Aquafina, Pepsi max, Tostitos, Sierra mist, Fritos and Walker’s. PepsiCo foods generated 63% of the net worldwide revenues while 37% of the revenue came from beverages in 2012. Pepsi brand generated the most revenues with about $20 billion in revenues, followed by mountain dew with around $12 billion, the others followed in the order they are listed in above with Walker’s potato chips being the last of the 21 brands listed above. PepsiCo distributes its own product in parts of Europe while it uses contract manufacturers in other areas (PepsiCo, 2013). The main target markets for PepsiCo include the age group 14-30 which has always been the main target market for Pepsi. Historically, Pepsi has always targeted teens with heavy advertising, teen-oriented ads. Coca-Cola customers include large international chains of retailers and restaurants and small independent  businesses. Coca-Cola works with them equally to create mutual benefit. Together with their bottling partners, they serve their customers through account management teams, providing services and support tailored to their needs. Coca-Cola’s suppliers offer different services from packaging, information technology services, bottles and package labeling. The Coca-Cola Company’s main suppliers include; Alcan packaging which offers plastic bottle labels, Alcoa plastic caps, and Cannon provides steam boilers, water treatment systems and plastic products. EDS provides information technology services to Coca- cola for its operation in Latin America. Coca-Cola purchases syrups and concentrates from TCCC and other licensors to manufacture products. They also purchase their raw materials, other than concentrates, syrups, mineral waters, and sweeteners, from multiple suppliers. The beverage agreements with TCCC provide that all authorized containers, closures, cases, cartons and other packages, and labels for the products of TCCC must be purchased from manufacturers approved by TCCC. Leadership at PepsiCo – Indra Nooyi is the CEO of Pepsi she describes her leadership style as â€Å"Performance with Purpose,† a mantra that has become central to the PepsiCo journey over these past seven years. Nooyi has chronicled five leadership lessons that together form the roadmap for global leaders in the 21st century (Snyder, 2013). 1. Balance the short-term and long-term. Today’s leaders are, all too often, driven only by short-term quarterly results, yielding decisions that are counterproductive for the longer-term health of the organization and society. Effective leaders must strike a balance. 2. Develop a deep understanding of public/private partnerships. Nooyi points out that many private sector leaders treat the public sector (NGOs, governments) as the enemy—and vice versa. † She believes that NGO leaders do their jobs as a â€Å"labor of love.†Ã‚  Treating them with respect and understanding, as opposed to distain and condescension can go a long way (Snyder, 2013). 3. Think global, act local. Nooyi argues this is not an outdated clichà ©, but instead, sounds advice that can yield innovative, out-of-the box solutions. She showed part of a nine-minute commercial video, produced for the 2012 Chinese New Year. 4. Keep an open mind to adapt to changes. The art of asking probing questions to facilitate dialog and exploration. All-too-often, leaders close their minds to dissent, cutting off much needed debate. To lead in an ever-changing world, Nooyi  says, leaders must adapt and stay nimble (Snyder, 2013). 5. Lead with your head and your heart. Leaders must develop deep emotional intelligence, and bring â€Å"their whole selves to work every day.† They must continually remind themselves that everyone who works for them is a unique human being and seek to strengthen this human connection and bond. Leadership at Coca-Cola is expected from the CEO Muhtar Kent. He runs his company by being an entrepreneur and focusing on cash. He calls his leadership philosophy â€Å"constructively discontent.† (Bhasin, 2012). – According to Kent his preferred description of his leadership – means ‘It’s all about an entrepreneurial mentality. Injecting entrepreneurial religion involves getting Coke’s 146,000 employees to think like owners. â€Å"People need to feel like they are chasing pennies down the hallway.† It’s about the respect for cash,† Kent told Sellers. His devotion to that manifests itself in many ways. For instance: And at Coke, managers have to pay $15 a month if they want to use their cellphones for personal calls (and yes, that rule applies to the CEO too). â€Å"When you don’t see cash, all sorts of things go wrong,† he told Sellers. â€Å"You overspend as an individual and overspend as a company.† Kent suggests that people need to be connected with the cash impact of choices and decisions in order to make rational choices. 2. Based on the stock price for the timeline listed below, present a graph that illustrates the stock price of each company. Indicate conclusions that can be drawn based on the trend: a. The day of its initial public offering b. January 1, 2012 c. January 1, 2011 d. January 1, 2010 PepsiCo’s initial public offering was $23 a share in 1999. Coca-Cola’s initial public offering was in 1919, by a consortium of businessmen led by Ernest Woodruff, Robert W. Woodruff’s father, purchased The Coca-Cola Company for $25 million. The business was re-incorporated as a Delaware Corporation and its stock was put on public sale on the New York Stock Exchange, with common stock at $40 per share, and preferred stock at $100 per share. The chart below shows the changes in the stock prices of the organization from January 1, 2010, January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2012. While PepsiCo has outgrown Coca-Cola in terms of revenue over the last five years, Coke is doing better than its rival when it comes to earnings-per-share growth over the same period. Coke has considerably higher profit margins than Pepsi, in the area of 21.8% at the op Even if both companies have seen decreasing margins due to bottler acquisitions over the last years, Coke’s dominance in drinks seems to provide an advantage when it comes to margins on sales. As incomes rise, so does health awareness. But does any of this actually matter to Coke and Pepsi shareholders? Pricing here is complicated. Coke may have the most valuable brand in the world, and Pepsi’s brands are also quite valuable. It is the value of these brands that allows the stocks to trade at premiums to the market even while their basic products are seeing weak demand. 3. Research and summarize at least two (2) news events (this may include mergers, acquisitions, or political issues) that occurred from 2010 to the present day and the potential impact on the stock price of each company. Indicate how this influences your investment decision related to the company. Events that occurred in 2013 and the potential impact to be on the stock price for both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. A New York Times article, published October 1st 2013 by Keith Bradsher, expressed concern about land grabs related to the sugar industry and the companies that supplied from it. The advocacy group Oxfam has accused three big international food companies of buying sugar from what they described as a plantation that had unfairly taken land from farmers in Cambodia and Brazil without proper compensation (Bradsher, 2013). Oxfam, called on the food and beverage companies to disclose more about the sources of their sugar supplies. It contended in a report that sugar, soybeans and palm oi l were the three crops producing the fiercest competition for land by large, often foreign, investors. The group’s report assailed three companies by name: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Associated British Foods. Coca-Cola stated that it asked suppliers â€Å"to recognize and safeguard the rights of communities and traditional peoples to maintain access to land and natural resources. According to† Amanda Rosseter, a company spokeswoman, Coca-Cola does not buy sugar directly from farms but from larger suppliers. These purchases have included buying from Tate & Lyle Sugars, which in turn has bought limited quantities from Cambodia, but Tate & Lyle Sugars has already said that it has no further plans to buy from Cambodia. PepsiCo stated in a  statement that it also paid attention to social responsibility issues in its contracting. The company added that it had â€Å"reached out to the suppliers; they have assured us they are in compliance with applicable laws.† How will it impact the stock price of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo being associated with the idea of taking land away fr om indigenous poor people so they have access to cheap sources of sugar? In another New York Times article published December 12th 2013 by Stephanie Strom, PepsiCo sealed an unusual deal that goes far beyond the soda wars, PepsiCo is expected to announce soon that it is unseating Coca-Cola as the beverage supplier to one of the nation’s hottest restaurant chains, Buffalo Wild Wings (Strom, 2013). The deal, which will start with the introduction of Pepsi, Mountain Dew and other drink brands in 2014, is the biggest sign so far of how PepsiCo is deploying its thriving snacks business and Quaker, which it also owns, to offset declines in its traditional soda business. â€Å"But what this partnership does is give Buffalo Wild Wings a full access pass to all that PepsiCo has to offer.† And the deal also allows Buffalo Wild Wings to capitalize on PepsiCo’s relationships with major sports organizations like the National Football League and Major League Baseball. 4. Provide an overall financial analysis for each company that highlights the key characteristics for investment and how this may impact an investor’s decision. While PepsiCo has outgrown Coca-Cola in terms of revenue over the last five years, Coke is doing better than its rival when it comes to earnings-per-share growth over the same period. Coke has considerably higher profit margins than Pepsi, in the area of 21.8% at the operating level for the soda giant versus 14.3% for the salty snacks leader. Even if both companies have seen decreasing margins due to bottler acquisitions over the last years, Coke’s dominance in drinks seems to provide an advantage when it comes to margins on sales. Coca-Cola has also done better than PepsiCo in terms of reducing share count via stock buybacks; the company has reduced the amount of shares outstanding by 4.6% over the last five years while Pepsi has not managed to reduce its share count by more than 1.3% over that period. On the other hand, the trend could be reversing in the middle term as Pepsi’s buyback program for 2013 will likely have a bigger impact on shareholder’s returns. As of the third quarter of 2013 Coke had spent $2.8  billion in stock buybacks during the first nine months of the year, and the company is planning to end 2013 with a repurchase of between $3.0 billion and $3.5 billion for the full year. Pepsi is planning to end 2013 with nearly $3 billion in buybacks. Even if Coke repurchases $3.5 billion during the year, that would represent roughly 2% of the company’s $174.8 billion market cap. While Pepsi’s buyback would still be smaller in absolute terms, $3 billion would account for a slightly higher 2.3% of the company’s market value around $130.1 billion. Coke’s buyback program has been bigger in recent years, but the company may be losing that advantage over PepsiCo in 2013, so it’s hard to tell which company will return more capital to shareholders via repurchases in the coming years. 5. Based on your review of the financial data for each company, indicate the accuracy and reliability of the data for making investment decision. Provide support for your conclusion. When the ratios of the two companies are compared, Coca Cola has a higher return on asset ratio, a higher dividend yield and a higher dividend growth rate over the last five years. Coca Cola also has a higher P/E ratio but PepsiCo has a higher EPS compared to Coca Cola. From the above information I would advise an investor to buy Coca Cola stock as compared to PepsiCo. My recommendation is based on expected earnings from the stock in terms of dividends and dividend yield, return on assets and the P/E ratio. A higher return on assets shows that a company is utilizing its assets effectively and efficiently in generating earnings. A higher P/E ratio also shows that the investors expect more earnings from the stock. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are Dividend Aristocrats, meaning they have been able to increase dividends over the last 25 consecutive years. Coke has an amazing track record of 51 consecutive dividend increases in a row, while Pepsi has a smaller but still impressive trajectory of 41 consecutive dividend increases. When it comes to dividend growth, however, Coke has a better trajectory than Pepsi over the long term, and the company also delivered a bigger increase for 2013 with a 10% hike versus Pepsi’s 6% dividend rise for the year. 6. Recommend which company you consider as the better investment for your client and how you will present your recommendation. Support your recommendation with data from your analysis. Recommendations for Investment – In order to make an investment in a particular organization, it is necessary for the investors to make sure  that, the investors consider certain key things. The points to be considered by the investors include earning per share, net income and trend in movement of the price of the security of the organization (Pogue, 2010). The price of the stock of the organization Coca Cola Company is $37.67 whereas; the price of stock of PepsiCo is $70.27. This shows that, PepsiCo has a better stock price in comparison to Coca Cola. The earnings per share of PepsiCo is $3.76 whereas, the earnings per share of Coca Cola Company is $1.91. PepsiCo has net income of $6443000 whereas; Coca Cola Company has net income of $8572000. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have earned their rights to be among the most popular dividend growth names in the market due to their rock-solid competitive strengths and time-tested dividend growth trajectories. However, Coke has been able to deliver superior dividend growth over the last few years thanks to its higher profitability and earnings growth rates. Valuations are very similar so, for the same price of a Pepsi, I’m having a Coke. Therefore, from this, one can make a conclusion on the expected future earnings and capital gains. The information deducted from the ratios presented above show that Coca Cola is the best buy. This therefore, shows that before buying a stock there is a rigorous exercise that must be undertaken to gather financial information and from that deduct the effect that information will have on the stock prices. (Cardenal, 2013). References 1. Bhasin, Kim (2012). Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent Explains Why Everything’s All About Cash. Retrieved on March 14, 2014 http://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-ceo-muhtar-kents-leadership-philosophy-2012-5 2. Bradsher, Keith (2013). Worried About Land Grabs, Group Presses 3 Corporations to Disclose Sugar Purchases. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/3-corporations-pressed-to-disclose-data-on-sugar-purchases.html?ref=pepsicoinc&_r=0 3. Cardenal, Andres (2013) Better Buy: Coca-Cola vs. PepsiCo. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/11/06/better-buy-coca-cola-vs-pepsico.aspx 4. -Cola (2013). Bloomberg Business Week. Retrieved on March 12, 2014 investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/ratios.asp? 5. â€Å"History of Pepsi vs. Coke Rivalry at Rivals4Ever†. Rivals4ever.com.

On the Importance of Physical Training Essay

Physical training has so many important benefits it is countless to comprehend. Not only is it condusive to a healthy and fit lifestyle. You live longer, you look better, you feel better; these things among others evident. Physical training affects you on so many levels and each level is more complex and interesting. I am going to explain myself clearly throughout this article. I write this as corrective training, but also a positive outlet for me to express myself. So a subject like physical training is defiantly as subject to talk about. It is a part of the Army life, and soldiers like to sham. So what exactly is shamming? Shamming is a verb describing an act of laziness or â€Å"escaping the situation† in light of events that demand some effort or benefit on your part in any way. Obviousily in today’s world, people sham in every area of life no matter the consequent. This is a very popular trend in today’s Army. So we have a mixture of Physical Training meets Sham. Basically, physical exercise is defined as any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellbeing. There or many reasons people work out. To build muscle, to fight disease, to build strength. Maybe pass that PT test. People work out to lose weight and to build those cardiovascular muscles. Frequent and regular physical exercise boosts the immune system, and helps prevent diseases such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. It also improves mental health and motor functions. It helps to prevent depression while promoting positive self-esteem. Childhood obesity is a growing global concern and physical exercise may help to decrease the effects of childhood obesity in developed countries. Health care providers often call exercise the â€Å"miracle† or â€Å"wonder† drug- eluding to the wide variety of proven benefits that it provides. FM 21-20 is the Army field manual that covers physical fitness training. FM 21-20 is directed at leaders who plan and conduct physical fitness training. It provides guidelines for developing programs which will improve and maintain physical fitness levels for all Army personnel. These programs will help leaders prepare their soldiers to meet the physical demands of war.  This manual can also be used as a source book by all soldiers. FM 21-20 was written to conform the principles outlined in FM 25-100, Training the Force. Types of Exercise Physical exercise is generally grouped into three types. They all have separate benefits to the body and the effects they have. I’m going to explain them as listed. Flexibility, Aerobic, Anaerobic. Flexibility exercises, such as stretching, improve the range of muscle and joints. This is an important aspect to physical training. Because lack of doing so could result in a later injury. Aerobic exercises consist of things like running, swimming, hiking, rucking. These exercises help increase your cardiovascular system and over strength of your heart. Anaerobic exercises consist of things such as pushups, weight training, and pull ups, the forward lunge, things that result in muscle failure. AR 350-15 specifies that vigorous physical fitness training will be conducted 3 to 5 times per week. For optimal results, commanders must strive to conduct 5 days of physical training per week. To obtain maximum gains in muscular strength, soldiers should have at least three strength training sessions per week.

The Greeks and Achilles

The opening of Virgil’s epic [â€Å"I sing of warfare and a man of war† or â€Å" I sing of arms and of the man†] is a skillful allusion to Homer’s Iliad [â€Å"Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles†]. Both rely on nouns. Discuss how the two interact in both works. Just as Homer used the first lines of the Iliad and Odyssey to announce the main themes of those poems, Virgil presents the two main themes of the Aeneid in the first line.What are these two central themes? In The Aeneid, Virgil's first two lines â€Å"I sing of warfare and a man at war. / He came to Italy by destiny. † Like with Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey, Virgil's central theme for The Aeneid is war, though in a vastly different light than that of Homer's two epics. With Aeneid, the central character Aeneas fleas Troy during a darkened time for his native city, when it is being ravaged in a war between the Greeks and Achilles.The line He came to Italy by destiny tells me that The Aeneid's focus is central to fate and destiny and how so many people during this time put a lot of their energy believing in, and raging wars in the name of both. What universal force is responsible for Aeneas's sufferings as an exile (see line 3)? In accordance with this universal force, what is the purpose of his sufferings? Land and sea are what are responsibile for Aeneas sufferings as an exile while he made the journey from Troy to Italy.Aeneas' suffering was at the hands of Juno, who was angry that with Aeneas' arrival into Carthage meant that the fate of her most favorite city would soon be teasted when the war made it's way from his beloved Troy, where he was fleeing from, to Carthage. Explain the reasons for Juno's hatred of the Trojans. Juno's hatred towards the other Trojan's was because the arrival of another Trojan, Paris, voted in a beauty contest against Juno, a contest that she ended up losing.Compare and contrast Homer’s de scription of the shield of Achilles in the Iliad (XVIII. 572ff. ) with Virgil’s description of the shield of Aeneas in the Aeneid (VIII. 24ff. ). Both Aeneas and Achilles are given shields that help to defend against their enemies. With Aeneas, he is given a shield to help protect Rome from an invasion, whereas Achilles is given a shield to face off and carry out his revenge against Hector. Both similar in their uses are vastly different in design. For Achilles, his holds engravings of common life during his time.