Project on T. Bills Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Project on T. Bills - Research Paper Example The Treasury bill finances the government by borrowing money from citizens. Investors can purchase T- bills when they become available or when the government decides to issue them. They mature after a set period of time usually less than a year, and the investors redeem their T- bills for the face value. The purchase of a T- bill serves as a temporary loan to the United States Government which returns it when the T-bill matures. A Treasury bill can be purchased by citizens, banks, financial institutions and corporate houses. While private investors do purchase T- bills, banks and financial institutions are capable of purchasing them on a much larger scale, and thus make up bulk of the trade on the initial day of the T- bill offering. The smallest face value of a T-bill is $1000 making it a very attractive purchase. The T- bill is sold at a discount, which is determined by the Bureau of public debt. But the treasury pays the full face value when it is redeemed. For example an investor may purchase a 90- day treasury bill for $900 and expect a return of $100 at the time of maturity. This $100 is the return on the investment that the investor receives. The treasury has issued a $1000 T-bill at $900. The T-bill does not bear interest by is highly predictable and very stable, barring complete financial collapse of the United States Treasury. Investors may choose to include the T- bill in their profiles as they are highly stable investments with a pre-set time of maturity and decent dependable return. Unlike more risky investments the T- bill is unlikely to return a substantial sum, but when they are traded in large volume they can represent a substantial return. Investors can potentially purchase millions of dollars worth of Treasury bills assuming they possess the available capital. They are also extremely liquid assets, making them a versatile

Wal-Mart Business aroung the World Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wal-Mart Business aroung the World - Essay Example As the paper highlights, Mexico was not a driving region so they have to be within their consumers’ neighborhood. Aside from that, Mexicans preferred fresh products so they had to offer their goods fresh. With their thirst to succeed in their endeavor and the help of Grupo Cifra, Mexico became their first international expansion in 1991.   Aside from big established retailers like Metro AC, Aldi and Kaufland, Wal-Mart’s big mistake in their venture in Germany was not having a cultural context on their strategy. Same thing with their business in South Korea, Wal-Mart seemed to cater to Americans alone and did not mind the region’s culture. Unlike with their business in Mexico, they didn’t try to adapt to the needs and wants of their consumers. They eventually had to pull out their business in these countries. Offering freshly harvested products is a must for Chinese. Given that China shares 1/3s of Asia’s population, Wal-Mart considers China as the center of their growth strategy.   International business venture is never easy. There are so many factors to consider. Culture is on top of the listr. As a retailer, you should know the goods a region will buy to stay in business. A rigorous supply and demand and shopping habits study will be essential in order to succeed in your venture. Remem ber that to stay in business, you should get a good percentage of the market. Wal-Mart posted their third quarter profits reaching $3.23 billion, which is 3.2% from a year ago. Their net sales for the third quarter were $98.667, which increased 1.1% from the same period last year. Wal-Mart has more than 7,970 stores including Supercenters and discount stores.  

The Handmaids Tale Essay Example for Free

The Handmaids Tale Essay The Handmaids Tale is a novel that consists of more than one genre it falls in the categories of being a dystopian science fiction, an autobiography, a love story and even a feminist novel. There are many narrative techniques used here in the Handmaids Tale that make it very complex and original such as the use of flashbacks and the very fragmented narrative structure, all of which I will be discussing in this essay. The significance of the epigraphs at the beginning of the novel I feel set the readers up for the story about to be told, as the first epigraph (Genesis,30:1-3) talks about the use of the Handmaids by trying to justify the use of them by quoting from the bible. The second epigraph (A Modest Proposal) shows the cold-heartedness of people, the controlled sincere tone of this mad scheme he talks about parallels with the earnest fascination of Gilead, giving us a rough clue of the tough regime of the Gileadean society. The third epigraph (Sufi proverb) claims that no one needs to forbid anything that is undeniable even when in a desperate situation, the undesirable could be the solution. The deliberate confusion of the opening chapter where Atwood had chosen to hold back large amounts of information causing the reader to become curious and wanting to read more into the story, the narrator of the story who we are unaware of at this stage is not bothering to introduce to the readers what is happening around her, it seems that the narrator is not just telling the story but merely reminding herself of that specific moment in the past We folded our clothes neatly and laid them on the stool at the ends of the beds this gives us a clue that the narrator has gone through this experience already and is speaking from elsewhere in the future. We can see also that the narrator is fully aware of the changes that have occurred since the time before maybe explaining why she only remembers and doesnt feel the need to explain at first, again a technique used to make the readers wanting more so they can understand what has gone on to cause such a rapid change in their lives. Judging by the atmosphere of the surroundings the readers can see a desperate yearn of the past and the act of physical contact where the girls lean out of their cots just to touch each others hands giving us a sense of oppression and a society with rules and order. There are many characters and themes introduced in this very first confusing chapter but it will have left the readers with a lot of guesswork leaving them gripped on wanting to read more this is why I feel that Atwood has started with a confusing opening chapter. The ordering of the sections just reflect the day to day routine of a handmaid such as shopping, check ups at the doctors etc. it also represents the narrow existence of a handmaid and the feeling of repetition, the ordering does go day, night, day, night and so on except for the napping section, but sleep also occurs here I dont understand why this has a different title? I feel that the night sections contribute massively to the structure of the narrative because this is where we learn most about Offred and of the beginning of the regime of Gilead. This is where Offred can have her time alone and vividly go over her memories of the past The night is mine, my own time, to do as I will. The night time is peaceful for Offred where she can be completely away from the oppression in Gilead. Here we learn of her past about her relationship with Luke, her family, her friends, her daughter and the rapidly changing society of Gilead. It again shows the readers how oppressive Gilead must be as Offred does not feel safe to reminisce in the day time while she is out shopping everyday it shows that the fear of the society is constantly on her mind causing her to be aware of everything that is going on. Through these night sections we learn about Offred herself we see that she is a determined woman, we also see that she is a sensitive because sometimes she cannot go on with her stories as they are too painful, but we also see a rebellious side to Offred because by telling her story she is breaking all the laws of the Gilead regime by going over her past and communicating her thoughts and feelings whereas in the daytime she comes across as agreeing with the regime, but here we hear about each time she breaks the law by having a love affair with Nick or seeing the commander plus remembering her past. The narrative technique of flashbacks is most obvious here, the flashbacks are used to tell us the reasons why things are the way they are, informing us throughout the novel of how the society of Gilead developed. Her flashbacks inform us of how she tried to escape over the border with her child and husband or how she suddenly lost her job at the library if these occurrences had been mentioned at the beginning of the story I feel that it would mean no significance to the reader as they wouldnt have known more about Offred but placing these events in the flashbacks throughout the novel creates mystery for the reader who will want to read on more to find out the endings to these fragmented stories. Also there is an importance to the position of the flashbacks for example when Offred recounts her first meeting with Serana Joy she then talks about her mother A motherly figure,someone who would understand and protect me. Another example is when Offred first kisses Nick in the downstairs living room at night and when she goes back up to bed she then thinks of Luke I believe Luke is lying face down in a thicket. Maybe associating her feelings for Nick with how she felt about Luke in the time before Gilead and even now Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Margaret Atwood section.

Business Goals and Structure of Infosys

Business Goals and Structure of Infosys Infosys is a global IT services company, its bases located in Pune, India, which provides a wide range of IT related services ranging from consulting, design, development, software reengineering, maintenance, systems integration, package evaluation, and implementation to infrastructure management. Prior to Infosys, Indias IT, software industries consisted of providing end-to-end business solutions at overseas locations. Infosys found that it would be more cost efficient if it has access to local talent, for there is actually a significantly well-educated population of human resources in India. The companys main positioning is to capitalize on the premise of globalization. In the words of Narayana Murthy, the founder of Infosys, the goal of Infosys is sourcing capital from where it is cheapest, producing where it is most cost-effective, and selling where it is most profitable, all without being constrained by national boundaries. When Infosys was first established in 1981 in India, by N.R. Narayana Murthy, and six other entrepreneurs, it began as a small-size firm, with just one employee. Infosys went public in 1993, and until then, it showed fairly modest growth. By late 1990s however, its revenues had increased from $2 million to $121 million, and its share price skyrocketed from 95 INR to 8,100 INR per share. Currently, Infosys is one of the largest IT companies in India, with over 130,000 employees. It has offices in 33 different countries and has development centers in India, China, Australia, UK, Canada, and Japan. Since 2000, for three consecutive years, Infosys was rated best employer to work for by Hewitt Associates, and was the only Indian company to win the Global MAKE award for three consecutive years. It has also been seeing a steady increase in applicants over the years. II. Unique organizational structure evolution of Infosys Due to the increasing acceptance and growth of global sourcing, the business executives and IT executives of Infosys see the need for effective change management to adjust to the changes in business environment. In case of Infosys, the organizational evolution involves setting the framework for work, coordinating and controlling what is to be done, and setting a common set of values for workers around the world. The organizational management of Infosys is a highly people-centric process. It begins with recruitment, training of new employees, and finally, the organizational management of hired employees. Infosys has very high criteria in recruiting its workers. The criteria seek for learnability, the ability for employees to quickly and flexibly take in what they are taught during the employee training stage. Infosys invests a significant portion of company revenue to the training of new employees. During the training program, newly hired workers are heavily trained in order to build skills in specific fields, such as analytical-thinking, problem-solving, principles of operating and database-management systems, networking, customer facing, and negotiation. This is to foster a large pool of workers who are capable of successfully dealing with international clients who have different values, backgrounds, and expectations. It moves on to set a common set of values for employees all around the globe. This set of values is referred to as C-life, which includes five core values of customer delight, leadership by example, integrity and transparency, fairness, and pursuit of excellence. Finally, in the overall organizational management of the company, focused on the hired employees, Infosys focuses on dealing with the complexities and uncertainties that exist in the versatile nature of strategic global sourcing. There are bound to be doubts and uncertainties that may be raised among employees, regarding their involvement in companys decision making process and the fear of being cut off after the completion of a transition, due to the traditional centralized structure of Infosys as an Indian company. In order to address these problems, Infosys has brought upon several changes in organizational management. First, to establish a change team that is supported by senior executives and consists of representatives from each of the key areas influenced by the change, to reach out to the employees and ensure that their concerns are heard and addressed, develop and implement risk mitigation strategies in case of employee retention, and developing a system of communication tha t can be successfully delivered across the organization. In short, Infosys emphasizes communication within the company in its evolutionary organizational structure, in order to tend to the problems that may rise due to the constantly changing nature of the related business environment. III. Challenges faced by Infosys It is evidently true that Infosys has made quiet a success regarding the fact that they started out as a small company. Starting from India, Infosys has successfully entered the global market too. However, the people of Infosys acknowledge the fact that the fast moving and developing society does not guarantee a sure success throughout the future. Until now, Infosys successfully reached some point of their goals on the people side and the business side as well. Children who grew in poor education conditions of India joined Infosys and earned pride, accomplishment and great potential. And Infosys was even hired to design part of the intricate wing structure of the superjumbo A380 aircraft as a result of their works to integrate low-cost, high-quality software development services with its competency of managing large scale projects in distributed locations. This success also brought along challenges for Infosys. The first challenge is to become proactive problem-definers rather than be reactive problem-solvers. Infosys now focuses on trying to solve the problems customers complain about. However, it has to transform its behavior to be more active and responding to customers. Infosys should be able to predict the problems and come up with specific actions to solve them before the customers complain. Infosyss aim is to provide solutions leveraging IT. In order to do this, it needs to plan technology solutions and act on implanting them. The second challenge is to become more and more multicultural. Even though Infosys has made some success in entering the global market and expanding its business boundaries across the world, it still needs to clear the remaining cultural barriers. Without doubt, Infosys has made some efforts. It rotates selected managers from various countries through their Infosys Leadership Institute. Also, when there is a large deal, people from different parts of the world contribute to prepare, defend, and to execute numerous proposals. However, this cannot be sufficient for a company to sustainably grow in the global market. Infosys faces some problems in transferring employees from one region to another, for instance, from the United States to India. Exchange and transformations of employees from various regions is crucial for international companies which shows that Infosys still needs to be more multicultural. Finally, the last challenge of Infosys is to continue to retain the soul of a small organization in the body of a large organization. Infosys initially started as an organization of seven people; Murthy and his six friends with a 250 dollar capital in 1981. Now, it consults more than 200 companies world-wide with a revenue of 6.04 billion dollars. It could be described as a dramatic development in 30 years. Inevitably, many procedures and organizational structures would have faced large modifications along with the development of the company. Now Infosys faces the challenge of balancing the organization procedures as well as becoming an integrated multicultural organization. There exists not one company which does not face challenges. Although Infosys faces multiple problems throughout the future, the CEO of Infosys claims to combat these challenges and win in a flat world. IV. The future prospect of Infosys and possibility of further growth while retaining its founding values Infosys was founded upon a clear vision and mission statement which enabled the sound and stable development of the organization. From its foundation, Infosys aimed to become a globally respected corporation in an environment of fairness, honesty, and courtesy towards its clients, employees, vendors and society at large. The five main values that drive Infosys towards this goal are customer delight, leadership by example, integrity and transparency, fairness, and pursuit of excellence. Nevertheless, the corporation realizes that continuing to retain a soul of a small organization in the body of a large, international organization could be a challenge in the upcoming future that it must address. While it is healthy for an organization to prepare and be prudent, there are enough reasons to believe that Infosys will be able to retain and even increase its growth rate while maintaining its integral founding values at the same time. Infosys emphasizes that human capital as the main asset of the organization. Infosys currently has more than 520,000 employees located in 33 countries worldwide. Infosys is renowned to heavily invest in its employees because it believes that the progress and success of the corporation depends on its workers. The lucky 1 percent of the applicants who are selected to work at Infosys still has to undergo 14 weeks of rigorous boot camp to earn the chance to take the final tests and become official Infoscions. These 14 weeks of training aims to truly transfer the founding values of Infosys so that every Infoscion would always the importance of the basic values that led to the companys success. The process of becoming an employee at Infosys is extremely difficult but the system can ensure that the corporation only picks the best and the brightest workers who can truly add to the value of the international company. The last decade of performance has shown that Infosys continued to prosper w hen they hired more and more of qualified workers around the world. Exhibit 1 and exhibit 2 shown above depict the positive relationship of Infosys employees strength and the revenue of the company. The average employee growth rate during the decade of 1996 to 2006 was 40 percent while its revenue growth rate was 39 percent. As Infosys continues to expand its pool of workers to around the world through its Global Labor Pool, it is best positioned to become a truly multicultural organization that can understand the cultural nuances and languages of its vast client base. Infosys is ready to enjoy high growth of sales in the future while retaining the soul and values of a humble small organization. V. Conclusion-Infosys in 2015 Infosys will be able to grow even more due to the fast changing financial market. By 2015, the world will continue to flatten, fiscal market will further open and this will benefit the world economy, and market regulations will be reduced with technological progress. It will be a true era of globalization and technological advancement. In the financial market there will be a shift of power from the financial institutions to the customers. As technology will give more power to customers to directly take control, Infosys role will become even more crucial in the future in providing high-end-to-end business solutions. Therefore, Infosys will hire more highly trained workers in strategic locations in the world and become an even more multicultural corporation that builds trust and communicates with its customers to establish the status of the most globally respected organization in the world in its field by 2015.

Developing Road Protection Program Policy

Developing Road Protection Program Policy Theory of microeconomics Introduction Consumers of the American region, in particular, road are the ones who have the right to be safe and protected as it is outlined in the mechanisms of environmental protection. The inclusion of this statement will be valid for any possible products and services that are being provided in the market place to promote safety devices providing consumers with the believes and faith that their functionality is to provide protection to their road and that they can be sound around different objects of threat and harm. Consumers are supposed to be educated in terms of increasing their knowledge and awareness of being informed shoppers and their rights to consume products that are safer for road. Consumers in this regard should also know the hazards which can take place while specific products are currently in implication. The launch of a product is not merely the availability of something useful; it should rather be safe to use after the purchase is made. Multiple consumers are supposedly repo rted by ANEC (American Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardization) undertake the CE mark to be the official safety seal when there is no universal American mark that allows a product to be used on safe terms. Serious injuries and even fatal accidents have been reported associated with various products in many Member States’ system of national data in the region. Within the US market therefore, there is an essential need of evaluation and measurement of the consumer product safety regulations in an essential manner. The chosen product is baby prams for the purpose of analysis in this report. Discussion Health aspects and road protection programs determine the success and practical approach of a product company because all of the individuals and managing persons like to take advantage of such facilities over time. Just when they are allowed to fulfill the expectations from work, they are also going for free assessments, training sessions and check-ups as well. This clearly indicates the level of interests in people for the road protection programs to be introduced in the system for good. Management in dealing with road protection programs is extremely important when it comes to providing a centre of achievements and coordination. No matter what an individual is getting out of these programs, on a cultivated level, the aim of any corporation while introducing these road protection programs is to help their employees lead a professional approach and lives through education and self-management in all terms. Road side protective plan and management of environmental factors is of great importance and diversity as well because there are different aspects involved with it that are not only convenient to understand but very applicable and successful as well. Where people think value chain is only predictable and applicable on the business management firms and organizations but it can also be implemented on different technological factors and considerations. Things like information systems and production work can also imply value chain model very practically. Information systems are all about carrying out the purchasing, communication, material handling and several other aspects which value chain model can handle pretty well if implied in a better manner. Technology has advanced with modernization and enhancement of different activities throughout the world and value chain model can make it even susceptible and prone to getting on intermediate success height. The idea which value chain model can base on when it comes to connecting it with information systems is that an organization is more than just manpower, resources, outlook and research or the machinery and equipment that is being used at all times; it is about the arrangement and a systematic appearance and organization of different production facilities. Within information systems, technology matters and consumers want to get something which they are paying for and in this matter it is highly important and significant that the value chain model supports the idea generation and background of the material provided. The ability to go on making progress with the routine activities generating different developmental arrangements will be the linkage point between the information syste ms and value chain model. For the success of road protection programs and their implementations, there are some basic elements and considerations which should be contemplated and noted down. Here are those functional basics and predisposition requirements to look over. Support and direction from the leading services If the management that is belonging to the upper level of a road protection industry is not involved with the road protection programs and its strategic implementation, it will remain a low priority with managers and other employees and there will no specific clue as to what should be done about it for a successful and clearer approach. For this reason, there should be clear decisions taken to make sure CEOs and other beneficiaries are involved with the procedure to make employee’s physical and mental state health and essential enough. Involvement of employees in the developmental procedure Just when the layout for road protection program for a company is being designed, there should be a common sense approach of employees with it as well since the implementations are taken place for the employees on their own. It is therefore critical for that matter to have planned the logistics and classes which are to be moderated later on. Employees should support these programs in a cultivated fashion to support their own personal beings and participate further to what they have developed on their own. Objective analysis Just when the hospitality industry is making road protection program plans and different commencements or determining which techniques can be implemented for the causes, there should be suitable planning done for the purposes as well. In order to have successful implementations of these programs, it is important for the internal and external factors to be balanced out which is why a careful monitoring and observation is required essentially (Roberts, 1996). In order to have the road protection programs projected in a manner that they will increase the productivity of a company, there should be checking as in determining if these plans are meeting the objectives and purposes on a normal, usual basis. To do that, there should be surveys and production analysis to the means and measurements. This will determine and clarify which plans have been the most effective and which sets of instructions are the most captivating ones. External assessments can also be carried out to know whether th ey have been any helpful and moderating for the cause or not. Having a budget plan Having budget plan for the road protection program is the most important and essential out of all the management considerations because this is going to cover the allowances and extra techniques that are being employed on the employees and it will also commence the extent to which these management tactics can be extended over time. This will analyze the road protection programs as a vital part of the organization and not only that, it will also cause the settings to become more motivational and stronger with the gradual time allowance and movement. Budgeting will also ensure that expenses of the programs are controlled in a specific manner and that the funds are not being wasted. Although road protection programs are not invented by different companies for stress reduction and several other soothing techniques, it is an integral part of customer service and productivity in an important manner. The significance of eliminating stress and frantic behavior from the customer service management should ultimately be removed and therefore, hospitality industry emphasizes on having proper measurements and a proactive approach towards road protection programs and applications. Effective functioning of those business components is required for any road and environment protection serving within any region of the world because they are known commodities for the effective implications and therefore proper advancements of the social backgrounds. These set of backgrounds are important to be included within the road and environment protection because they prove a greater amount of competitiveness and advantages within the social arrangements. The qualities and information availability assures attainment of major contracts and consumers for those hotels which have labors and skills for the purpose in a benefitting manner. The specifications and reviews are also approached for those companies and hotels that follow such regimens; contribution of employees for that matter are extremely important as well because the guidelines and appropriate rules are going to define a majority of conclusive approximations which are necessary for the hospitality causes and for the i ndustry. For the skills and their fitting to the broader system of work, there are different job designing parameters for the validation of staff. Such purposes are fulfilled with the help of labors and skills as well and they are important for effectual strategic placement as well as recruitment of more individuals. Labors and skills are important in creative aspects of the road and environment protection as well culminating within the responses of multiple advancements; there are individuals required for thinking procedures and creative responses as well and they can only be found in cases of proper selection and foundation of individuals. Growth and developmental factors hinge on such arrangements too. Conclusion Health should be a top priority when it comes to talking about things which an affiliation or a company should do for its product because it is something very essential and important and not only it can be taken out much derivations from but also carried out to have successful planning done within a considerable amount of time. There are a lot of different companies that do not recognize and undermine the benefits and advantages of the road protection programs and the ones which haven’t done so up until now still believe in the concept for an increase in the productivity and employee involvement in a single company. It can be directed towards anything and everything that an individual can go through including work stress or an ailment that the individual is already suffering from in the first place. Creating and implementing road protective programs on different levels of a product organization is essential and important and it is full of outcomes and results that are positive and ready to be customized in any way one can possibly think about. For the manufacture industry, it is even more compelling and advanced because this allows for every sector of this association to have complete control and command over their abilities. It is a field where people as employees need to provide their customers and consumers with the satisfactory outcomes and results that they need and it can be only achieved when the staff is feeling up to the mark and their mental health is not being compromised for some reasons and that they are enjoying their tasks in a beneficial manner. While buying products, the consumers should know of the regulations and commencements as well in order to provide prams or other associated products that are safer to use and convenient to operate. Knowing the components that are harnessed effectively and to create a balanced use for the road is important and beneficial as well. In the US product manufacture industry, the regulations should be taken into account by both the companies and customers to create proper awareness and knowledge of the topic. References Allen, N. J., and Meyer, J. P. (1990).The Measurement and Antecedents of Affectice, Continuance and Normative Commitment to the Organization. Journal of Organizational 80, Psychology, 63, 1-18. Apospori, E., Nikandrou, I., Brewster, C., and Papalexandris, N. (2008), ‘HRM and Organizational Performance in Northern and Southern Europe,’ International Journal of Human Resource Management 19, 7, 1187–1207. Barrett, A., O’Connell, P. J. 2001. Does training generally work? The returns to in company Training. Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 54(3): 647-662. Oribabor, P.E. (2000), â€Å"Human Resources Management, A Strategic Approval Human Resources Management 9 (4) 21 24 Peteraf, M.A. (1993), ‘The Cornerstones of Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based View,’ Strategic Management Journal, 14, 3, 179–192. Stavrou, E., Brewster, C., and Charalambous, C. (2004), ‘Human Resource Management as a Competitive Tool in Europe,’ work paper, London: Henley College.20. Tyson, S., Tyson, S., and Fell, A. (1986), Evaluating the Personnel Function, London: Hutchinson. Role of Training in Determining the Employee Corporate Behavior with Respect to Organizational Productivity: Developing and Proposing a Conceptual Model Vol. 5, No. 12; December 2010

Importance of History in George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) :: Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Essays

The Importance of History in 1984 Â   Time is an amazing element of the universe we are in. It is a driving force - we cannot speed it up or slow it down, it perpetually marches forward at a constant speed. After a moment in time has past, it becomes the past, and we have absolutely no way of going back to it to experience it again in a new way. Once time has past, all that remains is our perception of it. History is nothing more than our collective perceptions of the past. And perception is not like time - it is not constant, it can be altered. In George Orwell's 1984, the leaders of the Party use written records to alter the peoples' perception of history, ultimately as a means of control. Â   Everyone has different perceptions of the same reality. Everything that we experience is altered by our individual perceptions. There is one reality, but each person experiences slightly different versions of that reality. The source or reason for this is the individual experiences of each person. Everything we experience in our lives piles up to form our past. Our memory brings back experiences from this heap of the past. These memories combine with the reality we are experiencing in the present to form our individual perception of reality. Â   Everything is perceived differently by each person, and different perceptions of reality vary greatly. An potato is a completely different thing to a farmer and a chef. The idea of music is completely different to a musician and a deaf person. Hitler was a completely different person to a Nazi and a Jew. Even though there is really only one real idea of a potato, one definition of music, and one Hitler, many different realities of these exist within people's perception. Â   History is convoluted by perception. There are two ways of looking at history: through our own memories and perception, and through that of others. It is impossible to preserve history in its ideal form. If we look at history through our own memories, we will not see the reality of history, we will see our individual version of the reality. The same thing happens when we look at history through the memories and perception of others. Media is sometimes used to preserve history, but even this is only a perceived version of history.

Japanese New Year Essay -- Japan History Holidays Essays

Japanese New Year Introduction: In Japan one of the most celebrated festivals is New Years. The Japanese New Year, or Oshogatsu (‚ ¨Ã‚ ³Ã…’Å ½), is given more preparation than any other festival. There are many traditions and activities that happen at this time. Oshogatsu is a time to visit temples, forget the troubles of the past year, and wish for good fortune in the new. Many festivals around this time also reflect the values and ideals of New Years. History: During the time of the Empress Suiko (593-628), Japan was influenced greatly by the religion and beliefs of China. In A.D. 604 Japan officially adopted the Chinese calendar. gThe new calendar was a lunar- solar one that has its months based on the lunar cycle. Casal writes gThe month begins when the sun enters the sign of the Fishes: the first day of the year, therefore falls on a day between January 20th and February 19th, and this is much nearer to spring (2). This system was in effect until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1872. This is important because the seasons fall in line better with the lunar calendar than the modern one. In rural areas, many farmers still apply the Chinese calendar to their trade. Japanese people believed that the New Year started when the plants began to sprout life again, a new beginning. This happens throughout most of Japan in mid Jan. in line with the lunar calendar. In todayfs society Oshogatsu always falls on the same day (Jan. 1st), there are other festivals, which fall into the lunar calendar that have the same values of purification and new beginnings. Another influence from China at this time was Buddhism, which had been praised by Prince Shotoku Taishi, and became the official religion in 621.... ...nt from, and happier than, we do on ordinary days.h(Casal 1) Bibliography Festivals.com. 28 Nov. 2003 Seattle, Washington, http://www.festivals.com/search/display_event.aspx?eid=mYJmQbyD5jQ%3d&srid=3&page=1&bycountry=1&RID=jp&PROV= http://www.festivals.com/search/display_event.aspx?eid=lvluK1qWwM8%3d&srid=7&page=1&bycountry=1&RID=jp&PROV= (7) Japan Cultural Network Homepage. 28 Nov. 2003 http://www.hevanet.com/miyumi/december.htm http://www.hevanet.com/miyumi/january.htm http://www.hevanet.com/miyumi/february.htm Japan-Guide.com 2 Dec. 2003 Casal, U. A. The Five Sacred Festivals of Ancient Japan. Ruttland, Vermont &Tokyo Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc. 1967 Bauer, Helen & Carlquist, Sherwin. Japanese Festivals Doubleday & Company Inc. Garden City, New York, 1965 gHadaka Mairih Akita sakigake (Newspaper) 20 Jan. 2003 (1, 26)