Persuasive Custom Speech on Legalization of Marijuana in California or Presentation

Persuasive Custom on Legalization of Marijuana in California - Speech or Presentation Example Today's marijuana users are not Otto the bus driver, smoking a joint while driving past imaginary purple elephants. They are not deadbeats hanging onto the fringe of society. They are average men and women, many of them diligent students, community business owners, and even civic leaders (NORML). Are these people criminals? No! They are simply good people caught on the bad side of a poorly-written, poorly-planned, and poorly-executed public policy. California is known as the cutting edge of social change. The state is already at the forefront of the drug legalization debate, having legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 (Secretary of State). This means the state already has experience in the regulation and distribution of marijuana legally, and makes it the perfect testing ground for the legalization of recreational marijuana. Medical marijuana has been found to be more effective on a wider variety of symptoms and to be safer, with fewer side effects, than Marinol, an artificial cannaboid medication (Joy, Watson, & Benson, p 203). There has been no evidence that the legalization of medical marijuana in the state has increased recreational usage, and the passage of this law saved thousands of legitimate disease sufferers from being banded as criminals.

The Phenomenal Growth of California Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Phenomenal Growth of California - Essay Example After 1940, approach towards boosted advanced technology such as aerospace and electronics industries was a significant move towards improvement. Consisting of talented soldiers, a military also became readily available for the state, increasing its status and stability (Deverell and Igler 3). The film stars of Hollywood and a numerous amount of high – standard movies added up to make California the hot spot and a center of attention from the globe. California became an American cultural phenomenon; the idea of the â€Å"California Dream† as a part of the massive American Dream of finding a better living attracted 35 million new residents from the start to the end of the 20th century (1900 – 2010). Silicon Valley became the world’s one of the biggest and vital midpoint for computer innovation and production. Over the next 25 years, California’s population would grow by about 500,000 per year, and overtook New York as the nation’s largest state in 1963.  Ã‚  Many couples had two or more children, which fueled a â€Å"baby boom.†Ã‚  Ã‚  These growing families generated ever-growing demand for places to live, transportation facilities, and education. Housing was in short supply immediately after the war. In response, suburban communities sprang up and spread prodigiously based on advert of mass produced housing. The Westchester district of Los Angeles was a prime example of a community built by mass - produced housing (Kolko, Neumark and Mejia 25).   Ã‚   A better transportation system was needed to serve this growing economy.  Ã‚  In 1940, the first freeway was opened.  Freeway development resumed after a wartime suspension.  Ã‚  In 1947 the Collier-Burns Act raised the gasoline tax, which enabled significant freeway construction growth.  Ã‚  In the 1950s and 1960s, in addition to the tremendous growth of urban freeway systems in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay

The Matthew Effect Essay Example for Free

The Matthew Effect Essay The Matthew Effect chapter of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell states that a person’s success s attributed to the timing of their birth date as it relates to the cut-off dates of sports and education. He believes that this one random date is the start of a series of advantages that can ultimately lead to success. Although timing of a birth date and opportunities can play a significant factor in one’s success, they are not the sole determination of success. Gladwell fails to acknowledge the vital role an individual’s ambition and natural born talent play in creating success or the crucial impact family influences can have on one’s success. Over-Simplified Since Biblical times, groups of people were separated by the haves and the have not’s. Matthew 25:29 states â€Å"For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. † (Gladwell, 2008, p. 15) In chapter 1, of the Outliers (2008), Malcolm Gladwell has a similar argument in â€Å"The Matthew Effect†. He argues that personal success is attributed to hidden advantages, such as someone’s birth date, which in turn, creates opportunity through accumulative advantages. (pg. 19) Gladwell calls these successful people â€Å"outliers† which he defines as â€Å"men and women who do things that are out of the ordinary† (pg. 17). Although timing of a birth date and opportunities play a significant factor in one’s success, Gladwell’s theory that those are the sole determination of success is over simplified because it does not take into consideration the impact of one’s individual ambition, talent, and family influences. Ambition In Outliers, Gladwell states that â€Å"people don’t rise from nothing† (pg. 19) and completely discounts the role an individual’s ambition plays in achieving success. When a student, or an athlete, possesses a strong desire for success, regardless of their age or birth date, it drives them to excel beyond the normal range. A perfect example of this would be a young girl named Stephanie Bradley. She wanted to be a doctor. Stephanie grew up in a small blue collar community in rural Texas. Her parents were not college educated and lived just slightly above the poverty line. She attended a small, public, 2A high school, with average teachers. In addition, she was the youngest in her class, in cases, by more than a year because of a mid-July birthday. What set her apart from the other students was her desire for success and her passion for medicine. This ambition drove her to work hard and smart, stay focused, and never take her eye off her ultimate goal. Along the way, she made sacrifices, but never veered off course. She didn’t have any opportunities above and beyond ones she created on her own. Born With It Sheer talent is another key factor responsible for success and lies with the group of athletes that achieve success without the benefit accumulative advantages. These are the athletes who are born with a talent that supersedes the skill of other athletes. There is a difference between skill and talent. Skill is something that requires training and experience to do well, whereas, talent is a natural ability to compete with exceptional ability. (Bing dictionary, 2014) While this talent is rare to find, when it exist, these athletes can find success regardless of where their birthday falls on a calendar. One such athlete exists right now on a local high school swim team. Taylor is a high school freshman who didn’t compete in little league sports, since his parents were more artsy than athletic and they never had the financial resources to pay for extracurricular activities. In his freshman year, a friend asked him to join the swim team. Having never competed athletically, Taylor was hesitant but agreed. To everyone’s amazement, he medaled at his first swim meet. Not just in one event, but two. The next week, more success, more wins. His very first year swimming, he won at district, regional’s and is ranked 4th in the state. There is now talk of Olympic trials. He has competed and won against athletes who have been swimming since the age of four, have logged thousands of hours in the pool, and whose parents have spend enormous amounts of money on private coaches. However, Taylor wins having never received those types of opportunities. He wins because of his natural born talent. Family An individual’s family influences can also have a crucial impact on one’s success. While Gladwell acknowledges that heritage and culture plan a role in success or failure as illustrated in the Harlan, Kentucky and The Ethic Theory of Plane Crashes chapters, he doesn’t credit directly, the parents, grandparents, as well as, siblings that can provide a fundamental element in creating success. For example, if a parent has a strong desire to pass along their knowledge or skills in a particular sport, they are likely to start that process at a very early age which results in increased practice time developing the child’s skill. This parent might also supply additional training above and beyond what a typical coach would provide. The family could also have connections with coaches or teachers that allow for added instruction. Siblings can also push individuals to a higher level of performance. For example, having an older brother who plays baseball with a younger sibling will be providing further exposure that can develop their skills. All this additional training and experience can develop a child ahead of the curve, regardless of their birth date. The Other 32% Gladwell’s example of the roster of hockey players on the Medicine Hat team showed that â€Å"seventeen of the twenty-five players on the team† (pg. 23) had the perfect birth month for the sport. He credited their January, February, March and April birthdays for their success. However, that means that eight out of the twenty-five players (32%) on the team were successful, without the benefit of the perfect birth month. This group isn’t the largest percentage of players on the team but it does show that success isn’t based on just one factor. Gladwell’s argument that success stems from hidden advantages and opportunities created by those advantages is true in some cases; successful people are not created from one formula, such as what month their birthday falls. That is just one piece of the picture of success. There are a multitude of factors i. e. ambition, talent and family that play a role in determining why someone is successful and they all need to be encouraged and promoted.

Malaysia Airlines Marketing Analysis

Malaysia Airlines Marketing Analysis Jump to: PEST Analysis | Marketing Mix Analysis | 5 Ps Analysis Malaysia Airlines, more commonly known as MAS was founded in 1947, as Malayan Airways. Its primary hub used for domestic and international flights is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the secondary hub being Kota Kinabalu International Airport. Malaysia Airlines has flights that cover most of Asia and flights that go on the Kangaroo Route between Europe and Australia. They also operate transpacific flights from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles, via Tokyo. MAS consists of two main airline subsidiaries that are MASwings and Firefly. Firefly focuses on flights to tertiary cities whereas MASwings prioritizes inter-Borneo flights. Apart from that, MAS also has a freighter fleet operated by MASKargo, which commands freighter flights as well as aircraft cargo-hold for all Malaysia Airlines passenger flights. Lastly, MASCharter operated charter flights using MAS aircrafts. 2.0 Market Environments Micro and Macro 2.1 Micro Environment Malaysian Airlines Systems (MAS) has suffered financially throughout the past decades due to many factors, just like other major full-service carrier airlines company in other countries. Due to events such as the September 11th terrorist attack, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and also the outbreak of many viruses notably the Influenza virus, the airlines companies throughout the world had suffered its consequences. In order to evaluate Malaysia Airlines microenvironment, the method used is the Porters five forces analysis which consists of Threat of New Entrants, Power of the Customer, Power of the Supplier, Substitutes and Competitive Rivalry. 2.1.1 Threat of New Entrants Malaysian Airlines Systems (MAS) has not been affected by any threats of new entrants for the international stage because the company has been in the industry for a long period of time, which makes the company more stable and mature through the service they offer in the airlines industry. Although the company may not be threaten right now, there could be possible new entrants to the market which may be created by merging two or more airlines company as one. These mergers may also offer competitive prices and services to their customers and could possibly dominate the full-service carrier market in Malaysia. For the local market, Malaysian Airlines Systems (MAS) had been threatened by the new entries to the market notably Air Asia, and a few other entrants such as Tiger Airways and Berjaya Airways. Although these companies target the low-cost carrier market, they have made a dramatic effect to Malaysia Airlines performance and operations. There could be a possible reason that this trend would continue in the future if MAS through its subsidiary company, FireFly could not be as competitive as the other company. 2.1.2 Power of the Customer The airlines industry is full of operations that fly to many locations from many other locations. In Malaysia, there are other airlines company such as Emirates Airlines and KLM Airlines which offers value for money to customers to fly overseas mainly to Europe, which affects the operations of international flights for Malaysia Airlines. The choice of the customers choosing which airlines they prefer are more open due to its variety of offerings from these flight operators with their competitive prices. Therefore, one company does not have the power to monopolize the market because of customers have power to choose and select when they want to fly at the price they are willing to pay. Based on a research, the power of the flight operators has been decreasing in the late 1990s with business airfares decreasing drastically up to 50%. 2.1.3 Power of the Supplier Aircraft maker, Boeing has been dominating the market of supplying aircraft to airlines companies throughout the world, alongside Airbus and other smaller companies. MAS has been buying planes from Boeing since the start of its operations and for this reason; supplier has the power to control the market due to limited choices for the flight operators to choose from. Most of Malaysia Airlines pilots and staff had been trained to use the Boeing systems since the majority of planes owned by Malaysia Airlines are from Boeing. Recently, Malaysia Airlines had purchased a few up to date aircrafts from Airbus, notably the Airbus A380 Jumbo, for their upgrades to their aircraft line-up. Boeing and Airbus has the power towards their customers because they have been monopolizing the market for a very long time and they produce high quality aircrafts and the safety measures they provide are excellent. 2.1.4 Substitutes For a long distance travelling, substitutes are not possible as there are no other form of transportation that can compete with what airline companies can offer which is comfort, the ease of travel, the speed of travelling and also affordability as compared to other source of travelling such as by car, train, busses or by sea. Travelling through air is also more environmentally friendly, able to save a lot of travelling time and can be considered affordable in the current time. 2.1.5 Competitive Rivalry MAS has been competing with other big competitor in the Asian flight market; one of the companies is the neighbouring airlines company, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. Singapore Airlines has been offering attractive promotions and discounts to their customers and these have affected Malaysia Airlines operations and profitability in the full-service carrier market. The only way for these companies to survive is through merging with other airlines company. 2.1.6 Prospects Malaysia Airlines has been collaborating with many other airlines operators to share international routes mainly with Australias Qantas Airways, where Malaysia Airlines can fly to more routes that provide them with more profits. Malaysia Airlines should also monitor their performance for the unprofitable routes and cut them off from their offerings so that they could avoid huge losses in the future. 2.2 Macro Environment The definition of Macro Environment is the major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. To evaluate the macro or external environmental factors, PEST analysis is used to provide information on the factors that relates to MAS. 2.2.1 Political Factors It is essential to consider political factors towards the airlines industry in Malaysia due to its important nature in order to determine the future growth of the company. Malaysia has been viewed as a peaceful and harmonious country to others, and has become one of the popular and famous attractions for tourist all over the world because the country is politically stable. Malaysia also has many attractive travel destinations for people to visit and it is considered safe to travel anywhere throughout these destinations. The government of Malaysia has been promoting and maintaining its tourism assets and also implements policies and legislation to protect the investors, customer and the public, so that everyone feels at ease when they are in Malaysia. 2.2.2 Economic Factors In the past decade, global financial crisis has happened notably in year 1998, 2003 and year 2008. This event has affected the performance of the airlines industry globally and most airlines companies had suffered a huge loss and bankruptcy. Malaysia Airlines is one of Airlines Company that got affected the most in this region. Malaysia has been categorised as a developing country, therefore, from the past global financial crisis, the purchasing power of the people has gone down drastically and people rather save up more for important needs rather than getting on a flight for holiday or business trip. Although Malaysia Airlines has been pressured by many other competitors in the airlines industry, they have tried to overcome it by launching their initiative plan such as, Everyday Low Fares promotion in which they offer attractive discounts to any flight that has a lot of unsold seats to attract more customers to fly with them. People prefer to fly with low-costs carriers when the glo bal financial crisis occurs. 2.2.3 Social Factors Social factors are elements which consist of demographic and cultural considerations that affect the size of potential market and the needs of its customers. These factors includes beliefs, value, attitude, opinions and lifestyles of a person which may affect the companys external environment such as cultural, ecological, demographic, religious, ethnic and educational. Government has already implemented some ways to boost the tourism and airlines industry by carrying out campaigns by investing in maintaining the attractiveness of the tourists hotspots and provides excellent hospitality towards the tourism industry. People still prefer to travel by air due to its convenience. The change in the lifestyle of the people in Malaysia will probably help boost the tourism and airlines industry in line with the increase in gross national income per capital (GDP), to indicate that more people can afford to travel by air. 2.2.4 Technological Factors Malaysia Airlines provides online services for their customers to book tickets online, and they also provide other packages such as hotel bookings, lease of car, travel insurance and other commodities. In the recent years, Malaysia Airlines has upgraded its online system in which they implement the Passenger Services System (PSS). This system ensures the smoothness of transactions made online, snappier service delivery and also loyalty programmes, namely the Enrich loyalty programme. Malaysia Airlines has also been providing excellent in-plane entertainment systems such as digitalized entertainment screen for selected seats that consists of movies, music on demand, games and interactive applications. 3.0 Marketing Targeting 3.1 Segmentation Market Targeting is a marketing concept that helps marketers to diverge the market into small units that include people of the same mind. Market segmentation can be divided into several areas such as geographic, psychographic and demographic segments. According to demographic research, the average age of Malaysia Airlines passengers is 14.6 years and mostly ranges from 25 years and above. Most passengers of Malaysia Airlines earn high income that enables them to use their services anytime and it is also seen that most of their passengers are business people that travels all the time. Geographic segmentation The Kangaroo Route that Qantas Airways provides connects flights from Europe to major Australian and New Zealand gateways via Kuala Lumpur International Airport within 5 hours. 3.2 Evaluating Market Segments 3.2.1 Segment Size and Growth Demand for flights from Asia as well as North America and Europe has increased at a high rate since 2002, which dramatically outpaced supply growth. Intra-Asian demand has increased by 40% in the same time span. The predicted Asian economic recovery ensures that MAS has a chance to profit from this excess demand. According to their Business Plan, MAS expects ASEAN passenger demand to double by the year 2020. 3.2.2 Company Objectives and Resources To properly execute their Recovery Plan, MAS intends to further develop their branded customer experience. MAS plans to put their customers as top priority and will be making investments in several tools as well as processes which will mobilize the organization and enable them to execute their vision. Also, they will undergo an overhaul which will allow them to excel on three major dimensions which are commercial effectiveness, flight operations and cost management. They plan to continually improve in areas such as revenue management, direct sales, and intend on the usage of social networking to aid in marketing. MAS also plans to make their service to a more performance-based culture. They are also going to hire more suitable people for the senior leadership of MAS and shall not hesitate to make key decisions to put that objective into action. By cutting down and creating a more limited board of leaders, decisions will be quick and they will once again become a competitive and winni ng organisation, according to their Business Plan. As MAS is to obtain 23 new aircrafts in 2012 with state-of-the-art passenger features, this will generate more sales and marketing functions focusing on the premium sector. Also, in the first half of 2012, MAS launched their new short-haul brand which is flying an entirely new Boeing 737-800 fleet. 3.2.3 Selecting a Market Segment Based on their new business plan, Malaysia Airlines plans to target the premium sector, much like the strategy of Cathay. MAS has the vision to become the preferred premium carrier which will lead to competition between them and competitors Cathay and SIA. Their focus on the premium sector is influenced by the growth in demand in the last decade for domestic as well as international flights where demand greatly outstrips supply. MAS is putting emphasis on a branded customer experience and their new premium carrier will focus on international flight destinations with high traffic rates which in turn will generate revenue at a quicker pace than before, according to their Business Turnaround Plan. 3.2.4 Choosing a Market-Coverage Strategy While Malaysia proves to be a fairly small country in comparison with other Asian countries, MAS plans to harness Malaysias geo-economic centricity in ASEAN which emphasises on their natural cost-competitiveness. In line with focusing on the premium sector, Malaysia Airlines network plans to include destinations where their premium travelers have a high demand and also expand their network to cover the worlds major economic hubs and regions. MAS plans to focus on the individual customer needs of regional premium travelers. This is brought about by the launch of their new short-haul brand which will set standards that emphasise on operational excellence, premium service and cost efficiency. Their new plan to focus on the premium sector is highly advertised with several television ads, news alerts and public service announcements which are easily accessible online, increasing the coverage of aforementioned advertising methods. 3.3 Choosing implementing a positioning strategy MAS makes sure maintenance staff, flight operation staff, and ground crew are world class trained on their technical skills, cabin crew are highly trained and committed to excellent service. Based on MAS recovery plan in 2012 they will buy 23 new aircrafts and slowly get rid of the A330-200 and B747-400 aircrafts over the next 3 years. By 2015 they will have the youngest fleet in the region, where their aircrafts would be equipped with the best hardware. MAS will redo their approach of their branding, distribution and customer loyalty. They will also restore their commercial approach towards their customers. 3.3.1 Product differentiation Service MAS focus on service quality which has earned the company the status of a top-tier global brand. In 2004 Skytrax awarded MAS Five Star. This recognition has won them the Best cabin crew for four consecutive years. MAS staff are trained in their technical skills, their cabin crew is highly trained and committed to excellent service and professionalism. Personnel MAS makes sure maintenance staff, flight operation staff and ground crew are world class in their technical skills. Cabin crew are highly trained and committed to excellent service. Location MAS estimated that 60% of their routes are not profitable on a fully cost allocated basis. To help with their recovery, they are reducing the capacity on routes that have generated losses over the years. Physical attributes MAS will be buying 23 new aircrafts in 2012, and slowly get ride of the A330=200 and B747-400 aircrafts over the next 3 years. By 2015 they will have the youngest fleet of aircrafts that will be full equipped with the best hardware. 4.0 Marketing Mix 4.1 Product In the 4Ps of Marketing Mix, the term product refers to tangible, physical and also the service provided. It characterised the direct product or service to fulfil the customers needs. Malaysia Airlines has been providing up to date products and service. One of it is the e-Ticketing service. E-Ticket service is an online service that provides electronic tickets. With the purchase of e-Tickets, customers need not have to go to physical outlets to purchase their tickets but they can make their purchases online and print the tickets as proof of purchase. It is more convenient to the customers and the airlines company also able to save handling and administrative costs. Customers only need to bring a copy of the printed tickets that indicate details such as booking reference and purchase details. To purchase the e-Ticket, customers need a valid credit card and other approved payment methods. Malaysia Airlines also provides easy payment to their customers. Currently, Malaysia Airlines accepts many different types of payment methods such as credit card (Visa/MasterCard/American Express), Local banks online banking (Maybank2U, CIMB Clicks) and also PayPal. Malaysia Airlines Engineering and Maintenance is one of Malaysia Airlines subsidiaries which are well known for its world class service. The standards of service that they provide is on par with the work carried out overseas such as top European companies in the same line of service and have been in compliance with EASA as recognition for its competency and quality standard. 4.2 Place Malaysia Airlines fly to more than one hundred destination across six continents and they would expand their routes to new attractive destination in the future. They fly domestically and also to foreign countries in North America, South America, Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, Australia, New Zealand and so on. Malaysia Airlines has been recognised as Asias Premier Airlines that offers intensive network to more than 100 destinations worldwide. Recently, Malaysia Airlines offers new destinations such as flying to Narita, Japan and cut off its unprofitable routes including those to Dubai, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires and Cape Town. 4.3 Pricing Malaysia Airlines is currently implementing a new micro-segmentised fare system for its domestic network which covers 23 routes. This is in line with the Flying to Win Customers aspect of the MAS Business Turnaround Plan. Apart from price flexibility, every fare segment has its own set of conditions regarding aspects like ticketing deadlines and refunds. The revised fares allow travelers the choice to combine different one-way fare flights to plan a personalized travel experience. With the new fare system, customers can enjoy cheaper air fare rates. According to the managing director of MAS, Mr Idris Jala, MAS customers will still be able to enjoy some of the lowest air fare rates globally even though the full fares for economy and business class have been raised to an average of 15% and 30% respectively. Research shows that Malaysia is behind Thailand in terms of the average fee of domestic fares. When inflation caused living cost and in turn fuel costs to hike, Malaysia Airlines to ok into consideration that their customers would want more affordable air fares. They implemented cost cutting strategies that positively affected their air fares plus the overall Business Turnaround Plan. MAS plans to remain committed to the governments plan for national integration initiatives which are currently offering trans-Malaysian fares that begin from lower rates than before 21st August 2006. They also plan to continue offering discounts to senior citizens, members of parliament and the like. Aside from these discounts, MAS has ceased to offer its previously discounted price fares. During the implementation of the new micro-segmented fare system which is currently in motion, Malaysia Airlines will still deem all transactions carried out with the previous fares valid. To ensure transparency of said transactions, all fares sold are effective immediately and this is reflected on the tickets of the customers which tallies with the recent cut over to nett fares displayed on tic kets. 4.4 Promotion MAS has strength which is derived from its global acclaim as a 5-star airline with a highly acclaimed brand supported by service orientated personnel. MAS strives to not only provide comfortable long distance service, but luxurious service. Their expertise in providing immaculate service from every aspect has had MAS named Worlds Best for 3 consecutive years. As of late, travelers have bestowed upon Malaysia Airlines the 5-Star WorldAirline Ranking in the 2006 Skytrax Passenger Survey. Participation in the MATTA-MITM Fair 2006 was part of their Business Turnaround Plan to increase revenue via their existing routes plus deliver the their brand experience to customers and business associates. Subsequently, MAS has increased its capacity to cater to the increasing number of web-surfers, Mastercard and Visa credit card users. The users can now pay for their tickets by calling and booking via the call center for flights departing from Malaysia. Customers who opt for this method of payment also enjoy the extra convenience that is the ability to obtain their tickets anytime before their determined departure date from any Malaysia Airlines ticket office in Malaysia or online. MAS has also added the ability to check-in and print your boarding pass via the internet. 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, Malaysia Airlines has identified the factors that are hindering their growth as a company such as economical factors affecting fuel charges which in turn result in a fare price hike. To rectify this and minimize losses, they have devised a new business plan which is focused on the premium sector that is currently

Martin Luther :: Reformation Christianity Religion Protestantism

Martin Luther This essay is concerned with Martin Luther (1483-1546), and his concept of Christianity. Luther began his ecclesiastical career as an Augustinian Monk in the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently, Luther was initially loyal to the papacy, and even after many theological conflicts, he attempted to bring about his reconciliation with the Church. But this was a paradox not to endure because in his later years, Luther waged a continual battle with the papacy. Luther was to become a professor of biblical exegesis at Wittenberg where, in 1957, he posted his critique of the Roman Catholic Church's teachings and practices. This is otherwise known as The Ninety-Five Theses, which is usually considered to be the original document of the Reformation. Basically, this document was an indictment of the venality of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly the widespread practice of selling indulgences in association with the sacrament of penance. Luther's beliefs on the matter was that after confessio n, absolution relied upon the sinner's faith and God's Divine Grace rather than the intervention of a priest. At this point, Luther did not advocate an actual separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, Luther felt his suggested reforms York-3 could be implemented within Catholicism. If this had taken place, the Protestant Reformation would probably not of ever seen the light of day--nor would it have been necessary. But the theological practices being what they were in the Roman Church, there was little chance at that time for any great variations to occur within its folds. The Church of Rome was thoroughly monolithic and set in its ways and was not about to mutate into something else. If a metamorphosis had occurred within the Roman Catholic Church, Luther would have had a different destiny. But Luther's fate was sealed, and his job was cut out for him. Concerning Luther and the Reformation, Paul Tillich states: "The turning point of the Reformation and of church history in general is the experience of an Augustinian monk in his monastic cell--Martin Luther. Martin Luther did not merely teach different doctrines; others had done that also, such as Wyclif. But none of the others who protested against the Roman system were able to break through it. The only man who really made a breakthrough, and whose breakthrough has transformed the surface of the earth, was Martin Luther. . . . He is one of the few great prophets of the Christian Church, and his greatness is overwhelming, even if it was limited by some of his personal traits and his later development.

Relative Dating Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Fundamental Principles of Relative DatingRelative dating involves placing events in their proper chronological sequence, that is, in the order of their occurrence (Dutch 1998). This type of dating tells us which geologic event happened first, but does not give an exact date to which something happened. There are several different methods that are used in relative dating. These are the fundamental methods that are used in the field by geologists' and earth scientists to gather information about the relative age of rock bodies and other cool geologic stuff. These principles are the principle of superposition, the principle of original horizontality, the principle of cross-cutting relationships, and the principle of inclusions.The principle of superposition is defined as in the environment of an undisturbed layer of sedimentary rocks; the layers on the bottom are older than the layers towards the top. The pictures I have taken show very good examples of this. By using the principle of superposition we can know that the layers toward the bottom are older than the layers toward the top. The rock body shown in the pictures attached, started out as one layer, as millions and millions of years passed more layers of sedimentary rock were placed on top of each other one after another, each layer was deposited at a later time than the one before it. The youngest layer is on the top, and the oldest layer is on the bottom. This principle was founded by the Danish anatomist Nicolas ...

Economics and Global Business Applications Essay

Elasticity of demand is a measure of responsiveness to a price change of a good or service. When demand is elastic, the percentage of a price change of a product will result in a larger percentage of quantity demanded (McConnell, p 77). It basically means reducing the price of a good service will result in a greater quantity demanded and an increase in revenue for the seller. When demand is inelastic, a change in price will result in a reduction of quantity demanded, which will then lead to a revenue decrease (McConnell, p 77). To demonstrate elastic and inelastic demand results, Company A sells 100 pens at $1.00 a piece each day, making their revenue $100.00. Company A then decides to sell their pens at $.50, which results in a total of 250 pens being sold. The total revenue from the price drop is $125, resulting in an additional $25.00; therefore the demand in this scenario is elastic. If selling the pens at the decreased price of $.50 would result in more pens being sold, but less total revenue, the demand is said to inelastic. According to McConnell, when demand in unit elastic, the percentage change in price and the resulting percentage changes in demand are the same. The change in price will not increase or decrease revenue. Cross price elasticity measures the response of demand to a change in price of another substitute or complimentary good (McConnell, p. 87). Substitute goods are goods that can be purchased in place of another good. Examples of substitute goods are soda (buying Coke vs. Pepsi), computers, and potato chips. A positive cross elasticity of demand means the increase of price in one good, for example Coca-Cola, will increase the demand of a substitute good, for example Pepsi. As the price for Coke increases, consumers are more likely to purchase Pepsi at a lower price, thereby increasing its demand. Complementary goods are items that are typically purchased in conjunction within one another. Examples are ringed binders and notebook paper, pencils and erasers, and potato chips and dip. A negative cross elasticity of demand in complementary goods means that the increase in price of one good, an example being potato chips, will decrease the demand for the complementary product that goes with it, the dip. Income elasticity measures the responsiveness of consumers to changes in their incomes (McConnell, p 88). Demand for normal goods tends to increase as consumers’ incomes increase and conversely, demand for inferior goods tends to decrease as consumers’ income increases. Demand is elastic where there is a large availability of substitutes. The reason for this as the price of a good increases, if there is a large amount of substitutes for this particular good, the consumer will choose the substitute. As discussed earlier, soda is an excellent example of this elasticity. Airline tickets are another example. As one airline raises its cost of a ticket or to even pay for a bag to be checked, a consumer will more likely choose a cheaper ticket or an airline that doesn’t charge for baggage over the original. If there is no (or a very limited) amount of substitutes for a good, elasticity is said to be negative. A price change in medication will not likely change the behavior of a consumer relative to demand since there isn’t a substitute to taking the medication. Household utilities are another example of a limited amount of substitutes. In discussing the proportion if one’s income devoted to a good concept, the household budget comes into play. In a given month, households pay for many different good and services. A change in price may or may not affect the households demand for those goods and services. Often, it is dependant on how much of the household budget is devoted to that good or service. Mobile phone service is an excellent example of a service that will most likely have a large amount of a household budget dedicated to it. A change in price in the cell phone service will most likely result in that family making a decision to change to a cheaper service, since that will have a large impact on their budget. On the other hand, that same household may purchase light bulbs each month. The amount of money dedicated to the purchase of light bulbs is so small, that a price increase will not likely affect the budget, therefore the family will not likely make a decision to change to a cheaper bulb. The concept of time when discussing demand is important. When a consumer has a large amount of time to decide on the purchase of a good or service, the elasticity is positive. Conversely, if there is little time, the elasticity is said to be negative. According to McConnell, and excellent example of this is gasoline for automobiles. Gasoline prices change daily and more often than not, prices rise. A family, who owns a car and is dependent on that car for work, etc, will not likely stop buying gas in the sort-term, because it is crucial to their everyday living. However, that family over a long period of time may decide to find alternate means of travel, decreasing their demand for gas. Using the graphs for elasticity of demand and total revenue, areas of elasticity, inelasticity and unit elasticity have been identified. Demand is elastic between the prices of $80.00 and $50.00, meaning the demand increases as the price decreases, resulting in an increase of total revenue. Between the prices of $50.00 and $40.00, the demand in unit elastic, meaning the percentage of drop in price resulted in the same percentage of increase in demand. Revenue remained unchanged in this price range. Between the prices of $40.00 and $0, the demand is inelastic, meaning the price drop has resulted in an increase in demand, but not enough to over come the decrease. Total revenue has been negatively impacted.