Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 60

Discussion - Assignment Example This is because Osama Bin Laden was its leader, and was responsible for providing it with ideological, as well as spiritual leadership. Despite his death, and the defeat of Al-Qaeda, the nation has not yet healed from this attack. This is because other terrorist organizations have emerged that target American citizens. These organizations are affiliated to Al-Qaida (Riedel, 22). This includes terrorist organizations such as Al-Shabab, operating in Somalia, and ISIS, a terror group aimed at establishing a caliphate in the Middle-East. These groups have managed to target and kill American civilians. This includes the latest beheadings of American journalists in Iraq (Otis, 3). These actions have caused great anger against these terrorist organizations, and United States is seeking to build an international coalition that can fight against these new terror organizations. Prominent Islamic leaders have disowned these groups, denoting that the use of violence against non Muslim members is against the principles of Islam. To fight these groups, there is a need of the government to use a two pronged approach. The government should use the military to prevent these groups from attacking its interests. The government should also initiate measures aimed at promoting religious tolerance amongst the leading religious groups. This is through education, and inclusive

The After math of WW1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The After math of WW1 - Essay Example In regards to the effect on minorities of Europe after the First World War according to Spielvogel (2011) there are numerous negative consequences for these various groups. After the war a number of empires were broken up, in which various peoples that had cohabited in relative peace now were blaming each other for the economic woes brought on in the post war period. For example, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire there were a significant number of Czechs, Germans, Italians Hungarians, Poles, Serbs, and Slovenes (Amongst others) with this distribution of people there is no question that there would be a significant number of skirmishes between communities dominated by one group against their minorities. As a result of this a number of bilateral minority treaties which corresponded with the League of Nations Mandates. Some examples were the Polish Minority Treaty, or in the Austrian context, the Treaty of St. Germain-en Laye (Australasian Legal Information Institute, 1999). However, it th e negative effects on minorities in post WWI Europe would have been prominently felt in Germany (Especially once the nation began to be dominated by the National Socialists). Once the party came into power a number of sweeping laws came into effect that had sever consequences for minority groups. Some examples would be the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring (Facing History Campus, 2011) which forced compulsory sterilization of people suffering from hereditary diseased and later children of mixed parentage. This only represents a fraction of the overall policies that negatively affected minorities during the post-war period. The next issue to be addressed is the penalties that were to be paid by the Germans according to the Treaty of Versailles. According to The Discovery Channel (2011) there were a number of monetary and political implications from the treaty. For example there was significant loss of German territory. Germany was to cede the Alsace-Lorraine reg ion to France, Northern Schleswig was ceded to Denmark, and West Prussia was given to Poland ultimately amounting to approximately 65 thousand square kilometers lost to foreign nations in Europe. There were also significant overseas territories such as Namibia, Cameroon and a number of island territories in Oceania that had to be given up. In terms of military implications from the treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to keep the size of its armed forces to fewer than 100,000 combatants, serious restrictions were placed on where the nation could build fortifications, air forces were completely forbidden and the navy was restricted to small ships. Moreover, according to the Discovery Channel (2011) one additional consequence was that the Kaiser Wilhelm II was supposed to be tried as a war criminal, but owing to the fact that he had fled to the Netherlands (Who refused to extradite him) no trial ever took place. The final major consequence was the financial implications from the c onflict meant that Germany was ordered to pay war reparations to the allied forces to help offset the costs that the allied nations had incurred as part of the war effort but Germany was also held responsible for the damages to civilian infrastructure as well. Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Germany had not paid off the entirety of their war reparations. However, according to ‘The Local’ (2010) the total cost was 132 billion Reichmarks which is approximately â‚ ¬

Errors to Avoid In a Business Letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Errors to Avoid In a Business Letter - Essay Example The first error to avoid in a business letter is the use of the irrelevant material in the document. People tend to incorporate a series of irrelevant words in an attempt to please the reader. The use of an irrelevant material is a serious error that makes the written document long, boring and of poor quality. The writer may use long descriptions in order to portray their knowledge in the field. As a result, the reader may fail to comprehend the core purpose of the letter. The use of technical jargon and complex words in a business document frustrates the reader and thus contributes to miscommunication. In business writing, a skilled writer is expected to produce documents with excellent word choice. A writer may say, â€Å"The employees are very concerned with how the layoffs will affect their lives.† This sentence is improper because it uses similar words to express the employees’ reaction to layoffs. In the stated example, the writer is expected to say â€Å"Employees fear that the layoff will affect their morale.† The ideal way to avoid using irrelevant material involves selectively choosing appropriate words that best communicate the intended message. Ambiguous phrases such as ‘It is advisable’ should not be included in business letters. Writers should focus on clear, concise statements that communicate the intended message. Grammatical errors are intolerable in business writing. These errors may be in the form of improper use of verb forms, transitions, and articles. Writers may also incorporate unclear pronoun references, or they may incorrectly use subject/object pronouns. Grammatical errors may be perceived negatively by the reader. The reader may perceive the writer as careless or may fail to acknowledge the seriousness of the written information. Transition errors for example â€Å"The press release was long although the public needed the information.†

Ratio analysis Essay Example for Free

Ratio analysis Essay Ratio analysis is a tool brought by individuals used to evaluate analysis of information in the financial statements of a business. The ratio analysis forms an essential part of the financial analysis which is a vital part in the business planning. There are 3 different ways of assessing businesses performance and these are: solvency, profitability and performance. Ratio analysis assists managers to work out the production of the company by figuring the profitability ratios. Also, the management can evaluate their revenues to check if their productivity. Thus, probability ratios are helpful to the company in evaluating its performance based on current earning. By measuring the solvency ratio, the companies are able to keep an eye on the correlation between the assets and the liabilities. If, in any case, the liabilities exceed the assets, the company is able to know its financial position. This is helpful in case they wish to set up a plan for loan repayment. Ratio analysis is also helpful in analysing the performance of a company. Through financial analysis, companies can review their performance in the past years. This is also helpful in identifying their weaknesses and improving on them. Polish Fine Foods needs to use ratio analysis because it is a valuable tool for the business’s management to determine the performance of a business and to control the cost measures when necessary. Also, ratio analysis helps them monitor and identify issues that can be highlighted and resolved. However, ratio analysis doesn’t take into account external factors such as a worldwide recession. Measuring the Solvency of Polish Fine Foods Now, I will use 2 rations to measure the solvency of Polish Fine Foods. First, I will calculate the current ratio for Polish Fine Foods. This estimates whether the business can pay debts due within one year from assets that it expects to turn into cash within that year. It is measured dividing current assets by the current liabilities. By looking at balance sheet I can see that Polish Fine Food’s current asset value is  £28500 and the current liability value is  £17000. I will need to divide  £28500 by  £17000 to find out the current ratio. This would give me an answer of  £1.7. This means that for each  £1 owned they have  £1.70 current asset. The figure should normally not fall below 1.5. If it reaches a value of 1 then there might be concerns  there about not being able to meet the debts of the short-term assets. However, we can see that Polish Fine Food’s current ratio tells us that this is a solvent business. This means that it is able to settle its debts when they are due to be paid. If the business is not solvent, then it means that it can’t do this. Being solvent would help the business to maintain their confidence. On the other hand, if the current ratio goes higher than 2 might indicate that too much finance is tied up in a short-term assets, which can result that not too much money are being used within the organisation. Secondly, I will measure the acid test. This is the same as the current ratio; however it is a harsher test of ability to settle short-term debts. It is more accurate as it takes away the stock and shows how well a business can meet its current liabilities. To find out the acid test I first need to subtract stock from the current assets and then divide the current liabilities by the answer of that. So Polish Fine Food’s amount of stock is  £8500 from the current assets which is  £28500. The answer of the subtraction is  £20000. Now I would need to divide the answer by the current liability which is  £17000 which would give me the final acid test ratio of  £1.20. This calculation removes the uncertain variable of stock, which might be not too important to the business. Similarly, this data shows us that Polish Fine Foods is a solvent business and it has the ability to meet its short-term debts. The business could continue to operate as it is currently looking to be successful. With the current ratio of  £1.70 and the acid test of  £1.20 Polish Fine Foods is a stable business. It is a healthy figure and shows that the business is in a good position. We can see that  £0.50 was tied up in stock and this is not a lot. Both rations show that the business is able to pay for its debts and they can also earn more income which means that the business would gave more profit as the business is solvent. Measuring the Profitability of Polish Fine Foods Profitability ratios show a companys overall efficiency and performance. To measure the profitability of Polish Fine Foods I will use 3 ratios. First ratio is gross profit margin. The gross profit margin looks at cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales. This ratio looks at how well a company controls the cost of its account and the manufacturing of its products. The larger the gross profit margin, the better for the company. To calculate the  gross profit margin I need to divide the gross profit by the sales and then time it by 100 to find the percentage. So, to find the gross profit margin for Polish Fine Foods I have to divide  £45900 by  £145400 and this would give me the answer  £0.3156. To find out the percentage, I now need to multiply it by 100 and the answer is 32%. The gross profit margin for Polish Fine Foods is used to compare how much value is added to an item in between being bought in as stock or materials and being sold by the business. A low gross profit margin could show that there are high stock costs or maybe that retail price is being too low. If the business has a high gross profit margin then it indicates that the business is financial stable. We can see that Polish Fine Foods doesn’t have a high gross profit margin- it is a bit more than a quarter. This means that the business is in a secure position. They could be more successful if they are going to try and sell all the stock they have first instead of getting other, so in this way the profit might increase. Next ratio that I’m going to use in order to measure the profitability of Polish Fine Foods is net profit margin. The net profit margin shows how much of each sales amount shows up as net income after all expenses are paid. The net profit margin measures profitability after consideration of all expenses including taxes, interest, and depreciation. To calculate the net profit margin I need to divide the net profit by the sales and then mul tiply by 100. Therefore, to find the net profit margin for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide  £14500 by  £145400 and this would give me an answer of  £0.0997. So after multiplying the answer by 100, I got 10% which shows the amount of net profit margin. This ratio is used to decide which of a range of products are worth continuing with. A low net profit margin might indicate that costs are too high. Polish Fine Foods’ net profit margin is quite low, so they could try to improve this by trying to sell the stocks first and then get other instead of buying lots of them at once which would get more money out. At the moment, the business is in a stable position, but they should try and reduce their costs in order to increase the profit they’re making. Lastly, I would use return on capital employed (ROCE) ratio to measure Polish Fine Foods’ profitability. This is the percentage return which makes the business able to generate the long-term capital employed. To calculate ROC, I need to divide the net profit by the capital employed and then multiply it by 100. Therefore, to fine the ROCE  for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide their net profit which is  £14500 by the capital employed which is  £24500; this will then give an answer of 0.591, and then multiply that by 100. The final answer for ROCE is 60%. This ratio has been used to show how efficiently a business is using its capital. The ROCE shows us now that Polish Fine Foods is doing well at the moment and they are using their money carefully. Polish Fine Foods overall has good ratios that currently keep them stable. Basically, all these ratios show the amount of profit generated by the company as a per cent of the sales generated. The objective of margin analysis is to detect consistency or positive or negative trends in a companys earnings. Polish Fine Foods is doing well, and looks like it is a stable business. However, there is still place for improvement, e.g they could try and reduce their costs and increase their profits. Measuring the Performance of Polish Fine Foods A growing business needs to be closely and carefully managed to ensure the success of new investment and expanding plans. Putting performance measurements in place can be an important way of keeping track on the progress of their business. It gives vital information about whats happening now and it also provides the starting point for setting targets that will help owner apply their plans for growth. Now I will measure the performance of Polish Fine Foods using 3 ratios. First ration is stock turnover. This measures how long stock is being held before it is replaced. To calculate stock turnover ratio I need to divide average stock by cost of sales and the multiply it by 365 days. To find Polish Fine Foods’ stock turnover I need to find the average stock first. The opening stock is  £5250 and the closing stock is  £8500. By adding them two and then divide it by 2, it would give me the average stock which is  £6875. Then I need to divide  £6875 by the cost of sales  £99500 and it would give me the answer of 0.06909547738. Then if I will multiply it by 365 it would give me the answer 25 days which is the average number of says the stocks are being held before being replaced. If the stock goes out of date and this could happen to Polish Fine Foods as their selling food, stock should be held for a shorter period of time. It is a disadvantage to the business if they held stock for a long period of time because it can be expensive and the stock can deteriorate in value. However, a high turnover of stock can be seen as an  indicator of a stable business. Polish Fine Foods has a low stock turnover, and this might be because it is a sole trader and it has been opened up recently. Polish Fine Foods can run successfully as they are able to sell their stock in less time than a month which means that the products don’t go out of date by the time they replace the stock. Next ratio I’m goi ng to use is debtor collection period. This measures how long debtors take to pay. To calculate debt collection period for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide  £18000 which is debtors by  £145400 being the sales and multiply the answer by 365 days. This gives me the answer 45 days, on average. It means that it takes 45 days for the debtors to pay the business. Other businesses allow the debtors 90 days until they pay the money. For Polish Fine Foods it only takes 45 days which means that is less time, so they won’t face any financial problems, struggling to get money from the debtors in order to buy some stock. This ratio shows that the business is performing well as they don’t face any cash shortage which would slow the business down. The last ratio I’m going to use in order to measure the performance of Polish Fine Foods is asset turnover. It measures how high the level of sales are in relation to the assets of the business. To calculate the asset turnover I have to divide the amount of sales by the assets. For Polish Fine Foods the sales amount is  £145300 and the assets value is  £24500. By dividing them two it would give me the answer of  £6. This shows that the business earns approximately  £6 in sales for every  £1. Knowing all this measurement is very important for the business owner because they can see how they are performing in different areas. Conclusion This report was written to illustrate the financial state of Polish Fine Foods. So I used accounting rations as evidence to measure its solvency, profitability and performance. First of all, I found out that Polish Fine Foods’s current ratio is 1.70. Another ratio I used is the acid test which gave me an answer of 1.20. This is the same as the current ratio; however it is a harsher test of ability to settle short-term debts. These ratios tell us that this is a solvent business. This means that it is able to settle its debts when they are due to be paid. If the business is not solvent, then it means that it can’t do this. Being solvent helps the business to maintain their confidence and make it operate more successfully. Another set of 3  ratios that show us the profitability of Polish Fine Foods are: gross profit margin which was 31.56%, net profit margin being 10%, then ROCE which is 60%. All these ratios show how well the business is running. Also, whether they are making any money and how profitable it is compared with other competitors. From all these ratios, I have found out that Polish Fine Foods is doing well at the moment. They are making enough profit to keep their business going, as they didn’t make any loss. Lastly, I measured the performance of Polish Fine Foods using 3 ratios: stock turnover which was  £6875; then it was debt collection period which was 45 days on average, and then the asset turnover which was  £6. Each of these ratios measure different segments of a companys overall performance. These ratios look at how efficiently and effectively Polish Fine Foods is using its resources to generate sales and increase profit. This is important for the business because Ania can notice any unusual fluctuations in the financial ratios over time and can see how the business is performing. This could also help Ania decide whether or not to grow her business and turn it into a LTD as it would give her enough information to see if she is financial stable to do so.

Corruption In Africa Solutions and Effects

Corruption In Africa Solutions and Effects Africa, a continent abundantly gifted with natural resources and astronomical value of human capital is yet to find its rightful place among the comity of nations. A key cause that has been to blame for her lack of socioeconomic development is the trend of bad leadership and corruption. The essence of the paper rest in the fact that political leadership as well as corruption was entwined and it is alongside this backdrop that it explored the fraudulent trend of the political ruling class in Africa. The paper concludes that for Africa to experience sustainable socio-economic development, reliable and trustworthy leaders must materialize to embed the act of good and selfless governance in the country. INTRODUCTION Africa in recent times is bombarded by an inherent predicament in comparison with other Latin American countries and Asia. In illustration from the practice of other developed Countries, one needs to be cautious in order to escape easy oversimplifications in regard to contemporary determinants for African economic and social makeover. Every significant thought of African development plan must take notice to the crucial matter of good leadership as well as eradication of corruption at all stages. The ruling class in Africa many a times plead ignorance of the fact that they are in power in order to be of service to the citizens and not vice versa ; they exploit their positions to put as much public money as they can in their pockets and even get away with it! Unfortunately most African countries have come to acknowledge corruption as a normal occurrence and often see it as a means to an end. However on the other hand leaders of the developed world, are often placed under a 24 hour watchful scrutiny, their past is vigilantly investigated before ascending to any public office. Transparency International approximates that corruption in Africa robs us 25 to 35 percent of financial support from essential service provision, in addition many research studies and newspapers have proven that African leaders extract billions every year from their economically weak countries. In 1999 the United Nations approximated that the ruling elites drained more than 250billion dollars out of Africa. Ayittey (2004) and Lawal (2007) agree that the summation was more than half the African foreign debt and that it surpassed the quantity of foreign aid to Africa and concluded that policy makers in the region face an overwhelming task of achieving development goals because Africa has large percentages of highly corrupt countries. Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that the former colonial masters cleverly gave up on political power while at the same time retaining economic power. African leaders were ill equipped and began leadership to a false start. Unprepared for the economic ambush that the neocolonialism would unleash consequently our greedy leaders became easy victims for manipulation by the west. The high ideals of being a servant to the citizens remained largely a big part focus for theory and speech-making. In harmony with the aim for political dominance as an ending in itself, African leaders were unable convert freedom from colonial power to the popular beliefs of democracy and liberty. They were unsuccessful in building capacities for the people to engage in meaningful economic and social development. Power was handed over to a specific individual rather than to the political party, and the leader was seen as a renowned wealthy family as opposed to being a representative of the country. Hence religious, cultural and ethnic walls werent synchronized via basis of equitability and fair balance of interests. Discrepancies that ordinarily should have been eliminated after independence were infact made worse by it. Grumbles of unfairness and ill-treatment by the marginalized parties inside these territories were utterly overlooked. As a result defiance to inequality and preeminence of power by influential groups or families or authoritarian leaders was restrained by bigger abuses of power. Consequently, breaches of human rights and suppression of the manpower that could have otherwise been used for nation building and development. In Nigeria for instance, during the reign of President Olesegun Obasanjo, who was entirely in control of petroleum in Nigeria, it was investigated and reported that over 500 million dollars meant for upkeep and renovations of the oil industry had not been put to any use and infact ghost contactors had been tendered the contracts (Adokoye, 2006: 31). Further it revealed that the petroleum industry, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was one of the biggest corrupt bodies in Nigeria. Also in 2004 federal ministers were accused of robbing the public 24 billion naira. Audit by Vincent Azile the auditor general at the time revealed presence of embezzlement, double debiting, inflation of contract figures as well as release of funds without consent from approving authority in at least 15 ministries. Undoubtedly nations in endure effects of poor administration, inadequate judicial infrastructure and insufficient numbers of expertise. But these short-comings cannot explain the abuse and misuse of state power in the continent. For instance, Kenya has a big figure of highly-trained professionals, as well as accountants and constitutional lawyers put down budgetary procedures, with inclusion of provisions for checks and balances. But the fact remains that Kenyan rulers have ignored the provisions of the constitution and put down administrative procedures as irrelevant to the actual workings of government. Omar Al-Bashir, the present President of Sudan, grabbed power in 1989 in a bloodless military coup de ta in opposition to the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi- a government which had been independently elected by the citizens of the country. Shortly after grabbing power, Al-Bashir disintegrated all political parties Sudan, dispersed the countrys parliament and cut out all privately-owned media firms. His time in power has been distinguished by civil conflicts wherein more than one million people have lost their lives not to mention numbers of those who have been rendered refugees by the war and at the same time several millions have lost their livelihoods. Not to mention that Al-Bashir has a warrant of arrest on his head and has been sought after by the International Criminal Court for prompting crimes against humanity, especially with reference to heading and financing acts of carnage against the people of Southern Sudan. Distinctively corrupt, a diplomatic wikileaks cabl e discovered that Al-Bashir had likely siphoned several $10 billion of his Sudans finances into his personal bank accounts in the United Kingdom. Very disconcerting is how corruption leaves the poverty stricken to be perpetually poor at the same time impedes the growth of democracy and societal construction . (Ribada, 2008) and by deflecting away from the original purpose of funds or services, corruption is assumed to be the sole most significant factor to blame for the catastrophe of leadership and the lack of socio economic development in Africa. Africas corruption is a manifestation of its leadership and institutional failure after gaining it freedom from colonialists essentially because of misuse of power mediocre management of economies, corruption, and absence of democracy, personal wealth are what our leaders today embrace. There are also those who worship the Europeans. Where they invest their ill-gotten gains and wealth stolen from their motherland. Africa continues to be poor because politics is considered an easy ticket to prosperity, to add to that the leadership has no continuity agenda and opt for dying in office, being some of the richest people in the world amidst the most poverty-stricken citizens in the world. In open public speeches African leaders criticize control by the west but in reprehensible booked appointments behind closed doors they are otherwise occupied appealing to Europe and China to carry on where they left off pre-independence. Captivatingly, modern china is gradually becoming a colony of Africa given all the contracts they have taken over in Africa. Meanwhile regional Organizations like the African Union (AU) who one would presume have their work cut out for them, have regrettably done nothing to endorse good governance in Africa. Im quite that the difficulties are known but, the answers for them continue to be hypothetical and set aside on computer memory someplace in Addis Ababa. What we possess are heads that split us up instead unifying. Drawing from the example of the late Muammar El Qaddafi, these divisions turn against them and in the end the outcome is a very overpowering catastrophe that is often difficult to deal with. A renowned journalist Aguako Basaid in his address to Nigerians during a leadership conference said that, an African leader finds it difficult to renounce power and in an attempt to perpetuate himself in power, he gets so many people involved in corrupt practices. Most dictatorial leaders in Africa have had tenures spreading for over 30 decades for example are Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe, Cameroons Paul Biya, Angolas Jose dos Santos, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, of Equatorial Guinea and like many of their predecessors these leader spent their whole careers enriching themselves, bullying opponents, circumventing all but the simple ensnares of democracy aggressively frustrating movements gunning for constitutional rule . According to Ayittey (2012) they are successful because they control the major arms of government; civil service, electoral bodies, security forces including the military, the press, media and the central banks in their countries. This trend started with the first generation of African nationalist leaders because they enjoyed great honor and prestige making them feel godly and of course absolute power does infact corrupts absolutely. They also came off successful in eliminating or disregarding checks and balances. Instead of they exercised vast systems of patronage and in the process sported enormous power and authority allowing them to subjugate all relevant institutions consequently they helped lay a bad foundation for governance in Africa and corruption rampant in their economies. Institutions today are unable to control excesses of their dictators. Debatably on, can consider Africa as a continent built on unstable ground. Also observed in present times are the ever present cases of electoral fraud, contested elections, presidents with too much power at their disposal and political upheaval not to mention economic policies introduced by government to sustain their domination and exploitation. Conclusion The misfortune in Africa is not that its countries are poor, that is a condition that is a product of history. The misfortune is that it does not have ruling classes dedicated to prevailing over the state of underdevelopment. Bad governance is not a principal predicament of lack of knowledge or infrastructural competence or even of individual dictators. African countries are wakened by instruments of development because of the rulers, not to mention people within and out of government, are aggravated by goals that do not have the slightest to do with the general good. Until this situation changes there is little hope for Africa. Policies aimed at controlling or reducing corruption in African countries must begin with laying the foundation for a strong institution- economic, political and social- in all sectors of the economy.

Psychedelic Rock And The Doors

Psychedelic Rock And The Doors Biography: Psychedelic rock is a very famous class of rock music which is influenced or inspired by psychedelic culture. To really understand this genre of music it is important to state exactly what was psychedelic rock. Why it becomes important to see where this form of music originated since the roots of the movement is what inspired the artists of this time period and is also the reason for its evolution. During the era of the flower-child, there was restlessness and strong undercurrents among the youth across North America and Europe, which was looking for freedom from existing societal expectations and norms of that time. This was to become the hippie culture that took the world by storm in the late 1950s and 60s. Among the many ways in which hippies were to make history, along with their commune living and fascination for eastern mysticism, religion and sexual liberation, was the music that characterized the decades of the flower child. (Chatterjee; Buzzle.com, 2010) During this time hallucinogenic drugs were just entering public consciousness, and LSD, mescaline and magic mushrooms, were commonly used and their effects compounded with the combination of alcohol and marijuana lead artists and musicians using these psychedelic drug cocktails to have out-of-body experiences, mind-altering state of awareness and a disconnect from reality, the music that they composed in the shadowy world of hallucinogenic drugs, came to be known as psychedelic music, or psychedelic rock, in homage to the psychedelic drugs that gave rise to the compositions. In the midst of such widespread domination, it was hardly likely that the arts were to be left behind, posters and album covers were just a few of the expressions of 1960s psychedelic art, characterized by their kaleidoscopic colors, diffraction patterns and entropic motifs (Chatterjee; Buzzle.com, 2010). Many rock and folk musicians began to include drug lyrics in their songs as they were using drugs. The Holy Modal Rounders was an American folk music duo from the Lower East Side of New York City which started in the early 1960s, consisting of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber. Their unique blend of folk music revival and psychedelic rock gave them a cult-like following from the late 1960s into the 1970s. For a time, the band also featured prolific and famous playwright and actor, Sam Shepard. (Wikipedia.com, 2010) The group The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas in 1965 was the first group to declare themselves as a psychedelic rock band. The band included guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969. During their career, the band released four LPs and seven 45s for the International Artists record label. Subsequent to the group 13th Floor Elevators, The Beatles began experimenting with the LSD in 1965 and they introduced most of the major elements of psychedelic s ounds. They began to include drug references in their songs in 1965 and more explicitly in 1966 (Wikipedia.com, 2010). The band, The Byrds moved from pure folk rock to psychedelic rock. They made use of Indian ragas and free jazz and the lyrics that referred to drug use. In one of Britains bands, The Yard Birds moved to the psychedelic usage, adding influences to songs. In the United States, the music scene continued to develop and psychedelic rock began to impact on pop music. The Beach Boys had been experimenting with LSD from 1965 and psychedelic was a major part of the songs. The Haight District-Ashbury District in San Francisco was the center for psychedelic music because of the prominent use of LSD, but there were other cities in America contributed to the new genre but not as centered as Haight-Ashbury. Style Characteristics: Psychedelic rock music had its characteristics. The main elements include electric guitars and heavy drums. However, The Beatles put some Indian Raag in the music. The fusion done by The Beatles was further continued by Jim Morrison is some tracks. However, in general the instrumentals are lead base electric guitars and drums with occasional piano and sometimes sitar. The selection of the instruments was based on the levels and grades of performances. Sometimes leads with drums worked and at places we observe whole orchestras followed by leads, base guitars and pianos. It is right to say that heavy metal; Psychedelic rock has no particular domain of instruments. So like music in this time used different instruments and was not restricted to one particular one. My Own Personal Comments: The Doors were an American rock band that was started in 1965. This band produced a string of hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Britannica.com, 2010). This band was founded by singer and poet, Jim Morrison, who became one of rock musics greatest figures. The Doors original members included: Jim Morrison, vocals; Ray Manzarek, who played the keyboards, Robbie Krieger, who played on the lead guitar, and John Densmore, who played the drums. This band included a combination of backgrounds in blues and classical music with the improvisational daring of a rock band (Britannica.com, 2010). With Jim Morrison writing poetry which was called Beat poetry, Robbie Kreiger set these lyrics to music. Kreiger and Dunsmore both belonged to the Psychelic Rangers. (Charlton, p.152). Manzarek and Morrison were friends from the film school in the University of California at Los Angeles. They conceived the idea of forming the group after the singer recited a poem to the keyboardist. This was on a southern beach of California,. Morrison derived the bands name from Aldous Huxleys book titled The Doors of Perception, which also referred to a line in a poem. (Charlton, p.152) The Doors got a reputation for pushing the boundaries of rock composition, both lyrically and musically, in performances at Los Angeles Sunset Strip. (Britannica.com, 2010) The doors breakthrough hit, Light My Fire, became an anthem in 1967. It was songs such as The End, an eleven minute drama which had sexually explicit lyrics and a swirling, oscillation arrangement that gave the band reputation as one of rocks most controversial, potent, and theatrical acts. The group was indeed banned from the Whisky-A-Go-Go event in Los Angeles after an earlier performance of the song. (Britannica.com, 2010) Though the bands ambitious music involved everything from German cabaret to Chicago blues, their string of pop hits made them to be criticized by some people as a teenybopper act. (Britannica.com, 2010) This troubled Morrison deeply as he really wanted acceptance as a serious artist. By the time of the release of the bands third album in 1968, Morrison had created an ego for himself, the Lizard King. Morrisons poem The Celebration of the Lizard King was printed in the record jacket. (Chatterjee; Buzzle.com, 2010) Morrisons concert performances were marred by outrageous stunts, and in 1969 he was arrested for exposing himself on stage, in Miami. The charges were later dropped, but the incident served notice of Morrisons physical decline, in part because of his addiction to alcohol. Morrison took increasing concentrated in his poetry, some of which were published. The groups tours became less frequent. The band reestablished their artistic integrity with the blues steeped Morrison Hotel in 1970. After the groups sixth album, L.A. Woman in 1971 Morrison went to Paris, where he wanted to pursue a literary career. He died there of heart failure at the age of 27 in the year of 1971. (Britannica.com, 2010) The early death of Morrison only enhanced his status as the exemplary rock showman and troubled artist for successive generations. In absence of Morrison, the group produced two albums before breaking up but were reduced to just an instrumental trio.( Charlton, p.153) The remaining band members briefly reunited in 1978 to record An American Prayer, providing backing music for poetry that Jim Morrison had wrote and decided to record it after his death. Manzarek produced albums for the punk band X. In death, Morrison was lionized by fans for generations, both as an icon for youth and as an influence on singers such as, Echo and Iggy Pop Pearl Jams, Eddie Vedder and Bunnymens, Ian McCulloch. The bands releases have continued to sell in the millions, and The Doors, a 1991 movie, was a critical and popular success. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Jim Morrison was born in December 8 1963 and died on July 3, 1971. Ray Manzarek was born on February 12, 1935 in Chicago. Robby Krieger was born on Jan 8, 1946 in Los Angeles. John Densmore was born on December 1, 1945 in Los Angeles. They produced the following albums: The Doors in 1967, Strange Days in1967, Light My Fire in 1967, The Unknown Soldier in 1968, Hello, I Love You 1968, Riders On The Storm 1971 and LA Woman in 1971. To me, if you listen to The Doors album titled Waiting For The sun, you will come to love it. It is one album that you will recommend to your friends. One song that touched me most is Hello, I love you. It is a song that basically talks about love. The last verse was written by Jim Morrison three years prior to the album recordings, while he was observing an attractive African American girl at Venice Beach. The verse states: Sidewalk crouches at her feet; Like a dog that begs for something sweet; Do you hope to make her see you, fool; Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel? (Wikipedia.com, 2010) The band continued to perform, with little success, and finally broke up in 1972. In 2002, Kreiger and Manzarek reunited to form The Doors of the 21st Century. Densmore, who says he wasnt invited to join the new group, went to court and eventually got a ruling preventing the group from using The Doors in its name. The group now performs as Riders On The Storm (White, 2010). In conclusion, Psychedelic Rock during its time revolutionized the whole culture. Not only in America or England, it influenced music from all over the world. It was the first time when the concept of Asian and Western music emerged and Sir John Lennon blended both music forms. Jim Morrison was no doubt the pioneer and is still worshiped by the admirers. The Doors worked as a role model for many new and up and coming bands and his music is present even in bands music and lyrics today. To me, it is so sad to lose brilliant artists, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bon Scott and the list could go on and on and could state how each one of these young artists effected their time that they lived and how they affect the music now. We must all remember those who shaped music from its earliest beginnings. Work Cited Britannica.com (2010) Kot, Greg. The Doors. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2010 from http://www.britannica.com/psychedelic/bands/doors.html Charlton, K. Rock Music Styles A History 6th Edition, Pages 152-153, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 1998. Chatterjee, Tilottama . Psychedelic Rock. Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. (2010) Buzzle.com, Web. 27 Nov 2010. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2010 from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/psychedelic-rock.html White, Dave. The Doors Biography Profile of The Doors. Classic Rock Bands Songs Artists CDs DVDs MP3s Lyrics and History of Classic Rock. About.com, a part of The New York Times Company., Web. 27 Nov 2010. http://classicrock.about.com/od/a1/ig/The-Doors/11-09_cl.htm Wikipedia.com (2010) The Doors Hello, I love you. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello,_I_Love_You Wikipedia.com (2010) Holy Modal Rounders. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Modal_Rounders Wikipedia.com (2010) The 13th Floor Elevators. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_13th_Floor_Elevators

Ancient Philosophy :: essays research papers fc

As Aristotle viewed the world around him, he observed that things are moving and changing in certain ways. Aristotle discovered that certain things cause other things, which in turn cause something else. Aristotle believed that an infinite chain of causation was not possible, thus, a prime mover of some kind must exist as the first cause of everything that changes or moves. The first evidence that Aristotle viewed was the world around him. He observed that everything is in motion, and that one motion causes another motion and so on. Much like billiard balls on a pool table. One ball hits another ball, that ball moves, hits a third ball, and the third ball moves. Like A causes B to move causes C to move etc. After careful observation, Aristotle noticed that everything is in motion, even the planets, and thus, there was a chain of causation. Aristotle believed that something can not come from nothing, that is, a thing can not pop in and out of existence, thus, there must either be an infinite chain of causation or a first cause/prime mover. Aristotle dismissed the possibility of infinite causation and instead attempted to prove that there is a prime mover or first cause. Aristotle also believed the universe was situated in a certain way. Aristotle believed that the heavens began just above the bottom of the moon and the everything above the lower portion of the moon wa s the heavens. In the heavens, Aristotle observed that everything was in a cyclical motion, and that the planets moved about each other in circles. If the planets moved about in circular motion then there must have been a cause to bring about their motion, thus, there must also be either an infinite chain of causation for heavenly bodies or a prime mover/first cause of the heavenly bodies. For Aristotle ‘local motion is the primary type of motion and the primary type of motion is circular motion' For Aristotle this means that everything is moving, and the best form of movement is movement in a circular motion because a circle is the perfect form of movement. It has no beginning and no end, it is continuous and everlasting. Aristotle saw this motion in everything, even the human existence is that of a cycle. We are born, reproduce and die, in a continuous existence just as the heavenly bodies begin at one point and move around until they are at the beginning point again.