Contrast
Essays

This paper analyzes Plato's analogy of the cave and what it means in regards to the difference between 'being' and 'change.' Plato believed that change was an illusion, a product of false aspects of the human consciousness, while the world of the forms was unchanging and ultimately more 'real' than the false world in which we dwell as inhabitants of the metaphorical cave.

In the Heart of Darkness, nature seems to take revenge upon the people who bear the torch of colonialism and also upon the people who have lit out their intellect and blindly follow whatever they have been dictated to. People are warned, harmed and frightened by nature for their impassivity and stoicism but, humans do not seem to understand the meaning whispered to them through inanimate beings.

This paper provides an overview of attachment theory as it applies to the attachment styles of infants. A brief overview of the theory is given, followed by an explication of different behavioral patterns of infants and small children who may have had secure or insecure attachments early in life. Controversies are also addressed.

Mathew Brady was the famous photographer in the American history that played an important role in creating American empire. He not only made innovation in the field of photography but also made portraits of the important celebrities. His contribution in capturing the images of Civil War is another contribution that makes him memorable photographer of the history.

Human Resource Accounting (HRA) involves accounting for expenditures related to human resources as assets as opposed to traditional accounting which treats these costs as expenses that reduce profit. This makes a huge difference in the way a workforce will be perceived by a company. If the employee is an expense, then this has something of a negative connotation and workers can be viewed in a detrimental way. However, if the employee is an asset then this has a different set of implications. For example, assets are to be protected and to be used to their productive capacities. Therefore companies that take this approach are likely to make better use of their human resources.

Maus: The 'cat and mouse' game of Art Spiegelman's Maus

This paper examines the psychological as well as the economic effects of unemployment. It suggests that one reason workers struggle to rebound after a period of unemployment is because of the mental toll chronic unemployment extracts as well as the economic difficulties which ensue. It also compares the American middle-class experience of unemployment with the British working-class experience of unemployment.

The paper contains two parts; the first part defines various terms such as mobilizing shame, oppositional gaze, Punctum, catastrophe and spectacle in the context of visual culture. The second part is a photo essay in which words as well as images reflect on each other. Both parts explain the relevance of the terms/ images to the readings provided.

Business – Corporate Finance - Net Present Value - Mergers & Acquisitions, Parts 1 & 2 Google, Inc. is a communications giant that regularly acquires smaller viable companies and pursues numerous projects. Its current consideration of a project will require calculations of the initial cash flow outlay, net cash flows for 5 years, cost of capital, present value of cash flow, net present value and possible added value to shareholders. Google is also considering the acquisition of Groupon, which is a poor idea for Google’s shareholders but an attractive idea for Groupon’s shareholders, given the pros and cons faced by each “side” of the possible acquisition. On balance, the consideration of mergers/acquisitions, their risks and benefits and their financing options show that Google is much farther ahead pursuing its own coupon business while Groupon is in distinct danger of extinction.

This essay describes three ways in which people have dealt with problems of information overload or retrieval--forgery, ideology, and historiography. Forgery is seen as not peripheral but central especially in the context of pre-literate oral-based cultures. Ideology is seen as not necessarily as tendentious as one might suspect for historical purposes, as it often records adversarial information to rebut it. Historiography is seen as the product of forces of power and hegemony, and necessarily incorporates elements of both forgery and ideology.