Good fences make good neighbors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Good fences make good neighbors - Essay Example The neighbor believes that a healthy boundary between the two farms can make them better neighbors as he feels that the erection of good walls or barriers would prevent any of his things getting across to the speaker’s farm thus preventing any future argument, though this makes no sense to the speaker as he says that, â€Å"He is all pine and I am apple-orchard. My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.† (23-25). The speaker asks a question that he answers himself, â€Å"Where there are cows? But here there are no cows,† (30) The speaker believes that since the two of them do not rear cows that could eat up their pines or apples, there is no need for the erection of a wall. The neighbor still insists on his saying that, â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors.† (44) The neighbor believes so much in his father’s saying, while the speaker sees him as somebody with a dark-age mentality. To him, good neighbors are the ones that have good fences between them, a good neighbor would not have any of his/her things interfering with their neighbor’s and to the neighbor, and it is only the erection of good fences that would make this possible.

Overview of the Indian Economy

Overview of the Indian Economy The Indian economy has shown a remarkable growth after the adoption of liberalization policy. The opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s led to increase in industrial output and simultaneously raised the inflation Rate in India. There was an immense pressure on the inflation rate due to the stupendous growth rate of employment and industrial output. The main concern of the Reserve Bank of India (the central bank) and the Ministry of Finance, Government of India was the prevalent and intermittent rise of the inflation rate. Increasing inflation rate could be detrimental to the projected growth of Indian economy. Thus, the Reserve Bank of India was putting checks and measures in various policies so as to put a stop to the rising inflation. The Indian business community and the general public were assured by the central bank that the inflationary rise was harmless but still certain apprehensions existed among them. The pricing disparity of agricultural products between the producer and end-consumer was contributing to the increasing Inflation Rate. Apart from this the steep rise of prices of food products, manufacturing products, and necessities had also catapulted the Inflation Rate. As a result of all this, the Wholesale Prices Index (WPI) of India reached 6.1% and the Cash Reserve Ratio touched 5.5% on 6th January, 2007. The Reserve Bank of India gave top priority to price stability in its recently drafted monetary policy so as to arrest the panic and discomfort amongst the Indian business circles. It also aims to sustain the stupendous rate of economic growth of India. The Reserve Bank of India raised the Cash Reserve Ratio and used it as a tool to arrest the increasing Inflation Rate. Rationalizing the pricing disparity between the producer and the consumer is the only solution to this problem. Only this will ensure inflation stabilization and thus sustainable economic growth of India. From the beginning of FY2008 the Indian economy faced a rise in the prices of vegetables, pulses and other basic food stuffs. All this was accompanied with sharp rise in the prices when the annual policy statement for 2008-09 was unveiled on April 29. Inflation increased steadily during the year, reaching 8.75% by the end of May and in June when this figure jumped to 11% then there was an alarming increase in the prices. There were many reasons for it but one of the main driving forces was reduction in government fuel subsidies, which lifted gasoline prices by an average 10%. Indeed, by July 2008, the key Indian Inflation Rate i.e. the Wholesale Price Index touched the mark of 12.6%, highest rate in past 16 years of the Indian history. This was almost three times the RBIs target of 4.1% and almost doubled as compared to last year. This continuous rise slipped back to 12.4% by mid-August. Since the beginning of 2008 combination of various internal and external factors led to steep domestic inflation and the resultant steps taken to control it in were slowing the pace of expansion. These factors included the marked rise in the international prices of oil, food, and metals, moderating the rate of capital inflows, worsening current and fiscal account deficits, increasing cost of funds, minor depreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar, and slow growth in industrial economies. The Indian economy was at a critical juncture where policies to contain inflation and ensure macroeconomic stabilization have taken center stage. In the first quarter of FY2008 (i.e. April -June), growth rate of GDP slowed down to 7.9% from 9.2% in the corresponding prior-year quarter, for the slowest expansion in three and a half years. The most remarkable decline was in industry where growth rate fell to 6.9% this was mainly because of cutting in the manufacturing growth rate to 5.6%. The slowdown was widened when agriculture and services sector showed a negligible growth of 1.4% and 0.9% points, below their performances of the year-earlier quarter.Over the medium term, the main objective of the government was to bring down inflation to 3%. The Repo and Reverse Repo Rates remained unchanged whereas Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was increased by 0.25 percentage points. A survey of manufacturing companies was conducted by the Reserve Bank of India in June 2008 which indicated a moderation in business optimism. This was corroborated by the composite business optimism index for July -September 2008 that was prepared by Dun and Bradstreet, which shows a decline of 11.2% as compared to the previous quarter. In July, the BBB- rating on foreign currency debt was confirmed but downgraded the viewfor Indias long -term local currency debt from stable to negative, with a noticeable deterioration in the fiscal position.Growth of the broad money supply (M3) had to be moderated in the range of 16.5 to 17 per cent. While deposits were scheduled to rise by 17% and non-food credit disbursements by banks will grow at a slow rate of 20% as compared to 22.5% in 2007-08. Credit disbursed by banks last year was less as compared to the previous period. Bank credit had grown by a scorching 30% every year for consecutively three years beginning in 2004-05. The combined budget deficits of the central and state governments have been substantially reduced over the past 5 years. This reflected sincere efforts by the government to adhere to fiscal responsibility legislation. For FY2008, the central Governments deficit is budgeted at 2.5% of GDP and the states at 2.1% (4.6% of GDP on a consolidated basis). The major factors that strengthen the appreciable fiscal consolidation from the base were a wider tax base supported by a buoyant economy and improved compliance. Two main situations that must be overcome before achieving the deficit targets for the FY2008 are: a slowing economy that may limit the revenue buoyancy seen in recent years and continuous pressure by the Central Government to raise the salaries of its employees by 21% (about 0.3% of GDP) in response to recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission. Similar wage increases were announced immediately by half a dozen states and others were following the suit. On the other hand provision for these salary increases was not budgeted. EFFECTS Inflationary pressures in any economy leads to depreciation of its domestic currency. This is what our Indian economy was facing due to the running inflation and as a result Indian rupee depreciated by about 20% since April 2008. Inflation affects- 1.Common man: Inflation effects a common man in different roles such as a consumer: Products such as crude oil, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, ores and metals, or use imported components such as Personal Computers and laptops are directly imported. Due to depreciation of the Indian Rupee all these goods became very expensive. Components in computers such as processor, hard disk drive and motherboard are also imported. Products such as mouse, keyboard and monitor also witnessed an impact on their prices due to Rupee depreciation. Inflation may rise in an economy when the input costs increase. As an investor: Depreciation of rupee makes imports of various components, capital goods and raw materials more expensive. As inputs and other equipment that are imported get costlier and reducing the profit margins. Companies that import goods in bulk and those with heavy foreign currency borrowings may be marked down in the stock market as the rupee depreciates. As a Wage-earner: During inflation this class of common man suffered a lot because of two reasons- Increase in wages and salaries failed to keep pace with the rising prices. Wages increased during inflation but there is always a time lag between the rise in price and increase in wages. As a result common man looses during the intervening period. Export companies: Due to depreciation of domestic currency exporters receive better prices for their goods and services when sold in foreign markets. Foreign Investors: Depreciation of Indian Rupee reduced the returns that foreign investors used to earn by investing in Indian companies. Depreciation of a currency triggered FII outflows. NRI investors, who previously invested their money in India under various deposit schemes due to high interest rates, started finding those schemes less attractive on account of rupee depreciation. Countrys Balance of Payments: One of the drawbacks of depreciation of Rupee is that exports become cheap in terms of foreign currency and imports become costlier. Current account deficit widened because Indian imports basically constitutes essentials such as crude oil, natural resources and many capital goods. Depreciation of Indian Rupee made the exports more competitive globally and as a result higher exports covered up the trade deficit. Farmers: The prices of the primary commodities such as minerals, diesel oil and fuel, power light and lubricants went up significantly. This disparity affected the agricultural sector in two ways- It had a restrictive effect on investments in farming and affected the production efficiency. On one hand the agricultural commodity prices were falling or stagnant and on the other hand increasing prices of agriculture inputs and other daily life commodities led to deterioration in the living standard of the farmers. Prices paid by the consumer have impacted by the cost of living of the entire value chain, which grows on the inefficient markets and this adds to the final cost of the material. For example, high energy cost itself has contributed to the increase in the cost of inputs required for agriculture besides pushing up the marketing costs of farm products. IT companies: The IT sector is amongst the highest recruiters in the Indian economy and a depreciating rupee spells good news for the sector. Bills for Information Technology companies are basically prepared in dollars or in other foreign currencies. Depreciation of the rupee increased their realizations and bodes well for their margins. The main reason for the good performance in the second quarter of Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computers was the depreciation of the Indian Rupee. An estimate suggests that a 1 per cent depreciation in the rupee expands an IT companys margins by 0.30-0.40 per cent. CONCLUSION Majority of Indias population lies close to the poverty line and inflation acts as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-Poor Mans Tax. More than half of the income of this group is spent on food and this effect is amplified when food prices rise. The dramatic increase in inflation will have economic as well as political implications for the Congress Government, with an election due within a year. Economic growth rate in the emerging markets have slowed down but is far from over. The BRIC countries i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China alone account for more than 3 billion people and with consumption rate increasing every year. It is expected that the high inflation rates will be there for a long period of time which is worrying news for the Indian Government. Direct regulatory measures such as the reduction in import tariffs were adopted in order relax the supply-side pressures on various agricultural commodities. While adopting the direct measures, the Government realized that the relaxation of supply-side pressures would dampen inflationary expectations by increasing supplies in the commodities market. The RBIs attempt to control excess liquidity in the market byraising the interest rates pushed up real-estate prices as well as the commodity prices, thus fuelling inflation. A closer look at certain commodities would reveal that the prices of sugar and wheat were managed by the Government through various market intervention mechanisms. As a result the physical market’s role in effective price discovery was affected. Trade in the commodities market operated in an asymmetrical information situation from both the supply and demand sides. Hence, market operations could only benefit segments that were privy to the available information. The existing agricultural market ecosystem revolves around the traders and to some extent the producers with no say from side of consumers. Hence, at the end both consumers and producers are often at a loss. Generally, traders keep a heavy margin to compensate for the physical and financial risk involved in carrying the commodity for short as well as long term.

Macbeth Senior Research Paper -- essays research papers

In Shakespeare’s lifetime he wrote many plays. Many of them were critically acclaimed and others cast aside. The crowd always wanted to be more thoroughly entertained and Shakespeare always tried to keep up with the people’s needs. In 1605, Shakespeare was being hounded for another work of genius. Hamlet and King Lear had just been completed and the people begged for more. He knew not of what to write and like many playwrights, he did research. He found two stories from Hollinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. Shakespeare had already taken ideas from Hollinshed for his plays like Henry IV and Henry V. William decided to combine the reign of Macbeth and the murder of King Duff by Donwald and his wife, altering both to suit his needs. Macbeth is by far the shortest play that William Shakespeare wrote. The main reason why this is so is not because Shakespeare did not have much to say, but because King James was so impatient. Macbeth was written basically for the king. In fact, the emphasis on witchery was because King James so heavily believed in sorcery. Shakespeare worried very much about the evil powers insulting the king. After all was said and done, Macbeth was another barrier to be broken in the great scheme of performances. It was an instant success. King James and the court loved it along with England. No offenses were made from Malcolm needing help from England. Shakespeare had feared that James would be offended. From that moment on Macbeth would be known by all. Yet the people begged for more and hoped Macbeth would be out done by another astounding play. Shakespeare wondered how such a task could be accomplished. What was it about Macbeth that made it loved by everyone? Shakespeare’s style has been analyzed by many and some still can not figure it out. His poetry has influenced his plays immensely.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Apart from the fascinating characters of the two leading roles, the play’s chief   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  attraction is it wonderful poetry. Scarcely a word is wasted, and vivid images   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  tumble after each other in a stream of color and ideas. (Ross 43)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shakespeare put great thought into what he wanted to write and his feelings expressed themselves through the stylistic devices of tone, characterization, and symbo... ...is victim, Duncan, is a Christ-figure overflowing with love and grace; in his welcome at Dunsinane to Duncan as being reminiscent of Judas at the Last Supper; and in the earthquake and eclipse that accompany the crucifixion of Christ and the murder of Duncan. (Monarch Notes 4) In my opinion, I never would have thought about Macbeth and the Bible relating to one another, but everyone has their own opinion. Symbolism played a very important part in Macbeth. Blood, for instance, was very key in it. Duncan’s blood on the Macbeth’s hands is a symbol of the evil crime they committed, the guilt of which cannot be washed away. Macbeth’s curse, â€Å"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red† (Shakespeare Act II, Scene III). â€Å"Lady Macbeth: Out, damned spot! out I say!...yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him† (Shakespeare Act V, Scene I). The guilt of Duncan’s murder, although more present in Macbeth at first, has grown in Lady Macbeth until she began having the same insane visions of her hands getting bloodier and bloodier not ever coming clean.

Can digital art be considered fine art Essay

The debate between traditional art and digital art has been going on for some time. People argue that art is art so long as it involves universal expression of imagination creativity and storytelling. Whether it is through painting, music, painting or sculpting so long as it delivers the intended purpose. These people suggest that the medium does not matter and all that matters is the content. Some people argue that Digital art is not art, it is basically a collection of photo shops for people who don’t know how to draw. Digital art does not involve talent emotion and insight. Anyone who can take a photo can do this. Digital painters simply bash together real painters works and other various photos to form images. These people argue that digital art is computer generated therefore not real as there are infinite copies since there is no original. This notion and perception is entirely right. Digital art is not real art because it contains less aspects of creativity of art and d esign. Unlike like the traditional art and paintings digital works show less emotions and creativity of the artist. Before camera invention artist had the main role off depicting the real world. Art has been changing in the subject it shows though every time it’s a window to real world. The invention of camera and other digital machines has redefined art. The digital artists are not really talented artists because they simply rely on the computers to produce their work. Without the computers, such artists are rendered useless. The digitalized art is not as deep and moving as the traditional art. It does not show much emotion like the one done using paint and brush (Horowitz, Hill & Hayes, 2009). Traditional painting depicts more originality and authenticity. It brings out the artists true ability of creativity and imagination. On the contrary, digital art does not reveal the true capacity of the artist. The artists have just taken shortcuts. They do not cover greater depth of creating and forming the images. Digital art does not show imagination or real creativity. Anyone with the knowledge of a computer and the camera can merge the pictures and painting on a computer to come up with digital art. One does not really have to be talented to make digital art but with traditional painting it is only for the talented who are able to reach out to the audience in a more natural way. Traditional art is more effective in conveying the artist’s message. The fact that the audience can see and even feel the piece of art gives traditional painting an upper hand than the digitalized art. No printer or computer can paint in impasto. For fine art, thick and textured paint is what makes the painting unique and special. The digital print is less unique because of the uniform surface. Traditional art is more is more involving than the digital one, the artist has to pay attention to details in order to bring out the message or reach out to the audience. This gives traditional art more value. Traditional art has a special unique effect to the audience it feels more real and easy to relate to. Research shows that people have a better understanding and connection to things they can see touch and smell than things, which they just see. Digital art is not an artist’s inventiveness but rather it is it is modification and merging of different pictures. Digital art like music, is a computerized copy mere fabrication and modification of true art programs and numerical cord. It has less to do with creativity. Traditional art is rarely replicated but digital art is replicated in many ways. This dilutes the aspect of art since fine art is supposed to be original. In digital art, a person has anonymity from construction and immunity to error. Clicking ‘print’ and ‘undo’ cannot be considered equal to brush work. Digital art is a mere manipulation of the real and traditional art. It is just meant for convenience in terms of accessibility and ease . An artist is able to create many pieces of art in a shorter time using the digital medium. People prefer accessing the arts through the digitalized devices but a person who appreciates real arts goes to the galleries and exhibition stores just to feel and acknowledge the real thrill. Digital art is meant for people who have less interest in fine art. The interested people and artist who value art prefer the traditional art as they can relate and derive better meaning from it compared to the digital art (Quora, 2014). Conclusion As much as art is art, detail and degree of authenticity matters. Art is all about originality and creativity and digital art depict less of these qualities. This makes digital art to be considered irrelevant when compared to traditional art. Traditional art involves pure talent while digital art is merely the duplication and merging of different arts that already existed. Traditional art is easier to connect and relate to because they can be touched and seen at the same time. References Horowitz, P., Hill, W., & Hayes, T. C. (2009). The art of electronics (Vol. 2, p. 658). Cambridge: Cambridge university press. Quora. Is digital really art?:- December 2014. 10 Dec.2014 http://www.quora.com/Is-digital-art-really-art Source document

Bower’s Network Theory and its Link in Depression and Anxiety

Bower's (1981, 1991) influential network theory assumed that mood states automatically activate all associated representations in memory. Bower (1981) suggested that the approach to the development of this theory is considering humans as biological machines endowed with a cognitive system (for acquiring and using knowledge), and to ask what role motives and emotions should play in such a system. Bower (1981) suggested that mood can be represented as a node, or unit, within an associative network model of memory.Within such a network, a particular mood may become linked or associated with events that occur during one's life when the mood was experienced. Given these relations, when someone is in a happy mood they may be more likely to retrieve and become consciously aware of events that occurred at a previous time when the happy mood was experienced. Bower (1981) referred to this as mood-state dependent memory. However, a reversal of this effect should also be plausible: taking a part icular event associated with a mood.Schwarz (1998) informed that Bower’s model made two key predictions: First, memory is enhanced when the affective state at the time of encoding matches the affective state at the time of retrieval (state-dependent learning). Thus, we are more likely to recall material acquired in a particular mood when we are in the same, rather than a different, mood at the time of recall. Second, any given material is more likely to be retrieved when its affective tone matches the individual's mood at the time of recall (mood-congruent memory).Thus, information of a positive inclination is more likely to come to mind when we are in a happy rather than sad mood. In relating mood-memory and its effect to cognitive processes in emotion, studies have helped in understanding individual differences in emotionality, and particularly differences in vulnerability to pathological emotional states. Two general types of study are therefore of special interest: those comparing groups differing on trait measures of negative emotionality and those that contrast individuals with or without emotional disorders such as depression or anxiety states.In most of this research the implicit or explicit hypothesis is that differences in how individuals process emotional information may be a causal factor in the development or maintenance of emotional disorders (Mathews & Macleod, 1994). Several researchers have reported that depressed mood states elicit more pronounced cognitive biases in those individuals who report a past history of depressive episodes, suggesting a high level of trait vulnerability to this emotion (Miranda et al 1990). Similar findings have been reported concerning the patterns of selective attention associated with elevated anxiety.Using the dot probe detection paradigm to assess distribution of visual attention, MacLeod & Mathews (1988) tested separate groups of high trait and low trait anxious students on two occasions, again when sta te anxiety was low (early in the semester) and once when state anxiety was high (in the week before an important examination). When state anxiety was low, neither the high trait nor the low trait anxious groups showed any selective attentional response to emotionally negative stimuli words.High trait anxious students responded to elevated state anxiety by displaying increased allocation of visual attention toward emotionally threatening examination-related stimulus words. In contrast, low trait anxious subjects responded to the state anxiety elevation by showing a marginally significant effect in the opposite direction. Depending on how one thinks emotional information is represented in memory, emotional states could activate all congruent representations; that is, those consistent in valence and meaning with that emotion.Alternatively, only some kinds of congruent information might be activated, such as that involved in causing the emotion or relating to the individual's current co ncerns. Finally, emotions could be associated with effects that are relatively specific not only to particular cognitive content but also to certain types of cognitive operations on that information (Mathews & Macleod, 1994). The problems with Bower’s (1981) network theory include: 1. ) failure to replicate mood state-dependent memory effects, 2.) presence of instructional effects on judgmental bias and mood-incongruent recall, 3. ) failure to find (single) lexical decision effects of mood state, 4. ) restriction of mood-congruent recall to self-encoded stimuli, 5. ) specificity of attentional bias to domain of current concern, and 6. ) facilitation of different types of cognitive operation in different emotions. Bibliography Bower G. H. 1991. Mood congruity of social judgments. In Emotion and Social Judgments, ed. JP Forgas, pp. 31-53. Oxford: Pergamon. Bower, G. H. 1981. Mood and memory.American Psychologist, 36, 129–148. MacLeod C. & Mathews A. M. 1988. Anxiety and the allocation of attention to threat. Q. J. Exp. Psychol: Hum. Exp. Psychol. 38:659-70. Mathews, A. , & Macleod, C. 1994. Cognitive Approaches to Emotion and Emotional Disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 45: 26-45. Miranda J. , Persons J. B. & Byers C. N. 1990. Endorsement of dysfunctional beliefs depends on mood state. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 99:237-41. Schwarz, N. 1998. Warmer and More Social: Recent Developments in Cognitive Social Psychology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24(1): 239.