American Policies that Provoke Terrorism :: Threats to World Peace

The events that occurred on September 11, 2001 were horrific, unjust, and inhumane. As awful as these events are, they are not unexplainable. Without a doubt those who committed the acts were acting irrationally, but one must question what brought these people to this point of desperation, such that they would partake in a mass murder suicide mission. The U.S.’s involvement in the Middle East may shed some light on the sources of this desperation. U.S. policies in the Middle East are controversial and in most instances unjust. However, the U.S. refuses to change its politics. By not changing its policies, conflict between the U.S. and Middle Eastern states has increased. Furthermore by not changing its policies the U.S. has indirectly pushed some people to desperation such that they become involved with radical or terrorist groups that encourage violence. Among these controversial policies are the U.S. support of the Israeli government and the U.S.’s refusal to lift sanctions on Iraq. Instead of taking a neutral role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the U.S. has been a true ally to Israel. The U.S. has provided financial aid and weaponry to Israel. In this way the U.S. has contributed to increasing tensions and conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. â€Å"Turning a blind eye to the ongoing, extremely provocative, and illegal Israeli settlement activities, the U.S. also ‘sponsored’ a peace process that gave Israel a free hand in acquiring more Palestinian land and in carrying out other ‘unilateral sanctions’ (particularly in the illegal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem) with full impunity. With every agreement renegotiated, modified, or even negated in action, the American sponsors exonerated all Israeli violations and abuses while putting intolerable pressure on the weaker Palestinian side to show ‘flexibility’ and seriousness of intent.† (Ashrawi, 1.) The U.S.’s open support for the Israelis has upset many Arabs and with good reason. The U.S. should take on a neutral role so that there is a true possibility of creating a permanent peace. By furnishing weapons to the Israelis, we too are responsible for the mass murdering of Palestinians. Although, the U.S. government favors creating a Palestine state, greater open U.

Alternative Approaches to Meeting Peugeot Objectives Essays -- Papers

Alternative Approaches to Meeting Peugeot Objectives Are Peugeot using the best methods for the line of work they are involved in? Is there a way of improving their efficiency, quality and productivity? We should be able to tell if there is by looking at the theory known as benchmarking. Benchmarking can be defined as imitating the standards of an established leader in quality and attempting to be better them. Benchmarking is a technique used by some businesses to help them discover the 'best' methods of production available and then adopt them. Benchmarking involves: - Ã ¼ Finding out what makes the difference, in the customer's eyes, between an ordinary supplier and an excellent supplier. Ã ¼ Setting standards for business operations based on the best practice that can be found. Ã ¼ Finding out how these best companies meeting those standards. Ã ¼ Applying both competitors' standards and, if possible, exceed them. What should be benchmarked? I Who should the company benchmark against? I How is the information obtained? I How should the information be analysed? I How should the information be used? These are the five main steps in Benchmarking. The first step is to identify exactly what the company intends to benchmark. Benchmarks that are important for customer satisfaction might include consistency of product, correct invoices, shorter delivery times, shorter lead times and improved after sales service. Peugeot could decide to benchmark better sales figures. What better company to benchmark against than 'Ford', the leading company in market penetration. If Peugeot were to i... ...ompanies meet those standards. Then Peugeot could apply both standards and their own to meet the new standard and possibly exceed that excellent customer service standard. Due to Peugeot previous innovations, they were very successful in winning awards for the company, such as the 'car of the year' award; the 206 won the 'best used car' award. Also Peugeot were able to produce a world record, producing half a million 206s in three years. As we can see from Peugeot's previous success they are very innovative and progressive in the car industry. Using every new technological advantage possible to create that competitive advantage over their rivals. And with policies like "eight airbags as standard" Peugeot are a tough act to follow. Especially with such high regards to recycling and safety to the environment.

pluto :: essays research papers

Pluto Come wander with me, she said, Into regions yet untrod; And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God. - Longfellow Although Pluto was discovered in 1930, limited information on the distant planet delayed a realistic understanding of its characteristics. Today Pluto remains the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft, yet an increasing amount of information is unfolding about this peculiar planet. The uniqueness of Pluto's orbit, rotational relationship with its satellite, spin axis, and light variations all give the planet a certain appeal. Pluto is usually farther from the Sun than any of the nine planets; however, due to the eccentricity of its orbit, it is closer than Neptune for 20 years out of its 249 year orbit. Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit January 21, 1979, made its closest approach September 5, 1989, and will remain within the orbit of Neptune until February 11, 1999. This will not occur again until September 2226. As Pluto approaches perihelion it reaches its maximum distance from the ecliptic due to its 17-degree inclination. Thus, it is far above or below the plane of Neptune's orbit. Under these conditions, Pluto and Neptune will not collide and do not approach closer than 18 A.U. to one another. Pluto's rotation period is 6.387 days, the same as its satellite Charon. Although it is common for a satellite to travel in a synchronous orbit with its planet, Pluto is the only planet to rotate synchronously with the orbit of its satellite. Thus being tidally locked, Pluto and Charon continuously face each other as they travel through space. Unlike most planets, but similar to Uranus, Pluto rotates with its poles almost in its orbital plane. Pluto's rotational axis is tipped 122 degrees. When Pluto was first discovered, its relatively bright south polar region was the view seen from the Earth. Pluto appeared to grow dim as our viewpoint gradually shifted from nearly pole-on in 1954 to nearly equator-on in 1973. Pluto's equator is now the view seen from Earth During the period from 1985 through 1990, Earth was aligned with the orbit of Charon around Pluto such that an eclipse could be observed every Pluto day. This provided opportunity to collect significant data which led to albedo maps defining surface reflectivity, and to the first accurate determination of the sizes of Pluto and Charon, including all the numbers that could be calculated therefrom. pluto :: essays research papers Pluto Come wander with me, she said, Into regions yet untrod; And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God. - Longfellow Although Pluto was discovered in 1930, limited information on the distant planet delayed a realistic understanding of its characteristics. Today Pluto remains the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft, yet an increasing amount of information is unfolding about this peculiar planet. The uniqueness of Pluto's orbit, rotational relationship with its satellite, spin axis, and light variations all give the planet a certain appeal. Pluto is usually farther from the Sun than any of the nine planets; however, due to the eccentricity of its orbit, it is closer than Neptune for 20 years out of its 249 year orbit. Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit January 21, 1979, made its closest approach September 5, 1989, and will remain within the orbit of Neptune until February 11, 1999. This will not occur again until September 2226. As Pluto approaches perihelion it reaches its maximum distance from the ecliptic due to its 17-degree inclination. Thus, it is far above or below the plane of Neptune's orbit. Under these conditions, Pluto and Neptune will not collide and do not approach closer than 18 A.U. to one another. Pluto's rotation period is 6.387 days, the same as its satellite Charon. Although it is common for a satellite to travel in a synchronous orbit with its planet, Pluto is the only planet to rotate synchronously with the orbit of its satellite. Thus being tidally locked, Pluto and Charon continuously face each other as they travel through space. Unlike most planets, but similar to Uranus, Pluto rotates with its poles almost in its orbital plane. Pluto's rotational axis is tipped 122 degrees. When Pluto was first discovered, its relatively bright south polar region was the view seen from the Earth. Pluto appeared to grow dim as our viewpoint gradually shifted from nearly pole-on in 1954 to nearly equator-on in 1973. Pluto's equator is now the view seen from Earth During the period from 1985 through 1990, Earth was aligned with the orbit of Charon around Pluto such that an eclipse could be observed every Pluto day. This provided opportunity to collect significant data which led to albedo maps defining surface reflectivity, and to the first accurate determination of the sizes of Pluto and Charon, including all the numbers that could be calculated therefrom.

Metaphysics & Epistemology Essay

G. E. Moore’s main contributions to philosophy were in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and philosophical methodology. In epistemology, Moore is remembered as a stalwart defender of commonsense realism. Rejecting skepticism on the one hand, and, on the other, metaphysical theories that would invalidate the commonsense beliefs of â€Å"ordinary people† (non-philosophers), Moore articulated three different versions of a commonsense- realist epistemology over the course of his career. According to data I researched Moore’s epistemological interest also motivated much of his metaphysical work, which to a large extent was focused on the ontology of cognition. In this regard, Moore was an important voice in the discussion of sense-data that dominated Anglo- American epistemology in the early twentieth century. In ethics, Moore is famous for driving home the difference between moral and non-moral properties, which he cashed-out in terms of the non-natural and the natural. Moore’s classification of the moral as non-natural was to be one of the hinges upon which moral philosophy in the Anglo- American academy turned until roughly 1960. Moore’s approach to philosophizing involved focusing on narrow problems and avoiding grand synthesis. His method was to scrutinize the meanings of the key terms in which philosophers expressed themselves while maintaining an implicit commitment to the ideals of clarity, rigor, and argumentation. This aspect of his philosophical style was sufficiently novel and conspicuous that many saw it as an innovation in philosophical methodology. Moore is widely acknowledged as a founder of analytic philosophy, the kind of philosophy that has dominated the academy in Britain and the United States since roughly the 1930s. Moore also had a significant influence outside the academic philosophy, through his contacts in the Cambridge Apostles and the Bloomsbury group. In both academic spheres, Moore’s influence was due in no small part to his exceptional personality and moral character. One of the most important parts of Moore’s philosophical development was his break from the idealism that dominated British philosophy (as represented in the works of his former teachers F.  H. Bradley and John McTaggart), and his defense of what he regarded as a â€Å"common sense† form of realism. In his 1925 essay â€Å"A Defense of Common Sense†, he argued against idealism and skepticism toward the external world on the grounds that they could not give reasons to accept their metaphysical premises that were more plausible than the reasons we have to accept the common sense claims about our knowledge of the world that skeptics and idealists must deny. He famously put the point into dramatic relief with his 1939 essay â€Å"Proof of an External World†, in which he gave a common sense argument against skepticism by raising his right hand and saying â€Å"Here is one hand,† and then raising his left and saying â€Å"And here is another,† then concluding that there are at least two external objects in the world, and therefore that he knows (by this argument) that an external world exists. Not surprisingly, not everyone inclined to skeptical doubts found Moore’s method of argument entirely convincing; Moore, however, defends his argument on the grounds that skeptical arguments seem invariably to require an appeal to â€Å"philosophical intuitions† that we have considerably less reason to accept than we have for the common sense claims that they supposedly refute.

Safe Journey

SAFEJOURNEY 1. Introduction Since the innovation of diesel engine mankind has got new dimensions in their piece of living conditions i. e. the civilization. Most important achievement thereby was that men got the motion. These diesel engines gave shape in manifold. In transport sector the horse car/coach were started replacing by motorcars of different sizes and shapes to fit the needs of mankind. The addition of petrol engine has accelerated the rate. In the present era nobody can even think of avoiding the elements of transportation because the society has become too much dependent on this.But still there is a problem. The problem lies with the technology. Nobody can claim that these technologies will never fail. Due to mechanical fault, poor maintenance, overuse, overage, misuse etc these failures occur. Though we are aware of these and may take preventive and reactive measures to avoid those situations but these failures are still day-to-day phenomena. Think about a situation â⠂¬â€œ where your personal vehicle becomes out of order on the highway in a remote place. If so, what is the remedy? There are some arrangements by the Government.However, that could not earn the faith of the public. Thus, in our case, this aspect is still remaining uncared. The astute investors could have identified the need of assistance in such situation in many countries. The effort of our new service oriented firm Safejourney is to care these aspects. The purpose of this plan is to analyze the strategic and situational aspect of the firm and focus market product, marketing mix and thereby project a detailed marketing plan of the firm. The scope of this plan will be limited to the following: Concept Development Process †¢ Company Description †¢ Strategic Analysis †¢ Situation Analysis †¢ Market Product Focus †¢ Marketing Mix †¢ Financial Analysis †¢ Organization †¢ Implementation †¢ Evaluation and Control While formulating the plan fir stly our effort is to highlight the concept development process, followed by the orientation with the company. Then Mission, goals and core competency of the organization will be covered under strategic analysis. Thereafter, analytical part of the plan will include – SWOT, industry, competitor, company and customer analysis.The market, product and financing objectives of the organization and also target market identification will be the contents of the product market focus. This part will also mention the Unique Selling Proposition [USP] and positioning plan of the organization. Then under the marketing program 4 P’s i. e. marketing mix will be illustrated. The financial analysis and organization’s planned set up will be discussed followed by the implementation plan. Finally, the evaluation and control measures will be pen-pictured. We have carried out a detailed study, which was a combination of primary and secondary data analysis and empirical study.Our contac t method was mainly in the form of personal interviews with the competent official of the concerned authority, and collecting public views associated to this sector. We have also conducted the market survey deliberately, carried out various statistical analyses by testing related hypotheses. Collection of associated data from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and Bangladesh Police [traffic control] were also a part of the survey. Thereby, we have found it is feasible to serve the victims of the roads. 2. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 2. 1 The Idea GenerationBangladesh is a third world developing country. The country’s GDP is not again encouraging. Therefore, the people cannot always effort to have all first hand / brand new vehicles of any sorts. The used vehicles are not always reliable and often found to be out of order. Moreover, poor infrastructure of the country has also strong influence to cause such failure – a fatal accident is not also an exception to it. The arrangements offered by the Government to support such cases are often seem to be inadequate, time consuming, costly and failed to earn confidence.Thus, there is always a need to support those victims in terms of mechanical, medical, psychological and emergency assistance. This led us to create the idea of a service organization to support in this regard. 2. 2 Concept Development The concept of providing necessary service by Safejourney is to have number of Highway Mobile Patrols [HMP] and Static service points at regular intervals. Maintaining a reliable communication network, our teams will be called by our valued customers and in response, will be capable to reach the spot within 30 minutes. Service charge will be collected depending upon the degree of assistance rendered.Membership will be offered on the basis of annual subscription. 2. 3 Nature of Service Safejourney will have the capability to offer the following services: Small scale repair work on the spot. Medium scale repa ir work at the static service points (Towing facilities will be included) Large scale repair work at the zonal workshops (Towing facilities will be included) Available at the static service points. On call. First aid will be provided on requirement. Evacuation support:Will be provided on emergency basis. 2. 4 Investment/Benefits/ Commissions/ Business 2. 4. Investment Concept 1Invest to purchase vehicles, repair machineries, establishment of Head offices, zonal workshops & static service points. Concept 2Invest to establish versatile communication network. Concept 3Invest in acquiring required manpower. Concept 4Invest in promotional and social activities. 2. 4. 2 Benefits Concept 1Earnings from membership charges. Concept 2Earnings from service charges. Concept 3Earnings from charges of emergency support. 5. Time Frame Concept 1To provide services round the clock. Concept 2To reach the spot within 30 minutes after calling.Concept 3To provide medical and emergency support as and wh en required. 6. Number of Outlets /Service Points Concept 1To arrange service facilities in the major highways. Concept 2At least two mobile patrols under each static service points. Concept 3Static service points are to be established every after 70/80 km. Concept 4Zonal offices are to be established near the major cities. Concept 5Head office is to be established at Dhaka. 3. Company Description 3. 1History Although it is new for the country like Bangladesh, service organization as Safejourney is not a new venture in the world.In Germany, there is such an organization known as â€Å"Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobile- Club† in short ADAC operating for more than 40 years. Earning the confidence and faith of the public is the first and foremost criteria for most of the businesses success. If one can achieve it, other part of the business becomes much easier. The newly established firm Safejourney is the pioneer in Bangladesh in this field. 2. Name The legal name of the firm is SAFEJOURNEY BANGLADESH PRIVATE LIMITED and the motto of Safejourney is Destination Guaranteed†¦ 3. PurposeThe purposes of Safejourney are described as follows: ? To provide quality repair and recovery services to the vehicles on the prescribed highways. To support the under mentioned services in emergency: a. Providing First aid to the accident Injuries. b. Evacuating the serious cases to the nearest hospital/ clinic. c. In case of criminal act, providing support by informing highway Patrol Police. d. To provide transportation service to anyone on payment only in emergency cases. ? In future we plan to render our communication network facilities to the transport companies. 4. Functional ActivitiesSafejourney has started her journey to serve the victims of the roads and persons in emergencies. On receiving the call from the customers our control station will intimate the matter and appropriate location to the responsible zonal office and / or static point keeping divisional offi ce informed. The zonal office or static points will than direct the nearest Highway Mobile Patrol (HMP) to the spot. HMP, upon initial investigation will render effort to repair the necessary defects. If the case appears to be relatively difficult, the vehicle will be towed to the respective static point.Likewise, major cases will be handled by the zonal workshop. In simple cases, on completion of the necessary repair jobs the customer will pay the bill prepared by HMP as per prescribed price chart. The members will get the discount if he/she possesses the Safejourney ID Card. In case of major / difficult cases the customer may pay in the head office or any of the zonal offices. A diagrammatical presentation of functional activities is as in Appendix A 3. 5 Organization It is essential to have a very well structured organisation to achieve the success in any kind of business. Thus, Safejourney has taken all out effort o organize both the administrative and functional aspects in orde r to ensure a quality service, secured and unbroken flow of information, good administration, better co-operation and co-ordination. Therefore, overall planning, organizing, leading and controlling aspects of Safejourney are vested on the head office. Under head office there are various departments for looking after the administrative perspectives of the firm. Moreover, our service areas are divided in three divisions. The divisions are again subdivided into area/zones to have a better control of the functional perspective of our organisation.However, a detail of Administrative Organisation of Safejourney is illustrated in Appendix B and Functional Organization of Safejourney is illustrated in Appendix C of this plan. 6. Establishment and Number of Outlets/Service Points We have offered initially three major route of the country. The routes are as follows: †¢ Dhaka – Chittagong Road †¢ Dhaka – Bogra – Rajshahi Road †¢ Dhaka – Jessore â€⠀œ Khulna Road Our head office is located in Dhaka, whereas the Divisional offices are in Chittagong, Bogra and Jessore. Detail of the Zonal Workshops, Static service points and outlets are presented in Appendix D of this plan. . 0 STRATEGIC ANALYSIS 4. 1 Mission Reaching our customers with in 30 minutes after calling at anytime on the highways when someone gets stuck with his/her vehicle and repair it to make him/her feel safe. 4. 2 Objectives 4. 2. 1 Financial Objective †¢ To earn an annual rate of return on investment at 20%. †¢ To Make Profit 20% above sales. †¢ To reduce the amount of investment capital where possible. †¢ To acquire 3500 members by year 5 †¢ To reach at the breakeven point by year 5 †¢ To achieve 80% of the market share by year 2008. 4. 2. 2 Marketing Objective †¢ To repair 30 vehicles per route each day. To provide better quality service than the potential competitors. †¢ To provide superior and timely repair †¢ To achieve strong brand name. †¢ To establish capable and systematic service outlets at each 60-80 km intervals. †¢ To ensure wide geographic coverage than rivals’ and potential competitors. †¢ To ensure higher level of customer satisfaction. †¢ To provide limited first aid and transportation to accident injuries to increase social value. 4. 3 Core Competency and sustainable competitive advantage Core competency means the achievement of significant competitive advantage by a firm over its rivals.Our core competency will be reaching in time to the customers and providing services of better quality than our competitors. 4. 3. 1 Reaching in time to the customers: We will have number of service centers each after 60-80 km. So, any one calling us over mobile/ T & T phone, we will ensure our presence with in 30 minutes. This will make the customers feel safe and confident about our organization. 4. 3. 2 Providing better quality service: At present our main competit ors are the old aged roadside or sub-urban based repair workshops. Our services will be provided in time with the modern equipment and of course we will maintain our quality. . 3. 3 Pioneer advantage: Though there are number of repair workshops but we are the first to provide on call services on the highways with fast speed and responsibilities. At present we don’t have much strong competitors, but even new competitors enter, we will have customer’s preferences as we are the first in this business. We will already have lot of members and hold the lion share of the market. 5. 0 SITUATION ANALYSIS 5. 1 SWOT Analysis 5. 1. 1 Strength: Main strengths of â€Å"safe journey† are identified as follows: 5. 1. 2. Weakness: The weaknesses are as follows: business is based on happenings of some eventualities . 1. 3. Opportunity: Opportunity means where the company can operate profitably. The Opportunities of safeJourney are as follows: 5. 1. 4 Threat: The happenings which may create obstruction in achieving our business objectives are as follows: 5. 2 Industry Analysis â€Å"SateJourney â€Å"is a service oriented organization. There are many others who provide the same services to the customers. There are many workshops located in the rural, suburban or urban areas. The rural or suburban based workshops are old aged, that doesn’t have any efficient system of identifying the problems and repairing those.There are few big sized workshops in the city areas but they hardly provide on call service. They also don’t have an efficient way of dealing with the customers. As a whole in the industry nobody is holding absolute supremacy. ‘Safe Journey’ will enter the business considering the aspects of winning customers’ mind. The competitors will not affect its operation and business objectives. The local workshops are weak but close competitors. City based service centers are strong but distant competitors, so ‘SafeJou rney ‘will enjoy almost monopoly in the rural highways and likely to face pure competition in the urban areas. . 3 Competitor Analysis 5. 3. 1 Brand Competitor: SafeJourney is the first company to provide mobile repair service and serve the customers even in the remote place on the high ways. Thereby at present we don’t find any brand competitor of ours. 5. 3. 2 Industry Competitor: Our service is based on repair services of the automobiles. There are many other small or big workshops providing the same kind of services. So they are our industry competitors. 5. 3. 3 Form Competitor: This service provides the need for safety on the high ways by repair and maintaining vehicles.There are few other workshops other than automobile workshops that also carryout some sort of repair works like motor cycle or bicycle repair. They are our form competitors. 5. 3. 4 Generic Competitor: Ours generic competitors would be anyone taking away our customers. The roadside restaurants, towe r vehicles, public transports are few of our generic competitors. 5. 4 Company Analysis Our company will have numbers of static points (service centers) each after 60-80 km distance on the highways. Those static points will remain under direct control of Head office located at Dhaka.We will also have offices in other major cities. They will deal with membership, complains, suggestions for operation and future expansion of the business. 5. 5 Customer Analysis 5. 5. 1 On the basis of buying Roles 5. 5. 2 On the basis of customer Buying Behavior Our service falls in the complex buying behavior group as it is a high involvement service. Customers normally don’t come to the workshops unless they need it. Again for yearly membership one has to pay Tk5000. Thereby, it is a service that involves a good amount of money. Customers will think twice to be a member of Safejourney.Thus, our customers buying will follow complex buying behavior. 6. 0 MERKET PRODUCT FOCUS 6. 1. Financial, Mar keting and Service Objective 6. 1. 1 Financial Objective 6. 1. 2. Marketing Objective. 6. 1. 3. Product / Service objective 6. 2 Target Market 6. 2. 1. The Selection of Target Market The Underlying logic and hypothesis dictated us to select the specific target markets: 6. 2. 2. Market Segmentation To attain the objective of our business plan, bases for our market segmentation is Demographic and psychographic factors. Under the demographic, the segment variables are social class and occupation.In social class the upper class and upper middle class is our focal point. And under occupation we have mainly focused to the business class. Under the psychographic bases we have considered the social values to be our main segment variables. People who are highly security concerned and highly time concerned are the point of concentration here. 6. 2. 3 Specific Target Group Basing on our logic/ hypothesis, our market segmentation has led us to select the following specific target groups as our customers: Private car owners. Business class traveling in personal/ official car.Taxi cab companies Transport owners/ Agencies. The target groups as per the segmentation can be categorized as under: |Market segment |Customer group | |Market segment 1 |Private car owners | |Market segment 2 |Business class | |Market segment 3 |Transport owners/Agencies, Taxicab companies. 6. 2. 4 Effectiveness of the Targeted Market Segment. Effectiveness of the segmentation can be measured using five useful criteria. These are Measurability, Substitutability, Accessibility, Differentiability and Actionable criteria. Testing of our segmentation based on these criteria is shown as under: Market Segment |Measurable |Substantial |Accessible |Differentiable |Action-able | |MS 1 |Very Good |Large and highly |Easily Accessible |Good |Effective and | | | |profitable | | |feasible plan can | | | | | | |be formulated | |MS 2 |very Good |Large and Profitable |Accessible |Good |Effective and | | | | | |feasibl e plan can | | | | | | |be formulated | |MS3 |very Good |Very Large and profit |Accessible |Good |Effective and | | | |able | | |Feasible plan can | | | | | | |be formulated | 6. 3 Point of Difference One of the most important factors for launching any new product/ service is the points of differentiation. We will differentiate our service from the competitor in respect of service, personnel and image differentiation. 6. 3. 1 Service Differentiation The key to success of our business will lie in adding value to the services and continuous improvement of quality. SafeJourney will differentiate its service from others in respect of following attributes: Ordering Ease |Any one facing the problem in highway can easily call us | | |simply making a phone call. Need not to take the trouble of | | |searching around miles together for someone leaving the | | |vehicle in uncertainty. | |Delivery |The mobile workshop of SafeJourney will be committed to solve | | |the problem in a speedy manner with adequate care and | | |accuracy. |Special service and Maintenance |Any one calling SafeJourney for a mechanical problem of | | |vehicles will be provided with free wind shield wash to that | | |vehicle and the assurance will be provided that any further | | |problem for same reason will be given free service in that | | |particular journey. | 6. 3. 2 Personnel Differentiation ‘SafeJourney’ will gain a strong competitive advantage by developing a better-trained people. For attaining this we will emphasize on the following aspect: Competence: The engineer/ mechanics of ‘safeJourney’ will possess the required skill and knowledge to deal with any mechanical/ technical problem of any type of vehicle. The mechanics will be grouped in such manner so that they can deal with any problem of the affected vehicle for which they are called for. ? Courtesy: The employees of our service will be trained to behave in a friendly, respectful and considerate manner in re sponse to any problem given by the customer. ? Credibility: The trustworthiness of the service will be developed by providing price rate card from the company along with the specific identity card for the employees. ? Responsiveness: The Company will have a quick response in any call by sending the mobile workshop within half an hour on the spot. Communication: ‘Safejourney’ will keep the system of communicating about any problem/ comments by giving a comment card while solving the vehicle problem. This will be used by the management for further improvement of service. 6. 3. 3 Image Differentiation Our service will give adequate emphasis on building an image of quick and quality service. To do this, we will express our messages in symbols, written and audiovisual media, different events and also by employee behavior. 6. 3. 4 Unique Selling Proposition (USP) This is the factor which will attract the customer to accept our service rather than the competitors. We will conc entrate on the following USP of our service. Caring about customer's time. Greater attention on safety measures. First to provide reliable mobile repair/ recovery service in the country. 6. 4 Positioning To attain a distinctive position in the customer’s mind we will give adequate emphasis on our unique selling proposition. We will create an image of the company by promoting the idea â€Å"SafeJourney–for people who cares about time and safety†. 6. 4. 1 Positioning strategy For attaining the desired positioning in customer's mind we will adopt the double benefit strategy. We will claim two benefit in this regard: The fastest. The safest 7. 0 MARKETING PROGRAM 7. 1 Service Strategy 7. 1. 1 Type of Service This is a utility service for providing mobile mechanical/ technical support to the vehicles facing problems in highways.This will ensure a quick and easy service which will allow the travelers to reach to their destination safely without wasting the time. 7. 1. 2. Features of service The service will be provided both in membership and non membership basis and have the following features to provide: Repair and Recovery a. The first effort will be given to reach to the spot with mobile workshop by half an hour of receiving any call. b. The main effort will be in repairing the vehicle on spot as quickly as possible. c. Relatively difficult cases will be handled by the static service point d. In case of major difficulties the option will be given to deliver the vehicle to the desired destination after necessary repair works. Emergency Service a.Providing first aid to the accident injuries. b. Evacuating the serious cases to the nearest hospital/ clinic. c. In case of criminal act, providing support by informing highway Patrol Police. d. To provide transportation service to anyone on payment only in emergency cases. Communication service a. The company will establish an internal communication system for its operation. b. The company will rende r this facility to be used by the transport companies on the basis of payment. 7. 1. 3 Brand Name The brand name of the service is given ‘SafeJourney. ’ This is done to create a favorable brand image and brand familiarity by adding the safety as a sensitive issue.All necessary exposure and promotion activities will be done to uphold the different attributes, benefits and values related to the brand. 7. 1. 4 Special / After Service offer To create favorable positive response to the mind of customers the following special offerings will be kept: ? The provision will be kept to provide free windshield wash for the vehicle where applicable. ? Once given service by any mobile workshop the free service guarantee will be given if any problem faced for same reason in that journey. ? For dealing with the emergency situation, the service will be rendered 24 hours. 7. 1. 5 Sources of Spare parts Contacts will be made with the authorized dealer of various motor parts to keep the su pply of spare parts available.The amount of the various spares parts inventory will be decided basing on the requirement. 7. 2 Price Strategy 7. 2. 1 List Price Transparency in transaction is considered as one of the most important issues of our business policy. To maintain the trustworthiness and transparency, list price of all types of service will be kept/ hanged with the mobile service team and other service centre. The list price will be also published in the advertisement in print media. A minimum fixed charge of Tk. 250 will be charged for every vehicle calling for service. Other charges will vary basing on the intensity of the job. A model of list price is shown as under: PRICE LIST SERIAL NO |SERVICE DESCRIPTION |PRICE | | | |(In Taka) | |01 |Call charge |250 | |02 |Membership Subscription |5000 | |03 |Servicing |250 | |04 |Oil change |100 | |05 |Air Lock Clearance |250 | |06 |Fuel line Clearance |250 | |07 |Tappet Clearance |800 |08 |Cylinder Head Leakage Repair |100 0 | |09 |Timing |2000 | |10 |Spark Plug Change |600 | |11 |Self Starter |500 | |12 |Fuse Box |100 | |13 |Carburetor Cleaning |200 | |14 |Gear Box Repair |500 | |15 |AC pump Repair |300 | |16 |Break Repair |500 | |17 |Steering Gear Repair |500 | |18 |Electric Circuit |250 | |19 |Lighting |250 | |20 |Spare parts |As per mkt price | 7. 2. 2 Discount To Increase the membership number and attract the customers a 65% discount will be given to the members of safeJourney. 7. 2. 3 System of payment The Payment system will be on the basis of cash payment before delivery. However, the payment may be made at any zonal / area offices also. 7. 2. 4 Different Price strategy. We plan to adopt different price strategies in different situation. ? At Launching Stage.As this is a new service in this country, our company being first to enter in this business will have a pioneer advantage. And as we will not have any brand competitor at this stage so we will adopt cost plus policy at this stage. Th e assumption led us to follow this policy is the substitute awareness effect which tells that customers are less price sensitive when they are less aware of substitutes. ? At Brand competitive Stage. In Brand competitive stage it is likely that new entrants will also come in this business. If we face challenges by the new entrants in terms of price strategy, we will face this by adding new values and better quality through more promotional activities.As the new entrants are likely to face huge amount of initial investment expenditure, it is likely to be difficult for the competitors to snatch our significant market share. Again a substantial amount of revenue in the business will come through the membership subscription which is given yearly. So due to involvement of high switch over cost customers are less likely to switch over to new competitors. ‘The difficult comparison effect’ of price sensitivity also supports our strategy as it speaks — customers are less price sensitive when they cannot easily compare the quality of substitutes. However in this stage we may have to go for the price cut strategy basing on the market condition. 7. 2. 5.Pricing Method Basing on the market survey and the result of our hypothesis we have used a combination of both perceived value pricing and going rate pricing method to select our price. 7. 3 Promotion Strategies Promotion is considered as one of the greatest market winning factor to increase the sales of own product/ service. It consists of different promotion mix i. e. advertisement, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling, Direct Selling and Public Relation (PR) . The promotion activities also varies basing on the product/Service life cycle through which a product/ service comes from introductory stage to growth, maturity and at last at declining stage.So our promotional activity will also vary in response to different life cycle of our service in following ways: 7. 3. 1 Introductory Stage In this stage our main strategy will be to create the customer awareness about the brand name of our service. Since the service involves the complex buying behavior, the main emphasis will be given to the print media. The promotional activities include: Regular advertisement in daily newspaper and magazines. Using Billboard in the entrance and exit of the petrol pump. Using Billboard in highways with repeated intervals. In TV and radio highlighting our USP during the commercial slot. ? Providing attractive and colorful posters, calendars etc to the car sales centre. 7. 3. 2 Growth StageAt this stage the strategy will be to create brand familiarity to keep the present customers satisfied and to attract the new customers. This will be done as follows: ? Differentiation advertisements in both print media and loud media frequently. ? Create value chain for the existing members by sending small gifts like calendars, cards etc containing the brand symbol Arranging different types of PR programs. 7. 3. 3Ma turity Stage At this stage the strategy will be to keep the people conscious about our product by various remainder advertisement and other programs It includes: Remainder advertisement in both print media and loud media. ? To increase brand preferences providing advertisement with celebrities. Arranging various PR Programs.Sponsoring different games/ sports cultural programs etc. 7. 3. 4 Decline stage Starting from the maturity stage onward, the amount of our market share is likely to decrease. At decline stage it will tend to reduce more. But the human psychology about time and safety will always exist. The market is also likely to expand. Even though, the company may face difficulties due to more number of competitors. To overcome the problem, the following strategy will be adopted: Providing new features to the customers by making differentiation. Giving reminder advertisement both in print and loud media Arranging PR programs using satisfied customers etc. 7. Placement (Distrib ution strategy) The Placement strategy is very important to ensure that the company’s product/ service are passed through the right channel to achieve the objective of the company. 7. 4. 1 Places to Serve Initially the service will be started only in three important routes. These routes are: Dhaka – Chittagong highways. Dhaka – Jessore – Khulna highways Dhaka – Bogra- Rajshahi highways Subsequently basing on the feedback and market condition the number of routes will be increased. 7. 4. 2 Channel Strategies The channel of our service will be direct. ? Head office -Zonal service centre – Static Point- Mobile service workshop We will also increase the number of zonal offices/ service centre to most of the district towns. ? We will also acquire the local agency to act as the local representatives in zonal offices. ? The detail distribution channel is illustrated in Appendix E. 8. 0 FINANCIAL DATA AND PROJECTIONS | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |8. Initial Investment | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Fixed Expenditure | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Item | | | Tk in Lacs | | | | | |Construction/Office | | |7 | | | | | |Office Furniture | |7 | | | | | |Vehicle Procurement | |223. 4 | | | | | |Tel/Mobile | | |9. 4 | | | | | |Tools and Equip | |25 | | | | | |Promotion | | |10 | | | | | |Training | | |3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Total | | |284. 54 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8. 2 Yearly Expenditure | | | |Tk in Lacs | | |Salary | | |85. 3 |Details Shown in Appendix F | |Tel Bills | | |9. 48 | | |Fuel | | |35 | | |Rent-Office/Outlets | | |81. 4 | | |Promotion | | |12 | | |Electricity/Gas/Water |5. 64 | | |Miscellaneous | | |6. 4 | | | | | | | | |Total | | |235. 69 | | | | | | | | 8. 3 Projected Yearly Return in 5 Years From providing highway Service | | | | |Yearly |In 5 Years | |Per Day 30 Cases X 3 Routes X 500 X 365 |164. 25 |821. 25 | | | | | Tk in Lacs From Membership Charges Year | | |Tk in Lacs | |Year 1 |1000 |5000 |50 | |Year2 |2000 |5000 |100 | |Year 3 |3000 |5000 |150 | |Year 4 |3500 |5000 |175 | |Year 5 |3500 |5000 |175 | | | | | | |Total income in 5 Years 650 | 8. 4 Calculation of Payback Period | | |Taka In Lacs | | | | | | | | | |Year |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 | | | | | | | | | |Opening Bal |-284. 54 |-305. 98 |-277. 42 |-198. 86 |-95. 3 | | |Cash out flow |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 | |Cash in flow |214. 25 |264. 25 |314. 25 |339. 25 |339. 25 |339. 25 | |End Bal |-305. 98 |-277. 42 |-198. 86 |-95. 3 |8. 5 |103. 56 | | | | | | | | | | |Fraction of years=330. 99/339. 25=. 975 Years. | | | | | | | |Total Pay back Period =4+. 975=4. 975 Years. | | 8. 5 Projected Profit |Expected profit in year 5 = Tk 8. 25 Lac | |Expected profit from year 6 onwards = Tk. 103. 56 Lac | 9. 0 IMPLEMENTATION PLANImplementation is the key success factor for any business. The business planning may be the best but if implementation plan is wrong the business will fail to achieve its objectives. To achieve our business objectives we plan our business in the following way: 9. 1 Services Strategy Safejourney will provide services to the customers as and when they call. Someone may get services if they come directly to the static points. Our efforts will be to establish strong communication network to reach our customers using existing T & T facilities and mobile networks. We will also have our own communication network to ease our customers to reach us at anytime.Practice of mobile patrol on the highways to find out and meet any eventualities will also be there. Besides repair, we also plan to provide some additional services in following ways: (1) For ensuring smooth first aid service, our employees will be specially trained on first aid. (2) Delivering the vehicle at desired place after repair will be accomplished with the necessary co-ordination with zonal offices. (3) Evacuation to accident injuries will be provided by mainta ining a good will and liaison with the local hospital and clinics. (4) On establishing our own communication facilities it may be rented to the transport agencies. 9. 2 Price StrategyAs it was stated earlier, services will be provided on the basis of payment and we will have separate price strategy for our members and non-member customers. On accomplishment of any service, the senior mechanics will calculate the price basing on the minimum call charge, price of spare parts, membership discount rate and services as per price table and make the bill to the customer. Customer may pay the bill in cash on the spot or any of our offices/outlets. In the later case, the vehicle will be delivered only after the confirmation of the payment of the due bill. To deal with the competitors in the competitive stage, SafeJourney may also change the service charge or membership subscription as the situation demands but the quality will not be compromised in any case. 9. 3 Promotion Strategy:To implem ent our business strategy we will go for rapid skimming. For this we will spend an amount of Tk 1,000,000 as we launch the service. In addition to it an amount of Tk 12, 00,000 will be spent on promotional activities per year. In this regard maximum emphasis will be given to print media and using the billboard. We plan to provide advertisement on web sites also. 9. 4 Distribution Safejourney is taking all out efforts to establish a smooth, secure and effective distribution channels. Members will be enrolled either by the zonal offices directly or through local agents and few selected petrol pumps. The selected petrol pumps will be considered as exclusive distribution means. 10. 0 ORGANISATIONThe Head office of Safejourney will be established in Dhaka. The whole organisation is headed by Managing Director (MD). The MD will look after the overall planning, organizing, leading and controlling aspects of Safejourney. There are total six departments in head office, which are as follows: †¢ Operations and Planning †¢ Technical Support †¢ Administration and Medical †¢ Management Information System †¢ Accounts and †¢ Human Resource Management Under the department of operation and planning there will be one control station on for 24 hours. The three Divisional managers are responsible to control the three routes under the supervision of Operation department.Dhaka – Chittagong route looked after by Divisional Manager –1 (Chittagong) Dhaka – Bogra-Rajshahi route looked after by Divisional Manager –2 (Bogra) Dhaka – Jessore-Khulna route looked after by Divisional Manager –3 (Jessore) Under each Division there are three zonal offices and under the zonal offices there are three static points each. Each static point is equipped with at least two Highway Mobile Patrols. 11. 0 EVALUATION AND CONTROL To learn how well the company is running, we must evaluate the present strategy. Accordingly management will be taking decision on what should be done. For that we will evaluate our performance by finding the information of following aspects: 1] Is the competitive approach of the company is correct? [2] Could we differentiate our services from our rivals? [3] Could we provide our services at a broad spectrum or to a niche? [4] Is the geographic coverage of our services correct? [5] Are the functional activities of the company correct? [6] Could we make expected return/ cash flow? [7] What is the company’s image and reputation with the customers and competitors? [8] Could we make continuous improvement of our performance? We will also carry out evaluation of information continuously. This will help us to take timely decisions. We plan to carry out analysis of information on the following manner: 1] Daily earnings and expenses report. [2] Total number of customers per day. 12. 0 CONCLUSION Continuous improvement and development of new offerings is an essential part for any business s uccess in the present world. Everyday people in the business world seek for new opportunity and spending millions in this purpose. The overall paper is developed highlighting all the detail that is required to do a successful marketing of a new offerings. The alternatives are highlighted and the provisions are kept open to carry out the necessary adjustments as the market dictates. Proper implementation of the plan can make the service-SafeJourney a successful one.

Lengthening the School Day

Introduction Let me tell one of my experiences while in school. It was at exactly 3:15p.m when the physics teacher came into class. Normally the class ended at exactly 4:00 p.m.The entire lesson was quite interesting and I knew given a question on the topic I would answer it within seconds. The 4 o’clock bell rang and my mind switched to the soccer game we played the previous day. Despite the red group beating us, I knew our time to revenge had come. The teacher just assumed that he didn’t hear the bell ringing. He continued talking and talking. I realized that no one was paying him attention. Zen was busy   looking at his watch confirming the time, there were some noise in the class, books falling down ,a yawn etc.These were signals to the teacher that learning time was over, we were tired and needed a break. Finally I summoned courage and informed the teacher that time for the lesson was up.After giving me a good lecture on importance of learning, he left. There was a sigh of relief and students rushed out of class some to play soccer, swim and some to hang out. Leaning In Informal Settings Hours spent outside school and classroom setting have large impacts on high performance and social development of the students. Many people have questioned whether time outside class can boost their grades. My answer is –yes it does. Contrary to what many people beliieve, much learning takes place in outside school settings like home and the community. Hours spent outside school give a good chance of reinforcement of what is learnt in the classroom. Time Spent With Parents Parents for instance play a bigger role in student’s achievement. When parents spend time with their children, they supervise their school assignments ensuring that it’s well done. For example, my father used to check all my books after school. This made me pay attention during class time because I knew I had to explain to him why I failed some sums like in arithmetic. They do show the children their love and ensure they eat well balanced food and are generally healthy. By telling them their expectations, they reinforce high performance of the students. They share their own past experiences and provide information on how the students can access resources like libraries. They provide a link with relatives or people who have excelled in studies. All these are done outside classroom and automatically lead to high student performance. This is because the time the students are in school they will have maximum concentration due to their good health. Children learn from museums, libraries and theters.Incorperating community, family partnerships in students learning leads to greater student achievement than adding those extra learning hours in class. Sports Many times parents, guardians and even teachers think that time spent by students in sports hinders high achievement by the students. This is not true.Reseach shows that students participating in sports score higher grades than the non participating ones. Those who are always in class reading books without engaging in sports don’t score highly in tests .While many people argue that participation in sports hinders maximum concentration in studies, this is not true. Balanced participation leads to greater achievements than extending learning time for students. Good Planning Research shows that when teachers are given enough time to teach they produce better results than ‘too much time. In this case, adding an extra 2 hours to learning time is too much time. The teachers are in a position to plan their lessons well and teach effectively than adding them an extra 2 hours. Teachers can use power point handouts and small group tutorials which are more effective than too much classroom learning. Teachers can minimize time spent in school by giving group assignments . This makes students share ideas hence minimize the time used. This is very effective and improves average mean score of the school teachers go straight to the point unlike extra hours which give room for story telling and idle talk. This happens that the teachers can easily miss classes knowing they have extra time to teach. My argument is that teachers can accomplish much within time given than adding more time. Poor Concentration The human mind works well when fresh. Adding extra hours for instruction will mean that students are taught while exhausted. This will mean there is less concentration and retention of what is read. A teacher who teaches when he or she is tired will not deliver the knowledge efficiently. My experience illustrated in the introduction gives a clear picture of this. At the end of last lesson in school the mind deviates to other things like sports. Remember all work without play makes Stacy a dull girl. Extending learning hours will mean there will be dull students in class. Assignments When students are given much time to do assignments, they do a shoddy job. Ninety nine percent will never finish the work when given extra time. This means there is no need of adding the extra 2 hours to the school day as it will automatically lead to poor student’s performances. While in elementary school, Helen’s geography teacher used to give them assignments and add them extra hour to finish. It turned out that the students never used to finish the work despite the extra time given. When the teacher gave the same assignments to other students in another school she was teaching part-time, it was done well though no extra time was added. The assignment in the part –time school was well tackled and handed in on time. Over Depending Of Students on Teachers Adding extra learning hours will mean spoon feeding the students .This can be quite tiring to teachers .In any learning, it is good for teachers to give students room for personal research and study in much more relaxed environment. It is good for teaches to let students discover some things for themselves than spoon feeding which makes students easily forget what they were taught. Spoon feeding is not good for development of future scholars. It is not logical to add an extra 2 two hours to school day for greater student’s achievement. Instead of excelling, it will lead to decline in scores. Conclusion Contrary to what many believe, learning does not just take place in formal setups but also in non formal setting. This includes the family, which plays a bigger role and the community at large. Out of school experiences contribute much to student’s performance. The after school time spent by students with parents puts tremendous reinforcement to their achievement. Adding extra time will lead to poor concentration, poorly done assignments and inefficient teachers. So why want to do something poorly within much time, when you can do it better in little time?

Modern Art Essay

The Post-Industrial Era in which we live in now is characterized by the extraordinary rate in development of technology. In sixty years we have managed to completely redesign every aspect of our lives in a way in which we allow technology to do most of the work. Whether we like it or not technology will keep evolving, and as it evolves it will impact aspects of society differently. The evolution of technology has had a very negative impact on artistic values in society and in aesthetics. In his essay â€Å"The Art of Collecting Lightbulbs,† Kimmelman exposes characteristics and qualities contained in art making. As Richard Restak explains in his essay â€Å"Attention Deficit: The Brain syndrome of Our Era,† Technology serves not only as an ally but also as a distraction from our daily activities. As a distraction it also serves as an escape from peoples daily routines, a place formerly occupied by art. Technology also facilitates the process of critical thinking and inhibits creative imagination, this turns out to be gravely detrimental to artistic development. As Technology distracts more people it will take away from the small group of people who are actually passionate about art. Technology now provides an escape from reality to those who need it. This niche was formerly occupied by art. Before Post-Industrial times people would rely on art to release their thoughts, whether it was on a canvas or a sheet of music. Modernly it is much easier to watch TV, play video games, or browse the web, than to set up a canvas to paint. The ease that technology brings with it makes our brains lazy. More often than not we chose to do those activities, which require less energy. This generally wouldn’t be a problem if the issue was choosing the elevator over the stairs, but when it begins influencing the activities we chose to do as a pastime, energy/thought intensive activities, such as art, will suffer. As stated by Restak, â€Å" In our contemporary society speed is the standard applied to almost everything that we do.†(339) This turns out to be very true when analyzed using a quote by David Shenk used by Restak. â€Å" We often feel life going by much faster than we wish, as we are carried forward from meeting to meeting, call to call, errand to errand. We have less time to ourselves and we are expected to improve our performance and output year after year.†(337) With this type of pressure we are not to blame for wanting to take the easy way out, but technology is. As we find lest time for ourselves, we find less time to release our, already hindered, creative thoughts in the form of art. Undoubtedly, if the dentist from Kimmelman’s essay lived in today’s world he would not have half of the time he had in his days to collect light bulbs. That is because I took an extraordinary deal of dedication, and most importantly, attention for him to collect over 75,000 light bulbs (217). Before it affects the time that we actually have to conduct artistic activities, technology already thwarts our ability to think creatively. As Restak quotes â€Å"The clutter, noise, and constant barrage of information that surround us daily contribute to the hectic pace of our modern lives, in which it is often difficult simply to remain mindful in the moment† (336). Being flooded with imagery, sound and text messages, our brain has to divide its attention to respond to all of these simultaneously. â€Å"Our brain literally changes its organization and functioning to accommodate the abundance of stimulation forced on it by the modern world† (Restak 332). So that even if we do have time for art our mind is divided and not able to think creatively. Hugh Alfred Hicks shares a story with Michael Kimmelman in which he was in Paris at a metro station and spotted a tungsten light bulb from the 1920s and took it for his collection (Kimmelman 217). It would be much more difficult for him to spot the same light bulb in a metro station in Paris today, as he would be bombarded by images, live changing screens with times, and advertising. His thoughts about his collection would likely the last thoughts in his mind. Creative thinking is on a downhill spiral. With the Internet we don’t have to wonder about anything anymore. Long gone are the days where we would have to imagine what the Great Wall of China looks like. We no longer have to yearn for answers with passion and fulfill a newly carved void in our minds; all we have to do now is Google images: â€Å"Great Wall of China.† This instant gratification (although convenient) overwhelms our ability to imagine. Our brains are lazy and after years of instantly answering our own questions, we become unable to create pictures in our head. This turns out to be harmful to creating art, as the first ingredient for art making is creativity. Not only is creative thinking decreasing due to technology, so is the actual population of artists. Not modern artists (as in graphic designers etc.) but classical artists. Technology provides us a virtual reality in which classical art is not involved. Although this is seen by most as the evolution of art, it is actually the demise of classical art. The wonderment of impressionist or French realist art has become a rarity. In the modern world we have not time or enough attention span to concentrate on such elaborate pieces. This is partly due to a phenomenon described by Restak, â€Å"The most widespread consequential speed-up of our time is the onrush in images- the speed at which they zip through the world, the speed at which they give way to more of the same, the tempo at which they move†(339). This seemingly never ending onrush of imagery takes away from our ability to sit still and analyze one single image. Since we are accustomed to quick changes in images and visual stimuli, we lack the patience to appreciate classical art pieces. A quote used by Restak of Blaise Pascal provides a good illustration of why this art is on the decline. â€Å"Most of the evils in life arise from a man’s being unable to sit still in a room†(334). As if we weren’t already disperse with all the technology that we carry around, being worried about our texts and tweets, our thoughts are also dispersed, this allows only for quick less elaborate imagery to get through to us. Since our brains are lazy and take the path of least resistance, most classical forms of Art cannot fill that niche. There are very few people left who can actually appreciate 40 minute long Mozart concertos. The radio now plays 4 minute longs songs and actually speeds them up so that they are shorter. Restak explains that our lack of attention has actually become somewhat normal. â€Å"Many personality characteristics we formerly labeled as dysfunctional, such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and easy distractibility, are now almost norm†(335). In a world where these attributes are norm there is no room for overly detailed portraits or grand escalating music pieces. Our brains are rewired for instant gratification, a gratification seldom found in classical art. As technology helps our society advance to create a more highly efficient less wasteful machine, we can expect leisurely activities to suffer, mainly art. Technology makes it so that we are in more than two places at once whether we like it or not. This creates a split of thoughts in our brains. We try but are unable to, process two tasks at once. Our brains are pushed to jump back and forth between two or more different sections, which handle different parts of our thought process. While all of this is going on, the last thought in our brains is art. As we devote more and more time to our gadgets and videogames, we devote less time to creating and appreciating art.