Reading and Thought by Dwight MacDonald Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reading and Thought by Dwight MacDonald - Essay Example He has made a stark contrast between the people in the sixteenth century with the modern day person and highlighted the negative impacts of the habits of a fast paced life. He has used Henry Luce’s journalistic empire as an example to coherently put his point forward to the reader through the examples aforementioned in this paragraph. However, I disagree with Macdonald. Macdonald in his criticism does not look upon the technological advancements and the research and development going on in this world. Modern day technology has made accessibility to information so much easier with the development of tablets, smartphones and laptops. Macdonald considers the internet as a collection of the world untouched literary work. What Macdonald fails to understand is that while the people in the sixteenth century had more time to dwell on the literature they lacked the quantity of literature. There wasn’t information about everything available as in today’s world rather a lot of time was spent on finding relative literature. In comparison, finding topic specific information is extremely efficient and can be accessed immediately. Macdonald starts of his article by underlining how Henry Luce had come to cash on the human natural weakness of being ‘well informed’ and made a journalistic empire for himself. Henry Luce the owner of the ‘Time’magazine coined the term ‘functional curiosity’ and he believes that it is because of this his magazine’s circulation has risen to more than two million people since its inception in 1925. The word ‘functional curiosity can be defined as one of the basic human thirst for obtaining knowledge by searching and looking, it is the kind of hungry and intense thirst for knowledge about what is happening everywhere which is not related for amusement purposes but has a solid belief that everything happening

Security Strategies in Web Applications Essay Example for Free

Security Strategies in Web Applications Essay Web application design and coding defects are the main reasons to create a secure coding policy and guidelines. The policy/guidelines are to provide awareness and ensure security when developing code. Techniques to secure code review: Generally, IT analyst can divide the secure code review process into two different techniques: 1. Automated tool based/ Black Box: In this approach, the secure code review is done using different open source/commercial tools. Mostly developers use them while they are coding, but a security analyst may also take help of them. Tools are very useful while doing code review when we implement the secure SDLC process in the organization and provide the tool to developers themselves to do a â€Å"self-code† review while they are coding. Also, the tools are useful in analyzing large codebase (millions of lines). They can quickly identify potential insecure pieces of code in the code base, which may be analyzed by the developer or a security analyst (Infosec). 2. Manual/ White Box: In this technique, a thorough code review is performed over the whole code, which may become a very tedious and tiresome process. But in this process, logical flaws may be identified which may not be possible using automated tools, such as business logic problems. Automated tools are mostly capable of finding technical flaws such as injection attacks but may miss flaws like authorization problems. In this process, instead of going line by line through whole code base, we can concentrate on potential problems in the code. Those potential vulnerabilities can be given a high priority. For example, in C/C++, if we try to find any copying function in the code and check whether it’s using functions such as, strcpy() for performing copy function. As we know, strcpy() is known to be vulnerable to buffer overflow attacks. We may also want to check if any customized encryption is being used in the application, which automated tools may miss as they can identify standard algorithms only  (Infosec). Introducing security into NIST’s Five SDLC Phases: Initiation Phase Consists of all activities used to identify the different requirements from all stakeholders. This includes defining stakeholders, conducting stakeholder interviews and possibly some basic prototyping. It is also important to identify security requirements (Harwood, 2011). Development Acquisition Phase Transition functional and technical requirements into detailed plans for an actual information system. Results from interviews, use cases, and mock ups are developed into sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, state diagrams, and other artifacts that can be interpreted by software developers. User interfaces are also defined in greater detail (Harwood, 2011). Implementation Assessment Phase Actual coding of an information system. All of the analysis and design artifacts previously created are transformed into application code by developers/programmers. This phase also includes testing and debugging (Harwood, 2011). Operations Maintenance Phase Encompasses all activities required to keep the system working as intended (monitoring, patch management, application fault remediation and audits). Disposition Phase Ensures that information is retained, as necessary, to conform to current legal requirements and to accommodate future technology changes that may render the retrieval method obsolete (Harwood, 2011). Summarization: The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a process to help ensure the successful development, operation and retirement of information systems. The SDLC has numerous methodologies including: Waterfall, Fountain, Spiral, Build and Fix, Rapid Prototyping, Incremental, and Synchronization and Stabilize. While they share common processes such as Design, Implementation, and testing, one of the most promising methodologies is Waterfall. It has several advantages: It is one of the most widely used and accepted methodologies and nearly all other methodologies derive from Waterfall. Its linear approach makes it easy to demonstrate where security fits into each phase. A crucial part of the SDLC is the source code review. The purpose of source code review is to discuss, exchange information, and explain the code. Explaining the code will help identify problems and may provide new solutions in the troubleshooting process. Effective code reviews can include  automated reviews. It is vital to implement security controls at each phase of the SDLC (Harwood, 2011). Best practices should include policies and guidelines that explain that software should be free from exploitable code vulnerabilities to meet the level of confidence. The code should provide security functionality as intended. Review and maintain Best Practices and guidelines annually. Including security early in the information system development life cycle (SDLC) will usually result in less expensive and more effective security than adding it to an operational system (Harwood, 2011). Works Cited Harwood, M. (2011). In Security Strategies in Web Applications and Social Networking. Burlington: Jones Bartlett Learning, LLC, an Ascend Learning Company. Infosec. (n.d.). Retrieved from Infosec: http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/secure-code-review-practical-approach/

American Theme-Individualism :: essays research papers

American Theme-Individualism Literary works reflect the main ideas of the American mind. An American theme that is seen in various works of literature is individuality. Individuality is expressed in three different literary works from Frost, Chopin, and Paine. These works of literature aid us in developing an open mind about what the American people should expect in society. Following others doesn’t guide us in any way because it does not allow for us to express our innermost feelings. Throughout these three works, individualism is expressed in various ways. Although all three works do illustrate the idea of individualism, Paine seems to approach it in a different way. Robert Frost’s poem, "The Road Not Taken", is an insightful idealistic attempt to illustrate the paradox of free will. In the first line, Frost uses the metaphor "Two roads diverged" (1), to establish not only the hard decision the traveler must make in the poem, but life itself. The decisions we make in life, like the traveler in this poem, are not to be taken carelessly. Many have a desire to be adventurous, yet fear possibilities of failing if we are different from others. In this poem, the road that he decides to take â€Å"wanted wear.† This road is not a well-traveled path and no one has taken it before. The central idea of Frost’s poem is individualism. Frost shows that being his own person makes life so much less difficult because he is able to act the way he would like to without worrying about everyone else. Frost shows us that we should all express our feelings and be our own person, even if no one else will follow. He took the path that no one else did â€Å"and that has made all the difference.† Similarly, in Kate Chopin’s short story "The Story of an Hour," the central theme of individuality is also expressed. When Mrs. Mallard received the news of her husband’ s death, she was in a deep state of grief. After she realized that she would now have freedom, she began to rejoice. Even though she loved her husband and will weep for him again, one thought comes to her over and over again: â€Å"free, free, free!†(546). Mrs. Mallard realizes at that instant that her life from now on is her own to live as she chooses; no more will she have to give in to the needs and wishes of her husband.

Penney

A 19% decline in same store sales took place in the first quarter of 2012 for J. C. Penny; followed by 350 employee layoffs and the departure of President Michael Francis (Turner, 2012). This led to a prototype of their new store concept in order to save the company. CEO Ron Johnson, responsible for the redesign of Apple stores, was bought on as part of the team to make this turnaround successful. Unfortunately, Johnson struggled to implement his new company vision to make this transformation which was originally dependent on discounts and coupons to drive sales.Johnson launched a three-tiered pricing scheme meant to make the shopping experience simpler and attract more customers. Advertising and direct mall received new eye catching attention. Also the company changed the concept of constantly have sales to consistently having lower prices. Incomplete execution of the change is why the intended results failed to produce (Basin,2013). A complete transformation was attempted by J. C. Penny, but failed to instill every customer touch-point. Merchandising, Marketing, Customer Service, Store Environment, and its new character were the areas that needed 100% focus and planning.The most important agents of change, the employees, had not been completely brought on board. This being the case, the strategy failed to generate the urgency and excitement required to make the change successful with employees and customers. â€Å"One of the big mistakes was perhaps too much change too quickly without adequate testing on what the Impact would be,† said Bill Cancan, the principal shareholder of J. C. Penny(Edwards, 2013). As good as Johnny's Intentions really were, he was not experienced with bringing a retail store above ground.The director image is the image that best suits this organizational situation of changing how J. C. Operates on a day-to-day basis. This image is based on an image of management as control and of outcomes being achievable (Palmer, 2009). It is u p to the change manager Monsoons) to direct the organization (J. C. Penny) in specific ways to reach the desired outcome. It is assumed that the change is a well-planned choice that managers make and the well-being and survival of J. C. Penny depends on them. The objective is to be a better-performing, better-aligning organization.You cannot change the organizational culture without knowing where your organization wants to be or what elements of the current organizational culture need to change. When an organizational culture Is already established, people must unlearn the old values, assumptions, and behaviors before they can learn the new ones. Executives must lead the change by changing their own behaviors. It is extremely important for change. Members of the organization must clearly understand what is expected of them, and must know how to actually do the new behaviors, once they have been defined.The culture of the change is that the sales have plummeted significantly, employe e layoffs, and the departure of the president (Townsend, 2013). The role culture played in the change is that the economy changes and so do people and what hey desire. What might have worked in the retail business one year might not work the next. The changes that took place in the J. C. Penny Company were most definitely Second order, discontinuous change. This change â€Å"is transformational, radical, and fundamentally alters the organization at its core† (Palmer, 2009).What Johnson is trying to do is seen as large-scale and disruptive, and so is second-order change. J. C. Penny is transforming the nature of their organization, not developing. This is already an established and well known company; it Just needs to turn itself around to be saved. For example, if we were to go skydiving it wouldn't be successful to Jump out while we were not flying. Therefore in order to arrive at a successful place to make the Jump, we have to stay in the same plane and fly around to move t o the right spot. Johnson is a new face to the company and customers and should not come in and totally throw out all things â€Å"old†.Instead of this drastic change to wipe out all that is old, the old and new should be integrated. Not everything that is old is broken and it once worked perfectly fine. However since the beginning of the business opening there have been changes, and now they Just aren't working. Empowerment and teamwork should be seen as assisting in the development of functional and divisional structures rather than replacing them† (Palmer, 2009). Since this major change is restructuring and reengineering, this is altering the basic functioning of the company and therefore is transformational.In order to deal with highly competitive changes in the business environment, producing a fundamental reorientation of J. C. Penny is needed. Some of the key challenges with J. C. Penny are increasing quality and customer value, enhancing innovation, motivating s taff, and enhancing competitive advantage. These challenges can easily be met if the right rationales are put in place. To increase quality and customer value Johnson needs to increase customers' expectations (Palmer, 2009). Without customers, retail store would be non-existent. Enhancing innovation needs to meet customers' expectations.Customers' Expectations are hard to only assume without doing proper planning. Motivating staff needs to gain effective contributions. This is one of J. C. Penny's horrible faults. The employees were not properly trained and knowledgeable about the new changes. Being excited about the opportunities of a many and being able to convey that message to current and future customers is everything when a new system is rolled out. The method for implementing the change was simple, or so Johnson thought. Johnson thought it made sense to cut to the chase by listing realistic prices from the get-go and foregoing nonstop sales.It does make logical sense. However , customers are often drawn to stores not by the promise of fair pricing, but by the lure of hunting for deals using coupons and price markdowns. The â€Å"How Much You Saved† line at the bottom of the receipt serving as a score is nice to look at until one day it disappears. Even Johnson acknowledged the mistake the stores had made when sales started falling even more in summer 2012 be known as having consistently low prices. The vision of the company is the most important thing to know so you know where to start with plans, objectives, and budgets (Palmer, 2009).Vision usually paints a picture of the future and is inspirational. If J. C. Penny had a well-specified market vision, this would have helped to identify how the company would have grown and competed. Meaning is created throughout the organization about what it is the organization does when the vision is aligned with the internal dimension of organizational beliefs and values (Palmer, 2009). The change that J. C. Pe nny went through was communicated poorly. J. C. Penny failed to insure every customer touch-point. Customer service, Marketing, Merchandising, store environment, and employees were not fully developed (Edwards ,2013).The biggest downfall was the employees not being fully onboard. If employees are confused or unsure about a new change than it would be impossible to share this with someone else. This caused a lack of urgency and excitement that the company needed to make the change successful. On a scale of 1-10 of the change agent's work in the execution of the new vision for J. C. Penny, I would give him a 2. While his intentions were good and he thought he had the experience needed, he failed to research what customers really wanted. He guessed.He assumed he knew exactly what had to be done based on how he feels as a customer, but everyone is different and likes different things. Nut and Babcock identified three different approaches for crafting a vision and the leader-dominated ap proach fits the description of the J. C. Penny situation (Palmer ,2009). In this approach the CEO revived the strategic vision for the organization. This is similar to the â€Å"telling† and â€Å"selling† strategies. Telling is when the CEO creates the vision and gives it to staff. It is used when involvement is not seen as important. This is where Johnson went wrong.He took on all of this by himself and didn't want involvement from the rest of the company so much that the employees themselves were confused about the new vision and what to do with it. â€Å"Selling† on the other hand is when the CEO has a vision that he or she wishes to sell to staff (Palmer, 2009). He didn't include the staff and that was a major problem. This is used when the CEO is attracted to the vision and wants others in the organization to adopt it. If Johnson would've done both the â€Å"telling† and the â€Å"selling,† then maybe this would have had a different outcome.M aking J. C. Penny a leader in style with good products and honest business practices would've helped increase success of the project. Leaders must make sure that the entire organization understands the business case for change. Everyone must understand why the change needs to be made. Johnson should over- communicate the business case for the change so that people will believe that it's OTOH real and urgent. Also J. C. Penny must be certain that all levels of leadership are on board with the change and are communicating the same message.Deadlines will probably be missed and excuses will be made for not implementing the new changes if employees do not feel confident in what they are supposed to be supporting. Have we sufficiently rallied the troops? Do they all clearly understand the opportunity ahead? Are they excited by the opportunity and know how they can help the company succeed? These are some good questions that need to be addressed when taking steps to increase the success of the project. Coping with hyperactive business internal and external strategic collaboration is a way to be able to plan everything out thoroughly (Palmer ,2009).Outsourcing of activities in which the organization has no distinctive competence is very important to get rid of things that are not needed in the J. C. Penny vision. Empowerment is the introductions of mechanisms to provide employees with the authority, resources, and encouragement to take action. This recommendation keeps popping up but it is the most important thing with following through with a big change. Another recommendation is to reduce internal and external boundaries. This reduction helps to encourage communication and resource sharing (Palmer, 2009) as there wasn't much communication going on at all.Use techniques to focus people's attention on the importance of change to meet the challenges of J. C. Penny. Also Johnson could use multiple channels to constantly communicate the vision that Johnson created for th e big system change (Moratoriums, 2013). Becoming informed and helping the CEO and leadership team to articulate personal vision for the future of the organization by examining external impacts, trends, and core beliefs. Also visit the future and think ahead five years about the reputation, what competitors and customers think of you, contribution to the community, and what people will say about your company (Palmer, 2009).To ensure the success of any company, the proper steps need to be followed even if it takes longer than you originally planned. Skipping steps might get you there faster but it will hurt your business in the long run. J. C. Penny is still currently trying to get back on track. J. C. Penny's largest challenge going forward is whether it can capture market share from Macy's and other mid-tier retailers and eve from losses to profitability.

The ministers black veil and the birthmark questions

The ministers black veil and the birthmark questions and answers BY kassadi2012 The Ministers Black Veil: 1 . What is the Serman's subject on the first day that Mr. Hooper wears the black veil? a. It had reference to the secret sin. The ones we hide from everyone, even ourselves. Everyone felt like he had crept upon them and knew all their secrets. 2. Who is Elizabeth? a. She is the minister's fianc ©. 3. Explain the effect the black veil has on the wedding that Mr. Hooper performs. a.It was a distraction to the wedding and many people said it resembled evil. . Why does Mr. Hooper's fianc © cancel their wedding? a. She asked him to remove the veil and he refused so she left him. 5. When Mr. Hooper is on his death bed, what does he say he sees in the faces of everyone? Why is this important to the story? a. A black veil. This is meaning that everyone has secret sin and that they are all living in hypocracy. The Birth Mark: 6. How does Aylmer Feel about Georgiana's birthmark? How d oes Georgiana feel about it? . Aylmer thinks it's a physical mark of earthly imperfection. At first she likes it. 7. What does her birthmark look like? Where is it located? Why is it important? a. It looked like a red stain on her check that resembles a tiny hand. Men told her a fairly must have placed a hand on her when she was born. Woman saw it as a flaw. 8. Summarize the dream Aylmer had about his wife's birthmark and his attempt to remove it. a. He had a dream that him and his assistant were operating on his wife to remove the birthmark from her face.The deeper he would cut the deeper in the irthmark would go until the tiny hand grasped her heart. 9. Who is Aminadab? What is his role in the story and what can he be compared to? a. He is Aylmer's lab assistant. He helps remove the birthmark in the dream Aylmer had. He also is his assistant when Aylmer really tries to remove it. He doesn't know much about science he is Just doing what he is told. He represents the body. 10. What happens at the end of the story? Why does this happen? a. She dies. It shows that you should not try to change someone.

Free Essays on So Much For That Plan

"More than 70% of commercial bank assets are held by organizations that are supervised by at least two federal agencies; almost half attract the attention of three or four. Banks devote on average about 14% of their non-interest expense to complying with rules" (Anonymous 88). A fool can see that government waste has struck again. This tangled mess of regulation, among other things, increases costs and diffuses accountability for policy actions gone awry. The most effective remedy to correct this problem would be to consolidate most of the supervisory responsibilities of the regulatory agencies into one agency. This would reduce costs to both the government and the banks, and would allow the parts of the agencies not consolidated to concentrate on their primary tasks. One such plan was introduced by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in March of 1994. The plan called for folding, into a new independent federal agency (called the Banking Commission), the regulatory portions of the Offic e of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). This plan would save the government $150 to $200 million a year. This would also allow the FDIC to concentrate on deposit insurance and the Fed to concentrate on monetary policy (Anonymous 88). Of course this is Washington, not The Land of Oz, so everyone can't be satisfied with this plan. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and FDIC Chairman Ricki R. Tigert have been vocal opponents of the plan. Greenspan has four major complaints about the plan. First, divorced from the banks, the Fed would find it harder to forestall and deal with financial crises. Second, monetary policy would suffer because the Fed would have less access to review the banks. Thirdly, a supervisor with no macroeconomic concerns might be too inclined to discourage banks from taking risks, slowing the economy down. Lastly, creating a s... Free Essays on So Much For That Plan Free Essays on So Much For That Plan "More than 70% of commercial bank assets are held by organizations that are supervised by at least two federal agencies; almost half attract the attention of three or four. Banks devote on average about 14% of their non-interest expense to complying with rules" (Anonymous 88). A fool can see that government waste has struck again. This tangled mess of regulation, among other things, increases costs and diffuses accountability for policy actions gone awry. The most effective remedy to correct this problem would be to consolidate most of the supervisory responsibilities of the regulatory agencies into one agency. This would reduce costs to both the government and the banks, and would allow the parts of the agencies not consolidated to concentrate on their primary tasks. One such plan was introduced by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in March of 1994. The plan called for folding, into a new independent federal agency (called the Banking Commission), the regulatory portions of the Offic e of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). This plan would save the government $150 to $200 million a year. This would also allow the FDIC to concentrate on deposit insurance and the Fed to concentrate on monetary policy (Anonymous 88). Of course this is Washington, not The Land of Oz, so everyone can't be satisfied with this plan. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and FDIC Chairman Ricki R. Tigert have been vocal opponents of the plan. Greenspan has four major complaints about the plan. First, divorced from the banks, the Fed would find it harder to forestall and deal with financial crises. Second, monetary policy would suffer because the Fed would have less access to review the banks. Thirdly, a supervisor with no macroeconomic concerns might be too inclined to discourage banks from taking risks, slowing the economy down. Lastly, creating a s...

Princess Mononoke review Essay Example

Princess Mononoke review Essay Example Princess Mononoke review Essay Princess Mononoke review Essay Essay Topic: The Prince Princess Mononoke (original title: Mononoke-hime ) was produced and released in Japan in 1997 and was released in Canada in November 1999. This ecology-themed epic was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki the famous Japanese film director, animator, manga artist and screenwriter. It is in Animation / Adventure / Fantasy genre and the voce casts include Yà ´ji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida and Yà »ko Tanaka. Princess Mononoke shows a mystical battle between Animal Gods of the forest and humans. The story happens in an Emishi village during Japans Muromachi Period in the 14th century. The young Ashitaka gets cursed by fatal infection after a demonic wild boar attacks him in the village. He then travels to west to find the deer-like god Shishigami to get cured. Along his way, he sees the battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. The constant aggressiveness by the village has brought the rage of the Wolf God, Moro, who attacks the village along with San, a human who was raised by the wolf god. San can communicate with the nature spirits, which is why she is called Princess Mononoke (spirits of things). Ashitaka would like these conflicting groups to get along, and he hopes to bring peace between San and Lady Eboshi who is the ironworks owner. However, he is frustrated as vicious powers plan to kill the Shishigami and more battles erupt. Although the story looks like a simple legend of humankind versus nature, there are many issues which complicate the plot. To begin, there are no absolute evil people in this story. Even Lady Eboshi, the ruler of Irontown who is the most responsible person for the destruction of the forest, is quite sympathetic when confronts other humans. She takes care of lepers and poor women and provides them with a place a work and live. Even San, whose persistent intention to protect the forest leads her to be an enemy of the humans, merely wants to save her own homeland not hurting people. Nevertheless, Miyazaki has truly created an amazing work in Princess Mononoke. Multiple conflicts thrive with humans against humans, humans against nature, and even nature against itself. These conflicts are such that they are incorporated into an astonishing deep and satisfying plot. It is very inspirational to see a movie that is capable of such story-telling without leading to old clichà ©s and frustrati ng repetition of the same old stories. Lady Eboshi is portrayed as a bit of a radical, not in terms of changing an existing order but in sense of humanistic point of view. She represents the improvement of technology in trying to advance human settlement and production, yet the social aspects of her character, in times make even audiences who support nature to sympathize with her. Ashitaka, who is one of the few living young men of Emishi people, is to be the leader of his people. He has the nobleness of Royal blood and great skills as a hunter. He sacrifices himself to defend his village and received a curse of death. He does not talk so much, but has a strong sense of justice. San is a weird girl who was raised by a mountain wolf. She hates humans who invade the forest. With a strange mask on her face, and riding a large mountain wolf, she frequently attacks the iron mining town. After meeting Ashitaka, her feelings lean between the Gods and humans. The central theme of the movie is the environment. There are several different environmental concerns depicted within this movie. The most obvious is clear cutting. The devastation that happens afterwards is a good representation of what could happen if humans continue to clear cut and kill the land. The setting is in Japan some time during the 14th century, an agricultural time before the country was unified. The general scenery and architecture are based on reality but the rest takes significant imagination with the reality of the time. The work is a fascinating animation which keeps the audience for most of the time and conveys its main messages in the context of attractive visuals and lively sound tracks. When viewed from a simplistic perspective, Princess Mononoke is a perfectly legitimate, well-represented movie. It is a wonderful anime work. It explores themes and concepts that leave the audience wondering about it. The plot is engaging and entertaining. It nicely shows how humans interact with the environment, and how they need to preserve and protect their land by working together. It has a great ending, and is overall very pleasurable to watch. The characters are well developed and realistic. However, the story has some fundamental elements that enhance and reflect upon Japanese culture which may be unfamiliar for the Western audience. Its only problems, in my opinion, come from the personal views of the producer. The movie presents its concepts in a judgmental or biased matter. The stream of a story should be neutral, so that the audience may judge content for themselves but it is the case in some instances in Princess Mononoke. Over all, I found this movie very entreating, enj oyable, and more importantly informative and an eye-opener to environmental problems that threaten our world.