Mackie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mackie - Essay Example The analogy of a stone created by the divine that is too heavy for even God to lift suggests limitations to God and, therefore, refutes his omnipotence. When suggesting that the God is incapable of creating a stone too heavy for himself to lift, then he was never omnipotent to begin with. In so many ways, using the Paradox of Omnipotence to suggest that God maintains limitations is a scientific or secular attempt to refute the possibility of God’s existence. Mackie argues that whether or not men are the creator of evil by their own consciousness, the paradox of omnipotence is still valid, thus it cannot be avoided. It would seem to suggest that Mackie believes that God would be incapable of removing evil from the world or from the hearts of men, thus he should be considered without omnipotence for it proposes a limitation. If God is said to be inherently good, then a failure to remove evil deeds from the word suggests he has created a situation out of his absolute control. I disagree strongly with Mackie’s position, perhaps with some level of personal bias, in suggesting that there are limitations to God’s omnipotence. Not all actions performed by God can be rationalized, and it is commonly cited in society that God works in mysterious ways. Since none in modern society have met God to discuss his motivations and opinions, it would be impossible to suggest that God is unable to provide contradictions. His testaments speak of considerable love and forgiveness, but at the same time there appear to be no actions undertaken to remove evil. It would be illogical to assume that God is not without complicated and complex reasoning, thus he could be standing idle allowing evil to exist for a specific purpose. Perhaps the evil occurring today is a means toward an end, which does not by any practical lens suggest that

SARBANES-OXLEY ACT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

SARBANES-OXLEY ACT - Research Paper Example 102). Such information is usually to be found in several locations and on dissimilar systems. This makes it imperative to have in place a mechanism that facilitates the retrieval of data from multiple applications; otherwise, complete compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes – Oxley Act cannot be realized (Stephens, 2005, p. 102). There is considerable difficulty and intricacy involved in complying with the Sarbanes – Oxley Act. Data has to be shown to be authentic, and this obliges auditors and company executives to confirm the integrity of the financial data of their enterprise that influences the financial position of their company (Stephens, 2005, p. 102). Complying with the provisions of Sarbanes – Oxley Act proved to be much more burdensome for companies. This includes among other things, the capacity to validate the processing and transmission of data at all times, regardless of the specific phase of the life cycle that the data may be subjected to auditing or investigation. A major consequence of these requirements is that the Information Technology division of a company has to ensure that authentication capacities are inherent in the storage repositories and software applications (Stephens, 2005, p. 102). Furthermore, a major issue related to compliance with the Sarbanes – Oxley Act is that related to the amount of time involved in accessing data. For instance, there has to a rapid disclosure with regard to a business event that has substantial influence on the revenues of the company (Stephens, 2005, p. 102). Thus, compliance with this act necessitates the capacity to authenticate, search and access the relevant records and data in near real time. The Sarbanes – Oxley Act 2002 was enacted by Congress with the express intention of enhancing the reliability and accuracy of corporate disclosures. This initiative was

Criminology Essays Policing Future Criminal

Criminology Essays Policing Future Criminal Policing Future Criminal Policing in the future Introduction Terrorism as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),† is the use of force or violence against persons or property in violation of the criminal laws of the United States for purposes of intimidation, coercion, or ransom.† (August, 2007). The group of people committing this act often use threats to create fear among the public. These people try to convince citizens that their government is powerless to prevent terrorism. The Acts of terrorism include threats of terrorism; assassinations; kidnappings; hijackings; bomb scares and bombings; cyber attacks (computer-based); and the use of chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological weapons. (FEMA, 2007). In the future the act of terrorism would be even worst because of new technologies and inventions. The question is who will protect the people? What can the law enforcement do in the future to stop terrorism? On going studies and researches are being done by the police department to create a strategic move to stop or interrupt any act of terrorism. This essay will include issues that may arise in the future of policing from the perspective of individual police personnel, police management and the community. The focus of this essay is on the law enforcement its strategy and plans in the future in policing the community. Law Enforcement New Challenges – Police Personnel In the future police officer would play the role as the keepers of the peace, antiterrorism specialists or community outreach agents. (Stephens,2005). Gene Stephen is a noted criminal justice futurist and has surveyed police experts and found out that a better educated police officers with improved people skills and a stronger understanding on emerging technologies will be crucial to successful policing in the future. Police officers are being addressed in the past as â€Å"peace officers,† and define public policing as the â€Å"absence of crime.† This has been change as the time goes by and as the crime committed becomes even more complicated. In the 21st century policing has become even more challenging for the police personnel, wherein causes of crimes and disorder often lie outside their community, demanding new and innovative approaches from police. Today offenders are usually thousands miles away while committing the crimes. Terrorists act may takes place in a certain place without the physically presence of the criminals. Such act includes chemical and biological mayhem, community hackers and crackers wherein they can manipulate data’s in the system even if they are thousand miles away. In the United States the most prevalent crime committed is the identity theft often assisted by Internet scams. How can police personnel cope up with this technology? Probably the best way to treat criminals committing such crime should be counteracted by the same act that they committed it. Due to the increasing crime committed brought by the new technologies international conventions involving different countries was held last November 2007. The convention was entitled â€Å"International Policing Toward 2020.† Future of policing depends on what type of the society being policed. The ability of the police personnel to identify the society that needs to be policed is important. Whether the police will need to use harsh type of policing or you need to ask the cooperation of the society. The key to an effective policing in the future is that police personnel must have a deeper understanding of what he was up to. This mean police personnel must be knowledgeable enough to handle crimes in the future. Trainings and seminars are being conducted on various areas in the United States. One organization who’s been handling researches, teaching and training police is the Society of Police Futurists International (PIF). The PIF consists of men and women who are most likely to understand the path ahead and be able to predict the threats and promises to expect in the next few years. Since we are living in the 21st century wherein criminals just can place a chip on anything and then destroy everything, PIF focuses on the new technology. The police futurist focuses on the high tech communication and state of the art technology. Police personnel can adjust in this kind of situation by proper training and education. The government can increase the fund in the education that can be given to the police. To be able to attend to crimes like cyber crime police personnel must know what he is up to. One of the problem concerning the trainings and education of police personnel is the financial fund. In the article written by Jeremy Wilson the director of the Center on Quality Policing at the RAND Corporation (a non profit research corporation), he identifies that the United States are having a hard time meeting the new challenges in policing. Based on his analysis they need the support of the federal government to go far beyond traditional local crime-fighting duties. As a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, police today and in the future have a major new homeland security responsibility. Because of what happened the country need an extra hand from its community by recruiting enough number of police personnel to handle surveillance of airports, government building, mass transit systems and other potential terrorists’ target. They also have additional duties to foil terrorist’s attacks before they occur. The law enforcement agencies must be ready anytime to respond the possibility of other complicated attack such as chemical, biological and other unconventional weapons. Police Management Managing police force is much more complicated than handling an organization. It is not just hiring someone because you like him. Today recruiting is even harder after the Sept 11, 2001 bombing. People who want to join the force should be checked carefully for you might hire a terrorist undercover. Today the organization needs to require more officers, with more skills at a higher cost. Now the problem will be the financial availability. Before the police management focuses only on the daily needs of the organization such staffing needs and mandatory training requirements. But to adapt in the new security duties and changing labor force, police department will need to develop a long term plans for recruiting the right officers with the right skills. Unfortunately the police department is not equipped enough to check every person who wants to join the department. Aside from the lack of equipment the department also lacks on funds. Federal assistance to police departments has dropped in 2007. The chiefs of police reacted on the cutting of funds for the law enforcement nationwide. The role of the police personnel and the department is important not only during this time of terrorism but in the future as well. Trainings and education on the new technologies is important. How can police personnel fight terrorists attacking the system of a government agency if he doesn’t know how to fight it? Technologies nowadays are very much complicated as compared before and in the early 90’s. To fight these high tech attacks the police department should be very much aware of the new technologies to become effective. A five year plan is suggested in fighting the terrorists starting from the community, city, nationwide and then internationally. The department should show the government how important is the additional funds in policing the future. Funds will be allocated to chosen personnel trainings and education. They will be the one who will forefront the department during the time of terrorists act either biologically, chemically and technologically. Focusing on their needs such as proper compensation, additional incentives and other benefits is important to help them become more dedicated not only on their job but in the department as well. It is therefore best to plan, present and proves to the government that the planning for the future of police management needs the federal support especially in funding. Proper planning is the main key for an effective policing in the future. The planning has to start with the police officer, the department and then the government. Community Policing â€Å"Community policing† is the term given to describe the wide range of policing reforms. (Columbian Journalism Review, 1999) In as early as 1980’s the liberal police executives and academics have been advocating the notion that police work directly, in an equal partnership, with community groups on prevention strategies appropriate to a particular community’s problems. Community policing includes an aggressive police presence in high-crime areas. In the September 11, 2001 attack of terrorist, the police visibility is seen not only on the city where the attack happened but nationwide as well. The question might be if the crimes committed are getting more complicated and now the identity theft and hackers are very much rampant how can community policing act on this crimes? As mentioned in the police management training and education is important, and then if a police force is equipped with advance technology as well as educated on the new technologies then this will not be a problem. The U.S. Justice Departments Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) defines the term broadly as any policing aimed more at crime prevention than on chasing and catching bad guys; those tactics can include working with the community, decentralizing command, or simply increasing the number of beat police officers in a community. All these approaches have their defenders and critics, and all can point to some sort of research showing that they help make neighbourhoods safer, but they are not the same thing. The approach in community policing has become popular and has gained support from the government because of what they might have seen as effective in policing in the future. Community policing is the new approach to public safety. It combines the best aspects of several time-proven policing techniques in order to combat not only crime and disorder, but also the fear of crime and the likelihood of crime. It is both a philosophical approach and a set of practical steps to carry out that approach. It a police work with the community and other organizations, both public and private, to address local concerns and move towards long-term solutions to crime related problems. Community policing is the involvement of the community it requires more than just involving the citizens but it also requires the inclusion of other governmental agencies, the educational system, public and private social service providers and many local business. Also included are the criminal justice system, human rights groups, religious-based resources, and any other groups that can help find and maintain solutions to the communitys needs. In addition, the family unit must again become a major player in the crime prevention arena. It is therefore literally means that involving everybody to fight against criminals who wants to destroy peace and order not only in one location but worldwide as well. Community policing also includes preventive measures. The goal of community policing includes the following: To empower the people to resist crime and unsafe conditions by resolving the root issues instead of acting on the same act again and again. Preventive measure is important than acting on the crimes. Provide an adequate response to street-level, quality-of-life complaints in the community without reducing the departments capability to continue to respond appropriately to emergencies. To partner with different organizations such as schools, social service agencies, citizen groups, and others with one purpose to developed effective preventive strategies. Reduce the demand for future police by addressing the cause of public safety problems Reduce the fear of crime. To encourage the citizens and community groups in solving the day to day problem solving and prevention activities, while maintaining full response capabilities and relieving certified personnel from tasks not requiring their particular training or expertise. Furnish the township with quality essential police services; subscribe and conform to the highest professional standards in an effort to protect the constitutional rights, lives, and property of the citizens consistent with community goals and policies. The best approach in community policing especially in fighting terrorism it is best to first identify the cause and work cooperatively by creating a plan that can be useful not only today but in the coming years. It is effective to balance the approach one that relies equally on law enforcement, crime prevention, and community involvement in issues about crimes and terrorism. Conclusion The future of policing lies on the people involved on it. A plan is important in dealing with criminals and terrorism. Nowadays you are not sure who you are dealing with. You might be hiring a terrorist without knowing it. Your plan maybe effective but without proper funding and cooperation from the different department and organization of the community and the government then the plan will not be successful. As mentioned above the following factors are important education, training, community cooperation and funds. To achieve the foresee future of policing the combination of the above factors should be present in planning. Since terrorism is an international concern it is best to be up dated on convention and seminars on new preventive measures that the different countries are doing to fight and stop the increasing number of terrorism. Prevention is better than battling with these terrorist. If the police force where able to prevent such act before it will take place then million of people will be safe. As what medical personnel would say â€Å"Prevention is better than cure.† Police force can also adopt this phrase. Since United States are among the nation who is being attacked by terrorist it is best for them to plan policing not only today but in the future as well. Reference: Embracing the Future of Law Enforcement, Platypus Magazine, December 2007, http://www.metafuture.org/afp%20newsletter%202007.pdf Policing, Columbia Journalism Review, February 15, 1999, http://www.allbusiness.com/information/publishing-industries/166642-1.html Scheider,M., Chapman,R., April 2003, Community Policing and Terrorism http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/Articles/Scheider-Chapman.html Wilson, J.,May 23, 2006, Police Personnel Crisis Needs Federal Leadership http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052200886.html www.fema.gov

A Good Samaritan Law is Never a Good Idea Essay -- Argumentative Persu

A Good Samaritan Law is Never a Good Idea Less than one year ago, the largest television audience since the series finale of M*A *S*H tuned in to watch the last episode of Seinfeld As the nation watched, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer said farewell with the arrest, trial, and conviction of violating a Good Samaritan law. While this made for a hilarious television show, this law itself seems to both contradict its essence as well as violate the right to freedom of choice of a citizen. The Good Samaritan law, which requires a bystander to provide aid to those who are in harm’s way if there is no apparent immediate danger to the bystander, encroaches upon the rights of a citizen. This law is an inexcusable violation of American civil liberties and should be stricken from the records, leaving only people’s moral compasses as their guide. The morality of this law is relatively simple: help those in trouble. Generally society seems to consider it a moral obligation to prevent the injury of another person, sometimes even at risk to one’s self. People who do not help others in need are frequently bad examples for the rest of the world. For example, in Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, Ebeneezer Scrooge is infamous for his selfishness and disregard for the well-being of others such as Bob Cratchett and his family (barely paying him and not allowing him more than a day for Christmas). Scrooge’s partner, Jacob Marley, is damned for the same type of crimes. The only path to redemption for Ebeneezer is through helping others who are in need: giving food to the Cratchetts and caring for a sickly Tiny Tim. While Scrooge had a moral reason to help others, there was no Constitutional burden to do so. If the federal... ...ce call buttons more accessible to the public since many are willing to contact the law enforcement officials. Although Jerry and Elaine can not seem to provide more than a few jokes when seeing their fellow man in trouble, the majority of Americans seem to be willing to help. Despite several incidents to the contrary, the morals of most people will guide them. These less-talked-about occasions in which people called the police, yelled for help, or even tried to physically stop attackers outweigh the apathetic few. With these facts in mind, this law presents unacceptable violations of the freedom of liberty. Ultimately, then, Good Samaritan laws are both unnecessary and dangerous. Bibliography â€Å"Good Samaritan Laws are Questionable.† alt.politics.lawenforcenieflt.Ca.Com (12 October 1998) â€Å"Rapist-Murderer Case.† alt.adoption.com (03 September 1998).

Phonics Lesson Plan

Title of Your Lesson| Digraph Picture Hunt| Grade Level| 4th| Subject| Phonics- Digraphs| Summary and Rationale (Connections to Big Goal/Unit)| Students will be working with digraphs. TTW will students what sounds /ph/, /th/, and /sh/ make as a reminder and then asked to give examples. The students will then be given poster board split into three categories for each of the three digraphs and will be working in groups of three to find words and pictures in magazines that fit into the three categories.At the end of the activity, the students will present their findings as a summary and a test to make sure the activity was completed correctly. The goal of this activity will be for students to be able to recognize digraphs through pictures as words. Students will demonstrate understanding by responding to questions on whiteboards that they will hold up when questions are asked. | Classroom Scenario (small group, whole class, self-contained, resource, gen. ed. , spec. ed. nclusion)| This activity will be done with the entire class of fifteen, but students will be broken up into five groups of three. | PRETEACHING TASKS/PLANNING| | Common Core State Standards (CCSS)| 4. RF. 3Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. a. Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e. g. , roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context. Objectives (One to two at most. TSW or TSWBAT†¦)(What will your students be able to do? What will students know by the end of this lesson? )| Students will be able to recognize /ph/, /th/, and /sh/ sounds through pictures and words in magazines allowing for easier recognition in real-life| Evaluation/Assessment (Is your assessment intimately aligned to your lesson’s objectives and standards? How will you know whether your students have made progress toward the objective? How and when will you assess mastery?Describe the task, the criteria/rubric, worksheet, check sheet, and goal for mastery. )| Students will be working together to find pictures and words in magazines that correspond to the digraphs we are concentrating on. When the students present their boards, the teacher will know whether or not they have understood what the sounds sound like and if they were able to identify them through pictures and words found in magazines. | Materials Needed (Graphic organizers, specific books, readers, word wall, sound counters, SMARTBoard, etc. )| Whiteboard, magazines, scissors, poster paper, glue| Accommodations/Modifications to be provided/Explicit Differentiated Instructional Strategies| * One-on-one time with teacher will be available for students struggling with the sounds * For differentiated instruction, TTW provide pictures of words and the student will sort them into categories based on their digraph * Another differentiated instruction activity will allow students to write l ists of words in columns that are appropriate for certain digraphs and sound letter relationships. INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN PRELESSSON SUMMARY (WRITTEN REFLECTION)| SEE ATTACHED RESPONSE BELOW. | TEACHING PROCEDURES| | Building Background (Opener/Hook/Anticipatory Set) (How does this lesson connect to previous lessons/objectives taught? What visuals, video, or text reminders will you use? How you will excite students about the learning that will take place? How will you engage students in the language of the lesson’s objective(s)? Explain. )| When they break of into groups students will be excited that they get to work with their friends to go on an â€Å"in-class scavenger hunt†.TTW let the students know that they will be going on a scavenger hunt to find the sounds that have been written on the whiteboard. The word â€Å"digraph† will be introduced and gone over for students who do not remember it. To help the students remember the function of the digraph, the teach er will ask them to give me a few examples of words with the /ph/, /th/, and /sh/ sounds in them before beginning the activity. | Introduction of New Material (What 3 – 5 key points do you want to emphasize? How/what will you model for students?How will you ensure that students actively take in information presented? )| – Emphasize the specific digraphs previously mentioned – Show students that pairs of letters come together to make sounds in forming words – Allow students the opportunity to choose one word they found a picture for and spell it on the board for the other students to see the digraph pattern and picture they found| Guided Practice/Small Group Lesson Activities (This is where you practice your objective with students.How will you ensure that all students have multiple opportunities to practice? How will you scaffold practice exercise from easy to difficult? How will you monitor and correct student performance? )| The teacher will be walking around from group to group to check for group and individual understanding. TTW will look at the words they have found so far and make sure they are appropriate for the activity. If words are not matching the digraphs being used, TTW will explain why and help them find words that will work.Each group will be presenting so no student will be left out of the process. This exercise itself is self-contained so students will be doing as much as they can with out the help of a teacher. | Independent Practice (This is where you specifically evidence your objective’s goal (s) with the same activity but different items/prompts for individual assessment. How will the students apply the new knowledge they have learned? )| Each student will have pictures that TTW will provide to sort into piles based on their digraph.TTW will walk around and check the piles. To be able to check for entire class understanding, students will respond to activity related questions on whiteboards. | Lesson Cl osure (How will students summarize what they learned? How will students be asked to state or show the significance of what they have learned? How will you provide all students with opportunities to demonstrate mastery, or progress toward mastery of the objective? How will you specifically review your lesson’s objectives? * TTW will review the digraphs we have focused onTo summarize what we have learned, TTW will say a word and ask for a thumbs up or a thumbs down based on the word the teacher provided and whether it has a digraph sound or not| Extensions (How might you provide opportunities for extension? )| The teacher could make a class bulletin board with a bubble surrounding the three digraphs that we are focusing on. Students can find pictures at home that have those sounds and cut them out and bring them in to add to our class bulletin board. Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels Achieved in the Lesson. Please justify. (Found in your Instructional Plans Folders 1 & 2)| Remembe r, Recognizing, Recalling- Students will be working from long-term memory to retrieve knowledge from past lessons to complete this activity Understanding- Students will know which category to put their words and pictures into on their poster board by sorting their words and pictures by digraph Applying- The students will be taking knowledge they learned in one format and applying it to a new and different activity|

The Jesuit Legacy in India

The Jesuit Legacy in India Abstract: The Jesuits arrived in India in 1542 A. D. to carry out Christ’s command to â€Å"go and make disciples of all nations† (Matthew 28:19). Over the last 500 years, they have woven themselves into the very fabric of India with deep psychological, theological and sociological connotations. This article tells that story; highlights some noteworthy Jesuit influences on Modern India, particularly in the fields of education, medicine, social service and leadership training amongst the youth; and, draws leadership lessons from these Jesuit achievements.The Jesuits demonstrated servant leadership, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership qualities. Without the Jesuits, the article concludes, India would be a different country. The Jesuit Legacy in India Ad majorem Dei gloriam. For the greater glory of God. That’s the motto of a religious order of men called the Society of Jesus that has quietly influenced India, and pro vided understated leadership to the world’s largest democracy in many positive ways deserving of recognition.The influence of the Jesuits in India extends beyond just the spread of Christianity, weaving intricate psychological, theological and sociological patterns into the very fabric of modern Indian society. Professor George Menachery – appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as member of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in early 2008, and editor of the St.Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India and the Indian Church History Classics – writes in Volume III of the former publication: the â€Å"factor which has won the Society a lasting place in the minds of the people and in the history of the nation is the large number of spheres which it has penetrated and permeated,† and goes on to list religion, spirituality, politics, education, science, technology, meteorology, diplomacy, indology, culture, history, geography, language, literature, a rt, architecture, sports, medicine, healthcare, social reforms, leadership formation, tribal and aboriginal movements, and nation-building as some of the contributions of the Jesuits to modern India. Brief History The organization was founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius Loyola (1491–1556), and received papal authorization in 1540 under Pope Paul III. Amongst the original six members was St. Francis Xavier, who was an ardent missionary with the passion to take Christ’s message to the East. He arrived in India in 1542, almost fifteen centuries after St. Thomas the Apostle had brought Christianity to India.With the arrival of Xavier, began a saga of leadership by the Society of Jesus in India that continues to this day, almost 500 years later. Pre-British India The expanding influence on the Jesuits on 17th century pre-British India has been well documented by historians, among them Ellison Banks Findly, who writes in Nur Jahan, Empress of Mughal India (Oxford University Pres s) that Mughal Emperor Jahangir (1569-1627) granted the Jesuits many privileges, and spent â€Å"every night for one year†¦ in hearing disputation† amongst Christian and other theologians, and that his â€Å"most active interest in Christian doctrine was in the debates held at his court between the Jesuit fathers and the Muslim mullas. In fact, the Jesuit Mission of the Great Moghul was started at the request of Emperor Akbar, with Father Rudolph Acquaviva, the future Martyr, as its first Superior.The Jesuit Mission in Madura in the south was also begun at the request of the Hindu viceroy (nayakka) established in Madura, and later supported by Zulfikar Ali Khan (1690-1703), the first Nawab of the Carnatic. The Madura Mission counted among its members the celebrated Father Robert de Nobili, as well as Saint John de Britto. British India With the onset of British rule over India that effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, the Jesuits found greater favor wi th the erstwhile powers. They began exerting increasing influence not only on the Christians in India, but also on the society at large.Even the Maharajas – whom the British allowed to reign as long as they paid their due taxes to the Crown – and their war councils and civil administrations, were positively influenced by the Jesuits, right from Goa to Cochin to Cape Comorin to Manapad to Mannar to Mylapore. Independent India By the time the British Empire was overthrown and independent India emerged in 1947, the Jesuits had entrenched themselves deeply into Indian society by way of leading and high-profile educational institutions, hospitals, charity organizations and other enterprises that became effective partners of the government in the young democracy in supporting growth.Professor George Menachery writes in The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India (Vol. III 2010): â€Å"the ubiquitous nature of the Society has through its varied missions become one of the most powerful influences in Indian history. Today there is hardly any Catholic ecclesiastical division in India or any revenue district in the country for that matter which does not boast some Jesuit enterprise or other, be it a school or a college, a technical training institute or an engineering establishment, a printing press or an infirmary, a seminary or a social service centre. † Psychological Influence on India Discipline positively impacted the Indian psycheThe Jesuit movement gathered force right in the middle of the Catholic revival called the Counter-Reformation that began with the Council of Trent (1545-1563) as a response to the Protestant Reformation, and ended with the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Pope Paul III (1534–1549) led the Council of Trent, and tasked the attending cardinals with institutional reform to impact ecclesiastical (or structural) reconfiguration, religious orders, spiritual movements and political dimensions of the Catholic Church. New religious orders – such as the Jesuits, Capuchins, Ursulines, Theatines, Discalced Carmelites, and the Barnabites – were a fundamental part of this movement, and Jesuits in particular, greatly bolstered rural parishes, enhanced popular piety, succeeded in constraining corruption within the church, and played an exemplary role in overall Catholic renewal.These activities extended well into India. The Jesuit charter established by St. Ignatius Loyola was dictatorial and military-like (possibly emanating from the fact that Ignatius was a soldier before he became a priest); and, this iron discipline, rigid training and resolute character of the Jesuits created a deep psychological impact on the Indian psyche. Rev. Fr. Jerome Francis, a current Jesuit missionary in the Calcutta Province, opines that this perception of extreme discipline sat well with the general Indian populace and the rulers, and consequently boded well for the next phase of Jesuit growth in the count ry. Helped prevent Mysticism amongst Indian ChristiansAn example of rigid and inflexible discipline can be discerned in regulations such as Rule-13 of the Jesuit Charter that said: â€Å"I will believe that the white that I see is black if the hierarchical Church so defines it† (Jesuit Political Thought: The Society of Jesus and the State by Harro Hopfl, Cambridge University Press, 2004). Ursula King writes in Christian Mystics: The Spiritual Heart of the Christian Tradition (Simon & Schuster, 1998) that such rigid principles helped prevent the spread of mysticism amongst Christians in India, even while mysticism ran high in parts of Europe during the Catholic revival, with leaders like Teresa of Avila (1515-82) and John of the Cross (1542-91). The spread of mysticism made the institutional Church especially nervous because, carried to its logical conclusion, mysticism negates the need for priesthood and the sacraments.Since one of the central tenets of Hinduism is a formless God (â€Å"Thou art formless; thy only form is our knowledge of thee† – Upanishads), Christians exposed to Hindu thought were especially prone mysticism, as has been proven over and over again by later-day Christian mystics like Father Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) and Henry le Saux (1910-1973). Closer psychological integration with Hindu society The Jesuits also introduced to India the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, which was endorsed by Pope Paul III in 1548, and exemplified the Society of Jesus in the way these exercises helped the Jesuits understand human relationship with God, and live a life of commitment to Christ. The Exercises were a set of meditations, prayers and mental exercises designed to be carried out typically over a four week period, aimed at helping individuals discern Jesus in their lives and commit to a life of service to Christ.This rigid Jesuit tradition has been compared with devotionalism, and provided close parallels to Hindu ritualistic tradi tions, and helped psychologically in the closer integration of the Jesuits into Hindu society. Theological Influence Setting up of Seminaries Jesuits believed in establishing seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church. Consequently, they set up several seminaries in India to dispense theological knowledge. Styled after the successful seminary of the Malankara Orthodox Church that was founded by St. Thomas, the Apostle in A. D. 52, and the Rachol Seminary founded in 1521 by the Church of Goa, the earliest Jesuit seminary was the St.Joseph's Inter-diocesan Seminary, Mangalore established in 1763; followed by St. Joseph’s Seminary started in West Bengal in 1879; and, the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier founded in 1887 in Pilar. Today there are at least 22 Jesuit seminaries, many of them degree granting institutions authorized by the Vatican and the government of India. The foremost example of Jesuit theological excellence is the Vidyajyoti College of Theology in Delhi that currently enrolls hundreds of students coming from some 70 religious congregations, dioceses, secular institutes and lay associations from every part of India and abroad. Setting up of ChurchesOne of the earliest Jesuit churches was established by St. Francis Xavier himself in Tuticorin. Originally called the Jesuit Church of Saint Paul, its status was raised to that of a Basilica by Pope Paul II to mark its 400th anniversary, and is now known as the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows, Tuticorin. St. Paul’s Churchaty in Diu on the west coast of India dates back to 1610. In all, there are over 110 Jesuit Churches in India, and these churches have always integrated well with Indian society in general, and with people from other faiths, in particular. To cite one example of this integration: During midnight mass on Christmas Eve in St.Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta, the rush of Hindus is so he avy that the Church installs a loudspeaker system in the large gardens surrounding the Church, so that hundreds of Hindus who could not gain entry into the Cathedral, can sit and listen to the rituals. Evangelism Jesus commanded his eleven disciples to: â€Å"†¦ go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. † – Matthew 28:19,20 NIV. The Jesuits had evangelism as one of their stated goals, and their efforts first spread Christianity along the western â€Å"Konkan† coast of India. The Jesuits then spread both southwards (towards Madura) and northwards (towards Agra), continually converting Hindus and Muslims to Christianity. Rev. H. Hosten, S. J. writes in Jesuit Missionaries in Northern India and Inscriptions on their Tombs (1580-1803): â€Å"Under (Mughal Emperor) Jah angir†¦ several Mohamedan Princes were baptized†, among them â€Å"Currown, another of Jahangir's sons, and other of his friends (to make his way easier to the Crown) prevailed with Jahangir that his kinsmen Shaw Selym's Brother's Sons might be Christened; which accordingly was done in Agra†¦ that year they also baptized another Grandson of Akbar's. † Until the Protestant Missionaries came to India in the 18th century, the Jesuits were the prime force of evangelism in India. Typical and often quoted, but not unique, proactive initiative to reach out to the Indian masses is practiced today by the Indian Theological Seminary (ITS).Founded by the Jesuits, ITS is now an interdenominational seminary located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with Gilgal Gospel Mission as its missionary training arm. The Gilgal Gospel Mission trains men and women, and sends them out into the world at large in pairs, into Hindu villages, with a view to them establishing friendship in the villag es, and starting, first, Sunday Schools and, later, Churches. ITS prepares three types of Church planters (a) bare foot evangelists (C. Th), (b) Bachelor of Theology (B. Th), and (c) Master of Divinity (M. Div). Graduates who prepare at ITS fulfill its mission of â€Å"Preaching Christ and Planting Churches† in every village, town and city.Many return to their homes in the various parts of India to continue teaching, preaching, and planting churches. Today, Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2. 3% of India's population. The popularization of Annual Retreats amongst Priests and the Populace As noted earlier, the Jesuits avidly pursued the implementation of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius that were a set of meditations, prayers and mental exercises designed to be practiced in the form of a four week meditative retreat from normal life. The basic purpose of these retreats was to mediate the human-God relation ship; and, periodically re-examine and re-validate the nuances of that relationship.Such annual retreats became popular in India not only amongst the Jesuit priests, but even amongst priests from other faiths. The concept of retreats spread to the corporate world too, and Sunanda Dutta-Ray writing in The Statesman dated January 26, 2006, mention three instances where Chief Executive Officers of large Indian corporations – all Jesuit alumni – instituted the concept of a 3-day annual retreat modeled after their experience in school. Sociological Influence The largest visible Jesuit influence on India has been the wide and deep sociological impact – in terms of the development of the Indian people and societies – that is discernible everywhere.Jesuit Education With over 30 excellent high schools, over 10 high profile colleges for higher education, and innumerable elementary schools and vocational training centers all over India, Jesuit education is much soug ht after in the country. The foremost examples of Jesuit higher education are the Vellore Medical College and Hospital, one of India’s foremost teaching hospitals, Xavier Labor Relations Institute, one of India’s foremost business schools. Even St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta has produced many industry leaders, the foremost amongst them is Lakshmi Mittal, whose company – ArcelorMittal – is today the world’s largest steel producer.Loyola College in Chennai has similarly produced many leaders for the country, even a President (Ramaswamy Venkataraman) and a world chess champion (Viswanathan Anand). Most of these educational institutions date back to the earlier part of the 20th century, if not earlier still, and played a vigorous role in nation-building when India became independent. Former President of India, Abdul Kalam, lauded the Jesuits’ role in India education, while opening the 6th global meet of Jesuit institutions in Calcutta: â€Å"†Jesuit institutions have a big role in the spread of modern education in the country. Being a Jesuit alumnus myself, I'm aware of the great contribution of Jesuit education not only in India but around the world† (as reported by Krittivas Mukherjee for Indo-Asian News Service).Not content to be restricted to India alone, Jesuits from Calcutta recently gave education in Afghanistan a boost, when two of them – Maria Joseph and Sahaya Jude – recently travelled to the war-torn country and started training students and teachers (as reported in the The Telegraph, Jan 4, 2010). It should be mentioned in passing that all Jesuit education in India is completely secular. Catholic students are given additional training in Catechism, but students of other faiths are usually treated to a secular Moral Science lecture, or – at most – a watered down Bible History. Jesuit Social Work Jesuits have deeply been involved in social work and social reform.W hole books can be written on this subject alone, because these engagements have been – and continue to be – so numerous and so vigorous. Caritas India has been at the forefront of traditional social work, as the front organization for Catholic Charities, with thousands of people and hundreds of project sites spanning all across the country. It is only one of the more visible ones; in general, almost every Jesuit organization practices social work in its immediate vicinity, and engages the students of all its nationwide institutions in social activities. For instance, the Vidyajyoti College of Theology in Delhi has very active prison ministry, hospital ministry, slum ministry, tribal ministry, neighborhood ministry, and even a railway platform ministry.Many Jesuits ventured out into the villages and made a mark with their social activism. Just one such example is Father Michael Anthony Windey (1921-2009), founder of the Village Reconstruction Organization (VRO), who joi ned the Jesuits in 1938, traveled to India in 1946 and was ordained a priest in 1950. When he passed away in Belgium in 2009 while under treatment for cancer, he was mourned by the Church, social workers and villagers in India, because he had dedicated his life to using Gandhian methods to revolutionize village life in India. Said Father A. X. J. Bosco, a former head of the Jesuits? Andhra Pradesh province who has worked as VRO? operational director: â€Å"Father Windey was never bothered about the religion of the person he helped. While selecting villages, he always chose to help the poorest village. † Social Activism The involvement of the Jesuits extended to social activism, sometimes of a kind even questioned by the Vatican. Rone Tempest, staff writer, reported in the L. A. Times, Jan 21, 1986, on the Pope’s visit to India: â€Å"Significantly, the Pope will not visit the northern Bihar Muzafapur area, where radical Catholic priests have recently organized Hindu s erfs against powerful landlords, some of whom even maintain their own armies for private wars against their foes and bands of roving bandits, or dacoits.Similarly, when he visits the Catholic stronghold state of Kerala in southern India, he has no plans to visit areas in which radical priests and nuns, India's version of South America's â€Å"liberation theologists,† have organized sailboat fishermen, mostly Hindus and Muslims, against the motorized fishing trawler industry. † Leadership Training Service (LTS) LTS – short for Leadership Training Service – is a unique contribution by the Jesuits to Indian society. Initiated by five students of the Goethals Memorial School in Kurseong, West Bengal in 1959, Fr. Robert Wirth of St. Xavier’s School, Sahibganj, Bihar, was selected to lead the movement in 1970. Fr. Wirth did just that for the next 21 years from the LTS headquarter in Calcutta, and spread the movement to Jesuit educational institutes in 24 States. The LTS motto is: â€Å"For God and Country†, and resonated strongly with a developing India.The LTS vision involves the four-fold objectives of: (a) Personality Development; (b) Leadership Skills; (c) Social Awareness; and, Social Responsibility that leads to social development. The movement articulates this as â€Å"a journey from ‘I Consciousness’ (initiated through Personality development and mastering leadership skills) to ‘We Consciousness’ (achieved through inculcating social awareness and exercising social responsibility that leads to social development)† (as stated on its website: www. LTSworld. com). The LTS celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2009, and brought Fr. Robert Wirth – who collaborated in the writing of this paper – all the way from Malta to the LTS headquarters in Calcutta.Today there are reportedly over 15,000 LTSers working towards India’s progress. Leadership Lessons from the Jesuits Consisten t and long-term success is never a result of accident or luck. The Jesuits have demonstrated strong leadership qualities throughout their 500 year history in India. Servant Leadership The Jesuits, through their disciplined and exemplary behavior, became role models for the Indian populace who observed them, interacted with them, and learned from them. Influencing through exemplary behavior is a fundamental tenet of servant leadership. The Jesuits also extensively and deeply served the people whose lives they touched, through social work, educational institutions, hospitals and other missions.This service was, and continues to be, in the best tradition of servitude demonstrated by Christ. Transformation Leadership Mark Pousson, Program Director for Service Learning at The Reinert Center for Teaching Excellence at the St. Louis University writes in The Notebook, a publication of the Reinert Center: â€Å"Historically, the Jesuits espouse the power of transformation through conversati on,† (Vol 11, Issue 4), and goes on to say that Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, readily engaged people in conversation about God and spirituality. It is from his value of transformation through experiences that Saint Ignatius companions infused transformation in what is known as the Jesuit tradition of education.Jesuits heavily utilized this power of transformation through pedagogy and education in India, and – as earlier stated in this article – has left an indelible mark on the Indian education landscape. The Jesuits also practiced transformational leadership by inspiring Indians to strive for something better than they were used to, to push the limit, and to aim for excellence. Evidence of this is plentiful, but particular note may be taken of the Jesuit’s LTS (Leadership Training Service) initiative described earlier, which was a totally new concept in India when it was started in 1959, and continues to inspire and build the current g eneration of young leaders in the 21st century. In fact, the LTS movement resonates strongly with one of the fundamentals goal of transformation leadership: the make leaders out of followers.The Annual Retreats that the Jesuits taught the Indians and popularized amongst people of faith as well as the corporate world, was another instance where people were inspired and motivated to implement and practice innovative leadership solutions for everyday problems. Transactional Leadership Transactional leadership was commonly practiced by the Jesuits. A very common example was the exchange of better medical care for conversion to Christianity. It was a subtle but effective message. When the Jesuits set up modern medical care facilities in rural India – especially in the Tribal areas where people were not even Hindus, but practiced some form of pantheism – it is widely believed that it was not so much the preaching as the access to modern medical care that converted lots of tr ibal people to Christianity. Social Learning TheoryJesuit social activism, social work and its military-like discipline – all widely admired by the Hindus of India – triggered the positive effects of the Social Learning Theory, which argues that people learn best through a 3-step emulation process defined as: (a) observation, (b) imitation, and (c) modeling. When people like behavior they would like to emulate, they are motivated to do so on their own without having to be compelled in some covert or overt manner to oblige. Social Learning Theory, therefore, has feeds into the Servant Leadership theory, because servant leaders aim to influence followers through exemplary action and self-motivated emulation. The Jesuits in India put both servant leadership and social learning theories to good use. Epilogue In closing, a short acknowledgment says it all: Without the Jesuits, India would be a different country.

Terrorism After 911 essays

Terrorism After 911 essays On September 10, 2001, the day before terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., a report was issued to the U.S. Congress by Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs for the U.S. Department of State. Signs continue to point to...a rise in the scope of threat posed by the independent network of exiled Saudi dissident Usama bin Ladin, Katzman wrote. The terrorist network of bin Laden, Katzman asserted, is independently financed... [and] wants to strike within the United States itself. The world knows what happened the day after that report was issued. But what terrorist-related issues and policies have the Bush Administration dealt with subsequent to 9/11? How effective have those policies been, given the issues that those policies have raised? Those are the topics to be explored in this paper. What effect has terrorism had on U.S. policy since Sept. 11, 2001? According to Steven E. Miller, writing in Global Governance (2005), when the old Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the old (Cold War) international order also crumbled into pieces. And following the attacks of 9/11, the Bush Administrations new order came into play. This new Bush international order (e.g., policy and strategy) writes Miller, is structured around threats and responses to threats rather than around laws and institutions. What that means is the U.S. has staked out a policy of going it alone, or in some cases putting together coalitions of the willing, with the stern proviso to countries that may or may not become allies against terrorism: You are either with us or against us. International laws and institutions, under the Bush doctrine, Miller writes, may be instruments or impediments, to be utilized or spurned as Bush sees fit. The Bush terrorism...

Sustainable Sushi Restaurant Essay Example

Sustainable Sushi Restaurant Essay Example Sustainable Sushi Restaurant Essay Sustainable Sushi Restaurant Essay Its amazing how America as a whole latches on to other cultures, and how fast parts of those cultures grow. Sushi made it over to America about 10 years after WW11. Now, we see sushi everywhere. According to this article there were 276 sushi restaurants in Los Angeles in 2005. In 2010, according to the Huffington Post, there is a sushi bar on almost every block. There are four ingredients that are usually accompaniments of sushi: the sushi rice which is usually mixed with rice vinegar makes it a little sticky), salt, and sugar and to keep it authentic it should be Japanese short-grained rice. Theres the wasabi which offsets the sometimes fishy flavor. It comes from a plant in the mustard family. Gari is ginger that is pickled in rice vinegar salt and sugar. And Soy sauce which is made from wheat and soybeans that are fermented with a mold called koJi. There are all different kinds of rolls some use raw fish some used cooked fish some use Just vegetables. And then there is sashimi, which is the raw fish without the rice. In the second article I read, these three sushi chefs wanted to find a way to still create the fabulous food a lot of people enjoy without losing all the fish in the sea while doing so. And they did this by opening Americas first sustainable sushi restaurant Tataki in San Fransisco. Instead of using shrimp and salmon they use things like Arctic char and sardines. The restaurant was a success and . they opened another one in Seattle.

Expository Essay

Expository Essay Expository Essay Expository Essay Expository essay writing should follow this simple structure: introduction, main text and conclusion. Writing expository essay you need to discuss topic and explain your point of view presenting illustrative material. In the introduction give background information on essay topic, to set the foundation for your main text. Expository essay should have a clear essay title and brief introduction.   Do not overload introduction with unnecessary information. You will have an opportunity to write all you want in the main body of your expository essay. Body of expository essay should be as detailed as possible.   However, you should not go beyond the narrowly defined topic as well as you should meet the specific word limit.   Writing an essay, start new paragraph with new idea; however, it should be linked to the previous one. Expository Essay Writing Writing an expository essay avoid using personal pronoun 'I' and passive voice. The final things you need to do before turning in an expository essay are proofreading and revision. Make sure that your expository essay does not fall out of the assigned topic.   If your expository essay is about nature, do not write about humanity.   You may mention the role of humans, but you should not focus is on humanity.   It can be used to support your main points, as an example; however, it should not be the focus of your expository essay. Custom Expository Essay We would like to offer you professional custom expository essay writing service.   Our writers are working hard to ensure high quality of every piece of writing.   Expository essay written by our writer will definitely meet academic requirements of your teacher.  We strive not to be late and assign a writer to help you within a very short period of time (less than 30 minutes).   Why to choose .com? We are honest and reliable, we are responsible and diligent.   Your questions are not left unanswered; your expository essays are not plagiarized.   We are young but educated and devoted writers. You may contact us 24/7 to get an answer on any question you may have.

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Must Liturgy Adapt to Culture or vice versa Essay

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Madam C. J. Walker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Madam C. J. Walker - Essay Example Walker. To the woman of today, the story of Madam’s (as she was called in her hey days) offers thrilling examples of how hard a black woman would have to struggle in a society prone to racial discrimination. What started out as her journey to build a career in entrepreneurship, Madam’s hair care and hair culture products business led her to become an icon in the world of slavery and discrimination that the blacks suffered in those days. Madam was always known to stay put at what she wanted. And it is from this basic nature that she found all the prosperity and success that marked her career and life. In the present article we analyze a few important lessons that every reader can take back from her life. As is well known, her life has been marked with incidents of historical importance for the American black community, and we try to study as many of them as we can. Born into a slave family, Sarah Breedlove held in her personality all the toughness that is characteristic to the African community, and this trait stayed with her till the end of her life. Not much is known to her family as to what happened in her early days. She is known to have been married at the age of fourteen and widowed at the age of twenty, with a child to earn her living for. She fended for her family by working as a washerwoman and around this point in time, she realized she was losing hair a little too much. She discovered a formula to stop the hair fall and grow back the lost tresses. In what she has herself called a magical dream, Madam discovered the formula all by herself, prepared the potion, applied it to the hair, and obtained excellent results. Without the toughness of her personality, no woman would have had the courage to develop a hair care product when she was toiling in the midst of poverty. Conviction they say can help the dying survive death. Madam’ s

Technological Aspects to Support Ebusiness Essay Example for Free

Technological Aspects to Support Ebusiness Essay Introduction: For this assignment I am going to compare, contrast and look at the history of two internet giants: Ebay and Amazon. They are two sites that I regularly use, one more so than the other and find both as user friendly as I do interesting. I will look in detail at the history of the two and also the internet as a global network. Finally I will make a brief conclusion and some recommendations. The evolution of e-business: The term e-business or electronic business was first coined by Microsoft’s marketing and internet team in 1996 but businesses started using websites to marketing their products in the early 1990’s shortly after graphic based web-design became available. They quickly shifted from simply using the web for providing customers with information about their products to selling them when the software to encrypt credit card data became widely available in 1994. Netscape developed Secured Socket Layer (SSL) and websites developed the ability to encrypt sessions, making credit card transactions over the Internet safer for all concerned. With an encrypted connection between a companys server and a client computer, credit numbers could be hidden so they could not be intercepted by a third party, which made the theft of card information more difficult. This security led to the birth of e-business and changed the way we shop for ever. After this period the floodgates opened for opportunities in business to trade online but many people still didn’t trust giving out their credit details over the internet and it proved too expensive to trade on line with transactions of under a dollar or its equivalent. These payments were called micro payments and many companies came and went trying to facilitate these transactions. Paypal has been the most successful business to date that operates in this area and made it fast, cheap and most importantly secure for people to pay for goods online. Even with the emergence of these secure payment businesses, popularity with on line sales was still was not hitting the heights as expected and the .com bubble burst in the early 2000’s. The collapse of the bubble took place during 2000-2001. Many companies failed completely. Others lost a large portion of their market capitalization but remained stable and profitable, e.g., Cisco, whose stock declined by 86%. Some later recovered and surpassed their dot-com-bubble peaks, e.g; Amazon.com whose stock went from 107 to 7 dollars per share, but a decade later exceeded 200. After the bubble burst, many dot-coms liquidated or were acquired by other companies; the domain names were snapped up by domain investors or businesses with more traditional business models who had survived the crash. A few of the larger dot-com companies did survive, however: Amazon and Ebay are good examples. According to some sources, about 50% of dot-coms survived. Unfortunately, there were still thousands of technical experts such as programmers and web designers who were laid off and found themselves in a highly competitive job market. The acquisition of YouTube by Google, Skype by Ebay, and others, has led to speculation that there may be a second, similar bubble on the horizon. Consolidation of websites where top ten sites buy up competition or others go bust. Comparison of 2 web sites For this assignment I am going to explain, compare and contrast possibly the two most popular internet shopping sites; Ebay and Amazon. I’ve used both of these sites myself and have had little or no problem with either and find them both very user friendly. Ebay: Like most of the first really big internet sites, Ebay was started by one person and a computer from a bedroom or in this case a living room. Pierre Omidyar first created eBay (originally stood for echo bay technology but that domain name had already been taken) in 1995 to offer a marketplace where unwanted goods or collectables could be sold online with little knowledge of how much a global phenomenon it would become and how many times people would attempt to replicate it. The success of Ebay rose greatly for 3 years in which it amassed revenues of approx $4 miollion by its third year of trading. In March 1998, Pierre and his cofounder Jeff Skoll brought in the now multi billionaire Meg Whitman to sustain the success and take it to the next level. This proved pivotal in the world wide success of Ebay although her 9 year spell as CEO was not without controversy. Meg had studied at the Harvard Business School and had learned the importance of branding at companies such as Hasbro. Within 6 months as CEO of Ebay Whitman turned Ebay from a popular online garage sale to a multi billion dollar empire by splitting the company into 23 different business sections, and 35,000 sub categories. She made the company public and shares went from 7 cents a share to as high as $170 a share. This made Ebay the tech darling of the web and many tried and many failed to replicate their success. Ebay now stands at number 64 on the Forbes most powerful brands with 27,700 employees and annual sales of 11.65 billion. Ebay makes its money from a number of ways: Every time someone puts something up for sale on Ebay they have to pay an insertion fee (fee for starting an auction). Usually in the region of 55 cent for smaller to mid-priced auctions. So even if a product does not sell, Ebay will have made money. From each successful auction Ebay will also take a percentage from each sale. Advertising Companies pay to advertise on their site. Google adsense and various other advertising companies use ebay to advertise company’s products on the site. Paypal. Ebay own Paypal and the majority of buyers and sellers use it when making transactions on Ebay. Paypal in turn gets a cut of each transaction. In October of 2002 eBay acquired Paypal Inc. for 1.5 billion dollars. Paypal is the preferred way of making payments for eBay auctions and is growing in popularity for other Internet uses. Paypal allows a person to send or receive money via an email address. Money in a Paypal account can be spent on the Internet, sent by check to the account owner, or deposited into a bank account. Paypal also offers credit cards, debit cards, and a bill paying function. Amazon Amazon.com like ebay is one of the largest online retail websites in the world. Also like ebay it started up from one man and a computer from home but in this case, a garage, and went from a small operation to an international business employing thousands of people in a short space of time. Much the same as Ebay. People all over the world purchase books, music, movies and products from Amazon and hundreds of partner companies. Amazon.com was started by Jeff Bezos in 1994. At the time, his company was run completely from his garage in Bellevue, Washington. He was able to secure funding from Nick Hanauer. This first investment of $40,000 was joined by a larger, $100,000 investment from Tom Alburg that helped make the new website more user-friendly. Like eBay both men would probably not have turned their brand into a global force without the help of outside parties. During the first month of business, Bezos fulfilled and shipped orders to all 50 states, and to 48 countries. Books were t he only product available at that time. Bezos wanted Amazon.com to be more than just a retail website; he wanted to create an online community. Early on, he added a feature that enabled readers to add their own book reviews for all customers to view. In 1997, Amazon.com added movies and music to its offerings. On May 15, 1997, the company went public. The initial public offering (IPO) was targeted at $18, but by the end of the day, public demand had pushed the share price to more than $24 per share. The company had raised $54 million. Amazon.com is listed on Nasdaq as AMZN. In 1998, Amazon opened its first international sites in the United Kingdom and Germany, where it quickly enjoyed success. In 1999 the company opened four order fulfillment centers in Fernley, Nevada; Coffeyville, Kansas; and Campbellsville and Lexington, Kentucky to handle the large mass of orders. Time Magazine featured Jeffrey Preston Bezos as Person of the Year in 1999, calling him king of cyber commerce. The Look Inside the Book feature, added in 2001, was immediately popular as a tool for consumers to see if the book they were looking at would fit their needs. Later, the Search Inside the Book feature, added in 2003, made it possible for consumers to search key words in the text of the book. Amazon added Marketplace, where sellers of used books could offer products for sale with a small commission collected by Amazon. Amazon also teamed up with many companies to offer their products through the website. In January 2009, Amazon reported $6.7 billion in fourth quarter 2008 sales. The company now has centers in 12 U.S. states and eight countries. Its headquarters are in Seattle, Washington, and the company employs more than 21,000 people worldwide. In 2009 Amazon released the Kindle. The kindle is an ebook viewer that lets users download ebooks to the device and read them without physically every owning the book. Users can now also view films and connect to the internet through it. It was through the kindle that helped amazon sales increase ten fold. By 2011 amazon had recorded sales of $48 billion. There are a lot of similarities between Ebay and Amazon which I will now outline below. Both set up around the same time Both set up from home by one man and a internet connection. Both companies became very popular very quick. Both needed the addition of outside help to take it to worldwide success Both companies went public around the same time and made everyone involved overnight millionaires†¦ Both let users sell their unwanted items online Where they differ is Ebay sells anything and everything, new and used and owns its payment service. Ebay doesn’t sell any of its own products and relies heavily on user input, paypal and advertising to bring in income. Ebay is unique in that it actually doesn’t stock any products and is selling other peoples items which it never comes in contact with. This means they don’t have any overheads like warehousing rental, handling fees, shipping/transporting costs and all the labor costs that are attached with the above. If people stop buying or selling on the site, their business plan fails and will cease to exist, so keeping their brand in the public eye and keeping a positive public image is of more importance than most. Ebay has to spend a whopping $83 million a year on advertising and although this only represents 1% of revenue it’s still the third highest of tech companies in the modern climate. This can be viewed as an extremely proactive move but also highlights how the top brass at Ebay think and what position the company could find itself in if not continuously in the public’s mind. The annual $83 million spent on advertising is roughly double what amazon spends a year. That in itself tells you a lot about the differences between the two company’s business plans. [pic] Amazon sells books, music and film, new and used but only accepts credit card/debt card payment does not own the payment facility. Interestingly it doesn’t accept paypal as a form of payment. Amazon has more arms to its business and potentially better equipped to survive if interest drops in the brand or another dot com bubble burst arises. Amazon is like any retailer that buys and sells a product for profit and has all of the overheads that come along with it including stock management and cost issues. Amazon has its own creation in the kindle that it manufactures wholesales and retails itself which proves very profitable. Similar to Dell computers but without the wholesale part. Security: Ebay Paypal is renowned for its safety aspect of shopping securely online. If your paypal account has been hacked and money is taken out then a refund is provided by paypal. If you purchase something on Ebay trough paypal then you could be covered with buyer protection. Buyer protection can get you a refund including post and packaging costs if the item you purchase isn’t working properly, not as described or simply didn’t arrive. It’s a second to none approach to online buying that keeps the customer coming back. If customers don’t use paypal then it can prove to be a little more difficult in getting a refund and/or returning an item. Detail a few scams people do on Ebay [pic] Amazon Shopping on line with Amazon is by and large safe and secure and users often are usually very happy with it’s A to Z guarantee policy where by users are offered a full refund if item is not as materially described. In disputes Amazon usually sides with the buyer. In September 22, 2010, Amazon published a security advisory regarding a security flaw in its Amazon Payments SDK(software development kit). This flaw allows a malicious shopper to shop for free in web stores using those SDKs. Amazon mandated all web stores to upgrade to its new SDKs before Nov. 1, 2010. Amazon acknowledged security researcher Rui Wang for finding this bug. The detail of the flaw is documented in the paper How to Shop for Free Online Security Analysis of Cashier-as-a-Service Based Web Stores by Rui Wang, Shuo Chen, XiaoFeng Wang, and Shaz Qadeer Payment Metods: Amazon Payments accepts verified U.S. bank accounts. For the rest of the world it accepts credit cards and transfers from your available Amazon Payments account balance. Credit cards currently accepted include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners Club, and JCB. You have to verify your bank account before you can use a bank account as a payment method. There are two methods of verification available: Instant Account Verification and Random Deposits. To verify with Instant Account verification, you use your bank login credentials through Amazons secure website to contact your bank. Verification using this method takes only a few minutes. To verify with Random Deposits, Amazon deposits two small random amounts to the checking account you specify. When the deposits are registered with your bank, you verify the amounts with Amazon. Verification using this method takes from five to seven business days. Ebay on the other hand offers many more methods of payment. Payments options for most sales are: Paypal: (as described above) Propay: When the buyers check out, they enter their credit card information. Payment is processed immediately and sent to your ProPay account. There are fees attached similar to paypal but payment protection applies also similar to paypal. Skrill (Moneybookers): Skrill is a business that allows payments to be made through the web. The Moneybookers payment system offers an online deposit accounts and a low-cost, internet-based alternative to traditional money transfer methods such as cheques, money ordersand wire transfers . To merchants, Moneybookers allows accepting online payments made with major cards or Skrills own online accounts. Skrill also has payment protection available and fees are attached. Paymate: Similar to Paypal but it puts funds directly into the sellers bank account. Only for people in Australia and New Zealand. Payment protection available. Fees attached. All major credit cards: Payment protection available. Payment on collection: payment protection available. Both companies make payment as easy as possible but Ebay are clearly out performing Amazon in this department. They offer more payment options but I think they have to in order to make it easier and appear safer for the customer to shop on their site. Internet as a global market: The internet today has become the largest shopping centre on earth accessible through your computer/tablet/mobile phone at home, work or on the go. The world has gotten smaller thanks to the advancements in technology, trading online has become available to the masses with great ease. Cyber Monday is a great example of this. High street retailers are down 0.2% on last year sales for the month of November. Not a crisis by a long shot but its main competitors, the on line retailers, were up 26% year on year for the same period and the credit card firm Visa expected 6.8 million online transactions with shoppers spending  £320 million on 2012’s Cyber Monday alone. That alone tells you how big a market the internet has become. People can now set up a business from home on the internet and become an entrepreneur over night. They can buy products from China and sell them in Argentina within a matter of days without ever having to touch it all from behind the comfort of their computer. Conclusion: Ebay and Amazon are no doubt two brilliant examples of how to make a success of an e-business and are global internet giants. They are both now and will be household names for years to come but Amazon have the advantage in my opinion in that they are retailers as well as middle men for online sales but more importantly they manufacture, wholesale and retail their own hugely successful product in the Kindle. If another worldwide credit crunch arises or dot com bubble bursts then no doubt Amazon is the better of the two equipped to survive. Ebay is in more danger of becoming last weeks news because the hits can drop on it easier and people can stop trading on it or using another similar web site much quicker than Amazon and it will become extinct. Through researching the two sites I now have a greater understanding of the humble beginnings of the two and how they got to where they are today. I now know and understand how the two operate and the security involved with the two. Most of all I would now feel confident in putting what I have learned into practise. Recommendations: Ebay should try follow Amazon by getting into the production market and expand the business to future proof its self. Amazon should focus on its strengths in the kindle and the future being the download market of movies/tv and books particularly in the market of tablets and phones. Bibliography http://online-auction-sites.toptenreviews.com/ The History of Amazon.com | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5377195_history-amazoncom.html#ixzz2Cl25m6Dd http://www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/resources/evangelists/meg_whitman.asp http://www.forbes.com/profile/meg-whitman/ http://www.alternet.org/story/148629/how_meg_whitman_failed_her_way_to_the_top_at_ebay,_collecting_billions_while_nearly_destroying_the_company http://www.happynews.com/living/online/history-ebay.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503259.htm http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-ad-spending-for-tech-companies-2010-5 https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537868 http://askville.amazon.com/eBay-Amazon-place-sell-stuff/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=7778359 http://www.ehow.com/about_5282606_history-ebusiness.html http://www.genuineseller.com/comparison-ebay-amazon http://www.domainmonster.com/editorials/dot_com_bubble/

A History of Pottery

A History of Pottery The production of pottery is one of the most ancient arts. The oldest known body of pottery dates from the Jomon period (from about 10,500 to 400 BC) in Japan; and even the earliest Jomon ceramics exhibit a unique sophistication of technique and design. Excavations in the Near East have revealed that primitive fired-clay vessels were made there more than 8,000 years ago. Potters were working in Iran by about 5500 BC, and earthenware was probably being produced even earlier on the Iranian high plateau. Chinese potters had developed characteristic techniques by about 5000 BC. In the New World many pre-Columbian American cultures developed highly artistic pottery traditions. TYPES OF WARES Pottery comprises three distinctive types of wares. The first type, earthenware, has been made following virtually the same techniques since ancient times; only in the modern era has mass production brought changes in materials and methods. Earthenware is basically composed of clayoften blended claysand baked hard, the degree of hardness depending on the intensity of the heat. After the invention of glazing, earthenwares were coated with glaze to render them waterproof; sometimes glaze was applied decoratively. It was found that, when fired at great heat, the clay body became nonporous. This second type of pottery, called stoneware, came to be preferred for domestic use. The third type of pottery is a Chinese invention that appeared when feldspathic material in a fusible state was incorporated in a stoneware composition. The ancient Chinese called decayed feldspar kaolin (meaning high place, where it was originally found); this substance is known in the West as china clay. Petuntse, or china stone, a less decayed, more fusible feldspathic material, was also used in Chinese porcelain; it forms a white cement that binds together the particles of less fusible kaolin. Significantly, the Chinese have never felt that high-quality porcelain must be either translucent or white. Two types of porcelain evolved: true porcelain, consisting of a kaolin hard-paste body, extremely glassy and smooth, produced by high temperature firing, and soft porcelain, invariably translucent and lead glazed, produced from a composition of ground glass and other ingredients including white clay and fired at a low temperature. The latter was widely produced by 18th-century Europea n potters. It is believed that porcelain was first made by Chinese potters toward the end of the Han period (206 BC-AD 220), when pottery generally became more refined in body, form, and decoration. The Chinese made early vitreous wares (protoporcelain) before they developed their white vitreous ware (true porcelain) that was later so much admired by Europeans. Regardless of time or place, basic pottery techniques have varied little except in ancient America, where the potters wheel was unknown. Among the requisites of success are correct composition of the clay body by using balanced materials; skill in shaping the wet clay on the wheel or pressing it into molds; and, most important, firing at the correct temperature. The last operation depends vitally on the experience, judgment, and technical skill of the potter. DECORATING TECHNIQUES In the course of their long history potters have used many decorating techniques. Among the earliest, impressing and incising of wares are still favored. Ancient potters in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, northern India, and the high regions of Central Asia (where primitive terra-cotta figures associated with religious cults were produced) frequently decorated wares with impressed or incised designs. A notable incising technique developed more recently was that of Korean potters working in the Koryo period (918-1392). These artisans began by ornamenting their celadon wares with delicately incised and impressed patterns and later developed elaborate inlaying by filling incised lines with colored slip (semiliquid clay). Black and white slip was used most effectively for inlaying colored porcelains. Decoration of this sort generally depends more on the skill of the artisan than on the complexity of the tools being used. An especially popular type of decoration involved the sgraffito, or scratched, technique used by Italian potters before the 15th century. This technique, which is thought to have reached Italy from the Near East, was probably derived from China, where it was first used during the Song (Sung) dynasty (960-1279). By the 16th century Italian potters working mainly in Padua and Bologna had developed great skill in sgraffito, which entailed the incising of designs on red or buff earthenware that had been coated with ordinary transparent lead glaze, usually toned yellow or, sometimes, brown, copper, or green. After firing, the wares were dipped into white clay slip so that a dark pattern could be cut on the surface. By cutting through the white slip, the artist produced a design on the exposed red or buff body. Pigments were also sometimes applied. After a further coating of lead glaze the ware was fired a second time. A sound knowledge of glazesboth utilitarian and decorativeis vital to the potter. The origin of glazes and glazing techniques is unknown, but the fine lustrous glazes developed in China surely began with a simple glaze that served to cover earthenware and render it watertight. Chinese potters used two kinds of glazes, one composed basically of feldspar, and another produced by fusing silica of quartz or sand by means of a flux, generally of lead oxide. Chinese potters regarded glazes and glazing techniques as having prime importance; under the Han emperors they made great efforts to improve this technology. The use of lead glaze increased, and wood ash was incorporated to impart a dullish brown or gray green coloring, somewhat blotchy and occasionally iridescent. These effects were entirely natural, as no coloring matter was added to the composition. Glazing techniques were modified under successive dynasties. Colored glazes were developed and used to brilliant effect by Tang (Tang) and Song potters, and a great diversity of brightly hued wares appeared over the centuries. Many connoisseurs feel that the pure white porcelain, called blanc de chine, which first appeared during the Ming dynasty, is the most serenely beautiful of all Chinese ceramics. Dehua (Te-hua) potters in Fujian (Fukien) province, working during the 17th century, produced their blanc de chine masterpieces in the purest white porcelain coated with a thick white glaze. Salt glaze, used by English potters during the early 1700s, may well have been known to the Chinese but was not used by them. Near Eastern potters glazed wares in ancient times. Potters in Mesopotamia and Iran commonly used an alkaline glaze made of quartz mixed with sodium and potassium. An admixture of colored metallic oxides, mostly lead, was introduced later. Painting on pottery and porcelain became richly colorful in many regions and periods. Decorative brush painting directly on the baked clay reached its zenith in China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), whose artists were highly skilled at painting in fired colors. For a long period Chinese ceramic artists had used only black or brown pigment to decorate wares that were then covered with clear glaze. It is believed that the appearance in China of 13th-century brush-decorated wares from Persia sparked a change. These works, painted in blue cobalt under the glaze, inspired the brushwork of the Chinese and the resulting so-called blue-and-white style. Ming artists also excelled in painting over the glaze, using brilliant enamel colors. The overglaze technique, which evolved over two centuries, demanded correct preparation of the enamels, skill in application, and the proper (low) firing temperature. The overglaze enamel decorations executed during the reign of Chenghua (1465-87), which were never surpassed in China, incorporated flowers, foliage, and figure subjects against backgrounds of arabesques and scrollwork. Designs enclosed within dark blue outlines were filled in with brilliant color. Enamel decoration of superb quality was also executed in Japan during the Edo period (1615-1868) by celebrated artists and potters of the caliber of Kenzan, Kakiemon, and Ninsei. In the ancient Aegean the potters art developed continuously from the Neolithic period and through the periods of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, culminating, in ancient Greece, in a unique type of painted pottery, which reached its height between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. The finest Greek pottery, especially Attic vases, was exquisitely proportioned and often decorated with finely painted relief work. Unlike artisans in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia, the Attic potters did not apply heavy glaze to their wares. The unique gloss commonly seen on Attic pottery and similar wares made elsewhere in Greece still baffles those who have tried to determine its formula and method of application. Neither a glaze nor a varnish, it is more marked on some areas, such as those painted black, than on others. Some experts conjecture that it may be attributed to illite or a similar clay mineral in a weak solution that was thinly applied to the surface of wares or mixed into the black paint used by the artists. In the Islamic world ceramic decorative art flowered with the creation of a great diversity of painted wares. Painted luster decoration on pottery originated in Mesopotamia and spread to ancient Egypt; later, under Islam in Persia, this type of decoration on white-glazed wares became incredibly brilliant. Islamic luster-painted wares were later imitated by Italian potters during the Renaissance. MAJOR TRADITIONS IN THE WEST After the fall of the ancient Roman Empire potters in Europe produced little other than repetitive utilitarian wares until the end of the Middle Ages. Earthenware A distinctive type of earthenware known as majolica, which was derived from Chinese porcelain, appeared in Italy during the last quarter of the 14th century. It is now believed that this type of painted earthenware was inspired by the Hispano-Moresque luster-decorated ware of Spanish origin introduced to Italy by Majorcan seagoing traders. Majolica ware, whether thrown on the wheel or pressed into molds, was fired once to obtain a brown or buff body, then dipped in glaze composed of lead and tin oxide with a silicate of potash. The opaque glaze presented a surface that was suitable to receive decoration. A second firing after decoration fixed the white glaze to the body and the pigments to the glaze, so that the colors became permanently preserved. Frequently, the beauty of these wares was increased by dipping them in a translucent lead glaze composed of oxide of lead mixed with sand, potash, and salt. When certain luster pigments and enamels were used in all-over painting, wares had to be specially fired at low temperature. Application of metallic luster pigments required great skill because these colors were extremely volatile and needed special handling. Luca della Robbia (see della Robbia, family) did not, as has been held, invent the enamel tin-glazing process; nevertheless, his work raised majolica production from a craft to high art in Italy. Not only did he use blue and white enamels in decorative work, but, as a sculptor, he also used the majolica technique to add brilliance to the surface of his productions. By the beginning of the 15th century Italian potters had abandoned the old familiar processes, and a revolution in style and techniques was under way. The severe style as followed principally in the school of Tuscany continued to the end of the 15th century, but rules and principles slackened until the inclusion of human figures in designs, previously frowned upon, was accepted. At the end of the 15th century Faenza became the thriving center of a reinvigorated pottery industry in Italy. A new, rich decorative style, known as istoriato, fired the imagination of potters, reaching its zenith in the workshops of Urbino. In early 17th-century England attractive slipwares were produced, including the slip-decorated earthenware that was a speciality of the Toft family of potters. A kind of tin-glazed earthenware was also produced in the Netherlands, principally at Delft, beginning in the mid-17th century. Termed delftware, it was among the first European wares to be decorated with motifs inspired by Chinese and Japanese models. Continental Porcelains Eventually, European potters, who much admired the porcelain of the Far East, attempted to imitate it, but the formula remained elusive. Francesco de Medici, grand duke of Tuscany, produced an inferior type of soft-paste porcelain in his Florence workshop during the 16th century. In March 1709, Augustus II of Saxony announced that his ceramist Johann Bottger (1682-1719) had discovered how to make porcelain. The first European royal porcelain manufactory was consequently established at Meissen (see Meissen ware) near Dresden, Germany. Throughout the century following the discovery of the porcelain formulawhen, despite the utmost precautions at Meissen, the secret leaked outmany rival factories were set up in Europe. Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and England soon had factories engaged in the production of wares much like those of Meissen. Porcelain figures were first produced in Meissen as table ornaments; the earliest examples were formed as part of sweetmeat dishes. Many splendid wares issued from the royal factory, but none were more admired than the finely modeled and decorated porcelain figures imitated by almost every German, Austrian, Italian, and English factory of note. Widespread interest in figures of both pottery and porcelain has continued to the present. Johann Joachim Kandler (1706-75), a master modeler, was the most notable of the artisans engaged in this work at Meissen and rivaled the famous Franz Anton Bustelli (1723-63) of Nymphenburg (see Nymphenburg ware). The methods used to produce porcelain figures as developed by Kandler imparted a new dimension to the art. German porcelain figures were usually produced from molds, which, in turn, were cast from an original master model made of wax, clay, or, occasionally, wood. The use of molds facilitated unlimited reproduction. Because the figures shrank during firing, allowances had to be made in their sizes; they were also provided with a small venthole in the back or base to permit excess heated air to escape. Because different factories placed these holes differently, their positions help determine the provenance and authenticity of given pieces. When considerable undercutting was necessary, porcelain figures were usually made in sections, using separate molds. Portions of elaborate groups and single figures were later joined by a specially trained assembler (known as a repairer) who usually worked from a master model. Europes second hard-paste porcelain factory began operations at Vienna in 1717. In the late 1700s at the royal Sevres (see Sevres ware) factory in France, potters experimented until they developed a remarkably white, finely textured body. Sevres wares were painted in unique colors that no other European factory could duplicate. The bleu de roi and rose Pompadour of Sevres wares captivated all Europe and, with the products of Meissen and Vienna, inspired English potters. English Wares The finest English porcelainboth soft- and hard-pastewas made between about 1745 and 1775. The first English porcelain was probably produced at Chelsea (see Chelsea ware) under Charles Gouyn, but his successor Nicholas Sprimont, a Flemish silversmith who took over management in 1750, was responsible for the high-quality wares, especially the superb figures, for which the factory became famous. Factories at Worcester (see Worcester ware), Bow, and Derby also produced wares that rival those of the Continent. Led by the ambitious, energetic, and enterprising Josiah Wedgwood and his successors at the Etruria factory, English potters in the late 18th and early 19th centuries became resourceful and inventive. Wedgwoods contributions consisted mainly of a much improved creamware, his celebrated jasperware, so-called black basalt, and a series of fine figures created by famous modelers and artists. After Wedgwood, other potters of the first half of the 19th century developed a number of new wares. Of these, Parian ware was the most outstanding and commercially successful. The name of this ware was derived from Paros, the Greek island from which sculptors in ancient times obtained the creamy or ivory-tinted marble that Parian ware resembled. The first examples of this new product, described as statuary porcelain, issued from Copeland and Garrets factory in 1842 and were immediately acclaimed. Two varieties of Parian ware were produced: statuary parian, used in the making of figures and reproductions of sculpture, and hard-paste, or standard, parian, from which hollowware was made. Statuary parian, incorporating a glassy frit, is classified as soft porcelain. Standard parian, with a greater proportion of feldspar in the composition but no frit, is hard porcelain. Early parian statuary was ivory-tinted due to the presence of iron in the feldspar devoid of iron silicate. Suitable deposits were eventually located in Sweden and Ireland. Both English and American potters either obtained details of the original formula or worked out their own, and the resulti ng production of Parian wares on both sides of the Atlantic was enormous. Among the most beautiful and successful wares invented by 19th-century potters were those decorated in what came to be known in England as pate-sur-pate, a paste-on-paste technique devised sometime after 1870 by Marc-Louis Solon (1835-1913) of Mintons in England. Pate-sur-pate, involving both modeling and painting techniques, was stained Parian ware decorated with reliefs in translucent tinted or white slip, the colors being laid one upon the other. Solon was inspired by a Chinese celadon case decorated with embossed flowers that he had admired in the museum at Sevres, where he worked for a time. At first his slip painting on biscuit porcelain simply peeled off; he was successful, however, when he applied layers of slip to a damp surface. Minton wares decorated with pate-sur-pate became the most costly and coveted ceramic ornaments produced in England in the last quarter of the 19th century. Only a few English potters mastered Solons complex technique, although the work of his pupil, Alboin Birks, rivaled that of the master. 20th-Century Developments By the late 19th century, with the development of machinery and the introduction of new technologies, the age of mass production dawned and the potters art consequently suffered. Western ceramic wares declined markedly in quality of materials and decoration. Florid designs, gaudy coloring, and inartistic shapes became fashionable, and the resulting decadence continued into the 20th century. Not until the 1930s were signs of revival in the form and decoration of ceramics discernible, principally in the productions of artist-potters who were active in Western Europe and the United States. Many of these artist-potters arrived at their innovations by way of continuous experiment with materials and techniques. Others sought inspiration from primitive types of Japanese pottery or in the forms of ancient American Indian traditions. Since the end of World War II the design and decoration of ceramics in both Europe and the United States, especially ornamental wares, has been largely influence d by individual artist-artisans. Commercial products, such as tablewares, have tended to reflect the styles and patterns developed by these potters, whose work has often shown striking originality.