Thursday, November 28, 2019

US Industrial Revolution Essays - Rockefeller Family, Standard Oil

US Industrial Revolution The Standard Oil Company founded by John D. Rockefeller and the U.S. Steel Company founded by Andrew Carnegie. The Standard Oil Company and U.S. Steel Company were made successful in different ways due to the actions of their different owners. The companies differed in their labor relations, market control, and structural organization. In the steel industry, Carnegie developed a system known as vertical integration. This means that he cut out the middle man. Carnegie bought his own iron and coal mines because using independent companies cost too much and were inefficient. By doing this he was able to undersell his competetors because they had to pay the competitors they went through to get the raw materials. Unlike Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller integrated his oil business from top to bottom, his distinctive innovation in movement of American industry was horizontal. This meant he followed one product through all its stages. For example, rockrfeller controlled the oil when it was drilled, through the refining stage, and he maintained control over the refining process turning it into gasoline. Although these two powerful men used two different methods of management their businesses were still very successful (Conlin, 425-426). Tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, "the steel king," and John D. Rockefeller, "the oil baron," exercised their genius in devising ways to circument competition. Although, Carnegie inclined to be tough-fisted in business, he was not a monopolist and disliked monopolistic trusts. John D. Rockefeller came to dominate the oil industry. With one upward stride after another he organized the Standard Oil Company, which was the nucleus of the great trust that was formed. Rockefeller showed little mercy. He believed primitive savagery prevailed in the jungle world of business, where only the fittest survived. He persued the policy of "ruin or rule." Rockefeller's oil monopoly did turn out a superior product at a relatively cheap price. Rockefeller belived in ruthless business, Carnegie didn't, yet they both had the most successful companies in their industries. (The American Pageant, pages 515-518) Rockefeller treated his customers in the same manner that Andrew Carnegie treated his workers: cruel and harsh. The Standard Oil Company desperately wanted every possible company to buy their products. Standard Oil used ruthless tactics when Rockefeller threatenedto start his own chain of grocery stores and put local merchants out of business if they did not buy oil from Standard Oil Company. Carnegie dealt with his workers with the same cold lack of diplomacy and consideration. Carnegie would encourage an unfriendly competition between two of his workers and he goaded them into outdoing one another. Some of his employees found working under Carnegie unbearable. These rivalries became so important to the employees that somedidn't talk to each other for years (McCloskkey, page 145). Although both Carnegie and Rockefeller created extermely successsful companies, they both used unscrupulous methods in some aspect of their corporation building to get to the top. The success of the Standard Oil Company and U.S. Steel company was credited to the fact that their owners ran them with great authority. In this very competetive time period, many new businesses were being formed and it took talented businessmen to get ahead and keep the companies running and make the fortunes that were made during this period.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Case Essays

Case Essays Case Essay Case Essay It described the ordeal of Kim Neigh, a former World financial analyst who was laid off from the company after complaining for many years about potential abuses related to capital spending. Glen Smith, a senior manager in Internal Audit, suggested to Cooper that they do an internal audit of capital expenditures immediately. Cooper agreed. The first sign of a problem was when one of the Finance directors provided capital spending schedules for the audit and two of them disagreed in amount. The director said the difference was due to something called prepaid capacity. When asked to explain the director couldnt and said that David Myers, the controller of World, provides the data to record. He added: David provides [me] with the amounts for [the] schedule. Later on a member of the internal audit team with technology knowledge, Gene Morse, is asked to examine the system and see if there was anything designated as prepaid capacity. Morse found prepaid capacity amounts Jumping all over the place, from account to account. There were numerous examples of items moved from account to account apparently to mask the true nature of the expenditures. As news breads of the internal audit of capital expenditures, Myers suggested that the team was wasting its time on the audit and that their time would be better spent to find ways to save money in operating cost. The reaction of Myers only made Cooper more suspicious of what may really be going on. Cooper then approached Farrell Malone, the external-audit partner at KEMP, the firm that replaced Andersen after its collapse following the Enron audit. Cooper explained about the movement of amounts to accounts and unexplained prepaid capacity designations. Farrell recommended not going to the audit committee at this time. Still, Cooper decided to take a closer look. Morse downloaded thousands of entries searching accounts with more than 300,000 transactions each month spread across a hundred legal entities. Cooper learned that Scott Sullivan, the CUFF, had found out about the audit. He questioned Morse about the work. This increased Coopers suspicion since Sullivan rarely took such a direct interest in an internal audit matter. She asked her staff what they thought about Morsels discovery. Most believed there is a good explanation. But Cooper knew as auditors they were obligated to stay with leads and keep reviewing the issues. At times, it is a slow, plodding process of checking and re-checking facts, developing theories, trying to find connections, and thinking through the issues until you get it right. On June moving large amounts from the income statement to the balance sheet $743 million in the third quarter of 2001, $941 million in the fourth quarter of 2001, and $100 million in the first quarter of 2002. The auditors went about tracing the amounts from account to account through the system to see where they landed. The next morning Cooper received a message that Sullivan wanted to speak to her right away. He talked about becoming more involved in internal audit matters, an unusual step for him. Cooper also overheard a conversation while in Sullivan office that Max Obit, the chairman of the Audit Committee, would be leaving the audit committee. This was of concern to Cooper since she reported functionally to the Audit Committee and administratively to Sullivan. The Audit Committee provided Internal Audit with independence from management. She worried that the conversation may have been for her benefit to inform her that Obit may not be there to support her. Cooper was prepared for the meeting. She asked Sullivan bluntly about prepaid capacity. He explained that it represented costs associated with no or low-utilized Sonnet Rings and [telecommunication] lines which were being capitalized. He stated: While revenues have declined, the costs related to certain lease are fixed, creating a matching problem. Although not clear at the time, Cooper came to realize that the amounts represented costs related to the companys leased fiber [optic] lines that had little or no customer usage because of the implosion of telecommunications in the late sass and early sass. The company continued to pay for the leased capacity UT they brought in little, if any, value. Instead of expensing the lease costs as they were incurred, the company reclassified the amoun ts as capital assets and expensed them over a longer period of time allowing it to stretch out the deduction to company earnings, buying time for revenue to catch up. Sullivan told her he was aware of the issues with the accounting treatment but they will be cleared up in the second quarter of 2002. At that time he said a restructuring charge related to prepaid capacity would be recorded effectively writing off most of the amounts that had been capitalized. After that, the company would no longer capitalize line costs as prepaid capacity, instead allocating these costs between a restructuring charge and an expense. Sullivan asked Cooper to postpone the audit until the third quarter of 2002 to look at the second quarter numbers. Cooper thought about what had transpired in her meeting with Sullivan. She realized that some aspects of accounting depended on Judgment. She thought, maybe the prepaid capacity was aggressive, but perfectly legal, accounting. She was uncomfortable with the matter in light of Farewells admonition not to go to the audit committee. Cooper called Obit to discuss the matter. She thought even though he was coming off the audit committee, that he would be interested in her findings. She told Obit that her staff had identified accounting entries made in the third and fourth quarter of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 that totaled $2. 5 billion, and she was concerned about the accounting. Obit told her to meet with Farrell, the KEMP partner, to discuss the issues. The next day Obit came to town for an audit committee meeting and asked Cooper to meet with her and Farrell. At first, a stressed-out Obit chastised Cooper entries. Cooper felt she needed to have Obit focus on the real issue. However, Obit had already decided not to discuss the matter with the whole committee and he was supported by Farrell. At this point Cooper and Smith decided to interview Betty Vinson, the accounting director who entered some of the amounts into the accounting system. She asked for support for the prepaid capacity entries. Vinson admitted to making the entries but stated she did not know what they were for and had no support. Cooper asked where the amounts for the entries came from. Vinson said David Myers, the controller, or Buddy Yates, the director of general accounting. Cooper and Smith went to see Yates who told them to see Myers. Incredulously, she asked: Can a person reporting to you book a billion-dollar Journal entry without your knowledge? Yates told her that Myers called people who report to him all the time to book entries. Besides, most of the accounting is done in the field and not in my group. She thanked him for his answer but was in a state of disbelief. Cooper then went to see Myers who told her while he could construct support for the entries, he wouldnt do it. She asked him if there are NY accounting standards to support the entries. He stated there arent and that: We probably shouldnt have capitalized the line cost. But once it was done the first time, it was difficult to stop. He professed to be uncomfortable with the entries from the first time they were recorded. Smith wondered whether this was some sort of aggressive accounting technique. She asked Myers whether he was aware of other companies in the telecommunications industry who were using the same accounting treatment. He answered no but offered that other companies must have been doing the same thing to keep their cost structure low. Cooper decided to inform Obit of what had transpired. Obit suggested she should update Farrell and call him back after that. Farrell seemed surprised by the situation but said he would contact Obit and Myers. Cooper called Myers to give him a heads-up. Later in the day, Obit asked her to fly to Washington, D. C. To meet with him and Farrell the next morning. At the meeting Cooper expressed her concern that only one member of the audit committee knew about the entries. Obit cautioned that they had to be sure before going further and suggested it was now an external audit issue for KEMP, not an internal audit matter. Cooper offered that she didnt care whose issue it [was] as long as it [was] addressed appropriately. They agreed that Farrell would meet with Sullivan, the CUFF, who was the mastermind behind the accounting and give him an opportunity to explain his rationale. Farrell told Cooper that Sullivan explanation may have made sense from a business perspective, but not an accounting perspective. Sullivan had tried to find amounts inappropriately recorded in the opposite direction that is, expensed instead of capitalized to offset the prepaid-capacity entries and attempt to avoid restating many earnings. By June 20, over $3 billion of improperly classified costs had been found. It had been eight days since Cooper first called Obit about the audit findings and she was growing increasingly concerned that others on the audit committee were kept in the dark. She told Farrell that if Obit didnt call a meeting of the audit committee immediately, she would. Later in the day Obit called Cooper and told her there to. She asked why he seemed so agitated. Obit remarked that Do you have any idea what Im about to have to do? Im about to blow up this company! Farrell admitted at the meeting that he was not aware of any provision in GAP that would support the line-cost entries. Sullivan defended the transfers by stating that: Starting in 1999, World invested heavily in assets to expand the telecoms network, anticipating enormous future demands in customer traffic. World not only purchased equipment and fiber, but also signed a significant number of ling- term fiber leases with third parties to carry the expected telecoms traffic. But when the telecoms industry imploded, starting in 2000 and continuing through 2002, the customer usage anticipated never materialized. Now, large pieces of both owned and leased portions of the telecoms network wither [had] no or very little customer traffic. Sullivan had business reasons but no accounting rationale for the entries. He tried to use the matching principle to Justify the accounting. However, it only applied if the original Journal entries to account for the leases were correct. He also talked about taking an impairment charge in the second quarter of 2002, to write off the line cost amounts booked as capital assets. He insisted the entries werent made to meet earnings; that the accounting for line costs required Judgment and the transfers ere made using estimates. He also said there was no reason to consult anyone from Andersen on these matters. Following the audit committee meeting, Coopers team found 49 prepaid capacity accounting entries, totaling $3. Billion, recorded over all four quarters of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002. As she looked at the entries she concluded they were sinister in intent. The pattern of movement between accounts changed from one quarter to the next but the entries had the same end result. She concluded that it was a spider-web of amounts moving as many as three times and finally spread in mailer dollar increments across a multitu de of assets, mostly telecoms fiber and equipment. If the amounts are funneled through enough accounts and then spread out, someone seems to have thought, theyd come out on the other end less detectable by the external auditors. On June 24, Cooper and Smith met with Troy Normandy, the mid-level accounting director, who claimed to have relayed his concerns to Sullivan about another matter the drawing down of rainy-day line cost reserves, thereby reducing expenses. This occurred in 2000 when Normandy observed that Sullivan was forced to manipulate Hess amounts to meet the earnings guidance he had provided to Wall Street. Sullivan drew on the business purpose of the transactions and assured Normandy everything would be okay. Normandy felt he didnt know enough to refute Sullivan explanation so he went along with it. He shared with Cooper that he had considered resigning and never told internal or external audit about any of the entries because he was concerned for his Job and had a family to support. He concluded that: In hindsight, I wish I had. This case addresses the fundamental issues with weightlessness. Students should be able to differentiate between internal and external weightlessness and the consequences one might face if they choose to tell the truth. Under demonology Cynthia had a duty to the profession and the public to tell the truth. The fairness theory also requires that one do the act which is fair and promotes Justice to all. Ask students if they have ever had to tell on a friend? A co- worker? What kind of pressures did they face if they told the truth or if they kept silent? Questions 1 . What are the rules in accounting for determining whether to expense certain costs against revenue versus capitalizing and depreciating the costs? How do the different treatments affect earnings? Explain the reasons given by Scott Sullivan for capitalizing line costs. Why did Cooper believe the treatment did not conform to GAP? Accounting rules on leases proscribe which leases qualify as an operating lease (a current expense), and which qualify as a capitalizing lease (capitalized and depreciated over the life of the asset). By capitalizing and depreciating the cost over the life of the asset, the expense amount is smaller and matches the expense of the set with the revenues earned by the asset. Scott Sullivan explained that the prepaid capacity was fiber optic lines leases that were being capitalized, instead of expensed. The revenues on the leased fiber lines had declined, so the leases were being capitalized to better match the expense with the revenues. He later admitted that he was trying to use the matching principle to justify the capitalization of the lease costs. ) Cooper realized that capitalization of leases is based upon the lease being a financing lease to purchase the asset, not matching of the costs of the fiber lines with he revenues from the lines. Sullivan had also explained that the lines had little value and would be written off through a restructuring charge. Thus, there were red flags on the treatment of lease costs and impairment of assets.. 2. Analyze Cooper and the internal auditors professional Judgment. How do their actions relate to Rests four stages of moral development? Cooper and the internal auditors used objectivity and skepticism in looking at the prepaid capacity costs. They did not accept glib answers after being stonewalled on questions and requests for support and documentation. Their actions relate to the Rests four-component model of morality: moral sensitivity, moral Judgment, moral motivation, and newcomer and the internal auditors used objectivity and skepticism in looking at the prepaid capacity costs. They did not accept glib answers after being stonewalled on questions and requests for support and documentation. Their actions relate to the Rests four-component model of morality: moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. The auditors realized the dilemma; knew that the accounting entries were not following generally accepted accounting reminisces; were motivated to find answers and not accept glib answers and the audit committee. 3. What do you think motivated the behavior and actions of the following key people in this case: (a) Max Obit, chair of the audit committee Max Obit was stepping down as chair of the Audit Committee. He had overseen the change of auditors from Andersen to KEMP. In many ways he may have wanted to avoid conflict. When first approached by Cynthia Cooper, he may not have known for sure there was an accounting problem, as much as a conflict between Cooper and Sullivan. As he learned more of the accounting problem, he may have preferred a arsenal conflict between Cooper and Sullivan. (b) Farrell Malone, the KEMP partner. KEMP had taken over the audit of World after Andersen was put out of business from the Enron scandal. Farrell Malone wanted to keep the new client happy as he learned the audit situation. At that time, partners of Big 4 firms were compensated for new business brought to the firm. Additionally, a new audit often does not make money the first year, even if the firm has not low-balled the contract. Malone would have wanted to keep World as a client to make a profit for KEMP and to increase his personal compensation. C) Scott Sullivan the CUFF of World Scott Sullivan wanted World to make expected earnings to keep the stock price high. This could be due to not wanting to admit that expected earnings were wrong, and wanting the stock price high so that Coots stock options would have a high value and keep his personal worth high. (d) David Myers, the controller In a presentation at Baylor, David stated that he knew that the adjustment was wrong, but was convinced that it was a onetime adjustment. When the adjustments needed to be made going forward, David rationalized using utilitarianism that the retreat good for his friends, neighbors, co-workers, and residents of Clinton, Mississippi, would be to continue to go along with the adjustments. He was concerned that refusing to go along with Scott Sullivan or blowing the whistle would cause World to fail and negatively affect the economy of Clinton. In hindsight that is what happened, including David serving time in prison. (e) Betty Vinson and Troy Normandy, from the accounting department. Betty and Troy wanted to keep their Jobs so did as they were told. Since they were following orders from their supervisor it is possible that they thought they were not doing anything wrong.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Understanding of health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Understanding of health - Essay Example As a result of the controversy surrounding the changes currently being proposed by the President of the United States, the issue of healthcare in America is particularly timely and relevant. Seeking to understand healthcare from an issue-based perspective and attempting a holistic analysis, this essay will compare and contrast the medical model of healthcare with the social model of health. Following this we will debate which model is the most important to health today giving examples as to why this might be. In the United States, health insurance coverage ensures that basic healthcare can be accessed by all. Individual comprehensive health insurance plans depend on an one’s age, employment status, residency, and race/ethnicity. Medicare is a federal government funded insurance program for disabled young adults, persons above the age of 65, and those with permanent disabilities who become eligible for Social Security. A racial difference in coverage among Medicare beneficiaries has also been found to influence difference in supplemental care. Most individuals rely on private healthcare plans for the coverage that they need and the Obama administration is seeking to implement a single payer government system of healthcare as part of his reform package as opposed to market-based reform. Decried by detractors as â€Å"socialism†, Obama’s plan proposes that the government become more actively involved in healthcare provision and argues that the reform will cost a total o f $1 trillion USD. Seeking to address the issues at stake, the following will provide a concise overview of theories of healthcare in America, as well as around the world, today (Smedley et al. 2003; Reuters, 2009). There are two important theoretical models of healthcare which will be discussed in this analysis. The first is the medical model of healthcare and it represents the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

'Britain's 6 million carers are on the verge of winning unprecedented Coursework

'Britain's 6 million carers are on the verge of winning unprecedented rights following a European court opinion that would p - Coursework Example Nevertheless, in examining the law regarding employment, carers and flexible working schedules, it becomes clear that UK does value carers, therefore a law forbidding just this kind of discrimination and harassment is probably just around the corner. This paper will explain the different areas of the law that are relevant to the issue of harassment and discrimination regarding carers, including broad employment law principles, carer law and flexible working law. Relevant portions of employment law Miss C. has an argument that she was harassed out of a job because she took time off to care for her severely disabled son. Harassment is unwanted conduct that â€Å"has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the person†1However, the Employment Equality Acts makes a distinction – harassment is unwanted conduct related to any of the discriminatory grounds. ... Fair reasons for dismissal, according to the Employment Rights Act 1996 are dismissals that â€Å"a) relates to the capability or qualifications of the employee for performing work of the kind which he was employed by the employer to do; b) relates to the conduct of the employee; ba) is retirement of the employee; c) is that the employee was redundant, or d) is that the employee could not continue to work in the position which he held without contravention (either on his part or on that of his employer) of a duty or restriction imposed by or made under an enactment.†4 In reviewing these reasons for a fair dismissal, the process of taking time off to care for a disabled dependent, such as a child or a parent, does not fit well into any of the categories. Taking time off does not have any bearing on the capabilities or qualifications of the employee performing the work that the employee does, does not relate to the employee’s conduct, nor does it mean that the employee co uld not continue to work in the position held without contravention or a duty or a restriction. Therefore, under the Employment Rights Act 1996  § 98(2), firing an individual for caring for a dependent would not be considered one of the categories for fair dismissal. If Miss C is considered to be unfairly dismissed, she may bring suit under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, which states that if there is an unfair dismissal, â€Å"the employee shall be entitled to redress consisting of whichever of the following the rights commissioner, the Tribunal or the Circuit Court, as the case may be, considers appropriate having regard to all the circumstances.†5 The Act then goes on to say that the employee is entitled to re-instatement or

Monday, November 18, 2019

THE bcci, bank of credit comerce, white collar crime Essay

THE bcci, bank of credit comerce, white collar crime - Essay Example But, success was not the only step for BCCI’s fate. Price Waterhouse was asked to carry inquiry in March, 1991. It was 24th June, 1991 when they submitted the Sandstorm Report to Bank of England stating that BCCI had engaged in fraud case. Main capital base to BCCI were virtual oil-rich Arab leaders who acted to be the investor but, in reality they were working as nominees. Bank since its beginning attracted people to deposit their funds by pretending that they have more capital which in reality was not true. It used to use the deposits in order to meet the expenses. Even it forced its own shareholders to participate in this drama. Major actions that resulted into frauds by BCCI were enlisted by New York District Attorney. According to them the important points are: Middle East personalities included their names and funds to BCCI as an investor which in effect turned to be flaw because their funding was based on guaranteed no-risk return instead of actual sponsor at risk. After getting the request from Bank of England, Price Waterhouse presented its report on BCCI known as Sandstorm Report. As per the report, BCCI committed several mistakes and did many unofficial activities that are out of one company’s ethics. Price Waterhouse persons collected records from banks of various countries, reviewed them and interviewed in some cases, finally formed one draft keeping all key points there. During their scrutiny they found that BCCI did not record $600 million of BCCI’s deposit. It first knocked the Price Waterhouse audit persons. Among the other types of frauds described by audit include: manipulation of their account at the time of non-performing loan, fabricated profit, hidden losses, setting up of untrue loans for repurchasing shares, cheating of deposits, unreal transactions and charges, showing nominees as capitalists, illegal repurchasing platform for shareholders, bad investment,

Friday, November 15, 2019

Electronic Music Origin And Effects Music Essay

Electronic Music Origin And Effects Music Essay In Bernard Wiletss discovering electronic music, Bernard states, We live in an age of technology in which machines touch every part of our lives; it is not surprising that music has also been influenced by technology. (Bernard). The sound of music has undergone massive changes since the dawn of the synthesizer. When once a band relied solely on the instruments its members could play in order to forge their thoughts into sound, they now can purchase a piece of hardware or software to add an array of instruments to their music. However, due to this technological advance many argue that talent is no longer required to be a musician and that synthesizer programmers are lazy hacks but I beg to differ. To understand exactly what it takes to be an electronic musician and or synth programmer you must first understand electronic music and its components. Wilets describes the production of sounds by means of conventional instruments, using a string bass as an example as When a string on a string bass is made to vibrate or oscillate a sound is produced. By changing the length of the oscillating strings with the left hand, the instrument produces different pitches. (Wilets). If the sound created was displayed visually, it would look like what is called a wave pattern. The electronic sound synthesizer or synth for short is a device designed to create or manipulate sounds. A synthesizer is composed of many ways to create and manipulate sounds. Depending on the synth the options range from filtering out certain frequencys and distorting sounds to pitching them higher than any know instrument can achieve. However, there is one component of design of which all the others build upon, the oscil lators. The oscillators or Oscs for short, produce sound electronically. Each oscillator produces a unique sound and waveform. Common waveforms found on most synthesizers are the square; saw tooth, sine, and triangle waveforms. These four waveforms serve as the basic building blocks for most conventional instruments. Often instruments are grouped together depending on their similarities in sound and technique. Instruments such as flutes, piccolos, and ocarinas fall under the category of wind instruments. Wind instruments are grouped together because they rely on air to create sound. Instruments that share the same means of sound production often share an audible similarity as well. This similarity extends to each instruments waveform. By modifying one of the four basic waveforms, a synthesizer could recreate virtually any known instrument, making it massively appealing. Although the idea of electronic instruments and electronically produced music has been around since the 1800s it was not until around the 1940s that the concept was fully realized. Although inventions such as the musical telegraph and theremin served as a testament to the future of electronically produced music, the idea still needed to be refined. It wasnt until the invention of the Moog synthesizer, invented by Robert Moog and Don Buchla, did the synthesizer begin its musical takeover. The very first Moog synthesizers were massive and resembled machines seen in old science fiction movies before the computer age. They were extremely expensive, extremely hard to program and used mostly in film scoring and music houses. After refining his invention however, Moog compressed the massive instrument into a portable and affordable device thus making the synthesizer something anyone could afford. This innovation would eventually go on to change the face of music forever. . While most still used the synthesizer as a means to replicate existing instruments others saw the deeper potential it held. Based on simplistic waveforms that required modification to attain certain sounds, the synthesizer held limitless sonic capabilities. Bands such as the Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake and Palmer were among the first to use the synthesizer to achieve more abstract sounds. Their sonic creativity would lead others to do the same and eventually synthesized sounds began to serenade all types of music. Due to the demand to create unique sounds and music, companies wishing to cash in on this new device made many types of synthesizers. Due to copyright, other companies had to veer away from the subtractive analog synthesis used in Moog synthesizers. They had to create their own synthesizers thus creating new ways to approach sound synthesis. Over time, a slew of ways to approach sound synthesis came about. Synthesizers based on additive synthesis, frequency modulation, granular synthesis and phase distortion to name a few began to hit music stores. While the design became seemingly more small and simplistic, the ways to manipulate and create sound became vast. Programming each of these types of synth required knowledge in the specific form of synthesis it implored. When once a synth programmer had to simultaneously play keys, pull and plug cords into various inputs and outputs he can now do the same thing by simplistic digital means, which often only require the flicking of a switch. This advance in technology is what people claim to be the reason why talent is no longer required. Of course holding down a single key and playing an entire riff or ensemble may seem lazy in practice. People forget that that entire riff started as dull waveforms. In order to produce something like that an electronic musician must have vast knowledge in not only music, in order to achieve a good sounding riff, he must also know how to program his synthesizer. Take for example the arpeggiated synth lines heard in most trance songs. In order to create these sounds the synth programmer must first create the sound he wishes to arpeggiate. This process can be as simple as combining three saw tooth waveforms, pitching one in a high octave, another in a lower and the last one in an extremely almost un-audible low octave. Then filtering most of the high frequencies out, adding a low frequency osc after filtering and adjusting the way in which the sound is unleashed, sustained and how it decays, to linking the frequencys cutoff to the low frequency osc, running it through another filter and programming the sound to continually morph its velocity to a prerecorded pattern. After that, the programmer must then use an arpeggiator, arpeggiator range from simplistic preset patterns to possessing the ability to adjust its velocity one hundred times during the course of the sounds procession. This process is known as tweaking the sound. After programming his arpeggiated synth patch the electronic musician might go on to program a synth to stand in for bass sounds and then another for keyboard which all are as complicated as making an arpeggiated sound. After the electronic music has finished all the synth parts of his songs, he must then turn his focus to the percussion. Although a synthesizer is capable of producing drum sounds, the sounds created often had a synthetic sound to them that most electronic musicians did not find appealing. Most electronic musicians then would turn to another piece of equipment or software known as a drum machine. A drum machine is a sound module that specializes in the production of percussive timbres. Drum machines followed a similar path to synthesizers, first being complicated large pieces of machinery to becoming hand held devices. Programming these are equally complicated. As drum machines involved they began to be capable to record sounds and edit them to programmers wishes thus making things like heartbeats the kick drum of many songs. These two pieces of hardware or software became the instruments of choice to most electronic music producers, whether they are in the form of hardware or software. Now programming a riff or drum pattern was hard enough the programmer also has to humanize his track or else it would sound too robotic. By humanizing, I mean the process in which they make the drumbeat sound as if someone was actually playing a drum kit. This implies varying velocity, panning the sounds to encompass the space drums demand, and adding digital effects, the same thing implies to the synth. So in order to produce electronic music, the electronic musician must know all of the things I discussed as well as music theory and how instruments work. For example, you could not create an organ synth sound and play it like guitar it just would not work. So that being said I think the electronic musician if far from lazy and that, the simplification of electronic instruments only makes their capabilities greater as they do not have to worry about attaching cybernetic arms to their body in order to fiddle with more cords. Alot of people however say that anyone could become an electronic musician. That the style can be taught and is not heartfelt. That electronic musicians lack the talent of other muscians. This is what an electronic musician credits his inspiration to Im a very curious person, and I tend to find new obsessions every few years. I love the energy that lives on the border of human ingenuity, the edge where scientific curiosity, spiritual wonder, and technological invention meet in explosions of beauty and truth. I love to celebrate those people whose spark ignites at that juncture. As I seek new musical inspiration, (sometimes I do run dry for periods) I look for energetic examples in other fields besides music. I often find them in the realms of physics, poetry, architecture, biology, history anywhere actually. I guess Im a bit insatiable, and I want to explore the best that humanity has created, and echo it as well as I can in my own work. That statement, to me, is what music is all a bout. Holmes, Thomas B. Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. MOOG [a Film by Hans Fjellestad]. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2010. . Moog. Dir. Hans Fjellestad. Perf. Robert Moog. ZU33, 2004. DVD. Shapiro, Peter, and Iara Lee. Modulations: a History of Electronic Music : Throbbing Words on Sound. New York: Caipirinha Productions, 2000. Print. Â  YouTube Discovering Electronic Music Part 1. YouTube Broadcast Yourself. Web. 10 Nov. 2010. . Rich, Robert. Robert Rich Interview -. Synthesizer Music and Electronics | Join the Electronic Music Revolution NOW! Web. 28 Nov. 2010. .

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Essay --

CAPITALISM Capitalism is the result of a process in which economic activities and relationships that carry these mechanisms have been generating increasingly complex operation. PHASES OF CAPITALISM The origins of capitalism Since the sixteenth century, some European countries such as England and the Netherlands favored the development of commercial activities in order to obtain larger quantities of precious metals (gold, silver), it was believed that the wealth of nations depended on Accumulation of these metals. That was called mercantilism. This commercial activity, driven by states, benefited some specific factors of society, bourgeois merchants and bankers, and produced a significant accumulation of equity . In the eighteenth century that capital was invested in the creation of the first industries. This pre-capitalist economic system called mercantile capitalism. Liberal capitalism. In the late eighteenth century, some European countries initiated a technological transformation of the means of production and the organization of production is what is known by the name of industrial revolution. The factory and steam were the symbols of the revolution it established the foundations of capitalism this revolution affected the economy and affected the social or political organization. the two most characteristic features of this capitalism are: 1 -. Factories were small and occupied a small number of workers. The property and capital were, in most cases, family origin. . 2 - this time more vigorously defended the idea of economic freedom at all costs, hence the name of liberal capitalism. Financial Capitalism Took place from 1870 to 1914. Economic growth in this period was linked to the emergence of finance capital , t... ...men, an educational system interfered by vested interests, the division of society into numerous caste groups and social classes (rich and poor political parties football fans etc.), delivery of mass media capitalists in order to install in the population through radio television and other media individualism and Cultural corruption. Capitalism through these known methods to adapt and change over time to perpetuate its domination (colonialism laissez faire, military and economic imperialism, neocolonialism, mixed economy. Multinational corporations, monopolies and oligopolies. merger of companies etc. ..) To counter these methods must be created massive campaigns of alternative cultural diffusion through media such as radio, tele vision, magazines etc.. Should be initiated campaigns and mass movements educating and alerting the public about this type of exploitation