Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Tortilla Curtain by U.S. author T.C. Boyle Essay Example for Free
Tortilla Curtain by U.S. author T.C. Boyle Essay The American Dream is defined in many ways in both of these works of literature. What is the American Dream? It is the idea that with hard work anyone can succeed in this country. Succeeding is mostly defined in materialistic terms, like having a house in the suburbs, a new car, etc. The American Dream is also about being able to support a family in a more-than-basic way.  It may also be defined as living a fulfilling life but of course, one needs a little money to do even that.  In Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, the American Dream is shown as absolutely unattainable to some people, chiefly illegal immigrants, unless they are willing to break the law. In the movie Crash, the viewer sees examples of people who â€Å"make it†as well as people who don’t, and even some people who are in between. However, in both these pieces, characters must struggle and work hard for even a chance at the American Dream. But the question remains, â€Å"why is the American Dream attainable for some and not for others?† Overall, the idea of the American Dream is shown as a myth or illusion for most people.            The American Dream exists in many ways in this movie. In Crash, the viewer is shown a successful character like the Latino man named Daniel. Daniel lives in a small house, but it is his house. He lives with his wife and daughter. He works hard every day, and while he will never be rich like Jean, he is able to survive and to sustain his family. The viewer would not exactly view him as a success story because there probably isn’t much money left over at the end of each month. However, the viewer recognizes that Daniel has what is truly important in life and is â€Å"making it†even thought that might be day by day. On the other hand, the Persian man who owns the shop is unable to attain the American Dream. Or rather, he is on his way when the shop is destroyed by vandals. With the insurance company refusing to pay, he has lost everything. Due to the fact that he has been ripped off before in America, he does not believe Daniel when he is told to get a new lock. Therefore, he essentially loses his business. Both of these characters must struggle through stereotypes and prejudice and racism on a daily basis to even have a chance at the American Dream.            Now, Jean’s character in Crash shows another side of the American Dream. She really has the plush lifestyle that most people would think of when defining the American Dream. She has the beautiful house, the cars, the maid, the manicured lawn, the glitzy clothes and jewelry, etc. She is clearly unhappy. All of the material possessions have not made her happier; they have possibly made her miserable. She has no friends, no one she can really count on. for most of the movie, she is a hated character, and yet she is someone who lives the American Dream. The viewer does not know whether the couple has earned all this money or inherited some, but the viewer sees Jean’s character basically doing nothing. She does not work while Daniel and Farad struggle daily to make a life for their families. Clearly, Crash says that the dream is not attainable for everyone no matter how hard they work. Neither one of them is lazy characters at all and still, life is a struggle. But those who have the â€Å"life†want to protect it and protect themselves against those who don’t.            In Crash, there are those who sort of live the dream outside the boundaries of the law. The viewer assumes that Ken Ho lives the dream. he is an immigrant who has â€Å"made it†in America. But how has he done this? He traffics human beings. He completely compromises any values that he had in order to make money.  Ludicirs and Anthony sort of live the dream although they always must stay one step ahead of the police in order to keep what they have. They steal cars which earns them money to buy nice things. These characters show the American Dream gone awry. However, there is a reality here as well. Many people in this country feel that the Dream is unattainable to them any other way than breaking the law. So, they break the law in order to get the things that others already have.            Basically the movie Crash shows the viewer situation after situation where people struggle to live the dream and that is exactly what it is for most people, a daily struggle. To get to the top is hard enough, but to stay there is nearly impossible. And it isn’t about hard work at all. being a hard worker guarantees nothing in this life. It doesn’t guarantee that a person will ever get anywhere financially. It doesn’t guarantee that someone who hasn’t worked at all won’t take your life away from you suddenly. It doesn’t even guarantee that a person will have a place to live or money to buy food no matter how hard he/she works.            This brings us directly to Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, which is yet another name for the border between the United States and Mexico. In Tortilla Curtain the dichotomy between rich and poor is shown quite clearly. Kyra Menaker-Mossbader and her husband and son have the American Dream. They live in an exclusive housing development called Arroyo Blanco Estates and seem to have all the luxuries of life. below their house, Candido and America Rincon live. They came to America illegally from Mexico in order to maintain the American Dream. they find that no matter how hard they work, they simply cannot attain the Dream. In fact, they cannot gain enough money to live any semblance of a decent life.            The Rincon’s come to the United States illegally to work for a better life. The Rincon’s truly believe that in American society â€Å"everyone, even the poorest [has] a car, a house, and a TV†(26). They do not understand that even Americans are poor; that is why America is so upset when she meets Mary at the labor exchange. If citizens of this country cannot achieve the American Dream, where does that leave her family? Throughout this book, America will come to believe that her whole idea was noting but an illusion, an illusion that will not be met. They have already reduced their living standards to the bare minimum and are barely scraping by. While America is pregnant, she has had to camp out in the open air with no clean water or any sort of sanitation system. This couple has no health insurance for the birth of their baby, nor do they have prospects in getting a job in order to obtain and maintain this health insurance. They work as day laborers until they can’t even find work at all. America is like many others. She dreams of the United States we typically see in the movies. She would like a â€Å"clean white house†with some modern amenities and a little yard.            Like some of the character in Crash, America commits a crime, although on a much lesser scale. She steals fruit from a garden. She has never before committed a crime. But the desperateness of seeing those around her thrive while she struggles to eat is too much. Sadly, also like many of the characters in Crash, they are also unable to defend themselves from attacks. They are out in the open air and have a hard time with the language. First, some kids smash up their camp for fun. Then America is raped. They go to the city where Candido is robbed, and they eat garbage to survive. They return to their campsite in the valley and things are looking up until Candido accidentally sets the whole valley on fire. Their savings are burned up, and they must start over once again. Their daughter is born blind.            Kyra Mossbacher and her family have achieved the American Dream. Have they worked harder than the Rincon family to achieve this dream. The reader can clearly see that they have not. It is simply that the dream is open to this family and closed to others. Kyra Mossbacher has a dream of possessing even more. she wants the Da Ros place which is a huge mansion â€Å"in the style of an English manor house, comprising eleven thousand square of living space†(222). Kyra must replace her â€Å"dream†after this place is destroyed by fire. they live a charmed life with their young son and their pets. They are sheltered from the cruel realities of what many others face in this life.            While Delaney calls himself a â€Å"liberal humanist†(3), he has some chance encounters with Mexicans that slowly turn him into a racist. First, he runs into Candido with his car. he is guilty at first and then angry at this illegal for being in the road. Finally he hands him a $20 and calls it even.  Apparently this is what an illegal immigrant’s life is worth, $20. As other things happen, Delaney become angrier at Mexican illegals. First, a coyote takes his dog. then his Acura is stolen by thieves. His neighborhood also becomes angry and begins to wall in his community. they are protecting their American Dream, but in doing so, they are stopping others from attainting this dream.  Ironically, the people building these fences are the illegal immigrants themselves, like Candida and his friends. Kyra’s lobbying closes the labor exchange. he wants vengeance on Candido. He goes to the campsite with a gun and a mudslide starts. While Delaney saves Candido, the baby drowns. The tragedy in the end of this book is beyond compare.            What the movie Crash and the book Tortilla Curtain teach the reader is that there are no easy answers. Illegal immigration is not rationalized or approved of in any way, and yet, these people need to survive. We all fight for the American dream, and we all want to protect ourselves against people who want to take from us. That is human nature. In Crash, the idea is that we crash into people because we are so starved for human touch. Therefore, we have these chance encounters with people we never would have met otherwise; some of them are good and some are bad. The average person struggles everyday and life isn’t easy. There is no such thing as equal opportunity in this country and hard work is not even remotely close to all that is necessary to achieve the American Dream. In Tortilla Curtain, the same kinds of lessons are taught. Delaney and Candido meet quite literally in a â€Å"crash†scene, and Delaney describes himself as a liberal until he starts to fear those trying to get a piece of their own dream by disrupting his. Then, he fights back. It isn’t America and Candido’s fault because they want to make a better life for themselves and their baby, and it isn’t really Delaney’s fault because he wants to keep the life he has. The story ends about as tragically as one could.            Both of these pieces tell the reader/viewer something about empathy. Maybe if everyone could try just a little harder to understand the stories of others, to understand where others are coming from, we could solve some of our problems.  Everyone wants the same things in the end.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Largest Companies Listed On The Bursa Malaysia Commerce Essay
Largest Companies Listed On The Bursa Malaysia Commerce Essay YTL Corporation Berhad is one of the largest companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia, and together with its six listed entities has a combined Market Capitalization of about RM 34.3 million as at 30 September 2010, the company has a total asset of over RM45 billion. The major business carries out by YTL Corporation included power generation, construction contracting, property development, hotel development and management, cement manufacturing, supply of water, treatment and disposal of waste water, and incubating and advisory services for internet businesses. [ Francis Yeoh, YTL Corporation Berhad ] Products and Services YTL Cement Berhad supplies cement products and concrete products, quarry products and provision of related services to the constructions sector. YTL Cement is Malaysias largest producer of ready-mixed concrete, through its subsidiary Buildcon Concrete Sdn Bhd C.I Readymix Sdn Bhd. The company currently operates more than 50 batching plants throughout Peninsular Malaysia. [ Mr. TG TAN, YTL Cement Berhad ] YTL Cement Berhad is also the 2nd largest cement plant in Malaysia, with cement production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum in Pahang; 3.4 million tonnes per annum in Perak; and a Clinker and Blast Furnace Slag Grinding Plants at Westport, Klang, and Pasir Gudang, Johor, each of 500,000 m/t per annum capacity. [ YTL Cement Berhad ] YTL Corporation also have a lots of luxury hotel in different country. Besides, YTL Corporation also carries out property development activities. YTL has built up excellent and high quality of buildings such as condominiums with attractive and inn ovative designs. Channels of distribution This is defined as an intermediate chain; each chain is passed down to the next organizations product, that we finally reach the consumer or end user. This process is known as the distribution chain or channel. Starting from the beginning, the YTL Company has only supplies the cement manufacturing to the entire buyer. When the YTL Company gets the profit back, they have enough capital, and then the company starts to expand their business structure. They start to supply generation, construction contracting, property development, hotel development and management, cement manufacturing, supply of water, treatment and disposal of waste water, and incubating and advisory services for internet businesses. [ Francis Yeoh, YTL Corporation Berhad ] They sell this product to Tenaga National Berhad(TNB), hotel, building industry, hardware store and customer. This can keep their products on the market flow and visibility. Level of Technology Used YTL Cement is the largest ready-mixed concrete company in Malaysia, with over 500 mixers. YTL Cement owns over 70 batching plants and a fleet of 700 cement trucks, operating throughout Malaysia. [ YTL Corporation Berhad ] YTL Corporation undertakes IT and e-commerce technology in their business. Organization Structure YTL Corporation is managed by an experienced Board with a wide and varied range of expertise. This broad full of skills and experience can ensure that the YTL Corporation is under the guidance of an accountable and competent Board. The Directors recognise the key role they play in charting the strategic direction, development and control of the YTL Corp Group and have adopted the six primary responsibilities as listed in the Code, which facilitate the discharge of the Boards stewardship responsibilities. The Board currently has thirteen Directors comprising nine executive members and four non-executive members. The positions of the Executive Chairman and the Managing Director are held by separate members of the Board. The Executive Chairman is primarily responsible for the orderly conduct and working of the Board, while the Managing Director oversees the running of the business day by day, implementation of Board policies and making of operational decisions. The Managing Director and the Executive Directors are accountable to the Board for the profitable operation and development of the YTL Corporation, consistent with the primary aim of enhancing long-term shareholder value. The presence of Independent Non-Executive Directors brings an additional element of balance to the Board and these Independent Non-Executive Directors have the experience to carry sufficient weight in the Boards decisions. The differing roles of Executive and Non-Executive Directors are delineated, both having fiduciary duties towards the shareholders of the company. Executive Directors have a direct responsibility for business operations whereas Non-Executive Directors have the necessary skill and experience to bring an independent judgement to bear on issues of strategy, performance and resources brought before the Board. The Executive Directors are responsible for the YTL Corporation operations and for ensuring that strategies proposed by management are fully discussed and examined, and take account of the long term interests of shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and the many communities in which the YTL Corporation conducts its business. Mission YTL Company mission is to earn high returns by investing in high growth, knowledge intensive companies that leverage on new technologies and then enhance the value of these investments by using its internal and external resources. It aims to be a provider of smart capital, which includes financial capital as well as real world knowledge capital, to eliminate many of the risks associated with new technology investments, be they technical, financial or operational. [ YTL e-Solutions Berhad ] Strengths The strengths of YTL Company are when at a limited resources period time, YTL Company can supply the amount quantity of products to customer. This is because when that time building start work come together many way and then make the resources lesser, at that time YTL Company got place to store the resources and supply to every customer. Weaknesses The weakness of the YTL Company is divided into many part of enterprise development, so by the controlling maybe have some small mistake. Like when a place for develop, many worker are calling to over time the work and will give extra bonus, but the way is some of the worker want to save more the money send back to their family, so that them eat less of food when the working time, and when got any over time chances them will fight of it. This problem makes them will over stress their body and not enough time for rest and this will cause of any dangerous accident. Innovation The first company to introduce turnkey construction into Malaysia. The first Malaysian company to use non-resource local financing to finance a high-speed rail project. The first Asian company to issue a Zero-Coupon Euro-bond. First Independent Power Producer in Malaysia. The first non-Japanese Asian company to list on the Tokyo Exchange in year 1996. Awards YTL is one of Malaysias best managed companies; YTL Corporation has won numerous awards and come out tops in numerous surveys over the years, including awards form The Far Eastern Economic Review, Asia Week, CIO Asia and many others awards. YTL Corporations most recent accolades came from Finance Asia magazine, when it was highlighted under the categories Most Committed to Corporate Governance. Best Financial Management and Best Managed Company. Planning Planning can best be defined as looking ahead and chalking out future courses of action to be followed. It is a preparatory step. It is a systematic activity which determines when, how and who is going to perform a specific job. Planning is a detailed programme regarding future courses of action. It is rightly said Well plan is half done. Therefore planning takes into consideration available and prospective human and physical resources of the organization so as to get effective coordination, contribution and perfect adjustment. It is the basic management function which includes formulation of one or more detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of needs or demands with the available resources. [ Ads by Google ] Someone has said before, Planning is a mental predisposition to do things in orderly way, to think before acting and to act in the light of facts rather than guesses. Planning is deciding best alternative among others to perform different managerial functions in order to achieve predetermined goals. [ Ads by Google ] Planning is deciding in advance on what to do, how to do and who to do it. Planning bridge covers the gap between where we want to go. It makes possible things occur which would not otherwise occur. In todays highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments where necessary to stay on track. [ Bradford, Robert W., Duncan, Peter J., Tarcy, Brian ] YTL Corporations strategy of offering World Class Products and Services at Competitive Prices extends across the range of its business activities, and is perhaps the single most important factor underpinning its success today in enhancing shareholder value. That is because YTL Corporation using the right way of the strategy planning process. A simplified strategic planning process is shown by the following diagram: This process is most applicable to strategic management at the business unit level of the organization. For large corporations, strategy at the corporate level is most concerned with managing a portfolio of business. For example, corporate level strategy involves decisions about which business units are to grow, resource allocation among the business units, taking advantage of synergies among the business units, and mergers and acquisitions. In the process outlined here, company or firm will be used to denote a single-business firm or a single business unit of a diversified firm. [ NetMBA, Business Knowledge Center ] YTL Corporation follows the step by step then only can reach until now is one of the largest companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia. The company has many assets, for example hotel, resorts, building, and etc. Mission- Companys mission is to reason as a company. The delegation is often manifested in the form of mission statement, convey a sense of mission and project staff clients corporate image. In the strategy formulation process, the mission statement sets the direction of where the company should go. YTLs mission is to earn high returns by investing in high growth, knowledge intensive companies that leverage on new technologies and provide the affordable to become one of the world-class quality products and services. Now our company is following by the mission and almost wants to overstep the mission already. YTL Group Managing Director Tan Sri Dato (Dr) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping said that before. Objectives- Objectives is a specific goal, which the organization seeks to reach, for example, a profit growth target. The goal should be challenging, but achievable. They should also be measurable, so that companies can monitor their progress and make necessary corrections. YTL over the last 15 years already contributed directly to its success in achieving a compounded annual growth rate in Pre-tax profits of 55%. This can shown that the company also done in this part very well and is not every company can done it as well, it because need to put more heart on the company and fight the target only can get it well. Situation Analysis- Once the firm has specified its objectives, it begins with its current situation to devise a strategic plan to reach those objectives. Changes in the external environment often present new opportunities and new ways to reach the objectives. An environmental scan is performed to identify the available opportunities. The firm also must know its own capabilities and limitations in order to select the opportunities that it can pursue with a higher probability of success. The situation analysis therefore involves an analysis of both the external and internal environment. [ NetMBA, Business Knowledge Center ] A situation analysis can generate a large amount of information, much of which is not particularly relevant to strategy formulation. To make the information more manageable, it sometimes is useful to categorize the internal factors of the firm as strengths and weakness, and the external environmental factors as opportunities and threats. [ NetMBA, Business Knowledge Center ] YTL Company aspect the analysis in the industry in which the firm operates or is considering operating. It devised the five forces framework that is use for industry analysis. The five forces include barriers to entry, customers, suppliers, substitute product, and rivalry among competing firm. Strategy Formulation- Once a clear picture of the firm and its environment is in the hand, specific strategic alternatives can be developed. While different firms have different alternatives depending on their situation, there also exist generic strategies that can be applied across a wide range of firm. We identified the cost leadership, differentiation, and focus as the three generic strategies that may be considered when defining strategic alternatives. [ NetMBA, Business Knowledge Center ]We implementing a combination of these strategies for a given product; rather, he argued that only one of the generic strategy alternatives should be pursued. So, the YTL Company got more strong power to build up faster than other company and become a big company. Implementation- The strategy likely will be expressed in high-level conceptual terms and priorities. For effective implementation, it needs to be translated into more detailed policies that can be understood at the functional level of the organization. The expression of the strategy in terms of functional policies also serves to highlight any practical issues that might not have been visible at a higher level. [ NetMBA, Business Knowledge Center ] The strategy of YTL Company is translated into few specific policies for functional areas such as: marketing, research and development, procurement, production, human resources, information systems and etc. Control- Once implemented, the results of the strategy need to be measured an evaluated, with changes made as required to keep the plan on track. Control systems should be developed and implemented to facilitate this monitoring. Standards of performance are set, the actual performance measured, and appropriate action taken to ensure success. [ NetMBA, Business Knowledge Center ] By the way the theory and the YTL Company theory are similar same, step by step from mission until the end of the controlling step. Organizing Organization is one of the management functions, such as planning. It is a function of the synchronization and human, material and financial resources, the combination occurred. All three resources are very important to get results. Therefore, the organization features help to achieve results that are actually important for the operation concerned. According to Chester Barnard, Organizing is a function by which the concern is able to define the role positions, the jobs related and the co- ordination between authority and responsibility. Therefore, managers always want to get organized results. Organizing function has four following steps. First is identification of activities. All activities must be conducted in a question for the first time that. For example, the preparation of the accounts, make sales, record keeping, quality control, inventory control, etc. All these activities are grouped and classified as a unit. Second is departmentally organizing the activities. In this step, managers are trying to bind to the departments and units or similar groups and related activities. This is divided into separate units and department to the entire organization is called departmentation. In the third steps is classifying the authority. Once the departments have made, Managers like the power and scope of the category managers. This gives a kind of management positions in the rank of the level of activity is called. Senior management to policy formulation, the lower the supervision and management of mid-level to the foremans supervision and management. Clarify a problem in the introduction of the power efficiency of the help. This helps in achieving the operating efficiency of a concern. This helps to avoid the time, money, energy waste, to avoid duplication or overlapping of efforts, which helped smooth the introduction of the work concerned. And the last step is co-ordination between authority and responsibility. Relations are based on different groups in order to achieve organizational goals toward smooth interaction. Everyone knows by his authority, he or she know they have to take orders and to whom they must report to them. A clear organizational structure is developed and all staff is made aware of this. When it comes to business leaders, the most important aspect is the management of the organization functions. In fact, the correct implementation of the organizational functions of management can make a business success or failure. Absence of sound system, involving the management of organizational functions, the companies can easily end up belly up and bleeding red. Unfortunately, many business owners do not spend enough time to consider the organizations management functions. In addition, when it comes to business planning and the like, little time is spent on an overview of the organization, taking into account management features. This is crucial, a business management training and well versed in the functions of various organizations. Historically, these types of concepts taught in colleges and universities. However, to a large degree, many universities have abandoned at least to some extent, the training organization like the focus. Management organizations function of the level of many business enterprises. First, the organizations management function addresses the way the person with the organization to interact, who reports to whom, organization charts, lines of authority. All of these are personnel management and organizational functions of management within the organization takes that fall on. Financial planning and budgetary considerations also belong to the organizations general management topics. Managers need the plug and the company employed by them during the budget out familiar. They need to understand the business of spending and budget priorities in order to fully understand how to allocate company resources to ensure the maximum profit at the end. Internet also does provide a number of organizations looking for more management functions, and how it is any enterprises overall business model of an important part of the useful information for anyone interested. Now we talks about the important of organisation. The people who organized organization are much better than the disorganized individuals. The same is true the organized sector or enterprise. Managers who can master this enjoyment of the organization function more smoothly in the management of the term of office location. For example, the construction enterprise organizations must do to ensure the smooth progress of the project a lot. Subcontractors, construction managers and building materials must be received by organizations for each. Scheduling before the arrival of supplies, the development of a carpenter, is counterproductive, and showing a lack of organization. In the current situation, there is a specific order to the project, which is in any other projects the true situation. Manager who has a staff organized to follow it and the organizations and the fight. Managers who take seriously functions of the organization to consistently update their plans will therefore be successful in the workplace. Organizing is always occurs continuously. Organization is most managers daily, weekly, annual task. In todays fast-paced business world, things change rapidly, the change occurred. Managers must remember that it was the composition of the flow, never change. Flexible management the ability to change course and even when necessary to meet customer needs. Change is inevitable. For the frequent changes of business experience, the organization function is essential. Such as adding new jobs or eliminate some of the organizational change process can change the level and structure of the organizations business. By the way, our research of YTL Company has indicates that organization itself consists of three basic building blocks. They are Job Positions, Activities, and Systems. The growth of the organization is how to organize the development and how they relate to people of each of these subunits to form an organic whole understanding. Job Positions The YTL Company divides the job positions into four types, which is Structure, Authority, and Distribution of tasks, Right people and Training. Structure The first thing consider is the structure of jobs in the company is correct for todays business and plans for the tomorrow. Therefore, it is worth doing an analysis of whether the structure and YTL Company contains the right makeup and balance of job positions on it. Authority Second, YTL Company examine whether each job position in the company is matched by a level of authority for the person in that job to carry out the tasks contained within the job. In addition, the person filling the job needs to clearly know whom he or she is to report to. [ Roy Posner, Growth Online ] Distribution of Tasks Third, need to check whether the work tasks are assigned to that position in all right task. Some tasks may not be included in the work, or some tasks may need to be added to the job, or some people may only need to be assigned to another job. Therefore, the contents of each job in the company of the company is also worthy of detailed analysis. Right People, Training Fourth, the job positions in YTL Company are proper allocation, as well as office tasks is to maximize the efficiency of individual positions need filled with the right people, and training to the work of each person. Activities Jobs, activities can be continuously improved throughout the organization as well. Each improvement to an activity releases fresh energy and makes the organization more effective. [ Roy Posner, Growth Online ] YTL this high-tech manufacturing companies are reviewing their product development activities in order to maximize product and service speed to market, and their efficiency and product quality and service. Therefore, thorough analysis activities, while enabling companies to more efficiently and releasing tremendous energy and prosperity. Systems An organization is determined by the degree of productivity and regular physical activity routine systematic, standard operating procedures for the opening. Systemization doesnt just make activities work more efficient; it makes people more relaxed and cheerful at work because the activities almost take care of themselves. In fact, the happiest people are often in companies that have turned most or all activities in the company into corresponding systems. [ Roy Posner, Growth Online ] There are some systems in the YTL Company as computerized bookkeeping, email, sales tracking, sales analysis, manufacturing, credit checking and etc. And then there are the existing systems. YTL Company upgraded the efficiency to the next level. Compare to the theories of YTL, it is almost the same. YTL company manager organize the company organizing structure and the job position of the employees in the company. Besides, the manager also concern about the authority and system in the company. Leading Leading is the topic of motivating employees is extremely important to managers and supervisors. To motivate employees, we must start motivating ourselves first. If you are enthusiastic about your job, it is much easier for others to be too. In addition, if doing to take care of worker and their work well, will have more clearly how other people do is their point of view. You can make their day or break their day. As a manager, you are the most powerful factor in employees motivation and morale. Your impact on employee motivation is immeasurable. By the words, the body language and expression on face, the telegraph opinion of their value of the people employ. You must take the lead first. Use simple powerful motivational words to demonstrate that you value people by saying please and thank you and you are doing a good job you can make their day positive employee motivation and morale. Start the day right. Since, walk tall and confidently. Walk around your workplace and greet people. Share the goods and expectations for the day. Let the employees know that today is going to be a great day. Of start with you, you can make their day. For employee motivation, you must make sure people know what you expect. As a manager, you must have clearly state down the work objectives, members needed, report dear lines and the requirements so that the employees do not received a different manage. Make sure get the feedback from the employees so will know he or she understand what is the need. Share the goals and reasons for doing the task and project. Have a task or project by the middle of change, why change needs to tell people, tell them you know. They want to know when they complete a project, and when you are disappointed in their results. They need as soon as possible after the event this information. They need to work with you to make sure that they produce a positive outcome the next time. Set up a daily or weekly schedule to check and make sure the feedback happens. This is an effective tool in building employee motivation and morale. As a manger you can continue learning and trying out new ideas for employee motivation. Use whatever access you have to education and training. Have an internal trainer or seek classes from an outside consultant, a training company or a university. Most people want to learn and grow their skill at work. No matter what their reasons are: a promotion, different work, a new position or a leadership role employee appreciates your help. Encourage experimentation and taking reasonable risk to develop employee skill. That each persons performance development plan and implementation plan to ensure that you need to help them. Hold regular meeting to share information, gain ideas for improvement and train new policies. Hold focus groups to gather input before implementing policies that affect employees. To effectively lead a work group, department or unit, you must take responsibility for your actions, the actions of the people you lead and the accomplishment of the goals that are yours. [ Sus an M. Heathfield, About.Com ] Show commitment by following through on your promises. To motivate the employees, we start with good people, lay out rules communicate and reward them with good pay and bonuses to those who deserve them. Today, people must understand why they are working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different from each other. On motivating people, you are got to engage their minds and their hearts. For example, by excitement or by having productive ideas to make others feel involved. Motivation is the art of setting people to do what you want to do because they want to do it. Everybody wants to be somebody. The thing you as a manager have to do is to give them confidence as much as you can. Whether you, you are for personal reasons, but the bottom line is that almost everyone working for the money. Whatever you can it: compensation, salary, houses, benefit or remuneration, money pays by bills. Of provide housing, gives children clothing and food, send them to college and eventually retirement. Therefore, equity interests and pay is the cornerstone of a successful company, the commitment to recruit and retain workers. To attract the best employees, you need to pay more than your average paying counterpart in the market place. Show commitment by following through on your promise. Follow up on mines and review project regularly to make sure you have done all you can keep an eye on projects so that you can head off problems. As a manager, in order for you to motivate your employees you must have positive mental attitude. Condition your mind to reject negative attitude to channel your mental energy. A commitment to positive attitude will bring about that relaxed countenance that many successful leaders exhibit. Show disciplined to your employee by setting a good example. Always arrive early for appointments. This shows that you are disciplined and respect other peoples time. Strength and courage on the face of adversity is a must. Be determined to face it off when facing with any troubles or problems. People will respect you more if you show courage. The leading challenges are to help individuals identify potential area of development and to measure the effectives. It is also ones ability to deal with daily environment demands and pressure and helps predict ones success in life including professional and personal pursuits. It also helps us to understand the connection between emotion and ones abilities to lead. Leaders execute a vision by motivating, umpiring, listening, guiding, and persuading others. The challenges in leading are that we can proactively build up relationship with a wide network of people. To continually articulating our vision and influencing our employees. As a leader, we can umpire ourselves and others and also creating a culture that sustain urgency in making the vision a reality. We can also continually looking for new ideas, developing, motivating, embracing change and welcoming opportunity. Combined with comprehensive pressures and the constant need to adapt and change the demands to strong leadership at every level of an organization one eventual to its strategic alignment, effectives and success. In YTL Corporation, the manager led or motivates their employees in the company to achieve some plan or let their staff perform in certain tasks. Besides, the manager also led to the morale and behavior of the staffs. YTL Corporation aims to make the staffs having a high morale and good efficient while working in the company. So that, the company only can perform well because of the good relationship between subordinates and staff. Other than that, YTL Corporation led the company to achieve their company mission and vision. By facing any challenges and problem, the manager will find a new idea or certain ways to solve the problem or having confidence to fight with the challenges given. Compare to the concepts and theories, YTL company manager concern more about the performance of the employees in the company. Same as the way of leading, the manager led to make the staff be in high morale and good attitude. So, the manager can led their employees to achieve certain objectives in the company. Controlling Finally, we come to the last management process and functions. The final activity manager perform is controlling. Manager should monitor activities to ensure that they are accomplished as planned. After estimating the future conditions and circumstances of his company, making decisions b
Sunday, August 4, 2019
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Essay -- essays research papers
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Some time ago, I decided to read Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne. I figured that because it was so well known it must be an extremely interesting book. In addition, it was science fiction, the one area that I was always interested. My assumption was only partially correct, for I only was to a degree interested in the piece of writing. When Jules Verne was writing this book, he must have been reading some incredibly dull science book the day before, for that was what the book was written as. The style of writing was utterly against my tastes, and though the plot was moderately interesting, the style of writing really ruined it. Often, the author will trail off describing some marine animal for pages at a time. Two entire chapters were almost entirely this! However, the setting and characters of the story seemed to be well thought out. Nevertheless, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea was an extremely tedious volume. When the story w as introduced, Jules Verne described M. Aronnax, the main character, whose love for marine biology was more important than anything else to him did. This immediately led to the international crisis about a bizarre aquatic creature, which immediately dragged M. Aronnax into the action. Due to his expertise on the matter, the public expected Pierre to be the one to solve this mystery. M. Aronnax, under all this pressure, concluded that the animal was to be called the Narwhale. At first, the mat...
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Scuba Trip :: essays research papers
On May 22, 1994 it was my ninth birthday. My mom and dad decided to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. We went on one of the Carnival cruise ships. This boat was the biggest boats I ever saw. When we rushed to get on the cruise ship I saw that there were so many rooms and shops. My favorite room was the Game room, when I entered the game room there were so many games and seemed like there were hundreds and hundreds of them. I started to get bored so I left. When I went to back to our room my dad was thinking about going scuba diving. The following morning my dad planned to go scuba diving when all the tourist went to go sight seeing on the island. We went to the scuba shop and rented all the gear. When the boat came I put on all the gear. For example, the air tanks, goggles, and the regulator. When we got on the boat we had to sit on the edge, so we could flip over the side. Finally, the boat stopped and I could barely see the islands. The captain said not to go past the big cones. I was pretty scared because the water was so deep, but I finally jumped off. Scuba diving was scary so all I did was follow my dad. I finally stop being afraid and looked at all the colors that were weird and unusual. The colors were hot orange and dark red. My favorite coral was the one with the hair on it. It was pretty cool because fish would enter, but would not leave because the coral would eat them! The fish I saw was cool and the only fish I knew was the Angel fish. I knew this fish because of all the colors it had. The other fish were big and had the biggest teeth I ever saw, but I didn't know what they were called.
Medical Marijuana :: Medicine Drugs Essays
Medical Marijuana Marijuana has been hailed as a prescription for many ills and physicians once used it to stimulate appetite, relieve chronic pain, and treat asthma and migraines. But is marijuana really a medical miracle? If so, do its clinical benefits outweigh its drawbacks? Should we legalize marijuana? Is medical marijuana really worth the risks? These are the issues one needs to think about before making the decision to legalize marijuana. Marijuana is a drug that is derived from the dried and cut leaves of the hemp plant known as "cannabis sativa". Marijuana has a variety of street names such as "grass", "Mary Jane", "pot", "smoke", "reefer", "herb", and "weed". The active ingredient in marijuana is delta tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (3). . Marijuana has been used throughout history and in many different cultures to change mood, perception, and consciousness (to get "high"). Its effects range from increasing creativity to provoking mystical experiences, to heightening the capacity to feel, sense and share. After alcohol, it is the most popular of what are called "recreational drugs." It has been used around the world for other purposes. In some primitive tribes of South America, Africa, and India, "cannabis" is used in religious ceremonies and for medical purposes. African mine workers have used it to ease the drudgery of their work and many Jamaicans use it at the end of the day to relieve fatigue. It has been use d as an intoxicant in various parts of the world for centuries and in the United States, for the most part the 20th century. Marijuana was first described in print in a Chinese book of medicine, "Herbal," in the 2nd century B.C., and was used in China as an anesthetic 5,000 years ago. The ancient Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and East Indians used the drug to control muscle spasms, reduce pain, and to treat indigestion. It was commonly used in folk medicines in Africa and Asia. As early as 1611, marijuana was cultivated for its fiber in Jamestown, Virginia. In 19th century America, marijuana was used by the medical profession for treating spastic conditions, headaches, labor pains, insomnia, and menstrual cramps. It is still used as a medicine in the Middle East and in Asia (9). The controversy dealing with marijuana stems from the legalization of the drug for medical use.
Friday, August 2, 2019
School Law Class
The office of a school superintendent, must work hand in hand with other associations and other principals in order to develop good system for the evaluation of the teacher and the principal. This will also include the measures put in place for the growth of the students. There should be a common agreement of a good definition of an effective teacher, an effective principal as well as the way a student growth shall be measured in the whole country. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). Moreover, a good amount of the teacher and the principal evaluation systems must include how the students’ academic growth will be measured. To close the gap which is available in the achievement, it would be appropriate to ensure that the teachers and the principals are the first to support so that they can address the needs of the students in the classrooms and in various schools. This should be then evaluated and the teachers held responsible for the academic growth of every student. To ensure that the process of negotiations between the school board, the school employees and the superintendents of the schools runs smoothly the superintendents have to work closely with the teachers unions. The unions are known to be most powerful yet the least considered when negotiating the public education issues in the current world. Despite the attention of the public focusing mainly on the influence the national unions have, policies that affect most schools and the teachers are negotiated by the local unions and the school boards. The local union leaders however focus the balance between the competing interests as well as the obligations. This is mainly based on the concern and the priorities of their members in the union to the state pressures as well as the affiliates at the national level. These union leaders confirm the agenda of the union and in addition, they advocate for the expanded agenda of the teachers’ profession. They also advocate for communal bargaining and management of the contract. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). Many schools are facing the problem of failed school bond issues. This is mainly in the mid-sized rural schools districts. This leads to the organization of the school to hold school bond elections. The strategic plans of the schools mirror many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums. This leads to the illustration of why many schools pass the bond issues with a unique support from the community. However, findings from one school cannot match with the concerns that are available in all the communities. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). If the funding is not secured, the leaders of the schools should be provided with voter input from the rural school districts. This will be a successful effort to overcome the problem of unsecured funding. The school demonstrates that it complies with Title IX through the continued efforts to add new sporting activities for women. The school also ensures that it has met the proportionality required by having a balance between the male and female students taking part in the sporting activities. This is in relation to the general population of the school. The school also ensures that nit has met the interests and the abilities of their female counter parts. To change the school compliance to the Title IX, a survey could be conducted that would help to measure the students’ interests and the abilities. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). The steps taken to learn the parameters in a state would include acquiring a specialty like reading as it will provide the teacher with a competitive edge in the job. Also one has to be flexible in order to fix the needs of the students. The teacher should have a daily plan but should be flexible as much as possible in order to make adjustments where possible. Having a rigid plan may not be easy to be adapted in a diverse class. A balance should be maintained between the individual instruction and the whole class instruction. More to this, one should consider joining a professional association and also to obtain advanced credentials to understand the laws well. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). The benefits and drawbacks of relying on digital communication to send information to board members, the community members and the school staff is that it enables effective communication to take place as one must have effective skills to express him not only in the paper and the pen but also through other means such as audio and video. It is also possible to analyze data as one chooses the data that is available on the web based format as well as in other electronic formats. However this may be challenging when it comes to problem solving as the people have to know how they can apply what they know and what they can to new situations in the on line communication. There are many risks in the use of digital communication that may affect the quality of communication in the 21st century. These are mainly based on the security and safety of the communication. Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). The teachers have to be active in providing the students with protection against contagious infections. This could be achieved by providing a safe environment. The teachers therefore have to be concerned about the safety and health of their students. These includes bullying whereby some students especially those with disabilities will be targeted by others. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). This may be in form of aggression, abuses, use of threats or psychological abuse. In addition, the students have to be protected against homophobia. Other protection may be in riding in the school buses, cyber cafe protection having video surveillance in the schools among others. The relationship between the schools and the local police and other departments is that each works independently and there is no cooperation in undertaking their functions in the community. Helping the students learn and improving the quality of education is one of the main priorities of many school districts. This can only be achieved by having an effective working relationship. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997). This mainly begins by having a clear commitment that will help to discover the community’s assets and capabilities. This relationship requires the cooperation of the schools with many sectors. This process involves public inquiry and the community members who participate in the inquiry increases the quality of beliefs, ideas and actions that develops. The school should ensure that it has a written and prevention and mitigation plan. This plan consists of the strategies to keep bad things from happening in the school and it clearly outlines how the impacts of the negative impacts that could not be avoided be minimized or mitigated. The school should also have preparedness plan to help the students and the teachers to respond to some forms of crisis. To ensure the safety of the students at security crisis, various measures could be put in place which includes raising adequate money for the management of the security department involves evaluating and updating the school safety plan as often as possible. The school staff should receive trainings regularly on how to ensure that the students are safe. The school should develop an efficient safety plan for the students and include a security consultant if necessary when designing the school safety plan. The school can also partner with the law enforcers to identify possible threats that could pose security concerns to the students. Therefore security hazard analysis would be vital. (Dimmock and Donoghue, 1997).
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Chik-Fil-a
Chick-fil-A is one of the most successful fast food restaurant establishments in the country. With over 1,300 locations in 37 states in the Southern U. S. , they continue to grow the brand by expanding to new territories (Chick-fil-A Company, 2009, para 1). In 2008 Chick-fil-A has seen a 12. 17 percent sales increase over the chain’s 2007 performance and a same store sale increase of 4. 59 percent (Chick-fil-A Company, 2009, para1). Throughout the years Chick-fil-A has come up with many innovative ideas to continue expanding business and satisfying their loyal customers. One of the ideas was to offer different types of restaurant set-ups to cater to customer’s needs. The different restaurant set-ups include mall/in line, stand-alone, drive-thru only outlets, dwarf houses, Truett’s grills, licensed non-traditional outlets (franchises) and satellite/lunch-counter. After proper research of different geographical locations the writer has decided to buy into a chic-fil-A franchise zoned in the Columbia County, Grovetown area. Executive Summary Chick-fil-A’s mission is â€Å"to be America's best quick-service restaurant at winning and keeping customers†(ChristiaNet, 2009, para 2). We will strive to be the premier fast food franchise of its kind in the North East market with future goals of expanding into our European territories. Our goal is to keep one step ahead of the competition by offering a clean environment, dynamic customer service, and overall quality products and services. Chick -fil-A's purpose statement reveals the heart of the company: â€Å"That we might glorify God by being a faithful steward in all that is entrusted to our care, and that we might have a positive influence on all the people that we might come in contact with†(ChristiaNet, 2009, para 2). We want our customers to experience the highest level of satisfaction there is to offer during their visit at our franchise. We will deliver a quality controlled atmosphere with efficient state-of-the art appliances, and provide extraordinary customer service so that every customer will benefit from our success. Identify the marketing segment for the product and explain why this segment was selected; The location selected to launch the Chik-fil-a franchise will be in Columbia county centrally located in Grovetown. This area was selected because of its potential profitability. Potential profitability is a function of the current market size, its anticipated growth, current and anticipated levels of competition, and customer behavior and expectations (lacobucci, 2010 ). Columbia County’s rapid growth has transformed this county from a rural neighbor of Augusta to the major suburban county in the second largest metropolitan area in Georgia (Columbia County, 2009, para 1). There a re many reasons for their rapid growth – a growing and diversified job market, a premier school system, affordable land, open spaces lending an air of the countryside, and a stable, conservative county government. Columbia County is predominantly residential and includes a highly-skilled workforce. According to Federal census figures released over the past decade, Columbia is the region's fastest growing county. However, there are still some improvements needed for the revolving community. As stated above Grovetown is a city on the move, constantly reinventing itself to appeal to a variety of residents. However, there are improvements needed that would make the Grovetown area more marketable. Currently there aren’t enough eating places in close proximity to residents living west of the county which is considered Grovetown. There is only one Mexican and Chinese restaurant, a McDonald’s, Subway, and KFC in the community. Surrounding areas offer a larger variety of fast food and dining restaurants but the closest Chic-fil-A is about 10 miles away from the Grovetown area. There are currently only six chik-fil-A locations throughout the city of Augusta which is not considered many at all. That is going to give the entrepreneur a huge advantage at start-up that there is not many other chik-fil-A’s close by and throughout the city. Being that Chick-fil-A is America’s number one choice of fast food, the others don’t stand a chance. Discuss the target market and why these customers will be targeted; The target market will include residents living in the Grovetown/Harlem area and also the army base, Ft. Gordon located approximately 2 miles from the Gate 2 Grovetown entrance. Military personnel make up the vast majority of residents living in the Grovetown area. Ft. Gordon also serves as a training base for new soldiers coming into service so there is a large market segment being targeted. Ft. Gordon only has a Blimpe’s, Popeye’s, Burger King, Godfather’s pizza, Chinese, and Huddle House. Based on the current market, Chik-fil-a will have a huge competitive advantage. With sickness rapidly attacking the bodies of young and older adults healthier alternatives are taken into consideration. Exercise with a combination of healthier diets is now a priority of much of America. Chik-fil-a will be one of the healthier alternatives that Grovetown will welcome hole-heartedly. What’s better than to start your morning with a custom cup of coffee and a low calorie breakfast sandwich? Adding the franchise here will attract morning employees heading to work, 3rd shift workers heading home from work, and many customers in between are most likely to choose Chick-fil-A over McDonald’s and Subway on any given day. Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities and treats) analysis for the company; SWOT Analysis Chick-fil-A is a unique position of competition. We compete against neighborhood fast food chains such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Subway. However, there is really no threat against America’s preferred fast food restaurants, Chik-fil-a. Offering numerous low calories, fat free items, Chick-fil-A has the best competitive advantage. The benefits and drawbacks of each of our competitors as compared with the services we offer are hardly a match in quality and price. When it comes to nutrition, McDonald’s falls short of the victory over Chick-fil-A. However, McDonalds wills serve as our most stiff competition. In addition to hamburgers, fries, and soft drinks, McDonalds offer grilled chicken sandwiches, an array of salads, Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfaits, Apple Dippers with Low Fat Caramel Dip, juice, 1% low fat milk, and, at many restaurants, soups (McDonalds Nutrition, 2009, para 5). It has helped McDonalds tremendously; however, Chik-fil-A’s healthier choices are a bit more pleasing to the taste buds. On the other hand, Subway has proven to have a nutritional advantage over Chick-fil-A but the quality of service or product does not add up to exceed it’s customer base. KFC has surely stepped up their competitive edge by comparing their items to its competitor analyzed by its calorie value. If you go to the KFC website it displays the meal choices and calorie values of McDonalds, Subway and Dunkin Donuts against its new grilled chicken meal. Chick-fil-A was not one of the selected fast food components that KFC could compare itself to. Chick-fil-A’s main strategy is to focus on providing a quality controlled tmosphere for the customer with extraordinary customer service while gaining loyal customers. McDonald’s is focusing on growing market share with a disciplined pricing strategy to provide great tasting food at an affordable price (McDonalds Media Center, 2009, para 3). Chick-fil-A understands that the customer drives the business and that most important is to satisfy the customer through superb customer service by offering extensive training to their employees. The writer can attest that competitor’s such as McDonalds, KFC, and Subway can all use improvement in this area. Another competitive edge is our involvement within the community. We will always oblige to be a sponsor for any charitable activities going on in our community. Chick-fil-A and McDonalds are heard more in the media providing programs and sponsorships for their employees and charity events. The residential outlets are continuing to grow tremendously in Columbia County offering Chik-fil-a great opportunities and sponsorship possibilities. Describe the market position for your product and service. A quality that distinguishes chik-fil-A from there fast food competitor’s is it’s commitment to the customer and as a result they have been honored with three Customer service based awards. Product quality is another area that has an effect on the volume of business. If customers are accustomed to receiving quality produced products they are motivated to buy from the supplier because they know what they can expect each time. That is important element in fast food chains. Who wants to drive away from the restaurant with cold food? Complete turn off for the customer and it is sure to leave a bad taste in their mouth for this particular restaurant. In surveys conducted by Marketing and Research Counselors, Inc. Chick-fil-A’s core menu products, including the Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A Chicken Nuggets and Chik-fil-A Chick-n-Strips, have consistently ranked number one in their respective categories (Chick-fil-A: Food, 2007). So chik-fil-a will provide the market with products that are favorable by much of America. The â€Å"Eat Mor Chikin†campaign has increased the chain’s sales five-fold. The chain has turned the theme into a fully integ rated marketing program, which includes store point-of-purchase materials, promotions, radio and TV advertising, and clothing and merchandise sales (Chick-fil-A: The Cows, 2007, para 1 ). Chick-fil-A’s marketing presence is here to stay. The company currently has more than 1,380 restaurants in 37 states and Washington, D. C. and enjoyed an aggressive expansion year, opening 80 new restaurants in 2007 (Chick-fil-A Company, 2007, para ). It’s just a matter of time before this company takes its business global and leaves its competitor’s in the wind. Product/Services America loves Chick-fil-A because it can fit into almost any healthy diet through moderation and balanced menu choices. The Chick-fil-A menu offers 10 menu items with 10 or fewer grams of fat. Foods are also cooked in 100 percent refined peanut oil which is naturally trans-fat and cholesterol free (Chick-fil-A: Food, 2007). So not only are the â€Å"eat mor chikin†products delicious, but nutritious as well. Chick-fil-A’s current marketing plan is a huge success. Chock-full a sponsors many events including the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Atlantic Coast, Southeastern and Big 12 Conferences and Chick-fil-A Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America sponsorships have introduced new audiences to the brand (Chick-fil-A, 2009, para 6). The company participates in many charities around town and always seen in the community volunteering time and making a difference. For the most part prices do not change within a 12 month period. Products offered coincide with all Chick-fil-A locations, however, services vary. We take pride in offering our customers the best service so we will honor product prices that are currently held at the corporate offices.ReferencesChristiaNet. (2009) Chick-fil-A CEO, S. Truett Cathy. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://christiannews.christianet.com/1097585115.htm Columbia County. (2009) Columbia County Georgia General Information . Retrieved December 5, 2009, from http://www.columbiacountyga.gov/ Hoovers Inc. (2009) Chick-fil-A, Inc.- Overveiw. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from http://www.hoovers.com/company/Chick-fil-A_Inc/hrfkki-1.html Iacobucci, D. (2011). Marketing management: 2010 custom edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. McDonalds. (2009) McDonalds Media Center . Ret rieved December 9. 2009, from http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat.html McDonalds. (2009) McDonalds Health, Fitness, and Nutrition . Retrieved December 9. 2009, from http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat.html Waiter on the Way. (2009) Chick-fil-a Southwest. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://www.waiterontheway.biz/Chick-fil-a%20Southwest
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)