Comparing the Three Statues of David Essay -- Donatello Michelangelo

Comparing the Three Statues of David The pieces of art I will be comparing and contrasting are the three statues of David, by Donatello (Donato di Niccolà ² di Betto Bardi), Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni), and Bernini (Gian Lorenzo Bernini). The statues are modeled after the biblical David, who was destined to become the second king of Israel. Also most famously known as the slayer of the Philistine giant Goliath with a stone and a sling. The sculptures are all based on the same biblical hero, but differ from one another. Each David is unique in its own certain way. A good deal is known about Donatello's life and career, but little is known about his character. Donatello was born in Florence, Italy in 1386 and died in 1466; he was never married and had no children. He was a master of sculpture in bronze and marble and is considered to be one of the greatest Italian Renaissance artists of his time. The first sculpture is of Donatello?s David, 1425-1430. Its material is bronze and stands 5? 2  ¼? and is currently located at Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. The sculpture is a nude and is contrapposto. The scene being depicted is after the clash with Goliath. Donatello?s statue of David was the first large scale, free-standing nude statue of the Renaissance. The sculpture helps to strike a balance between classicism and the realism by presenting a very real image of a boy in the form of a classical nude figure. Although Donatello was inspir...

Importance of Slavery to the Caribbean Essay -- History Slave Slavery

Importance of Slavery to the Caribbean The significance of the role played by slaves in the history of the Caribbean cannot be overemphasized. Nearly everything that defines the Caribbean today can be traced back to the advent of Africans to the sugar plantations several centuries ago. For this reason it is impossible to ignore the issue of slavery when studying the history of the Caribbean, as we are doing in this class. Through our numerous readings on the status of slaves and their treatment by the societies in which they lived, we have learned much about the sufferings and ordeals of these people. The following is an attempt to organize my own particular feelings and reactions, which I have previously posted on-line throughout the course of the semester, to the readings on this subject and to the reactions of other students as well. Imperialism, Plantation Slavery and the Slave Trade: 16th-18th Centuries It is interesting to note the ever-increasing reliance on slaves as the transition to sugar plantations not only occurred but also proceeded to become the main form of economic activity in the Caribbean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. When the main crop out of the Caribbean was tobacco products in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the slave trade was non-existent. But when this crop failed, in addition to ginger, coffee and others, the inhabitants began to try sugar. This, of course, took off immediately, and the need for slaves became imperative. Thus began the true slave trade from Africa, which would forever alter the demography of the Americas. Also interesting to see are the two forms of non-exploitation society that thrived (contrary to European desire) in the Caribbean: the Maroons ... ...e, no present-day obstacle could stand in their way. The religion, skin color, music and culture of the Caribbean are all based on the difficult past of its people. Despite the rampant poverty that still plagues the region today, many of the people seem strangely content and remain optimistic. This alone speaks volumes about the strength of character these people project. It is a lesson for the rest of the world to learn from. Happiness is far more important than any material goods or trivial pursuits that we will ever pursue. It is certainly something that I will take away from this class, and I hope others do as well. Sources Beckles, Hilary and Shepherd, Verene. Caribbean Slave Society and Economy; The New Press (New York, 1991). Knight, Franklin W. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism (2nd ed.); Oxford University Press (New York, 1990).

PS4 Situational Analysis Essay

Sony is a Japan based company that operates in over 180 countries worldwide. (Company Profile for Sony Corporation, 2011) Sony was co-founded by Masaru Ibuka and Aki Miruta in 1946 and since then has grown into an international multimillion dollar company (Sony Corporation, 2014). Ibuka and Miruta originally started out manufacturing measuring equipment (Sony Corporation, 2014), and have expanded into more complex technological solutions, such as laptops, gaming consoles, and communications devices. One product in particular is the PlayStation 4. The PS4 is the most recent of Sony’s gaming consoles and since its release at the end of 2013 has sold 7 million units (Plafke, 2013), raking in 45 billion dollars of revenue for Sony (n4g, 2014). The aim of this report is to assist Sony in identifying markets that they have the potential to enter. The report will include a situational analysis on Sony’s most recent product, the PlayStation 4. Through looking at the companyâ₠¬â„¢s current market, competitors and the external macro environment that has second hand effects on them. Furthermore, I will conduct a TOWS analysis, and then go on to make recommendations in relation to improving Sony’s corporate strategy. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS: Market Analysis: The current market for technological goods and services is very high and will only rise in the future as consumers and other companies become more reliant on it for day to day use. Competitor Analysis: Sony has many different competitors because they are so diverse and have many different areas of technology in which they operate. An example of Product Competition is Microsoft, as they released their Xbox One just one month before the PS4 was released. They are in a similar price range, with the Xbox One selling for $750 and the PS4 selling for $650. Since the release of these gaming consoles last year, Sony and Microsoft have been neck in neck with sales volumes and profits, but it appears that overall Son has come out on top, with 7 Million units sold by March 2014 compared to the 6 Million sold by Microsoft. Another case of product competition is Samsung. Both Samsung and Sony produce innovative technology in the form of video solutions and televisions. Samsung’s strategy however, is to go for the  higher income consumers, while Sony targets the middle class. Sony has many competitors, but it handles them very well. Macro environmental Analysis: Political: A political factor that affects Sony is government law, and more specifically, minimum wage. This increases almost every year and causes Sony’s costs to increase. Sony also needs to take into account some of the substances they use to create their products. There are a couple of class 1 substances and several class 3 ones. The government in most countries have very strict laws about how to dispose the wastes. To comply with certain standards of operation, Sony bases its disposal of dangerous substances around the Japan’s pollutant Release and Transfer Register (Sony Corporation, 2014). Environmental: Despite being a large cooperation, Sony is very conscious of effects to the natural environment. The company Technological: Sony always tries to be at the front of technological change. This can be seen with their attempts to reduce the amount of resources in their products, epically the VAIO laptops. They recycle all of their wastes and their inputs largely come from recycled materials. Social: The social macro environment refers to how they relate to societal culture. This includes their employee and customer relations. In terms of employees, Sony has proven that they care about their staff, by providing them with numerous benefits such as health care. (Singh, 2010). Technological: This macro environmental factor can only be seen as an opportunity for Sony, as they are constantly creating new technological solutions and try to stay ahead of the curve. The company is often the one creating the newest technology, like in the case of the Walkman. (Sony Corporation, 2014). TOWS ANALYSIS: Threats: The main threat Sony faces is price competition from every angle of the market. The company is competing with Microsoft in the computer and gaming  consoles product area, then with Panasonic in the television and music department and with LG’s communications products. A second threat Sony faces relates to most of its production being in Japan. The company is susceptible to a fluctuating currency rate. For example the Japanese Yen has been steadily rising against both the US dollar and the Euro since November 2013 and experienced a 5% increase against the US dollar in December 2013. (OANDA, 2014). This made Sony’s imports to these countries from Japan seem relatively more expensive than products made locally. Another threat Sony faces is one relating to the specific product being discussed in this report. Recently the PS4 network was hacked, allowing users’ credit card details and other private information to be taken. (MacManus, 2012). Being vulnerable to attac ks from hackers is a very big threat for the Sony Corporation. Opportunities: The Sony brand has been given many opportunities. One of these is that Blu-ray is become increasingly more popular, which gives Sony the opportunity to make these players as cheaply and efficiently as they can. A second opportunity is their partnership with the big gaming franchise Fifa. This enhances Sony’s corporate value. Weaknesses: One weakness of the Sony Corporation is its location. Almost its entire manufacturing takes place in Japan, which means it is very far away from 60% of its other consumers. A second weakness is that the company’s revenue appears to be decreasing over the past several years, with revenues falling constantly by just under 20%. (Sony Global, 2012). Strengths: One strength of the Sony brand is that its name is very well established and is internationally known as a household brand name when it comes to technology. These deep roots allowed it to take 29th place at the InterBrands in 2009, (InterBrand, 2009) which means that comes to the mind of a potential consumer before a company competing for brand recognition. A second strength is that it is an internationally recognized company, with almost products and services available in almost 200 countries throughout the world. For example, Sony receives revenue from all over the world, for example, in the 2012 financial year the company received 18% of revenues  from the United States, 14% from Europe, 42% from Japan and 25% from other countries. (Sony Global, 2012). This example of market diversification is a strength to Sony’s cooperate strategy because it minimizes and even offsets impacts of adverse macro conditions (e.g. economical) that may occur in one region of operation. TARGET MARKETS: Sony’s overall target market is very broad. They aim their products at upper middle class people in developed countries. These people earn an average salary and Sony prices their products accordingly. The specific product I am researching, the PS4, has a slight more specific target market. This product is aimed at the younger generations, people under 30. Their marketing was directed towards â€Å"gamers in every sense of the word† (Placeholder2). RECOMMENDATIONS: One recommendation I would make to the Sony Corporation is to consider market development, where they sell their lower budget products in places like India. For example, Samsung sells their cheaper headsets in India because there is a high demand. If Sony did this they would increase their market share and gain a whole new chuck of consumers. BIBLIOGRAPHY Company Profile for Sony Corporation. (2011). Retrieved from in.reuters: http://in.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=SNE.N InterBrand. (2009). InterBrands 2009. Retrieved from InterBrand: http://www.interbrand.com/en/ Joseph, S. (2013, November 18). Sony to Switch PS4 Marketing from low key to high impact. Retrieved from Marketing Week: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/sony-to-switch-ps4-marketing-from-low-key-to-high-impact-in-2014/4008590.article MacManus, C. (2012, October 24). Sony’s PlayStation network hack. Retrieved from cnet.com: http://www.cnet.com/news/sonys-playstation-3-experiences-its-biggest-hack-yet/ n4g. (2014, March 28). PS4 reaches 7 million worldwide. Retrieved from n4g: http://n4g.com/news/1483878/ps4-reaches-7-million-worldwide-as-infamous-second-son-sells-a-million-at-launch OANDA. (2014). Historical Exchange Rates. Retrieved from OANDA: http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/ Plafke, J. (2013, November 28). PS4 sale make more pr ofit for AMD than Sony. Retrieved from geek.com:

Indigenous Tradition Essay

In the past people have mistaken about their tradition Indigenous originality or occurring naturally (country, region etc) To be indigenous kinship (relation to one another) and location(connection of particular place) Indigenous religion beliefs, experience and practices concerning non-falsifiable realities of people who have kinship and location Syncretism: Syncretism merging of elements from different religions. Eg : north American tradition have been influenced by Christianity, some African rituals are influences by Islam. * Change occurs everywhere. * Traditions are less authentic (accurate) than thousands year ago Indigenous can be found anywhere: * Anishinaubae: drumming ceremony in Toronto * Yoruba: Funeral rites in London * Maori: Purification ritual in opera house Sydney Australia Misconceptions * Common to Indigenous traditions is colonialism * Oglala (Indigenous community) –> a theorist explained them as â€Å"warriors without weapons basically they were incapable to adapting a new economy lifestyle they focused on how to make them â€Å"modern Indians† * Outsider lack insider knowledge. * Scholars often used terms such as fetish, myth, mana, taboo to explain Indigenous traditions. * Eg â€Å" Indigenous stories are called myth where the bible is considered to be true. Primitive Cultures that are unchanged from the beginning primitive Christians, who believed in god and their tradition, had superiority and began to spread their religion to who didn’t know about gospel Indigenous traditions are tend to think more primitive — Due to non-literate * But writing to not better than oral speaking * Mayan did use writing * Most Indigenous people are very literate. Indigenous tradition are tend to think more primitive – consider everything to be sacred (untrue) * Eg : Navajo : ceremony that transforms normal house into a scared place. So everything such as eating, sleeping is considered to be sacred. * Australian aborigine knows where to pray(know the difference between sacred and non sacred mountains) Primitive term is now disagreeing by many scoloars Mohawk and Cree (Dr Clare Brant) Mohawk: Indigenous traditions who give more food to their guest to show their wealth. Cree: Indigenous tradition who eat all the food offered to show scarcity. These two traditions did not go well together and this shows that Indigenous traditions are different from each other. Another point is that we see other cultures according to our own cultures. Gender roles: * Male: hunting and warfare * Female: healing and food preparation * Maori carvers were men and weavers were women. Bunu men frow cotton and women turn it into clothes. * Sometimes the roles switch just like other traditions * Usually religions practices are different for men and woman too. Power of speech Oral speaking is very imp for Indigenous traditions things are passed down oraly. Many people think oral primitive (untrue). Both Quran and Bible was passed down orally before written into text Stories : After life : * Kewa: a man finds a tunnel where his dead people wre living together and they gave them many things and asks him not to speak of it. When he goes and tell everyone about the tunnel, he breaks the promise and when he returns the tunnel is gone. * Anishinaubae : young man fiance died, and he go on a journey to find her and when he found her , he returns home heartbroken, keeping his promise. * These stories tell us about importance of relationships tell us about how we should live than about dying Writing stores often â€Å"fixed in time†. Trickster: * Considered as â€Å"culture heroes† because they are the central figures in many stores * Usually shape shift usually into animals * Can change genders sometime biological and sometime just clothes changing * Outer form is reflected into infidelity * They can appear as fools, selfish, kind, scandalous etc. * Usually driven by self interest alone * Trickster stores show us how we should behave and how we should not * The stories often explain the origins of world and connect to a community more deeply. * Embodies the extremes of humanity: human weakness and strength Practice (rituals). Indigenous tradition rituals are very similar to our traditions * Rituals remind us on what is imp in our life. * In religious terms, rituals, communicate some ways with gods, ancestor and spirits. * Rituals are roots in the human needs and relationship Rituals : * Every rituals varies * Usually involves food Muslim and Jews have specific food eating habits * Many Buddhist set food portions aside for ancestors * Anishinaubae put small amount of food for the spirits * Some rituals are more complicated * Such as marriage, death, birth * Sometimes these rituals mark transformation and sometimes they help to bring the transformation about. * Indigenous tradition rituals serve in some ways to recreate some aspects of the world, order and life Journey: * Going on a journey/quest: rites of passage * Journey to a new place is where a transformation occurs. * The person returns home with physical change, such as tattoo, scar or a body part to symbolize their new self. * Pondos: moved into a special hut to become sacred healers- if they go into town before they must be covered in white * White usually symbolize the color of transformation in Africa * Anishinaubae vision quest – yong man travels far away from home only with water and be completely alone. Then late he become a â€Å"adult man† and comes home with food and the ritual is complete . Sacrifice Mel Gibson: sacrifices in Indigenous traditions are vey common Bear sacrifice: raise a young cub, and raise it for two day and kill it. Head is emptied and filled with flowers and then the animal is cooked and eaten. They think that the bear is the gold’s spirit and they see it as freeing the spirit. Sun dance : dance till days and community provide support. Some sun dance involves sacrifice . the pole and lodge are buil to show the creation of the world Nuer : sacrifice ox for healing. Xhosa : when a woman fall ill the community gathers and kill a cow and do many rituals. This is due their thinking that the ancestor or spirit is angry with the women. * above rituals shows the involvement of community even though there is sacrifice involved. * The rituals ultimately brings people together * Sacrifice like rituals create order and meaning * Those rituals join people to the past and respond to current situation Cultural Expression What you see is not always what you get Art in Indigenous traditions is aout relationship objects are coonected to people Weaving : * Intertwine and connect * Weavers work together , helping one another , passing knowledge. * Shows bonds among people Maori Tradition : * All weavers are female * A girl is said all about weaving more said more discouraged if people saw true commitment then they let the girl into whare pora(caretakers of the weaving) * Whare pora have rules no sex before dying, no food allowed during weaving, special garment should be weaved during the day and not strangets can view the weaving * Traditional colors : black, red and white * Sacred thread is sewed on all garments to show the bond Underlying cloth : * Clothing declare who we are and how we fit into social fabric * Has two side : can hide much as it reveals and help us create a public face * Lady gaga : he masks and clothes hide part of her but also reveals her identity that she wishes to show * Special clothes are associated with imp rituals * Bunu : believes that the special clothes are kind of womb, enveloping the body as like a fetus is being born. Clothing only wears it does not die old cloth is replaces by new, as old spirits is reborn Spirit basket : * Oldest arts * In pomo community men makes the heavy basket for hunting and fishing * Women were responsible for religious baskets. * Mable mckey : was a traditional healer in pomo community and famous basket weaver in the world. Masks : * Masks are used in imp rituals wedding , funerals, hunting celebration etc * Masks are ment to ring spirit into the community lesser deities (gods) * Mask represent certain animals does not mean they worship the animal * Epa mask in Yoruba community extremely heavy show the strength require to dance with the mask and enter the adult hood with responsibility. * Carvers are usualy male Totem poles : * Very specific to each communities * Function of totem poles also varies in each tradition. * Meaning varies serve as a supporting structure or grave makers and other as a symbol for power * Most also tell stories such as historical, achievements and religious * Grizzly bear at the base holding a human represents self-preservation or survival. Moko * Maori carvings are less likely to be displayed outside the original physical context * Moko tattoos * In the beginning the women were only allowed tattoos around their lips and chin where men can have tattoos all over their face * Moko story remind the Maori people their ancestor and importance of meeting ones obligation and treating one another with respect Ancestoral House. * Marae Maori religious and social home. Site of wedding , funeral, celebration. * Authority is held by community elders where they use the space to pass n traditions, stories and arts, carving, weaving. * If the artist when wrong painting the place, they could be put to death. * Location is very imp it must be located in a place where the previous generation carried out the religious and social activities. * Whare Whakairo physical form which represents the body of the ancestor * The building is divided into body parts of the ancestor Three points and Shrine : * Some traditions are very plain, harder for an outsider to see * Three issues : * Most rituals are performed outside * Think bout the function of religious structures that are used in the rituals * What you see is not often what you get * Mbari shrine : represents the founder of the community, a great healer and was forced to flee because they were attacked by another community. Elder stands her to protects the shrine all the time. * The guard signify the change modern development Hogans * Navajo Hogan traditional living space as well as the site for many rituals. * It is the site for daily activities and some are religious and some are not * Before new Hogan is occupied a song is performed. * Known as Blessing way ceremony four divining earth, mountain woman, water woman, corn woman also the song speaks everyday things * According to them world is structure – Hogan All these things symbolizes: * Link btw past and present * Btw community and place * Btw our world and world of spirits Colonialism * Colonialism process where people from one place maintain a settlement in another and to the effects of people who were already there. * Changes include – subjugation or removal , new laws, social practices and new economy. * Power and profit are factors that drive colonialism. * Religion is also one of the reason Colombus : * He destroyed a community Arawaks * He wanted to tell him where the gold was people who gave him gold were left alive and people who didn’t were killed(by cutting hands) * Then he realized that the most valuable are the people, so he sent them back to Europe by the boat land. Genocides : * 20 million African were taken as slave and only 11 million returned * 96% od aboriginals were dead in Australia * factors of depopulation : military action, torture, starvation, suicide and slavery. * More aboriginals are killed when the Americans want more land Masters of continent : * As settler population growed the indigenous population reduced less friendly for land * Terra nullius no ones land was the phrase that European settlers used no owner ship primitive – they do not count as people Conversion : * Many converted to different religion due to colonialism * In Indonesia indigenous tradition is not recognized by lay so all are counted as muslim Loss of religion : * Europeans tried to convert them into chistianity rarely worked * Europeans used military strengeth and religion â€Å"our people is tronger because our god is stronger â€Å" * Missionaries. * Also sometimes the colonial government made the indigenous religion illegal * Eg : potlatch and sundance was made illegal –? Die to the felf harm and economic hardship is potlatch(poverty) * Colonialism lead to patriarchy The potlatch : * Feast that are hosted by a family and hosting family presents the guests with gifts * Demonstrate hospitality and redistributing wealth. Loss of language : * Colonialism language disappeared forever * 20 languages extinct * when communities died, the languages died with them * children’s were forbidden to speak their own languages â€Å"Stolen generation† Loss of Land: * Many religious and indigenous land were taken and was destroyed * Two problems that non-indigenous people had: * Very common belief, no specific belief and are mostly about practice * Religion such as Christians can pray anywhere but indigenous people had to pray at a specific site Identity : (the sympols of indeginous people in sports) * Cleveland Indians play at Atlanta braves : it’s a reminder of ongoing colonialism that has been taken from the indigenous people. * Indigenous oriented names : â€Å"eskimo pie† to market the products evoke a primitive stereotype that is best suited for the product *.

'Information System' Report about 'Node.JS' Essay

'Information System' Report about 'Node.JS' - Essay Example The kind of applications running is unimaginable since they are effectively connected to the web for clients and the server for organizations. The applications are then encapsulated to other environments like flash and Applets of Java. The main aim for Node.js is to create websites that are able to have a push and real time capability. The application Node.js was introduced in the year 2009 and it was created by Ryan Dahl. It is a platform environment that is built with a JavaScript background that is supported by Google Chrome’s JavaScript engine that is the fastest among other JavaScript engines. The application has a large number of users online using it including web developers. The application is able to accommodate a large number of users due to its scalability. With the function, Node.sj has been accepted by a large number of organizations including Facebook and EBay. The application is known for having an ability of becoming event driven which allows the web browsers to respond only when the user responds or performs a function. The resources spent when a web browser is running is much less since the application allows the browser only to respond when a user is working and it enables the connection in that same period. This is an environment that has been applied in a large number of institutions and organizations including Passmores University. In the university, Node.js is widely used since it has a number of characteristics that adhere to the rules of the environment. There are a large number of students registered at the university using web browsers. The same number of the students increases every year. Due to the scalability of the environment, all the students are being recorded into the servers inclusive of their academic and administrative records. In case information in the database is altered, it is able to be reflected in other user (Students and administrators) (TEIXEIRA, 2012). Node.js

Measuring Globalization Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Measuring Globalization - Coursework Example Only two students have shoes that have their sources of production at home. The rest bought their shoes outside the country. The results of question 2 imply that the class reveals a positive picture of international trade that has a direct relationship with globalization. Question 3 ascertains where the students spend their holidays. More than half of the respondents enjoy holidays outside the country. The ease with which they can move outside their home country to spend holidays outside implies a positive response to globalization. It is also evident that most of the students have been in class with other nationalities. The fact that they can interact with other nationalities means that the class responds positively to globalization. Furthermore, most respondents admitted that their relatives work outside the country. Therefore, the class reveals a good representation of globalization in terms of mobility of labor across the world. The results from the questionnaire of five respondents imply that the class is globalized. In finding the score, the researcher adds up all the numerical choices. The questions that require numerical answers are questions 4, 5, 7, and 10. The magnitude of the resultant number reflects the extent of globalization of a student. The table for measuring scores range from ‘not globalized’ to ‘very globalized’. It advances through the scale progressively and matches the score with the appropriate level of

Corporate Investment Banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate Investment Banking - Essay Example The bank boasts of over 48 million customers in over 50 countries worldwide and the total asset portfolio is well over 2 trillion dollars making it the seventh largest bank in the world based on assets (Barclays, 2015). The bank has a rich history with its fundamental origin being traced back to 1690 a factor that makes it one of the leading financial institutions in the world (Barclays, 2015). The company’s mission statement is to help people achieve their ambitions in the right way and measure and reward the company’s employees not only on commercial results but on how they pursue the company’s values in their daily activities. The company looks to be a global power in terms of the financial services and products delivery to all its customers. The company announced a profit before tax of  £2,885m in 2014 that was a 29% increase from 2013 when it recorded  £2,233m (Barclays, 2015). The total income increased by 1% to  £8828M from the previous year. The com pany has been witnessing steady growth and is looking to diversify the different aspects of the company in different parts of the world to increase their level of income and sales. The bank attributes its success and extraordinary growth in the global market to the significant innovative strategies that the company has implemented over the years (Barclays, 2015).The company changed its organizational structure to offer better services and products to its customers in the different parts of the world. The cost of maintaining the previous structure were also considerably high and it adapted to a new structure that the company felt was sustainable and most of all good at service delivery.