Critical evaluation of the business strategy adopted by Ryanair Essay

Critical evaluation of the business strategy adopted by Ryanair - Essay Example During the last few years the low cost airline industry has notices a variety of landmark deals including those high profile acquisitions and mergers. The Ryanair airline has increasingly been becoming disconcerted about the growing threat from number of low cost no-frills airlines including Easy Jet, BMIbaby, Aer Lingus, DFDS Seaways. Against this backdrop of ever increasing competition, it’s imperative for Ryanair to initiate some far reaching changes in its HRM sphere (Simon, 2002). Cutting into existing niche market segments in the European Union has become too fashionable today because many of those airlines that venture into new market segments do so without paying much attention to the consequences of the unfolding scenario of competition. While Ryanair is not alone in the budget airline market segment in Europe, there are formidable constraints faced by its rivals in the evolving strategic regulatory and competitive environments. For instance Ryanair’s own formidable marketing machine has not been able to overcome some of the very difficult issues such as the market/customer orientation strategy of rivals. Above all the competitor orientation strategy of rivals has forced Ryanair to bring down prices below a certain minimum. The current market-centric performance of the Ryanair is determined by their internal and external environments. Thus Ryanair being an Irish low cost airline just focused on serving a niche market segment in Europe could have done still better to manage its HR function in the light of its strategically advantageous position. HRM involves such tasks as recruitment, training & development (T&D) of skills, employee relations, retention and motivation strategies, workplace culture and delegation of power, authority and responsibility. Effective HRM practices must be aligned with organizational outcomes such as internal value chain

Two Quetions eight hundred words a peice 12 pitch double space Essay

Two Quetions eight hundred words a peice 12 pitch double space - Essay Example The impact of the above mentioned immigration policies and especially the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1943 was that the total number of these Asian aliens in America became negligible compared to other races like Germans and Italians who had no such harsh immigration restrictions. This therefore fulfilled one goal of the immigration policies of having minimal racial preponderance and especially from the Middle Eastern nations (Ueda, 1994). The other impact that is present even today is that due to the open cultural discrimination in these restrictive immigration policies, the relationship between the United States and the Middle Eastern nations started becoming strained. The strain led to cold war between these two regions with the Middle Eastern nations aiming to outdo the United States economically, politically and even in military strength. The economic war has been the strongest and has proved to be tough on American manufacturers who are constantly being outdone by Asian manufacturers and especially technologically (Daniels, 2005). The Immigration Act of 1965 was a tremendous improvement from the one in 1924. It abolished the quota system in immigrations and was determined on permitting into their country immigrants who had skills and or relatives in the United States. This abolishment was especially aimed at removing the cultural restrictions on citizens of Eastern Asia and part of Eastern and Southern Europe who had been the target of the 1924 Immigration Act. The factors that facilitated this change in immigration policies was the so called embarrassment it caused the United States by making the country become a culturally discriminatory one. The previous Act according to then president Lyndon was against the principle of American democracy which aimed at ensuring equality. The congress of the time also wanted to establish a good

Factors Affecting Consumer Behaviour Commerce Essay

Factors Affecting Consumer Behaviour Commerce Essay Consumer is considered as the king in the modern world market. So the main aim of every marketer is to meet the consumer needs and satisfy them better than the competitors. Marketers always look for emerging trends and innovations to attract the target customers. Consumer is the only factor which controls the whole market nowadays. So the behavior of the consumer in the different market situations should be analyzed to survive in the market. Consumer is a person who purchases goods or services for his end use. Consumer behavior is a psychological process in which the consumer plans to purchase a product, makes purchase decision, implements the plan and reviews the decision. Consumer behavior is controlled and influenced by various internal and external factors and those factors guide a person to buy or not to buy a particular product. The factors can be psychological factors, sociological factors or economic factors. The influence of these factors might be different in the consumers based on their mind sets. The process of the consumer behavior ends after taking a buying decision. The purchase decision making process involves several stages in which he consumer goes through mainly six steps and at last makes the decision of buying or rejecting a product. DISCUSSION C:UsersSOORAJDesktopMMconsumer.jpg Consumer behaviour is a process of decision making concerned to a product purchase. The end users psychological, economic, socal, personal and cultural factors leads him towards a particular commodity. Amog these the psychological factors have an important role which controls the mental process of a consumer and push him to take the buying decision. The buying decision process starts from problem recognition and ends with post purchase decision. The end user is the decision maker and who controls the whole market with his critical decision making process. The behaviour of the consumer decides the marketability and success of a product. For example, a new soap is introduced by Hindustan Unilever and the in market there is a tight competition in this industry. If the product can attract the consumers with its quality and price then the product will survive. The decision to buy or not to buy that product is taken by the consumer only. FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Consumer behavior refers to the selecting, purchasing and the consuming of goods and services for the satisfaction of their needs. There are different activities involved in the consumer behavior. Primarily the consumer assesses whats his need and then purchases the most promising commodity. After selecting the commodity the consumer analyzes the existing prices of commodities and takes the purchase decision about the commodities. In the meantime, there are various other factors influencing the purchases of consumer such as cultural, psychological, personal and social. Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior Chart 1 Source: (KELLER, 2009) Psychological factors affecting consumer behavior Out of these factors the psychological factors has a main role while purchasing a product. When we think from a human being perspective a consumers mind and his related personal characteristics influences and directs him what type of product should purchase or of what quality. The need of a consumer becomes a motive when he has an intense wish to buy something. The stimulus-response relation makes a consumer to make the purchase decision. The marketing and environmental stimuli enter the consumers consciousness, and along with some consumer personality which leads to purchase decision making. There are four key psychological processes- motivation, perception, memory and learning- mainly influence consumer behavior. ROLE OF MOTIVATION IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR C:UsersSOORAJDesktopMMmotivation_stick_figures.jpg Among these factors motivation plays an important role in influencing the consumer behavior. The motivation level also affects the buying behavior of consumers. Every person has different needs such as physiological needs, biological needs, social needs etc. The nature of the needs is that, many of them are generally pressing while others are least pressing. Therefore a need becomes an object when it is more pressing to direct the person to hunt for satisfaction. For example, a consumer may get motivated by an advertisement of a burger in television which is attractively shown and the advertisement is sequenced with good captions and conversations and who gets eager to run for it. The strategy used in advertisements stimulates the need in the mind of the buyer and he makes the decision. If the consumer is motivated by a particular product then he has to go through the process of decision making. The decision making process is the crucial moments through which a the consumers decides the survival of a product in the market. Actually the outcome of their decision making process is the future of a commodity. There are six stages for the decision making process. CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS Stages of the Consumer Buying Process Six Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process (For complex decisions). Actual purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase. All consumer decisions do not always include all 5 stages, determined by the degree of complexitydiscussed next. The 6 stages are: Problem Recognition (need awareness) It is the difference between the desired state and the actual condition. Hunger stimulates the need to eat. If a person has a particular drive to buy something or the need is triggered by the internal or external stimuli to buy something and becomes a possibility of making purchase. Can be stimulated by the marketer through product information-did not know you were deficient? I.E., see an advertisement for a new pair of shoes, stimulates your recognition that you need a new pair of shoes. Information search- Internal search, memory. External search if you need more information. Friends and relatives (word of mouth). Marketer dominated sources; comparison shopping; public sources etc. A successful information search leaves a buyer with possible alternatives, the  evoked set. Hungry, want to go out and eat, evoked set is Indian food burger king Chinese food Evaluation of Alternativesneed to establish criteria for evaluation, features the buyer wants or does not want. Rank/weight alternatives or resume search. May decide that you want to eat something spicy, Indian gets highest rank etc. If not satisfied with your choice then returns to the search phase. Can you think of another restaurant? Look in the yellow pages etc. Information from different sources may be treated differently. Marketers try to motivate by increasing alternatives. Purchase decision-Consumer takes the buying decision regarding product, package etc. Post-Purchase Evaluationoutcome: It is the state of Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. I.e., Cognitive Dissonance, a question of: have I made the right decision. This can be reduced by guarantees, warranties, after sales communication etc. For example, after eating an Indian meal, may think that really you wanted a Chinese meal instead. The motivational factors may be internal or external. Consumer may be motivated by his own feelings snd desire about a particular product or he can be motivated by some external recommendations. Consumer may resist the product recommendations conditional on the perceived credibility of the recommender and he relies on their own judgements. INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Motivational theories and its implications People have many needs at any given time. The needs are influenced several psychological factors like motivation. Some needs are psychogenic or biogenic and the need becomes a drive or motive. When it becomes motive the inner urge to buy a product turn out to be a goal. There are several theories related to the concept of motivation. Two of the best known theories of consumer motivation- those of Abraham Maslow and Frederick Herzberg- implies some different concepts in consumer behavior. MASLOWS NEED HIERARCHY THEORY OF MOTIVATION Abraham Maslow wanted to explain why people are motivated by particular needs at particular times. The answer given by Maslow was the human needs are arranged in a hierarchy from most basic to least-psychological needs, safety needs, social needs, self esteem needs, and self actualization needs. People will try to satisfy their most basic and important need first. After succeeding the basic need, he will then goes to the next most important need. He divided the need to basic needs and the growth needs. C:UsersSOORAJDesktopMMmaslows-hierarchy-of-needs1.jpg Source: (KOSHY, 2009) The basic or deficiency needs are to be met first. For example, a starving man [need 1] will not take an interest in any musical party [need 5], not in how he is viewed by others [need 3 or 4], not even in whether hes breathing fresh air [need 2]; but when he has enough to eat and drink, the next most significant need will turn into prominent. As long as people are motivated to meet these needs, they are moving towards growth, toward self actualization. Based on this theory the consumer has the basic and growth needs. If the consumer satisfies his basic needs he will look for the next. The degree of satisfaction depends upon the quality of the product or service which they get and in what level they get it. For example, if the area of market is comprised of middle class people they need to buy products to meet their basic requirements. Say low cost bath soap- the marketer look for promotional activities to sell those products only. The marketer will not try to distribute high standard or high priced products. Consequently, satisfaction of the consumer depends on the level where the performances of the product/service match to the consumers expectation connected to them. If the performances of the product are placed away from the buyers expectations, who will be unsatisfied, and if these correspond to the expectations, who will satisfied, when the performances of a product will bridge the buyers expectations, he will be contented. C:UsersSOORAJDesktopScreenHunter_02 Dec. 10 18.23.jpg Once the basic needs like food, water, rest etc. needs area satisfied then the safety needs are to be met. Employment is a need of safe living. Monster.com, rediff.com like websites helps the consumers to meet their employment safety needs. HERZBERGS TWO FACTOR THEORY OF MOTIVATION Herzberg developed a two factor theory of motivation that differentiates Motivational factors (factors cause satisfaction) from Hygiene factors (factors causing dissatisfaction). The absence of the hygiene factors is not enough to motivate a purchase but the satisfiers should be present. For example, a camera that does not come with a warranty would be a dissatisfier. However the presence of warranty of a product would not act as a motivator to purchase a product, because its not a source of built-in satisfaction. User-friendliness would be a satisfier. Herzberg model of motivation C:UsersSOORAJDesktopMMherzberg_factors.gif

Reaction in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Reaction in Milton’s Paradise Lost and Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth It goes without saying that we all react to the experiences that we have. What differs from person to person is how those experiences affect our being and what each of us takes from those experiences and how we apply it to our lives from that point on. We see this happening not only in our own lives, but also in literature. The characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth and those from Milton’s Paradise Lost show, through their conflicts, that the experiences that they are exposed to affect their lives in a negative way. In all three of these pieces of literature, the reactions the characters have to their experiences are what bring about their ultimate demise. Unfortunately, these characters don’t realize the error of their actions until it’s too late, but we, as the audience, can learn from the mistakes we see the characters make in Hamlet, Macbeth and Paradise Lost. Hamlet was forced to endure many painful experiences, and the ways in which he chose to react to those experiences are what largely contributed to the tragedy. In his essay dealing with Hamlet and the loss of innocence, Godshalk claims that â€Å"the prince...begins the play dreaming of innocence and personal integrity, and in the course of action, this innocence and integrity are severely compromised.† (221) This is indeed true, as the experiences that Hamlet is forced to endure whittle away at his innocence, and as he reacts to these experiences, he is driven by his reactions to act in a way where he must abandon his integrity. The death of King Hamlet took a toll on Young Hamlet, inducing grief and sorrow to the mourning son. In fact, it seemed that just two months after the King’s death, Hamlet was the only one left feeling any kind of sorrow. The experience of losing a loved one, especially his father, was too much for Hamlet and he was too grief stricken in th e eyes of some, Claudius especially. Claudius inquired of Hamlet, â€Å"How is it that the clouds still hang on you?† (1.2.66) Claudius seems to think that Hamlet has little reason to still be grieving over the death of his father. Claudius continues: ‘Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father:

Saint Telemachus

The Roman Catholic faith is one of the religions that believe in martyrs and saints and honored their lives because of the sacrifices that they have made in the name of fighting for their religion and in the name of preaching the values and morals that the Roman Catholic faith is teaching and preaching to everyone. How these martyrs and saints lived was somewhat similar – a moment of recognition of the presence of God in their lives, the life of prayer and devotion to the faith, the episode of their life wherein they become the tool or vessel of God for an important mission before they die. While their lives seem to follow a certain pattern, their death is somewhat not always the same. There are those who die peacefully in their sleep or because of old age, and there are those who die a violent death in front of an angry crowd. Jesus Christ, the son of God and one of the three personas of the Roman Catholic God, in life mortal human form, died a very violent and brutal death. So did other saints, martyrs and other individuals who are considered faithful to the Roman Catholic faith especially during its early stage and during the time the religion’s main enemies are persecution of the faith and the presence of a set of social norm that strongly go against the paradigm of the Roman Catholic faith, The setting of the world at the time of St. Telemachus’ life, whose death, like Jesus Christ and the other saints, were violent and brutal, and became a source of an important catalyst in the social landscape inside Rome. This paper will discuss the life of St. Telemachus and the significant aspects related to St. Telemachus that will help establish St. Telemachus as one of the important and noteworthy saint and martyr whose contributions were very realistic and practical and transcended the basic act of religious theoretical teaching and selfless public service. ABOUT SAINT TELEMACHUS Saint Telemachus was known by different other possible names, including Saint Tilemahos as well as Almachus, whose birth is remains unknown. He was a monk who was believed to be the one who influenced the policy about gladiatorial fights after his very popular but seriously challenged story about stopping the fighting gladiators that resulted to his death. His proclamation as a martyr and the stopping of the entertainment of the crowd for armed combats which is usually a fight to the death to which spectators gamble. St. Telemachus was mentioned in many different literary forms by authors from different places. Little is known about St. Telemachus, and because of this, many theological experts, historians, as well as critics and analysts, challenge the veracity and truthfulness in the story about Telemachus. The usual tempo and outline of the available St. Telemachus story – from his journey to Rome, his entry in the arena, his stoppage of the fight, his death and martyrdom, runs something like this: â€Å"The emperor Honorius first prohibited gladiatorial shows at Rome, on occassion of the death of St. Telemachus, who coming thither from the East, during the exhibition of these spectacles, went down into the arena, and exerted himself to prevent the gladiators from continuing the sport . † THE STORIES SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF SAINT TELEMACHUS There were many versions of how exactly St. Telemachus died after he supposedly stopped a fight between two gladiators inside a Roman fighting arena during the height of the fad of this particular type of death match entertainment. Authors like Alban Burns explained that there were two versions believed by the Catholic faithful about how St. Telemachus died. The first version is the death of St. Telemachus from the stoning he got from the audience who were â€Å"infuriated† b y his mediation and intervention that spoiled the excitement of the action that was already progressing by the time he arrived and tried to stop the fight. Another version pointed the death of St. Telemachus towards the actions of the â€Å"city prefect,† who, like the audience, found St. Telemachus’ action inside the arena not agreeable to his preferences and interests. Because of that, the prefect of the city ordered the gladiators (whether the ones who were fighting or those on standby inside the arena is not exactly ascertained by Butler and Burns) to kill him, who supposedly said before dying that â€Å"Today is the octave day of the Lord, cease from the superstitions of idols and from polluted sacrifice . † This act cost his life, but in return earned him the stature of a martyr in the annals of the Roman Catholic faith. THE IMPORTANCE OF SAINT TELEMACHUS Despite the fact that St. Telemachus is not a very popular name or saint among many Roman Catholics compared to other popular saints and martyrs (largely because of the fact that very little was written or known about St. Telemachus besides his action inside the Roman gladiatorial arena compared to other saints and martyrs whose life and works are well written, well documented and well publicized), there are those, especially the devout and the learned religious faithful who does not forget the place of St. Telemachus not just in the religious aspect of the understanding of his life and the significance of his contribution, but also historically as a person who in one particular time, in the history of the Roman Catholic faith and faithful, made his mark and contribution in the effort of the religion to sustain the values and moral preached by Roman Catholic faith. St. Telemachus is nonetheless considered and appraised with the same fervor as with t he other saints and martyrs, especially when discussed alongside his contemporaries and those whose life and location was never far before or after him. For almost four hundred years the martyrs of the Church met here, beginning with St. Ignatius†¦ and ending with St. Telemachus who, dying, implored the mob: ‘In the name of Christ, forbear. ’ They loved and suffered enough to finally change the mind of Rome . † ST. TELEMACHUS AND THE IMPACT ON LITERARY WRITING St. Telemachus was indeed an inspiration not just to the traditional and conventional religious individuals but to literary artists as well. The life and tragedy of St. Telemachus perhaps was a source of inspiration for Sir Alfred Tennyson when he wrote the poem featuring this particular saint, a poem which was another solid contribution and addition to the long list of literature of the same genre, but unlike some of the works which is very puritan and hard line in the messages that it wishes to throw across the audience, St. Telemachus and the poem dedicated to him somehow managed to break off from the general trend a bit. â€Å"Tennyson’s St. Telemachus, who accepts martyrdom in the Colosseum as he repeats to himself ‘the call of god'†¦ s a notable exception to this secularized application (Jeffrey, p 816). † ANALYSING ST. TELEMACHUS’ LIFE THROUGH LITERARY REFERENCES It is really hard to ascertain why St. Telemachus did what he did. But a very good source of information is the analysis of the critics about St. Telemachus and the parallelisms that he and his life shares with other characters in real life and fictional stories that talk about the boldness and honor in the act of sacrifice as the climactic event in a life that is dictated by a life in solitude and constant communing with God and nature and heightened by the belief of a mission from a vision, which, in St. Telemachus’ case led him towards westward from his Asian point of origin towards Rome. In reading how he is appraised and put side by side with other characters to which he seemed to share a particular likeness or similarity, the individual looking for a deeper understanding about the personality of St. Telemachus will be given a chance to expand his or her knowledge about St. Telemachus. â€Å"Several other poems in the collection share significant thematic elements with ‘The Death of CEnone. ’ ‘St. Telemachus,’ for example, immediately follows ‘The Death of CEnone’ and similarly depicts a hermit living alone in a cave, muttering ‘Vicisti Galilae,’ as in Swinburne’s ‘Hymn to Proserpine’ . † This particular side by side analysis of equally significant literary materials and notable characters somewhat provides an individual an idea about how St. Telemachus lived his life and the level of significance he bears, as a person and as a central character in a literary material that is written by one of the most notable and popular poet that ever lived. Like CEnone, Telemachus is drawn out of his cave by the vision of a burning image, in this case the sun, and he leaves the cave to commit an act that will bring his life to a close. Telemachus travels to Rome to attempt to put a stop to the deaths of gladiators in public spectacles . † ST. TELEMACHUS AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE IDEA OF HUMAN RIGHTS St. Telemachus can be considered as one of the earliest examples of advocates for human rights. He was merely batting for human rights during his interference midway in the game and the plea to stop because he believes that killing each other is not morally right. He was not a political pawn that was sent to create a situation that is profitable or favorable for a particular group or individual. All that was obvious was that the prospect of what he planned to do will no doubt put his life in peril since he was set to do an action that will put him in cross current with the existing social practice, like the gladiatorial fights. But he did it, and it cost him his life as well as a posthumous recognition, as well as an action that was inspired by his own initial move to stop gladiatorial fight. â€Å"Though he is killed in his attempt, his act draws the attention of the Emperor Honorius, who thereby prohibits such combats in the future . † The claim that gladiatorial fights were indeed ordered stopped after the reported murder of St. Telemachus was supported by many other different literary sources explaining the same repercussion of St. Telemachus' action as the springboard towards the stoppage of such kinds of fights. â€Å"Never again after St. Telemachus implored them in the name of Christ to cease did gladiatorial fights take place in the Colosseum. † A proof that St. Telemachus led a life that exemplifies the passion for a humanitarian cause and to improve the situation of human rights crisis during his time is the fact that some observers describe St. Telemachus as a martyr who died for the cause of humanity, â€Å"the only monk who died a martyr in the cause of humanity . † ISSUES ON THE STORY OF ST. TELEMACHUS Besides the presence of many different version of the story of St. Telemachus, particularly the story of his death as was discussed earlier in the paper, there are also other significant issues that are involved everytime critics and analysts try to ascertain the veracity of the information available and surrounding St. Telemachus’ life and death. What is not clear, however, is the extent of the political impact of the death of St. Telemachus which was enough and sufficient to actually order the stoppage of such practice. Bear in mind that St. Telemachus was an ascetic; he was not well connected, politically and his death is not important inside the political circles of the Roman legislative body; his death was of no serious repercussions, meaning the death of St. Telemachus was far from being akin to political killings or assassination that affect politics and social order. Bear in mind also that gladiatorial fights inside the Roman Colosseum and arenas are a long standing traditional practice that seemed to be not that easy to demolish, especially since many individuals depend their lives on the regular undertaking of this fights, including the fighters themselves as well as the slave traders, merchants, gamblers and many other different individuals. Because of this, it is really very difficult to really understand how it happened that the death of an unknown hermit who is not a native of Rome managed to result in such impact like the stoppage of the gladiatorial fights. And because of this vague, gray part in the history and story of St. Telemachus that begs for more explanation and proof, it is not surprising that many individuals find it difficult to believe in the veracity of the story. McCabe provided a very insightful input in the discussion of the possibility that St. Telemachus indeed put a stop to the gladiatorial fights and how this may not be socially and realistically possible. McCabe discussed in his book that the gladiatorial fights nonetheless persisted long after Telemachus was dead, and that this particular bloodsport featuring man versus beast and man versus man is an important institution in the Roman entertainment that it cannot just be stopped in one fell swoop, just because one person said so by act of intervention and mediation in an actual fight. There are socio-political as well as socio-economical implications that make the story of St. Telemachus very weak and the fact that it is poorly supported in literature by actual real information makes it less and less credible. â€Å"And it is historically false that the games were suppressed in 404; though even this is ninety years after the bishops began to have influence over the emperors . † Some of those who are also very critical about their assessment of what qualify as martyrdom and what is not a considerable act or life of martyrdom questions the martyrdom of several different saints and martyrs, and St. Telemachus has not escaped the criticisms. Those who dissect the understanding of sainthood and martyrdom in a very puritan and very skeptical and crucial way questions the manner by which martyrs and saints like St. Telemachus was proclaimed martyrs in the first place, including in the assessment the understanding of selflessness as well as sacrifice and what really constitutes as real acts of selflessness and sacrifice that is considered as sufficient and legitimate to make the individual a saint or a martyr in the Roman Catholic faith. â€Å"It is likely enough also that martyrs to charity – men like St. Telemachus and St. Philip of Moscow, Abp. Affre and Bp. Patteson – have their portion with the perfect martyrs to faith; in some cases, as in the last, it is hard to draw a line between the two: any way, those who suffer for righteousness sake suffer for Christ†¦ but to suffer for conscience's sake, however noble, is not necessarily quite the same thing: and it is hardly right to claim the name of martyr for the victims – certainly not for the victims on one side only – in the fratricidal contests of Christians . † But even this kind of assessment or criticism does not provide enough ground to challenge the merit of the martyrdom of St. Telemachus. Even with the surfacing of this particular criticism, those who believe in him seem to feel that their faith in the saint did not diminish, especially since the presence of the criticism is not credible or strong enough to push for the review or even the relinquishing of the martyrdom of St. Telemachus. A very difficult problem that needs to be addressed when it comes to establishing the veracity of St. Telemachus as a person, as well as his martyrdom and sainthood is the fact that those who would really want to believe in St. Telemachus finds it odd that there is no cathedral, church or chapel as well as shrines and even statues of St. Telemachus found in popular as well as small religious establishments for the Roman catholic faith. This is odd because Roman Catholicism is one of the religions that is characterized by the penchant of its religious leaders as well as religious followers to create stone, wood, glass or steel statues of Jesus, Mary, the Holy Spirit, as well as the saints and the angels and other holy individuals who are related to the Roman Catholic faith. If this was the practice of this religion, then why one of their Roman civilization-era saints was not featured in any tangible, three dimensional sculpture at least placed in at least one of the lowliest and smallest church in the world? If this is true, then this affects in a negative way the manner by which St. Telemachus is being seen and appreciated as a real martyr and saint in the Roman Catholic domain. â€Å"I wish to believe in the story of St. Telemachus. Yet no church has been dedicated, no altar has been erected † for St. Telemachus. There are critics, historians and analysts who downplay the storyline of St. Telemachus, dismissing it as no more than a work of imagination or fiction and pointing that the socio-political aspects of the time, as well as supporting information (or lack of) makes the idea about St. Telemachus untrue and grossly inconsistent of the closest possible facts that might have really happened. Add to the fact that consistent to the question of fratricide among the Christian brothers belonging to the same religious affiliation, making the story of St. Telemachus close to being fabricated for PR purposes it the fact that St. Telemachus would have surely died in the hands of the same Christian crowd. This scenario seem like it cannot stand well on the moral and values of Christianity that St. Telemachus was though to have been preaching. â€Å"On the other hand, the claim that Christianity redeemed the Romans of their callousness by suppressing the gladiatorial games is a piece of rhetorical d eceit. It is chiefly based upon a pretty story of a monk, Telemachus, throwing himself into the arena at Rome in protest. Those who repeat the story do not add that the monk is supposed to have been killed by the Christian mob, but the story is worthless . † McCabe went to the great extent of challenging the notion of reality of the story of Saint Telemachus and the veracity of the true Telemachus as a person and as a martyr by providing an important point. The name of St. Telemachus, according to McCabe apparently is not found in the list of martyrs that are officially recognized by the church. â€Å"There is no St. Telemachus in Roman lists of martyrs . † CONCLUSION. Whether St. Telemachus and the story of his martyrdom is real or merely fabricated by historians who seek to improve the list Roman Catholic devout and faithful throughout the history by creating a person who will symbolize the stand of the Roman Catholic faith against one of the barbaric past times and forms of leisure in the history of mankind, it cannot be denied that St. Telemachus and his life was an inspiration to some people. It maybe true, it maybe untrue, it may even be a story that is a combination of both, but the important thing is that St. Telemachus was capable of symbolizing the ability of the human individual for sacrifice and act of faith even at the cost of his life. Religious faith, after all, is all about the ability for selfless and unquestioning faith. If St. Telemachus can help them achieve this state, then he will no doubt be an important personality in the Roman Catholic history, unless of course, a very competitive and authoritative work can actu ally challenge St. Telemachus’ life and prove that none of the stories surrounding him were true, real or consistent with facts that should be proven and authenticated. Until that time, the religious can rest their faith on the martyrs and the saints, including St. Telemachus. Even if St. Telemachus was criticized by some, there are those who feel that St. Telemachus should also be taken highly and accorded their necessary fervor, an example of which is how Charles Kingsley referenced St. Telemachus in ‘Hypatia,’ where he wrote: â€Å"Take care, sir, of your words. You revile the blessed martyrs, from St. Stephen to St. Telemachus, when you call such a deed foolish . †

Laboratory by Christopher Carroll

The book â€Å"Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory† by Christopher Carroll provides true nature, exact details and thoroughly examined and checked history of Plum Island. It is necessary to outline that findings presented in the book significantly contribute the evidence that government does have many secrets and doesn’t want them to be revealed. Thus the author appears to be a real pioneer revealing shocking facts and true facts about the island and serious diseases. The author is rather persuasive, because he uses logical arguments, conclusions and facts to defend his position. The narrative of the book flows smoothly and follows chronological order. Thus it is apparent that Carroll has succeeded both as pioneer of the problem and as talented writer. (Carroll 2004) The author shows in the book that Plum Island â€Å"on the edge of the largest population center in the United States is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore†. (Carroll 2004) It is necessary to mention that the book bases its evidence on the innumerable number of government documents, in-depth interviews with people and certainly access to Plum Island itself. In the beginning Carroll admits that â€Å"this is an eye-opening, suspenseful account of a federal government germ laboratory gone terribly wrong†. (Carroll 2004) Therefore, the author leads readers through secret world presenting horrifying revelations such as seriously infected workers, outbreaks of viruses, biological meltdowns, etc. The author is really outrageous with the fact that infected workers were refused to be assisted in diagnosis by Plum Island brass. Further, the author proves that the area waters are highly contaminated with periodic flushing of raw sewage. Moreover, Carroll finds associations between the outbreak of deadly West Nile virus in 1999 and Lyme disease in Plum Island. Actually the book is through exploration of the secret world of bacteria, viruses and microbiology. Carroll illustrates how the Department of Agriculture in the USA runs the Plum Island for last fifty years and states that that is â€Å"far more than wholesome grade-A eggs and the food pyramid†. (Carroll 2004) It is necessary to note that author provides new and original overview of the Island stating that is exists in the age of bioterrosism because of improper policy of the Department of Homeland Security. The book is interested in safety and security and thus it calls for action in order to show protest from biological catastrophes for future generations. Actually â€Å"Lab 257† provides new understanding of Plum Island and calls it â€Å"a biological Three Mile Island†. It is known that since 1950 this place is of great interest for researching animal diseases. Plenty of outrageous and disturbing events and news are revealed in the book involving escaped germs and lax security as well as sewage pills. Carroll thinks that some of the found viruses are potent bioterrorist weapons and thus the access to them should be limited. And it is Christopher Carroll who touches this problem for the first time. (Carroll 2004) The author believes that it is his task to reveal the secret and scandal-hidden history of the Plum Islands, because, according to his mind, the nation should be aware of horrors taking place there. Nevertheless, some moments in the book are tangled. The book reveals lots of talks with past and current workers, â€Å"filing Freedom of Information Act applications to get classified material and visiting the island itself six times†.   (Carroll 2004) The history of Plum Island is traced from its very beginning as a research facility for warfare of germs till its becoming a part of the Department of Agriculture. The author involves in the books descriptions of not only mysterious island, but also descriptions of animal diseases, bio-warfare researches, etc. He states that the island has relived the very top of its researches as well as its fall. Nowadays the island is a run-down and dangerous place with â€Å"little in the way of security, even after the events of 9/11 put the island under the watch of the Department of Homeland Security†. (Carroll 2004) US Department of Agriculture has done certain significant work in order to protect livestock of America. For example, the scientists are responsible for creating the first vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease. Carroll states that positive moments can’t exist without negative consequences and thus he says that the Department has done their best to hide the breakdowns of researches.   Thus the successful researches are plagued and since 1970s have been seriously criticized. Despite certain successful discoveries, negative effects are apparent: leaking air filters, escaping sewage, etc. what is more awful is that outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is caused by lab's herds. It is argued in the book that â€Å"things recently went from bad to worse when many of the jobs were privatized, leading to dangerous cost-cutting†. (Carroll 2004) Further, it is necessary to mention Carroll’s recounting of the Hurricane Bob on the Island. Thus Carroll possibly hints that â€Å"the storm unleashed a doomsday scenario – one that never actually materialized†. (Carroll 2004) However, the thinks that Hurricane has positive impact compared with other outrageous revelations. Carroll assumes that scientists are responsible for setting loose the Lyme disease as well as Nile virus in 1991. Furthermore, they are to blame for new scourges taken place in the United States of America. The evidence in the book is presented by Carroll’s personal observations and investigations. Special attention in the book is paid to Lyme disease. For example, the author hints that â€Å"the Nazis experimented on Lyme disease as a weapon of germ warfare, and that after World War II; one German researcher had some dealings with the founders of Plum Island†. (Carroll 2004) Scientists in the Plum Island are though to have studied tick-borne diseases. Firstly, the disease was revealed in Lyme, Conn, in 1970s. Scientists thought hat it was caused by either deer or birds carried Lyme-infected ticks. Plum Island is situated near the Lyme and thus it is infected as well. However, other evidence suggests that bacteria caused Lyme disease has existed in American forests even before the scientists appeared in Plum Island. Factually, it is indicated that â€Å"these bacteria probably evolved in North America and only later spread to Europe†. (Carroll 2004) However, Michael Carroll mocks at the provided idea of possible Lyme history, but â€Å"the fact is that many diseases have made this sort of crossover into humans†.   He thinks if to disturb the ecosystems, the parasites are sometimes pushed out to make humans their own home. For example, malaria was a serious scourge many years ago, but then the first African farmer made an attempt to clear the forests and to create â€Å"homes† for parasites – he decoded to breed mosquitoes. Further, HIV is chimpanzee viruses which have got into bloodstreams of human in 20th century because of slaughter of chimps for meat. Thus Carroll asserts that the gravest danger nowadays is bioterrorim, because it is able to create many diseases. Bioterrorism involves climate change, globalization and deforestation. Therefore, the author thinks that Plum Island is necessary place, because SARS and anthrax have to be defeated. Thus the lab has to be kept safe and secure. (Carroll 2004) No unturned stone is left in the book â€Å"Lab 257†. The author thoroughly investigates the Plum Island’ history and illustrates workings of the lab. Special attention is paid to operations on Plum Island.   The strength of the book is a variety of information gathered from different sources ranging from interviews with employees to appropriate government agencies. Carroll skillfully assembles all the materials into research being easily readable and remarkable. Carroll is certainly talented researcher and writer and his book is one of the most shocking pieces of non-fiction. The author thinks that media will become interested in his â€Å"chilling expose of a potential catastrophe† and thus government will be forced to take measures to provide sanitary and safe conditions. (Carroll 2004) If government pays no attention to the problem, people will be threatened to become new victims. Summing up the material provided it is necessary to admit that Carroll has managed to meet with many people who have made the Plum Island: researchers, scientists, present and pass employees, animal handlers, etc. Furthermore, people â€Å"of the surrounding areas who never wanted the lab facility there in the first place† are also involved in the book narrative. (Carroll 2004) The author provides strong evidence of serious breaches of protection and security and states that such ignorance may lead to viruses’ releases. The consequences would be apparent: devastation of forests and spreading of diseases. It is known that many workers in the island are ill will diseases which are still unidentified by any doctor. Furthermore, the book is filled with suggestions that â€Å"West Nile Virus and other such diseases were actually introduced to U.S. soil via Plum Island†. (Carroll 2004) Thus mishaps could have been responsible for spreading of anthrax, mad cow disease and Rift Valley fever viruses. Carroll also admits that terrorist could have bee provided with lots of opportunities to easily access the island because of improper security systems. Carroll provides evidence that release of deadly viruses and toxins is caused by mishaps on the island. Thus the author concludes that humans nowadays are not safe at all. (Carroll 2004) References Carroll, Michael C. (2004).Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory. New York: William Morrow.