Lady Macbeth Essay -- essays research papers

Term Paper On Lady Macbeth William Shakespeare created a dynamic character called lady Macbeth; she was the total opposite of what women of the Shakespearian era were supposed to be. Despite qualities women were supposed to have in Shakespeare’s time, Lady Macbeth defied the way most women of her time acted. Lady Macbeth defied the ways of women of her time by being manipulative, ambitious, and ruthless. Women’s lifestyles back in Shakespeare’s time period was very different from the modern day women’s lifestyles of today. The characteristics for women of that time was that women should be uneducated, should follow chastity, take care of the home and should not join a profession or get a job. Most women were denied the chance to be schooled beyond the basics of simple reading and very little writing. Some women of the upper class were schooled but they were not looked upon as educated women but were instead welcomed to the company of men. Women would not be able to enter professions because of the lack of education and the fact that they were women. For the poor women their work was spinning and weaving. The best job that they could get was to be an overworked nurse. The only real profession that women at this time could get into was marriage. In marriage women were expected to only take care of the home and anything that would benefit the home. When entering mar riage women were further endorsed by the law. The law said that when entering marriage women became property of the men and all their belongings were the mans property now and the man could do whatever he wanted with these belongings such as selling them. A woman was generally fail and soft, which proved their overall weakness. A good woman of that time was supposed to be practice obedience, patience, chastity, modesty, and virtue. Women who didn’t live up to these expectations were considered to be â€Å"bad women†. During their free time Elizabethan women would sing, dance, and write letters. (Papp and Kirkland) Lady Macbeth defied many if not all the ways of women of the time period. She was very ambitious in achieving her goals. Lady Macbeth took charge in the murder of Duncan. Macbeth was in shock when he killed Duncan and Lady Macbeth said to Macbeth: My hands are of your color, but I shame To wear a heart so white. [Knocking within.] I hear knocking At the south entry: —retire we to our chamber.... ...o persuade him against his will. She tells things just how she sees them fit and tells it like it is.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lady Macbeth is by far the total opposite of what a Shakespearian woman is supposed to be. She is bold, ambitious, ruthless, cold hearted, vicious and manipulative. A true woman of the Elizabethan era would be humble stand by he husband and take care of the house and would not resemble any of the things that lady Macbeth resembles. All of her actions and decisions prove her to be different from woman of that time. Lady Macbeth is truly unique and an epic character in literature that will always be remembered for how ruthless and different from a true Shakespearian woman really was suppose to be. Work Cited Coriat, Isador. â€Å"The Hysteria of Lady Macbeth†. (Internet) Available at www.galenet.com. November 25 2003 Epstein, Norrie. â€Å"Lady Macbeth†. N.Y.: Thomas & Thomas Publishing, 1993 Papp, Joseph and Kirkland, Elizabeth. â€Å"The Status of Women in Shakespeare’s Time†. (Internet) Available at www.galenet.com. November 25, 2003 Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. (Internet). Available at www.sparknotes.com. November 29, 2003

Budgeting Essay -- Finances Accounting Budgets Essays

Budgeting Budgeting is the systematic method of allocating financial, physical, and human resources to achieve an organization’s strategic goals. Budgets are utilized by for-profit and non-profit organizations to monitor the progress towards the goals, assist in the control of spending, and help predict cash flow for the organization. The central challenge that budget developers encounter is predicting what the future holds for the internal business and external factors. Reading the future is something that can never be done with perfect precision. The fast pace of technological change, the complexities of global competition and world events make developing effective budgets both more difficult and more important. Important benefits of improving the budgeting process include better companywide understanding of strategic goals, more coordinated support for those goals, and an improved ability to respond quickly to competition. (Gruner & Jahr, 2003 Inc Magazine). Anyone familiar with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and practices will find most accounting for nonprofit activity to be very familiar. There are, however, some significant differences, which include:  « Accounting for Contributions  « Capitalizing and Depreciating Assets  « Use of Cash- and Modified Cash-Basis Accounting  « Functional Expense Classification The act of budgeting resources to meet or beat the goals of an organization is an art form in any type of business. â€Å"All business should prepare budgets,† (Hansen and Mowen, p. 282). The advantage to budgeting is that: 1. It forces to plan. 2. It provides information that can be used to improve decision making. 3. It provides a standard for performance evaluation. 4. It improves communication and coordination. If good budgeting is important for every successful business or organization, can we expect to have industry standard and general practices that are followed in every type of organization? Probable not, but certain standard can be expected, which is the direction of this term paper. Are there a difference or should there be a difference in the way a for-profit and a not-for-profit conduct their budgeting procedures. In both cases, they have income and expenses, employees and goals and objectives of the organization. The hypothesis is that there is no difference in the bu... ..., a wide variety of popular accounting software systems are available that have been designed to satisfy these needs. If the nonprofit organization uses an adequate accounting system, sets up its categories and classifications in line with the IRS reporting requirements, and assiduously labels all revenue and expenses appropriately, then completing the IRS annual report is a relatively painless matter. References Bangs Jr, David H and Pellecchia, Michael, August 15, 2000, Action Plan: Forecasting and Cash-Flow Budgeting retrieved from web site http://www.muridae.com/ nporegulation/accounting.html on February 27, 2003. Critical Issues in Financial Accounting Regulation for Nonprofit Organizations, Online Compendium of Federal and State Regulations for U.S. Nonprofit Organizations, retrieved from web site http://www.muridae.com/nporegulation/main.html on February 28, 2003 Gruner + Jahr, January 12, 2000, Best Practices: Developing Budgets, Inc Magazine, USA Publishing. Inc.com, retrieved from web site http://www.inc.com/articles/ finance/fin_manage/budget/16379.html on February 27th, 2003 Hansen & Mowen, Management Accounting, 6th edition, 2003, South Western

Are You Unique? (for Cloning) :: essays research papers fc

You have been told that you are unique. The belief that there is no one else like you in the whole world has made you feel special and proud. In the near future, this belief may not be true. The world was stunned by the news in the summer of 1995, when a British embryologist named Ian Wilmut, and his research team, successfully cloned Dolly the sheep using the technique of nuclear transfer. Replacing the DNA of one sheep’s egg with the DNA of another sheep’s udder created Dolly. Plants and lower forms of animal life have been successfully cloned for many years, but before Wilmut's announcement, it had been thought by many to be unlikely that such a procedure could be performed on larger mammals and life forms. The world media was immediately filled with heated discussions about the ethical implications of cloning. Some of the most powerful people in the world have felt compelled to act against this threat. President Clinton swiftly imposed a ban on federal funding for human-cloning research. Bills were put in the works in both houses of Congress to outlaw human cloning because it was deemed as a fundamentally evil thing that must be stopped. But what, exactly, is bad about it? From an ethical point of view, it is difficult to see exactly what is wrong with cloning human beings. The people who are afraid of cloning tend to assume that someone would, for example, break into Napoleon's Tomb, steal some DNA and make a bunch of emperors. In reality, infertile people who use donated sperm, eggs, or embryos would probably use cloning. Do the potential harms outweigh the benefits of cloning? From what we know now, they don't. Therefore, we should not rush placing a ban on a potentially useful method of helping infertile, genetically at-risk, homosexual, or single people to become parents. Do human beings have a right to reproduce? No one has the moral right to tell another person that they should not be able to have children, and I don't see why Bill Clinton has that right either. If humans have a right to reproduce, what right does society have to limit the means? Essentially all reproduction done these days is with medical help at delivery, and even before. Truly natural human reproduction would make pregnancy-related death the number one killer of adult women. Some forms of medical help are more invasive than others.

Citizens United Case

In January 2008, Citizens United released a documentary that was critical of Senator Hilary Clinton and planned to run commercials of it at that time. However, through the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act which â€Å"prohibits corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for speech that is an ‘electioneering communication’ or for speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate†, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the commercials violated the act.The case was brought up to the Supreme Court and would be one of the more important cases about the First Amendment with a controversial decision. On March 24, 2009, the Supreme Court took oral arguments from Malcolm Stewart, then Deputy Solicitor General representing the Federal Election Commission. He pointed out that with the current laws in place for the campaign-finance s ystem, even a book that had the same content as the documentary would be banned. An even more disturbing point that Stewart made was that the government could ban a book that has just one sentence about candidate advocacy.This caused the Supreme Court to ask the parties to reargue the case due to two cases that Stewart used: Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, a statute that prohibited a corporation to use its funds for or against a political candidate, and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, the decision that upheld the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold law. The reason for rearguing the case was to determine if they, the justices, should overrule those two decisions. The court reversed the ruling from the lower court and overruled Austin v.Michigan Chamber of Commerce and partially overruled McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. The overall ruling was 5-4 with Justice Steven’s dissent that was joined by Justice Breyer, Ginsberg, and Sotomayor. Justice Ke nnedy, part of the majority opinion, believed that â€Å"If the First Amendment  has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech. † In general, the Justices in the majority opinion believed that the case was based mostly on the First Amendment.Due to freedom of speech, corporations, whom the Justices believed were counted as individuals, could not be denied their right to voice out their opinion on running officials. The justices that favored the ruling brushed aside the warnings that might result in overturning the lower court’s decision. The dissenting justices warned that treating a corporation’s right to speech to be the same as an individual human was dangerous. However, eight of the justices agreed that Congress can require corporations to disclose how much they spent and to have disclaimers in the absence of facts.Chief Justice Roberts, one of whom that was part o f the majority opinion, believed that â€Å"the important principles of judicial restraint and  stare decisis  implicated in this case† had to be addressed. He believed that overturning a past decision, such as Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, in certain circumstances were necessary. Roberts stated that cases such as segregation and minimum wage would not be as of what they are today if it were not for judicial activism. Justice Stevens wrote a passionate dissent that was joined by the other three Justices who opposed the ruling.He stated that the Court’s ruling â€Å"threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. † Because corporations and the general public could now spend unlimited money to promote or demote politicians who are running for office anytime, Stevens fears that it would cause an large disturbance in the election process. Although the majority opinion did not touch the laws about direct contribution to the candidates, part of the argument was whether a direct contribution versus an indirect contribution was the same thing.The time between the case being introduced to the Supreme Court until the official ruling of the case created a large amount of publicity and different opinions. President Obama believed that the decision gave the corporations too much power to influence the election process. However, other politicians such as a Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, believed that the First Amendment applied to corporations which would let corporations to voice out their opinions on campaigning officials. The fundamental question here is whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v.Federal Election Commission a good decision or a bad decision. I personally feel that the arguments from both sides were valid. The fact that Congress essentially denied a form of free speech from a corporation is unconstitutional in m y opinion. However, my opinion in corporations becoming involved in political campaigns where they might have a large impact on how people view a certain politician is that it is not fair. I believe that the decision made by the Supreme Court was good in part of retaining the First Amendment’s freedom of speech but bad in part of the campaigning process for politicians.The decision gives too much power to a corporation versus the general public. If a corporation was allowed to spend without limit in the elections, politicians could strategically support a topic that the corporation would benefit from. This would result in the corporation to have the power to directly contribute in the campaign by running their own ads that promotes the politician. Campaigning would then become a war of getting the support of many of the biggest corporations. This gives too much power to the corporations and essentially removes the voices of the general public.As Obama pointed out in his state of the union address in 2010, it would also give the power to foreign corporations to help fund a certain election. I strongly oppose any kind of foreign involvement in any political activity in the United States. With the potential of candidates to â€Å"sell-out† to corporations would just ruin the whole election process. With the potential of unlimited spending of corporations, not only would they be allowed to endorse a political candidate, but they would also be able to attack candidates such as the documentary made by Citizens United.With the current campaigning process, political candidates have created attack ads that give negative images of an opposing candidate. Now that corporations can voice their opinions, there may be an increase of these attack ads. Through an ethical standpoint, it ruins the integrity of the election process. The election process would not just become a fight between politicians to gain support from corporations but also a fight of who can de stroy another candidate’s image to the public.It not only defaces the opposing candidate, but it shows how dirty a politician can be. The election process turns into an all-out fight between candidates who would deploy such a tactic. With the inclusion of corporations now, it would worsen the current state of the campaigning process. I see why the Justices would overrule the lower court’s decision due to the First Amendment. The argument made by Malcolm Stewart definitely gave the impression that the law was too restrictive in such a way that it banned any forms of view from a corporation of a political candidate.I would agree with how the law would be unconstitutional through Stewart’s argument; however, I would oppose it through an ethical view. A poll conducted by Washington Post showed that eight in ten poll respondents opposed the decision made by the Supreme Court. William Rehnquist, a former Supreme Court justice, also opposed the decision made by the cou rt by joining the dissent made by Stevens. Sandra Day O’Connor, also another former Supreme Court justice, made a point that the checks and balances on campaign spending were demolished. However, O’Connor was an author of McConnell v.Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court’s case about allowing the Westboro Baptist Church to protest at military funerals is similar to this case due to both cases involving the right to free speech. In both cases, the general public did not like the ruling; however, it made sense constitutionally. There may be alternatives that Congress can take in battling the problems of corporations being involved in political campaigns. Although the court overruled it, I believe that there should be some sort of regulation on how much a corporation could spend on a candidate.Instead of limiting the corporation’s freedom of speech, why can’t we limit how much they can endorse a candidate? One can argue that money is not spee ch, so limiting the amount a corporation could spend would be constitutional. Another way to tackle the problem is to let shareholders decide on the political expenditures made by a corporation, as Great Britain does. This would let a larger majority decide on what the corporation would do for political expenditures. However, even though it is still a larger pool of people, they probably will still act in the interest of the company due them be driven by profits.Now that the court has made its decision, corporations can now spend as much as they want on politics. Many problems would arise due to this; however, it would still be constitutional. I believe that the decision of overruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and partially overruling McConnell v. Federal Election Commission was good due to following the First Amendment. However through a practical stance, it would create a large possibility of corrupting the campaigning process. Bibliography Eggen, Dan. â€Å" Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court's decision on campaign financing.   Washington Post17 February 2010, n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/17/AR201 0021701151. html;. Hasen, Rick. â€Å"CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS' CONCURRING OPINION IN CITIZENS UNITED: TWO MYSTERIESCHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS' CONCURRING OPINION IN CITIZENS UNITED: TWO MYSTERIES . â€Å"Election Law Blog. N. p. , 23 January, 2010. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://electionlawblog. org/archives/015118. html;. â€Å"High-Court Hypocrisy. †Ã‚  Newsweek. 22 January 2010: n. page. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. thedailybeast. om/newsweek/2010/01/22/high-court-hypocrisy. html;. Liptak, Adam. â€Å"Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending LimitJustices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit . †Ã‚  New York Times  21 January 2010, n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. nytimes. com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus. html;. Liptak, Adam. â€Å"O’Connor M ildly Criticizes Court’s Campaign Finance Decision. †Ã‚  New York Times  26 January 2010, n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://thecaucus. blogs. nytimes. com/2010/01/26/oconnor-mildly-criticizes-courts-campaign-finance-decision/? p;. Robert, John. â€Å"Roberts, C. J. , concurring. † n. pag. Legal Information Institute. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://www. law. cornell. edu/supct/html/08-205. ZC. html;. Scalia, Antonin. â€Å"Scalia, J. , concurring. † n. pag. Legal Information Institute. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://www. law. cornell. edu/supct/html/08-205. ZC1. html;. Smith, Bradley. â€Å"The Myth of Campaign Finance Reform. â€Å"National Affairs. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://www. nationalaffairs. com/publications/detail/the-myth-of-campaign-finance-reform;.

Psychoanalysis, Popular Culture and Media Essay

Psychoanalysis is the science of the unconscious functions of the mind and personality. The theories originate from Austrian neurologist, Sigmund Freud. He discovered these as a treatment for health problems and also as a way to understanding more about your mind. In this essay I am going to discuss how these theories discovered many years ago have contributed to popular culture and media. Sigmund Freud divided the soul into the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious is the part of which we are mentally aware and in contrast the unconscious is where all are restrained wishes are stored. Freud stated that: â€Å"Each individual who makes a fresh entry into human society repeats this sacrifice of instinctual satisfaction for the benefit of the whole community†(Storey 2001:91). He also added: â€Å"Society believes that no greater threat to its civilization could arise than if the sexual instincts were to be liberated and returned to their original aims†(Storey 2001:91). What Freud is saying here is that we are born imperfect with many instinctual drives. From social to sexual drives, basically anything that are ID desires. He believes that these instinctual desires, especially sexual have to be restrained in the unconscious as they would have a detrimental act on society if they were to be followed through and would cause us to act in inappropriate manner to the views of our cultural society. This is where psychoanalysis demonstrates to us how it contributes to media and popular culture. It does this by teaching us certain ways to behave in order to fit in. There are right and wrong ways and psychoanalysis gives us an explanation to how our soul teaches us the appropriate mannerisms. Freud continued on with his discoveries and further divided the psyche into the ego, the ID and the superego. The ID is something we are born with and is totally unconscious. It is driven by the pleasure principle which means that it wants instant satisfaction for all its desires. Freud described the ID as the: â€Å"dark, inaccessible part of our personality†(Storey 2001:92) It is impossible to change our ID and are instinctual desires. The ego is the reality part of personality. It tries to satisfy the ID and its desires after weighing up the pros and cons and waiting until an appropriate time to do so. It develops as in becomes more in touch with culture, furthermore creating the superego. The superego is where we adopt qualities from people who have learnt how to cope in society, mainly are parents and other important figures in our lives at the time. By learning from other people and from what we hear and see on television etc we determine a sense of right and wrong. As a result, our superego helps to restrain the unacceptable urges of the ID, and tries to make the ego act in an appropriate manner that society expects and requires. Furthermore this psychoanalysis theory and breakdown of the psyche demonstrates to us how culture and media play a fundamental role on how we act in society. Its like a big circle, we learn how to act from elders and society and then people learn from us and so on. John Storey describes the superego as â€Å"the voice of culture† as it is what we learn from and Freud says that â€Å"our nature is governed by culture†(Storey 2001:92). He believes that human nature is in fact something that is not natural and controlled by the ever changing culture and media at that particular time. In my opinion, the ego of a person depends on the era they live, who they are surrounded by, the media and many other social and cultural factors. We learn from our contact with society and culture and that includes who we are with or what we here on TV, or see in the newspapers. Whether it be intentional or not, we consume all of that information and that forms are opinions on what is right and wrong etc and makes us who we are. We are in fact controlled by culture and what is going on around us, as this is the make up of our personality and determines the way we act in society. Furthermore, the superego keeps everything in balance. Without it we would be driven by our pleasure principle (ID) and not know how to express are opinions correctly or behave, essentially causing havoc. This results in their being a constant, ongoing conflict between the pleasure and reality principle. In conclusion, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan have been greatly influential when it comes to culture and media. In my opinion the theory of psychoanalysis can be seen in everyday life when it comes to watching films etc as everything can be interpreted and has an effect on us. It had a large impact on how sound work in early childhood development and also in cinema. Psychoanalysis can be used to interpret different meanings, and what you get from it can vary from observer to observer. The cinema is full of hidden meanings and tempting us with desires. Slavoj Zizek states that: â€Å"The cinema doesn’t give you what you desire, it tells you how to desire† (Zizek:2007). When we are watching a film our instinctual drives are not fulfilled but it tells us how we should desire, and can be seen as a form of release. Many would argue that not every human desire has to be taught such as sleeping or drinking but many would argue they are not desires just basic needs. For an actual fact the desire is in the quantity of how much we want. The media affects are desires greatly by large and effective ad campaigns. Take for example McDonalds, the ad campaigns, the way they make the food look and its popularity entices us to desire it. If there wasn’t thousands of them an it wasn’t that popular I doubt we would desire it as much, however, it’s a big part of our fast-food culture. Psychoanalysis is very effective and demonstrates to us how our psyche works.

Superfund Recordkeeping

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, (SARA), provides for the identification, investigation and cleanup of Superfund, hazardous waste sites. Under these Acts, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to recover its response costs from responsible parties after participating in the investigation, cleanup, oversight, enforcement and other required administrative provisions. State agencies which spend CERCLA funds must account for and document all response costs to permit recovery of these costs from responsible parties by EPA and the State. Funds may also be provided to the State by EPA under a grant system to undertake Superfund related response activities. State agencies which spend CERCLA grant funds must account for and document all State costs. This manual outlines procedures involved with the expenditure of funds by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) for CERCLA activities. It sets forth financial management and recordkeeping requirements for Superfund sites and for CERCLA related activities covered by EPA grants. Many of the principles and procedures covered by this manual serve as guidance for non-CERCLA sites, as well, which have the potential for future cost recovery actions. This manual will continue to be updated as new procedures are developed. Documentation procedures involve complex financial management and recordkeeping policies that must be followed to assure cost recovery. These policies are based on regulations and guidance, in part, set forth in: – Code of Federal Regulations, (CFR), Title 40, Part 31, Part 33 and Part 35, Subpart â€Å"O†. – â€Å"State Superfund Financial Management and Recordkeeping Guidance†, 1987, EPA. – OMB Circular No. A-87, † Cost Principles for State and Local Governments†. – Code of Maryland Regulations, (COMAR), Title 21. Key features of the Superfund financial management and recordkeeping policies which are set forth in detail herein in Section D, include: – Documentation of all expenses involved with response or grant-specified activities. – Recovery of â€Å"reasonable and necessary† costs only. – Identification of financial documents, and all other cost related records or agreements which may serve as the basis for determining or authorizing response costs, with the phrase – â€Å"SUPERFUND – DO NOT DESTROY†. – Maintaining timesheets and other financial document originals without alteration after approvals. – Maintenance of a unique file or set of files, either containing hard copies, or electronic images shall be maintained for each Superfund site which shall be identified by a project cost account (PCA) code to permit timely access to site records. Record categories within these files shall be organized in a consistent manner. – Maintenance of additional files, containing backup documentation which provide background and serve as a basis or authorization for costs, should also be maintained. These general files may contain information that is not necessarily site-specific. – Retain original documents for each site, OU or activity. – Electronic records may be acceptable for cost recovery if approved by EPA or Attorney General's office. – Submitting cost documentation, in response to requests from attorneys or EPA only after, expense related records are reconciled with the cost summary. – Retention of records stamped with the phrase – â€Å"SUPERFUND – DO NOT DESTROY† for at least 10 years following submission of the final Financial Status Report, (FSR), unless otherwise directed by EPA. Records are to be retained longer than 10 years if litigation, claim, cost recovery or other associated action takes place before the end of the 10-year period. – EPA must approve destruction of documents that were required to be saved. Establish Superfund and EPA grant financial management and recordkeeping procedures which: – enable the State to meet legal responsibilities and EPA audit requirements; – document expense related records in a legally acceptable manner; – facilitate accountability and cost recovery; and – provide timely access to site, operable unit and activity related expense information. 1. ERRP – (Environmental, Restoration and Redevelopment Program) ERRP conducts and oversees CERCLA response activities within the Waste Management Administration, (WAS). Its areas of responsibilities cover: – Pre-remedial, remedial, removal and operation & maintenance phases. – Response activities which include, but are not limited to, investigations, review and comment on reports, oversight and implementation of response actions, and enforcement actions, and CERCLA activities may be funded under EPA grants/ Cooperative Agreements (CAs). The terms of these grants are negotiated between EPA and the State. The State also uses its own funds in engaging in response activities. Trained staff conduct technical activities associated with investigation, assessment and cleanup, including related activities such as training, travel, and Program development and the like. These employees shall submit timesheets for further processing and record keeping. Time devoted to various response activities is distributed to a number of unique PCA codes within the timesheets, thereby permitting assignment of costs to appropriate sites, OUs and activities. In addition, the technical staff may initiate requisitions such as purchase and travel requests and other financial documents associated with response activities. PCA codes are also used to assign costs for these and other activities as well. Clerical and administrative staff may assist the technical staff in fiscal, timekeeping, purchase requisitions, travel vouchers and record keeping matters. This staff also serves as liaison with other divisions in processing time accountability documents and other requisitions. The Program Administrator of ERRP manages ERRP Program and technical activities and approves all ERRP requisitions. Originators of requisitions must justify the necessity of items requested before approval and must satisfy terms of the grants. Approval, or sign off, by the Program Administrator may be via electronic signature where the Advanced Purchasing Inventory Control System (ADPICS), or a similar system, is used with the Financial Management Information System (FMIS) to process the requisition. FMIS is the computerized statewide accounting system which tracks costs by site, OU and activity, and by grant level.

Reality TV is a huge success to the television industry in the 1990s Essay

Reality TV is a huge success to the television industry in the 1990s. As a genre description, reality TV is widening its usage from ‘news magazine programmes based round emergency service activities’ to ‘talk shows, docusoaps’ and a variety of ‘first-person’ programmes (Creeber, 2001: 135). ‘Reality TV’ with extensive meaning becomes popular to describe ‘any factual programme based on an aesthetic style of apparent â€Å"zero-degree realism† – in other words a direct, unmediated account of events, often associated with the use of video and surveillance-imaging technologies’ (Creeber, 2001: 135). While Barnfield has criticized ‘the loose usage of the term, suggesting that over the last decade such a wide range of productions have been categorized as â€Å"Reality TV† that one wonders if the term is too general to be helpful'(Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 3). It is true that ‘reality TV’ is not explicit enough in meaning. However, it is the best word applicable to all situations and never unilateral. It gives producers more space to innovate new programmes as to prosper this genre. Reality TV evolves with the development of new technologies. New sub-genres emerged as the hybrids of established genres. It challenges traditional documentary and changes the serious content to more entertainment elements. Every format is close to everyday life to convince the audience as ‘real’ programming. In the short history of only two decades, reality TV has evolved into various formats. I will focus on five main forms which have either had a remarkable effect on television history or unprecedented audience ratings with reference to relevant representative programmes of British television. Contested Generic Identification: Definition of Reality TV It seems difficult to issue a particular definition of ‘reality TV’ to attest to debates over it. As Su Holmes and Deborah Jermyn point out: Producing a particular definition of Reality TV is nevertheless complex. This is partly because of the fundamentally hybrid nature of the forms in question. Yet it is also because of the range of programming to which the term ‘Reality TV’ has been applied, as well as the extent to which this has shifted over time with the emergence of further permutations in ‘reality-based’ texts. (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 2) Jon Dovey characterised this genre by ‘reference to the dominant and original forms of Reality TV that feature police and emergency service work’ (Dovey, 2000: 80). In his opinion, as form and construction, reality TV should be: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ camcorder, surveillance or observational ‘actuality footage’; à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ first-person participant or eye-witness testimony; à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ reconstructions that rely upon narrative fiction styles; à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ studio or to-camera links and commentary from ‘authoritative’ presenters; à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ expert statements from emergency services personnel or psychologists. (Dovey, 2000: 80) These elements are helpful in interpreting the origins of reality programmes and in understanding its sub-genres and new development. Only by bearing these elements in mind can we make reference to relevant programmes when we trace back history to discuss the evolution of reality TV. Is it American Innovation? : Historical Precedent of Reality TV There is no consensus about the first reality programme. Jon Dovey thought that ‘Reality TV is generally historically located as beginning in the US with NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries in 1987’ (Dovey, 2000: 81). While Bradley D. Clissold considered that ‘during the years that it aired, Candid Camera (US, 1948- ), arguably the first ‘Reality TV’ programme, proved itself to be one of US TV’s most memorable, enduring and popular shows’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 33). There is a consensus that the earliest reality programme came out in America. In addition to these mentioned above, other commentators like Richard Kilborn, Chad Raphael and Gareth Palmer all agreed with this conclusion (Kilborn, 2003: 55; Palmer, 2003: 21). In the commercial environment in America, technologies like cable, satellite and digital prospered reality programmes in television market. However, reality TV as a television genre has evolved into ‘a very strong Eurpoean form with regional variations in each country’ (Dovey). In mid-1980s, when surveillance technology such as CCTV (closed-circuit television) became accessible, Britain produced its own reality programmes, which revealed real accidents, crimes and emergencies. By using CCTV footage, these reality programmes departed from traditional documentary and were quickly accepted by the curious audience because of their witness techniques. They were real shows without actors and noted for low-cost which was attractive to most programme-makers. Among these early reality programmes, Crimewatch (BBC, 1984- ) was most influential. Jon Dovey said it ‘has been seen as central to the development of the form, particularly in respect of debates around criminology and the media’ (Creeber, 2001: 135). Deborah Jermyn, who is experienced in studying television crime appeal, commented on Crimewatch: Promoting the growth of crime-appeal programming in Britain – with a format where serious unsolved crimes are reconstructed, police and victims’ families interviewed, images of suspects publicized and the public encouraged to phone in and volunteer information – by this time the series had comfortably established itself as Britain’s foremost crime-appeal programme. (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 71) The effectiveness of Crimewatch as a detergent to crimes has been under much debate. It entertained the audience, but it was weak as a warning to the criminals. As Jermyn commented: ‘indeed some criminals have claimed that the poor-quality CCTV footage they witnessed on Crimewatch actually gave them an incentive to commit crime’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 82). ‘The use of CCTV conspicuously enhances the programme’s claims to authenticity and underlines its sense of a privileged relationship with real crime and actuality, qualities which programme-makers evidently believe to be ratings winners’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 83). In this case it is exciting for the audience to see the ‘raw’ footage without caring much about its effect of crime appeal. These early reality programmes about crime appeal, accidents and emergencies formed a new documentary format, which was the precedent of a new genre-reality TV. Later popular factual entertainment programmes are based on these elements to innovate. Their effect is remarkable in a long term. ‘Fly-Off-the-Wall’: Video Diaries Known as Access TV The 1990s was a golden era for the prevalence of reality TV. Jon Dovey points out: ‘it seems that â€Å"ordinary people†, non-professional broadcasters, have never been more present on our screens’ (Dowmunt, 1993: 163). Camera is no longer simply ‘fly-on-the-wall’ to observe and record, but closes to the object to become active ‘fly-off-the-wall’. For a long time, access TV, as new reality television, has been in a great demand. According to Jon Dovey, ‘there are some fundamental principles that identify access programming; they centre around control and power over the programme-making process’, especially ‘the authors should have control over the whole process of representation’ (Dowmunt, 1993: 165). Camcorder and video technology opened up expansive space for access TV. ‘Non-professional broadcasters’ became a leading role in making these programmes. As Patricia Holland commented on this innovative style: The video diary style, in which programmes are made with domestic video equipment by members of the public rather than by television professionals, has introduced a new way of making programmes. Low-tech, with a less polished appearance, they seem to bring the audience even closer to the realities they show. (Holland, 1997: 158) Video Diaries, produced by the BBC Community Programme Unit from 1990-1999, was a representative of access TV. From these series of programmes, Jon Dovey noted: the Unit solicits and researches ideas from potential diarists with a compelling story to tell. Once chosen, the diarist is trained in the use of an S-VHS camera and packed off to shoot their story, with support from the Unit should it be needed. In this way the diarists are given not only editorial control but also control over the means of production. They return with anything up to 200 hours of material and attend all the edit sessions, from an initial assembly which is viewed and discussed at length to the offline and online edit processes. (Dowmunt, 1993: 167) The format of Video Diaries is a development of documentary. Gareth Palmer has explained that it ‘imported the authorizing and legitimizing discourse of documentary into the personal, and in doing so it imported also documentary’s ordering principle into individual lives’ (Palmer, 2003:168). It was popular to the audience and also gained acclaim from the critics because of its flexibility in recording reality. Nevertheless there were debates that the producers had already controlled the programme by selecting the diarists, and there were also problems of quality and legality. New Observational Documentary: Emergence of Docusoap Docusoap is one form of the new observational documentary and one sub-genre of reality TV. It is a hybrid of documentary and soap-opera. It improves from serious documentary to emphasize on entertainment, especially everyday lives. ‘Developed in the UK in the mid-1990s, the docusoap enjoyed unprecedented success for roughly a four-year period (1996-2000)’ (Kilborn, 2003: 87). Docusoap combines documentary and drama. There are elements of narration, interviews and background music, and similar sequences as soap-opera. Each episode has a certain title and focuses on character, personalities, plot or situation. Technological advances promote the development of new observational documentary. New technologies like lightweight cameras, ‘portable sound equipment’ and ‘non-linear editing system’ accelerate editing process with better quality and effect. Besides, financial benefits also attract producers to choose new technologies. ‘As Paul Hamann has commented, docusoaps already cost on average only a third of the price of the equivalent in light entertainment or sitcoms’ (Bruzzi, 2000: 77). The entertainment factor of docusoap makes it popular with audience. Driving School ‘peaked at 12.45 million’ viewers (Bruzzi, 2000: 86). It ‘focused on the trials and tribulations of people preparing for their driving test’ (Kilborn, 2003: 96). Compared to the core character of reality TV, docusoap is blamed to be less factual with aesthetic reconstruction. According to Bruzzi: The sequence most frequently cited is that in which Maureen Rees, on the eve of another attempt at her theory exam, wakes in the middle of the night and asks her husband Dave to test her on the Highway Code. The sequence is a reconstruction, and Jeremy Gibson (head of BBC Television Features, Bristol) and others have gone on record exonerating themselves from blame, commenting that, having gleaned that Maureen did get up at night ghrough panic, it was perfectly legitimate to recreate such a sequence without the film crew having to camp out in her bedroom for an entire night. (Bruzzi, 2000: 87) The producers’ intervention revealed obvious dramatic skills, which aimed at telling a complete story. In any case, under these circumstances one can never expect a totally natural performance from the character with the presence of camera. These factors make docusoap not so ‘real’, but the audience appreciate it for the entertainment value and these factors do not affect their enjoyment. However, by the end of 1990s, this new documentary format had gradually lost its popularity. Critics and executives of TV channels began to complain the similar content with in the same format between series. It was also blamed as a challenge of ‘serious’ documentary. Then new factual programmes emerged and replaced docusoap in TV schedules. Docusoap is remembered as a creative hybrid of documentary and fiction with high ratings in the history of reality TV. Serve the Public: Prevalence of Lifestyle Lifestyle is another sub-genre of reality TV, of which BBC has been one of the biggest providers (Gareth Palmer; Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 173). It originated in the 1990s and is still popular today. It occupies a large part of TV schedule, shown usually in the daytime and prime time. There is ‘a series of choices in dà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cor (House Invaders [Bazal for BBC1, 1999-2002], Changing Rooms [Bazal for BBC1, 1996- ]), clothes (What Not To Wear [BBC2, 1999- ]) and manner (Would Love To Meet [WLTM, BBC2, 2001-3])’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 174). People now have strong sense that they are citizens and consumers. They are eager to improve their lives. Many are glad to show their private life in front of camera. For habitus, Gareth Palmer commented: ‘Britain is a nation of homeowners clutching close the belief that the home represents a sort of castle. Hence, it makes sense to produce programmes aimed at the house-proud’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 179). For fashion, according to Palmer, ‘in looking at fashion programming we come closer to seeing how the individual should ideally be styled according to the new class of experts’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 181). There is a debate as to whether fashion shows need be bitchy. Palmer has an interesting opinion: ‘fashion without bitchery, like academia without snobbery, is inconceivable’ (Holmes and Jermyn, 2004: 184). Bitchery makes fashion programming as amusement. It does happen frequently in our life, which is a factual element of lifestyle. Lifestyle programming is an innovation that television is not only observing people’s life, but also changing people’s way of life. It ‘serves the audience’ by giving instructions, which is the nature of European television, compared to ‘marketing the audience’ of American commercial television (Ang, 1991). Lifestyle is a good illustration how culture affects social life. New Interactive Reality Show: World Success of Big Brother Endemol’s ‘jewel in the crown’, Big Brother was thirty months in development and was the brainchild of co-principal, John de Mol. First broadcast on Veronica in 1999 and an immense ratings success, the programme has been adapted in over eighteen territories in Western Europe, the UK, the US and elsewhere. (Albert Moran, the Global Television Format Trade; Hilmes, 2003: 120) Big Brother, a new reality programme is based on established genres such as game show, quiz show, documentary and soap opera. It is a social experiment, in which we witness the reaction of the participants to their new environment and changing circumstances are often beyond their control. With the feature of game show, Big Brother sets its game rules as: The programme involved ten housemates interned together over a ten-week period in a specially designed hermetically sealed environment. The housemates were supplied with food and drink and had access to all amenities, but were isolated from all contact with the media and the outside world; there were no television sets, radios, newspapers. Every week each housemate had to nominate for eviction two fellow-contestants; the two with the highest number of nominations would then be subject to public voting. It was the role of the public to select, by telephone vote, which of the two was to survive. By the final week there would be only two housemates remaining the winner was decided by the public, and took away a cheque for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½70,000. (Palmer, 2003: 182) From the above description, it is obvious that this programme innovatively uses interactive voting. The audiences have opportunities to join the programme and play a crucial role in deciding the result. In early 1990s, Mike Wayne criticized programmes at that time: ‘broadcasters and programme makers have paid relatively little attention to the way in which people watch television. They have been concerned with how many people see a programme, rather than the way audiences interact with the images on the screen: what they absorb, what they challenge and what they discard’ (Hood, 1994: 43). It seems that Big Brother answers all these criticisms. Compared to the audience, the participants are powerless to control the programme. They are observed at all times and their lives are exposed to the public. ‘We’ve been looking at the housemates through the eyes of thirty-one unforgiving cameras – we have seen them at their best and also at their worst’ (Ritchie, 2001: 279). What they need is just to relax and enjoy their time. ‘For all of them, without exception, it has been an amazing experience. They have learned a great deal about themselves, and the rest of us have learned not just lots about them, but also about human nature in general’ (Ritchie, 2001: 279). However, all the participants are under much pressure exposing their lives to millions of audience. There is probably some negative effect on the psychology of most participants. Gareth Palmer calls the programme ‘a psychological experiment’. Programme experience is not always as wonderful as Ritchie’s comment in the above paragraph. In Sweden there was a suicide of a participant on a similar programme (Palmer, 2003: 185). So in Big Brother ‘a team of mental health professionals will oversee both the selection process and the psychological well being of the participants while they are in the house’ (Palmer, 2003: 185). Big Brother creates a small society for the housemates away from the outside world. There are conflicts and also friendship. The participants are competitors and also partners. As the audience watch the trivia of their daily routine, the voiceover commentary helps them understand the situations. Big Brother, a hybrid of different forms with popular interactive elements, is a new format of reality TV. It is leading a new trend of reality programming. Many independent television production companies are professional and experienced in making these new reality shows. Channel 4 and ITV, such non-mainstream commercial channels have shown many this kind of reality programmes. The audience are looking forward to more innovation of reality TV. BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, R. C. and Hill, A. (2004) the Television Studies Reader, London: Routledge Ang, I. (1991) Desperately Seeking the Audience, London: Roughtledge Bruzzi, S. (2000) New Documentary: A Critical Introduction, London: Routledge Creeber, G., Miller, T. and Tulloch, J. (2001) the Television Genre Book, London: British Film Institute Dovey, J. 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