February 6th, 2009 / No Comments » / by nastyrunner
Marcus Aurelius
Biography
Marcus Annius Verus, well known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was born on April 26, 121 A.D. He was born in a noble family His grandfather and father shared a similar name, Annius Verus, had held high offices in Rome. Both his parents died young and on the death of his father, Marcus was adopted by his grandfather. On the first page of one of his books, Marcus describes the bond shared by himself and his grandfather and also what he learned from him. The Emperor Hadrian divined the fine character of the lad, whom he used to call not Verus but Verissimus, more truthful than his own name. He advanced Marcus to equestrian rank when six years of age, and at the age of eight made him a member of the ancient Salian priesthood. Marcus’s aunt was married to Antoninus Pius who was the emperor after Hadrian. Since Antoninus did not have a son, he adopted Marcus and thereby changing his name to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus which he is presently known by, and got him engaged to his daughter Faustina. His education was carried out with all care. The most capable teachers were engaged for him, and he was trained in the strict doctrine of the Stoic philosophy, which was his great delight. He learnt to dress bluntly and to lead a simple life avoiding the luxuries. His body was trained to be hard by wrestling, hunting, and other outdoor games. Even though his body was weak, he was always ready to face the toughest challenger. At the same time he was kept away from the extravagancies of his day. In 140 Marcus was raised to the consulship, and in 145 his engagement was accomplished by marriage. Two years later Faustina gave birth to a daughter; and soon after the turbinate and other imperial honors were bestowed upon him.
After the death of his adopted father, Antoninus Pius, Marcus assumed the imperial state. He joined with Lucius Ceionius Commodus, whom Antoninus had adopted as a younger son at the same time with Marcus, giving him the name of Lucius Aurelius Verus. The two were colleagues in the empire, Lucius trained as the next successor. Wars broke out from all the sides and Marcus defended them and took possession of the throne. “In the east, Vologeses III. of Parthia, in the north the Marcomanni or Marchmen, the Quadi, the Sarmatians, the Catti, the Jazyges” (Introduction 1). In Rome itself, he had to face dangers like epidemic diseases and starvations caused due to wars and floods which destroyed vast quantities of grain. Leaving no choice, Marcus had to sell everything including imperial jewels to continue in their struggles during the reign of Marcus. During these wars, in 169, Verus died. But Rome along with its commander–in–chief, Verus, created an effective and a secured empire. Marcus fought several important battles, which includes the legend of the Thundering Legion. This battle was fought against the Quadi in 174, the day when the battle was in the favor of the enemy. But a great storm of thunder and rain in the lightning struck the barbarians with terror and forced them to flee.
Later, Avidius Cassius, an able captain who had won prominence in the Parthian wars, was at this time chief governor of the eastern provinces. He imagined of being the emperor after Marcus, and after the false news of Marcus’s death was conveyed to him, he tried taking over the throne. On hearing this, Marcus patched up a peace and returned home to look into the matter. Marcus praised the qualities of Cassius. But before Marcus could give the news of him being alive, Cassius’s followers fell away from him and was assassinated. It was during this journey, when Faustina died. Victory was celebrated at his return. Immediately after that he achieved victory in Germany. Later, due to several troubles faced during the old age, he died on March 17, 180 in Pannonia.
Faustina and Marcus had several children and he was really fond of them. They all died one by one, and only one survived after the death of Marcus, that is the weak and worthless Commodus. He succeeded Marcus and changed the entire scenario by hasty decisions and unwise peace, and spoiled the work done during the reign of twelve years by Marcus.
Marcus was skilled and victorious as a soldier, far-sighted and diligent as an administrator. He said, “Anger cannot be dishonest.” and “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” (Quotes 1). He tried to keep out corruption, and performed his duty well. There were a few mistakes done by Marcus, for example, creating a compeer in his empire, split his empire into two halves. Also, by centralizing a lot, he made a mistake in his civil administration. But the administration of justice was most prominent during his reign. He made laws helping the poor, and also charitable foundations were created to grow and educate poor children. These provided public support and protect the empire against any oppression. There was only one mistake made by Marcus which cannot be explained, and that is his treatment of the Christians. Justin at Rome became a sacrificial victim to his faith, and Polycarp at Smyrna, and many other wars which caused the death of the faithful. Many killings were done in his name and it would be no excuse of not knowing about it. It was his duty to know about it, but from his tone towards Christians, it is clear he knew about them.
Philosophy
Marcus’s spent the last twelve years of his life on a military campaign along the Danube. And during this time, he found comfort in philosophy. Late at night, after the work of a commander, he performed the duty to his soul, sitting alone in his tent and writing his most popular work, Mediations but which he called “To Myself”. He was head of no school, and did not force others to read his writes. His philosophy was not an excited scholarly inquiry, but more of religious feeling. For Marcus Aurelius philosophy was a mode of existing in the world; a way of life. Since it is curative, as it is intended to cure our suffering, philosophical theories are in the service to transform ourselves.
The Meditations reflects mood of the author, Marcus. There is a great charm in the understanding and honesty. It cannot be regarded as a lecture or confessions. Marcus is not scared to face the reality and accepts his faults. He practiced his own preaching and believed that offense should be corrected with gentleness and judgment and one must be always ready to learn the better. He was generous and showed gratitude towards those who had served him. In his First Book he writes about his people and teachers, grandfather and parents from whom he learnt to be courageous, religious, bountiful and single–minded. Although Marcus Aurelius mentally thought that his soul was fated to be engrossed, and to be unconscious, he sometimes feels that the faith is unsatisfying. He speaks of death as a necessary change, and believes that nothing useful can be brought without a change. Many of his thoughts were similar to that of St. Paul and it is strange as he rarely had a good say of the Christians. According to him they were the opposition.
Posted in: Essays and Reports
January 24th, 2009 / 4 Comments » / by nastyrunner
Wow, what an amazing weekend. Two movies back to back which were entertaining and worth each penny spent on the tickets even during ‘Crisis’. The movie based on the book Q and A, is well directed and has a strong story line. As Yes Man, there was no moment in the entire movie when you want to get up to get popcorn, pepsi or even to pee. So my advice, pee and enter the theatre or wear pampers and go, because the movie is quite long, and if you get up from your seat, you will regret it. The acting of each actor in the entire movie is amazing, and can be called perfect. The essence of the slums of India have been shown properly with emphasizing on small details. This shows the detail of study done by every member of the movie, and therefore creating a successful film which will be liked by everyone. Dont be grossed by the scenes of the slums and the dirtiness around, because that is reality, and it actually exists in India. There were two Bummers in the complete movie and therefore I have put it in the Bummers category as well.
The first one being, the name, called ‘Slumdog’. It was before independance, that Indians were treated and called as dogs, by the ‘Britishers’ because they were racists, and believed that the dark skin was equal to a dog. But in the world of today, it is wrong to call anyone a dog, no matter he or she is of any race, social class, or belongs to any community. Therefore, I believe the name should be changed. I know activists have revolted against the name, but an immediate effect should be done and the name should be changed.
The second bummer is that Dev Patel is getting the maximum credit for his role in the movie. Whereas I believe it was not Dev Patel, but the youngest Jamal in the movie whose name is Ayush Mahesh Khedekar who should be getting the maximum credit as he is so young and has acted brilliantly. Atleast 45% of the movie was covered by him, and he has acted really well. I have no idea why the critics have chosed Dev Patel as the main actor, whereas I feel, according to iBummed the main actor who has acted the best in the movie is Ayush Mahesh Khedekar and he deserves credit for his acting.
Posted in: Bummers, Movie Reviews
January 23rd, 2009 / No Comments » / by nastyrunner
After watching the movie yesterday night, all I can say is YES! lol! The movie is really amazing and is filled with fun all the time. No one could have played a better role than Jim Carrey, and his acting is really nice. It is a nice eye opener for people who are gloomy due to many reasons like break up, loss of a job, or other reasons and dont feel like doing anything. Ofcourse, people cannot say YES to everything, so dont get me wrong, but then the movie even explains the whole thing of thinking and deciding whether to say YES or NO depending on the situation. The movie is well made with perfect explanation of each scene. Well acted by all the actors, and for sure it will keep you glued to the screen all the time, and wont make you yawn even once. Tip for the people you can goto watch it – Your best friend, so that he/she can hit you in the head and remind you whenever you say a NO! Your girlfriend or wife as you will realise that many things are running in their head or vice versa. Actually, you can go to the movie with anyone, its a perfect comedy, to be watched and not to be missed. Also, if you feel like, go ahead and buy the DVD. It sure is worth it.
Posted in: Movie Reviews
January 9th, 2009 / 3 Comments » / by nastyrunner
Executive Summary
In 1971, Steve Jobs introduced the Apple Company. Since then it has become a brand to reckon with. Apple has always delivered as well as produced the best products that have made them one of the most well-known electronics companies of the world. Apple consumers are very brand loyal and tend to associate themselves with the brand. One of the most innovative and technological advanced products has been the iPod. iPod is the market leader in the product category of portable music players and has created a niche for itself. The ease of use, and the stylish looks attracted people of all demographics, and there was no specific target market defined. Moreover, the teens play a major role in the growth as they gave the iPod an image of being young and trendy. This paper has conducted a behavioral analysis, which includes Role of Individual factors like perception, learning and memory, motivation and values, personality and life, attitudes, and individual decision-making. Also, Role of Group factors and finally its suggests marketing strategies to promote the brand in the light of behavioral analysis.
Posted in: Essays and Reports, Uncategorized
January 9th, 2009 / 2 Comments » / by nastyrunner
Executive Summary
Apple Inc. was started in 1971 and since then it has always been improving and has become a well known brand image. It has always been innovative, stylish, advanced, trendy, as well as simple in producing all its products. iPod is an excellent example which has simple looks but still is very stylish and a trend setter. It is the highest selling portable music player in the world with over 150 million units sold worldwide. iPod is the market leader in the product category of MP3 players and has created a niche for itself. The hype created by the teens, marketing and public relation strategies, and advertising has helped iPod gain the image and position of being ‘cool’ and the most wanted device. A small survey was conducted to analyze the views of different people and consumers on Apple Inc. and iPod in specific. This is the Marketing Audit report of the iPod which includes sections like introduction of the company, situation analysis, product lifecycle, market summary, SWOT analysis, product offering, competition, keys to success and critical issues, marketing strategies, marketing mix, and conclusion and recommendations. There are a few parts in the report which are similar to my MARK 936 report as both the companies and products are similar in both the subjects.
Posted in: Essays and Reports, Uncategorized
January 9th, 2009 / No Comments » / by nastyrunner
Executive Summary
The Dubai Government was a brick-and-mortar organization for a very long time and later in the year 2001, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai made a decision of making it into an eGovernment. It was the first eGovernment’s to be developed around the Gulf region and it took two years to develop it completely. Currently, the Dubai eGovernment provides 2300 services and 90 percent of the Government services are available online. This is a big achievement for a newly developed eGovernment website. The website provides services for everyone including the businessmen, residents, and visitors of Dubai. This development has eased everyone’s lives and also made the government services more efficient. A simple service like the Dubai Police online could have so many services at the click of a button is astonishing. The Government e-services can be classified as G2B, G2C, G2E, and G2G types of e-commerce. Lastly, the Dubai eGovernment is an excellent example for providing services through the medium of the Internet and making it easy to access. This was followed by many other governments around the region.
Posted in: Essays and Reports
January 9th, 2009 / 3 Comments » / by nastyrunner
ETISALAT
Etisalat which was the only provider in United Arab Emirates for more than twenty five years. Etisalat was established in 1976 in United Arab Emirates .etisalat is ranked by the middle east magazine as the sixth largest company in terms of capitalization. Etisalat is a potential telecommunication provider in United Arab Emirates in regard of providing basic telecommunication like telephone, TV cable, mobile services and many other services for business purposes. Etisalt is also increasing their international services .etisalat is also trying to set up their foot onto international market by establishing their stations in partner ship with other nations also.
Looking at the mobile services provided by etisalt .they provide two kinds of services prepaid and postpaid.
prepaid as the name suggest its the service where the person have to recharge their account to make outgoing calls or use services like sms mms etc.these can be done by buying a card whish is very easily available in supermarkets groceries and petrol stations and many other places. these card number can be entered into the mobile after dialing 120 to recharge the account .these cards are now available in two kid of amounts as 20DH and 40DH .this prepaid service is also known as al wasel.this kind of services needs to pay annual subscription for the amount of 100 dhs.prepaid services provide the advantage of knowing the how much is being spend after every task of calling or using services like sms.mms etc.
Postpaid service is the billing like service where the person have to pay monthly. this services is mainly used by business people as they have lack of time so they don’t have to recharge the balance again and again. prepaid service is also known as GSM service post .Etisalat`s postpaid service allows flexibility of services like fax and data service without worrying the balance in the mobile account.
there are certain main difference between these two kind of services as prepaid service gets the call waiting just after one year of subscription whereas in postpaid the customer needs to particularly subscribe for call waiting .in prepaid services if taken out of united Arab emirates covers the roaming service as the prepaid service becomes roaming one without even subscribing for it, for example the person can receive incoming calls but cannot do outgoing calls when out of station on the other hand in postpaid service the person have to particularly subscribe for the roaming service by depositing 5000dh into etisalat office.
Etisalat also provides its customer roaming service in the context of GPRS as if the customer subscribes for it the customer gets to use GPRS even when out of United Arab emirates. other than these basic features etisalt also provides its customers some very exciting features with their mobile service. These are the following.
Credit transfer facility–
credit transfer facility allows people to transfer their credit from mobile to mobile for instance if the person is out of credit in prepaid mobile service,the person can transfer minimum of 5Dh from any kind mobile service provided by etisalat.this facility helps customer to easily have their prepaid account recharged for instance if the person is using prepaid service and some of his/her friend using postpaid service the person can just dial *188*mobile no*amount of credit transfer (not less than 5Dhs)#.moreover the exciting feature in credit transfer facility is that there is no service charges or subscription its free of charge which is infact good for family members and friends.
Posted in: Essays and Reports
January 9th, 2009 / No Comments » / by nastyrunner
When comparing the past with the present, there have been massive improvements in our lifestyle. This change has been brought about by the introduction of the Information Age. This era began from the late 20th century and is extremely advanced when compared to any of the previous eras. One of the main highlights of the Information Age was the transmission of data over long distances in fractions of seconds. ”Even in a society accustomed to change, the rate at which computers and communication networks have transformed our lives is breathtaking.”(Quinn 2006: 2). The advent of Information Age has increased the pace of our life and made it easy going. Technology has developed extensively that nowadays from your fridge to your car, it is present everywhere. Even though there have been difference in opinions, the exposure of Internet revolutionized the world in a relatively short time. It has broadened the thinking range and social aspect of people creating a standard to move into a better future with high level of accuracy and intelligence. There are wide varieties of reasons which have accounted for the widespread acceptance of this transformation; however a few important points are the effects of globalization, e-commerce and availability of in-depth and wide information.
Posted in: Essays and Reports
December 15th, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by nastyrunner
Shopping on the Internet has become so easy and convenient that we prefer to buy items online rather than visiting the store. There are many benefits as the price online is way cheaper than the store, the delivery is free in some cases so money for the fuel is saved and more over, traffic jams are avoided, and also, now it has become alot safer than before. There are many online stores in the US and Canada, and that is where I shop frequently even though I live in Dubai. There arent many online stores in Dubai. I prefer not to ship my items using International shipping, instead ship it to my Aramex US P.O. Box, and they ship it to me here. Their service sucks, but there are not many choices available. But then why would I still prefer to buy alot of stuff online? That is because of Amazon. The service at Amazon is amazing. I have bought mousepad, mouse, xbox 360, games, hdmi and optical cables, controllers, and alot of other stuff from there and till now they havent disappointed me.
Posted in: review
December 14th, 2008 / 1 Comment » / by nastyrunner
Hello people. Its been long since I last posted. Been a tough week or so, trying to get many things sorted in general. Today I am in a mood to have fun and write a few things (which I am not sure if everyone will find it funny!) on Dubai. It will be in a list format. Since this is an original list, if anyone is copying it or emailing it, they have to put a reference to this site. Violators will be punished! LOL!
Posted in: Uncategorized
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