Quicksilver Essay Example for Free

Quicksilver Essay Quiksilver purchased Skis Rossignol for $560 million in 2005, but is selling Rossignol in 2008 for $147 million. [1] It owned golf-equipment maker Cleveland Golf up until October 31, 2007, when it sold the company to a Japanese sporting goods company. [2] The companys DC and Hawk brands are also synonymous with the heritage and culture of surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding, and its beach- and water-oriented swimwear brands include Raisins, Radio Fiji and Leilani. The Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange, and LOOK brands are leaders in the alpine ski market, and the Company makes snowboarding equipment under its Rossignol, Dynastar, DC, Roxy, Lib Technologies, Gnu and Bent Metal labels. Quiksilver also carries a line of high-end apparel and accessories under its QuiksilverEdition brand. In the fall of 2008, Quiksilver will introduce its newest brand, Quiksilver Womens, aimed at the 18 to 24-year-old demographic. Quiksilver also supports the worldwide boardriding community through its self-titled foundation launched in 2005. The Quiksilver Foundation works to provide environmental, educational, health and youth-related projects to worthy boardriding communities around the globe. Quiksilver Travel also offers snow and surf travel packages to exotic locations such as Samoa, Peru and Costa Rica. TypePublic (NYSE: ZQK) FoundedAustralia (1970) HeadquartersHuntington Beach, CA, USA Key peopleRobert B. McKnight, CEO Chairman of the Board ProductsApparel, sporting goods Revenue^ $2. 362 billion USD (2006) Net income^ $107. 12 million USD (2006) Employees7,875 Quiksilver Today Quiksilver operates over 600[3] stand-alone stores in major cities across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. There are two types of Quiksilver operated stores which are known as either Boardriders Club or Factory stores. Their products are also sold in many other outlets across the world such as the Fells Point Surf Company or the Ron Jon Surf Shop. In addition, the company operates a number of separate Roxy and Quiksilver Youth stores. As of 2008, Quiksilver sponsors around 500 amateur and professional surfers, snowboarders, skiers, and skateboarders. Among them are surfer Kelly Slater and skateboarder Tony Hawk. They also have the naming rights to the Quiksilver Pro surfing tournament for men and Roxy Pro tournament for women in Gold Coast (Australia) and France. [edit]Quiksilver Womens After four decades marketing primarily towards males, Quiksilver developed a line of clothes for women. The collection includes a full range of knits, wovens, dresses, denim, essentials and organic cotton tees. iteLA As part of the introduction of its new collection for women, Quiksilver selected six women to be Visionaries in Residence at Quiksilver’s siteLA, a communal work and exhibition space in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The residency program is a year-long engagement for women working in and across creative cultural fields. Although they have been selected for their independent projects, t hey share a communal workspace and together create public programs and host special events at siteLA.

The Subject of Love in Hawthornes Rappaccinis Daughter :: Rappaccinis Daughter Essays

The Subject of Love in Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter Many spend their entire life looking for true love. It is that one love between a man and a woman that spurred spin-off stories of every kind for us to watch on TV or to read in books. Rappaccini's Daughter is a perfect example of this age old search for an inner peace, believed only to be found in a relationship with that "perfect" person. Giovanni sought this peace and believed he had found the one for him. Unfortunately, Giovanni was only led into disappointment after overcoming the obstacles that were in his was and then losing her after the fact. All of this leaves a question to be abswered; is it better to have love and lost than to have never loved at all? Giovanni felt a need to seek love in his life, only to find a young lady that inded caused him to seek her out. This young lady was of course Dr. Rappaccini's daughter, Beatrice, whom Giovanni first saw in the garden below from his window. This was only the beginning of the always painstakingly brutal process that two people encounter as they start on their journey toward the actual "in love" stage. Fortunatley for Giovanni, Beatrice did take a special interest in him. Beatrice came from a rather background. Her father had raised her as one of his many experiments. The downfall to this was the fact that she was a walking, talking poisonous flower created by Rappaccini, just like his other poisonous plants. Giovanni did not know this however. It was without this knowledge that he pursued her and they became well acquainted to each other. It would not be until later that Giovanni would find out this truth that few knew about. Giovanni was overwhelmed with this relationship that he had acquired with Beatrice. Their lives had almost come to the point of living and "breathing" each other. This is actually one of the first clues to Beatrice's lifelong handicap. It is her breath Giovanni notices that has such a sweet aroma to it, just as sweet as that of the aroma released from one of her father's plants. Giovanni had also noticed, the first day he peered into the garden, that Beatrice had touched and sniffed of all the plants which her father was so careful not to get close to or touch.

Philosophy and Empire in Ancient China

The late Zhou period of, also known as the Age of a Hundred Schools of thought, was a turbulent era in Chinese history. Although these schools all contended against each other, they had the same basic goal. To unify China. The three most influential schools of thought that existed were Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Although ultimately it was legalist principles and methods that ended the Period of the Warring states, through the eyes of the Confucian thinkers, Qin Shihuandi's legalist policies may have been a harsh and overtly utilitarian way of unifying China. Confucianism is a school of thought that developed from one mans want for a more â€Å"moral way † of ruling. Kong Qiu, as he was named before history posthumously named him Kong Fuzi which was later â€Å"Latinized into Confucius, was born into an â€Å"aristocratic but impoverished family â€Å". His experience with rituals of his native state of Lu in Northwestern China, led him to embark upon a â€Å"14 year period of wandering with his students â€Å". Confucius traveled to various small courts attempted to convince their leaders to adopt his philosophies of life and government. He hoped his ideas would return China to a â€Å"state of harmony and justice â€Å". Confucius later returned to his home and remained teaching, believing himself a failure, until his death in 479. In actuality he was far from a failure. His ideas spread throughout the kingdom and played a profound role in shaping Chinese civilization. We must remember that the School of a Hundred thoughts took place during the Period of the Warring states. This was a particularly turbulent period of history where philosophers were trying to come up with anything they could to bring peace and confident rule to China. Many thinkers, such as Confucius, looked to the past to provide examples of for improvement. The past, especially the Zhou dynasty, was largely mythicized and believed to be a â€Å"Golden age of harmony and prosperity â€Å". Confucius believed the Sage kings had it essentially right. A ruler should be like a father figure to his people and lead by example, not by fear. Confucius also drew upon other age-old Chinese virtues such as filial piety or xiao, a moral humanity or ren, and ritual courtesy or li. Confucian thought emphasizes the principle that humans are generally moral creatures and are â€Å"by fact, obliged to comport themselves humanely and with integrity. While Confucianism preached preached a â€Å"doctrine of benevolent reform † based on the virtues of the past, Legalism contrarily emphasized a strict utilitarian regime. Leaders in legalist thought, realized that with the extreme disorder of their present day, new and drastic measures were necessary. For a governing body to succeed, it would depend on a effective system of rewards and punishments. To ensure his power, the ruler had to keep his officials in line with strict rules and regulations and his people obedient with predictably enforced laws. Shang Yang, Han Feizi gathered that the base of a state's strength was its armed forces and its agriculture. They then tried to dissuade people from being merchants, scholars, philosophers, or artists because these careers did not â€Å"advance the interests of the state â€Å". Legalist's imposed a strict regime with clearly and strictly defined laws and expectations. Failure to comply even to the most negligible of laws resulted in severe punishment. Legalist thought was that this fear of their leaders would inspire compliance with the laws that govern the state as a whole. Although the harsh ideals of the legalist school of thought may have later been smoothed out by adopting certain Confucian ideas, they originated as vastly different systems. We can see the legalist polices that Sima Quian recorded in his expansive history of China as they were enforced by Qin Shihuandi. Confucians such as Mencius would have likely disagreed with this style of rule. There are many discrepancies we can see when comparing Sima Quian's writings and the Analects recorded by students of Confucius. Qin Shihuangdi had a tower built on Mount Langya with clear inscriptions for his people to live by. One inscription reads † Great are the Emperor's achievements, men attend diligently to basic tasks, farming is encouraged, secondary pursuits discouraged. It is made clear that the â€Å"great emperor † wants to suppress his peoples desires to pursue anything but â€Å"basic tasks † that serve the greater good. This would sound preposterous for a Confucian thinker. How can the people build a better society if they are dissuaded from education? They may be forced to build walls or fight wars for the Emperor. Confucians did not believe in â€Å"governing with decrees and regulating with punishments â€Å". They believed that the â€Å"people will evade † their forced work and will have â€Å"no sense of shame â€Å". They believed the better way to govern would be to lead by virtue and example. Whereas Qin Shihuangdi may promote a crooked aristocrat to oversee the building of walls, a Confucian would promote an â€Å"upright â€Å"citizen who was knowledgeable and educated. While the crooked man may punish insubordination with violence to scare others into working, the straight man would â€Å"preside over them with dignity, [and his people] will be reverent; if [he] is filial and loving. His subordinates would want to work for a man who believes in them and they would encourage each to work harder through their respect for one another. â€Å"As for sageness and humanity, how dare i claim them? But to learn it insatiably and instruct others indefatigably-that much may be said of me, that is all†,† humbly stated master Confucius. Humility also must have had a different meaning for Qin Shihuangdi as he was quoted â€Å"in his sagacity, benevolence and justice to have said: â€Å"I humbly propose that all records but those of Qin be burned. If anyone who is not a court scholar dares to keep the ancient songs, historical records or writings or writings of the hundred schools, these should be confiscated and burned†¦ Those who in conversation dare to quote the old songs and records, should be publicly executed, those who use old precedents to oppose the new order should have their families wiped out. This is a stark contrast to the Confucian beliefs that were composed of many older ideals. Confucians studied ancient texts such as the Book of Documents, and the Book of Songs. The ideals they upheld emphasized the importance of education which came in part from these ancient texts. How was a man to educate himself and raise his family out of poverty without an education. As Confucius says â€Å"If he learns, he will not be benighted â€Å", or ignorant of the rituals that make a virtuousin shi. In a legalist China, where â€Å"no evil or impropriety is allowed† and where â€Å"kinsman care for each other â€Å", people who were often held to the principle of collective responsibility. All family members were expected to observe others closely, â€Å"forestall any illegal activity† and report it. Even if it was against their own family or community members. If there were such people who knew â€Å"of such cases but [failed] to report them, [they] should be punished in the same way. This also is a far cry from the benevolent practice of xiao. In fact, it is fundamentally opposite of the superior teachings of Confucius. Whereas legalist theory believes that children who rebel against their wrongdoing parents will grow to be upstanding citizens, Master You states that â€Å"those who are not apt to defy their superiors, but are apt to stir up a rebellion simply do not exist. † Although this is only a theory, I would say that it should hold more water than Qin Shihuangdi's. If the state practices â€Å"filial piety and brotherly obedience†¦ [being] the roots of humanity†¦ and the government conducts itself â€Å"with [a] virtue likened to the North Star † one could surmise that it would be a fairly pleasant society to live in. Also inscribed upon Qin Shihuangdi's stele was the phrase, â€Å"The common people know peace and have laid aside weapons and armor; kinsmen care for each other, there are no robbers and thieves: men delight in his rule. † A Confucian might believe this to be quite an exaggeration for to them there were no â€Å"common † people. Only people who should be treated how you yourself would like to be treated. In a society of people who are more encouraged to cultivate their own knowledge, and attainment of skilled judgement there would be less of a need for strict rules and guidelines as the people should conduct themselves according to the virtues and morals they have attained through education. The utilitarian procedures of legalism were largely responsible for the general lack of education among the common people of China. As a opinionated Confucian scholar under the reign of Qin Shihuangdi, I would be one of the people getting together to â€Å"slander the laws † and practices set in place by my legalist ruler. While might be able to agree that a legalist doctrine was responsible for building a unified state with a large-scale political organization that established a tradition of centralized imperial rule, i could speculate that China may have been a very different place had more Confucian values been implemented. As evidenced by the rule of Shang Yang, legalist politics were successful simply through the fear they instilled in the common people. While road work and agriculture was flourishing throughout the dynasty, so was unrest. Shang Yang was quickly executed upon the death of his patron, his body mutilated and his family annihilated. In the case of Qin Shihaungdi, there were many who welcomed the stability his reign brought, yet still many outspoken scholars, philosophers and others who criticized his regime. As the First Emperor didn't want his people to be confused with the old teachings of scholars, he demanded that the books be burned and had hundreds of scholars executed. We may never know what China would be like had more of the Confucian teachings survived but i believe that their history might be a little bit less bloody.

A Peek at the Physics Behind Multiple Universes

The sciences of physics and astrophysics explore a great many interesting ideas about the universe. One of the most intriguing is the concept of multiple universes. Its also referred to as parallel universe theory. This is the idea that our universe is not the only one in existence. Most people have heard of the possibility of more than one universe from science fiction stories and movies. Far from being an imaginary idea, multiple universes can exist, according to modern physics. However, its one thing to devise a theory about their existence, but quite another to actually detect them. This is something that modern physics is wrestling with, using observations of distant light signals from the Big Bang as data.   What Are Multiple Universes? Just as our universe, with all its stars, galaxies, planets, and other structures exists and can be studied, physicists suspect that other universes filled with matter and space exist in parallel with ours. They may or may not be exactly like ours. Chances are that theyre not. They might have different laws of physics than we do, for example. They dont necessarily intersect with ours, but they may collide with it. Some theorists go so far as to explain that each person has a twin or mirror in the other universes. This is one interpretation of the multiple-universe theory called the many-worlds approach. It says that there are many universes out there. Star Trek fans, for example, will recognize this from such episodes as Mirror Mirror in the original series, Parallels in Next Generation, and others. Theres another interpretation of multiple universes that gets quite complex and is an outgrowth of quantum physics, which is the physics of the very small. It deals with interactions at the level of atoms and subatomic particles (which make up atoms). Basically, quantum physics says that small interactions — called quantum interactions — happen. When they do, they have far-reaching consequences and set up endless possibilities with endless outcomings from those interactions. As an example, imagine that in our universe a person takes a wrong turn on the way to a meeting. They miss the meeting and lose a chance to work on a new project. If they hadnt missed the turn, they would have gone to the meeting and gotten the project. Or, they missed the turn, and the meeting, but met someone else who offered them a better project. there are endless possibilities, and each one (if it happens) spurs endless consequences. In parallel universes, ALL of those actions and reactions and consequences take place, one to each universe.   This implies that there are parallel universes where all possible outcomes are happening simultaneously. Yet, we only observe the action in our own universe. All the other actions, we dont observe, but they are happening in parallel, elsewhere. We dont observe them, but they happen, at least theoretically. Can Multiple Universes Exist? The argument in favor of multiple universes involves many interesting thought experiments. One delves into cosmology (which is the study of the origin and evolution of the universe) and something called the fine-tuning problem.  This says that as we grow to understand the way our universe is constructed, our existence in it grows more precarious. As physicists have examined the way the universe has changed over time since the Big  Bang, they suspect that had the early conditions of the universe been just a bit different, our universe could have evolved to be inhospitable to life. In fact, if a universe spontaneously came into existence, physicists would expect it to spontaneously collapse or possibly to expand so rapidly that particles never really interact with each other. British physicist, Sir Martin Reese wrote extensively about this idea in his classic book Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe. Multiple Universes and a Creator Using this idea of finely-tuned properties in the universe, some argue for the need of a creator. Tgbe existence of such a being (for which there is no proof), doesnt explain properties of the universe. Physicists would like to understand those properties without invoking a deity of any kind. The easiest solution would just be to say, Well, thats how it is. However, thats not really an explanation. It just represents a remarkable lucky break that a single universe would come into being and that universe would just happen to have the very precise properties needed to develop life. Most physical properties would result in a universe that collapses into nothingness instantly. Or, it continues to exist and expands into a vast sea of nothingness. It isnt just a matter of trying to explain human beings as we happen to exist, but of explaining the very existence of any sort of universe. Another idea, which fits well with quantum physics, says that there is, indeed, a vast number of universes, which with different properties. Within that  multiverse of universes, some subset of them (including our own) would contain properties that allow them to exist for relatively long periods of time. That means a subset (including our own universe) would have the properties that allow them to form complex chemicals and, ultimately, life. Others would not. And, that would be okay, since quantum physics tells us that all possibilities can exist.   String Theory and Multiple Universes String theory  (which states that all the different fundamental particles of matter are manifestations of a basic object called a string) has recently begun to support this idea. This is because there is a vast number of possible solutions to string theory. In other words, if string theory is correct then there are still many different ways to construct the universe. String theory presents the idea of extra dimensions at the same that it includes a structure to think about where these other universes could be located. Our universe, which includes four dimensions of spacetime, seems to exist in a universe that may contain as many as 11 total dimensions. That multi-dimensional region is often called the bulk by string theorists. Theres no reason to think that the bulk couldnt contain other universes in addition to our own. So, it is sort of a universe of universes.    Detection is a Problem The question of a multiverses existence is secondary to being able to detect other universes. So far no one has found solid evidence for another universe. That doesnt mean they arent out there. The evidence may be something we havent yet recognized. Or our detectors arent sensitive enough. Eventually, physicists will find a way using solid data to find parallel universes and measure at least some of their properties. That could be a long way away, however.   Edited and updated by Carolyn Collins Petersen.