Discuss the themes of Virtu and Fortuna in The Prince. Essay

Discuss the themes of Virtu and Fortuna in The Prince. Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on the 3rd May 1469. In 1498, Florence became a republic and Machiavelli gained a position within the Florentine government. After this he was soon confirmed by the great council as the second chancellor of the republic, making him the head of internal affairs. Less than a month later he was elected as secretary to the ten of war, which focussed on foreign and defensive affairs. In November 1498 Machiavelli was sent on his first diplomatic mission and over the years he continued with many more. On his first mission to France to see King Louis XII, which lasted six months, Machiavelli was able to observe the effects of†¦show more content†¦Machiavelli then retires to a small farm a few miles outside of Florence and begins writing The Prince. Machiavelli wanted the prince to act as a guide to show how to create a principality and hold onto it because he had remembered how the French were succeeding as they were one principality under one prince and Machiavelli wanted this for Italy. Machiavelli also wrote the book to again try and ingratiate himself with the Medici family by making the preface a flattering letter to Lorenzo Medici. The book firstly starts by dividing all governments into two different types, republics- those which are ruled by many, and principalities – those which are ruled by a prince or a single ruler. Machiavelli then quickly dismisses republican governments and goes onto divide Principalities into two types, ones which have been ruled by the same family for centuries (the old prince) and ones, which have been newly conquered (the new prince). Again, Machiavelli tends to dismiss the old prince believing him to be of not much use and will have not much success where as he talks greatly of the new prince and how he can and will acquire and maintain the greatest amount of power. Throughout Machiavelli’s book he regards the association between luck and skill in the gaining and keeping of the power the prince has received. He presents two key terms: Fortuna, meaning by luck or chance and virtu, meaning the person’s skill and ability etc. MachiavelliShow MoreRelatedMachiavelli, Hobbes, And Locke1791 Words   |  8 Pagesbe. There are many topics both modern and ancient thinkers discuss in their writings, such as the purpose of politics, the science of politics, human nature, as well as the ideal regime. By doing so, these thinkers’ views on political topics such as these illuminate how they thought politics should work and who should be able to participate in the activity of politics. Purpose of Politics To begin with, an important theme to discuss is what the modern thinkers believe is the purpose of politics

Teddy Roosevelt Simplifies Spelling

In 1906, U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt tried to get the government to simplify the spelling of 300 common English words. However, this didnt go over well with Congress or the public. Simplified Spelling Was Andrew Carnegies Idea In 1906, Andrew Carnegie was convinced that English could be a universal language used around the world  if only English was easier to read and to write. In an attempt to tackle this problem, Carnegie decided to fund a group of intellectuals to discuss this issue. The result was the Simplified Spelling Board. The Simplified Spelling Board The Simplified Spelling Board was founded on March 11, 1906, in New York. Included among the Boards original 26 members were such notables as author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), library organizer Melvil Dewey, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Brewer, publisher Henry Holt, and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage. Brander Matthews, professor of dramatic literature at Columbia University, was made ​the chairman of the Board. Complicated English Words The Board examined the history of the English language and found that written English had changed over the centuries, sometimes for the better but also sometimes for the worse. The Board wanted to make written English phonetic again, as it was long ago, before silent letters such as e (as in axe), h (as in ghost), w (as in answer), and b (as in debt) crept in. However, silent letters were not the only aspect of spelling that bothered these gentlemen. There were other commonly used words that were just more complex than they needed to be. For instance, the word bureau could much more easily be spelled if it was written as buro. The word enough would be spelled more phonetically as enuf, just as though could be simplified to tho. And, of course, why have a ph combination in phantasy when it could much more easily be spelled fantasy. Lastly, the Board recognized that there were a number of words for which there already were several options for spelling, usually one simple and the other complicated. Many of these examples are currently known as differences between American and British English, including honor instead of honour, center instead of centre, and plow instead of plough. Additional words also had multiple choices for spelling such as rime rather than rhyme and blest rather than blessed. The Plan So as not to overwhelm the country with an entirely new way of spelling at once, the Board recognized that some of these changes should be made over time. To focus their push for adaptation of new spelling rules, the Board created a list of 300 words whose spelling could be changed immediately. The idea of simplified spelling caught on quickly, with even some schools beginning to implement the 300-word list within months of it being created. As the excitement grew around simplified spelling, one particular  person ​became a huge fan of the concept — President Teddy Roosevelt. President Teddy Roosevelt Loves the Idea Unbeknownst to the Simplified Spelling Board, President Theodore Roosevelt sent a letter to the United States Government Printing Office on August 27, 1906. In this letter, Roosevelt ordered the Government Printing Office to use the new spellings of the 300 words detailed in the Simplified Spelling Boards circular in all documents emanating from the executive department. President Roosevelts public acceptance of simplified spelling caused a wave of reaction. Although there was public support in a few quarters, most of it was negative. Many newspapers began to ridicule the movement and lambasted the president in political cartoons. Congress was especially offended at the change, most likely because they had not been consulted. On December 13, 1906, the House of Representatives passed a resolution stating that it would use the spelling found in most dictionaries and not the new, simplified spelling in all official documents. With public sentiment against him, Roosevelt decided to rescind his order to the Government Printing Office. The efforts of the Simplified Spelling Board continued for several more years, but the popularity of the idea had waned after Roosevelts failed attempt at government support. However, when browsing the list of 300 words, one cannot help but notice how many of the new spellings are in current use today.

Who Is Cardiovascular System For Steady State Exercise (...

he cardiovascular system responses to steady state exercise (P4 and M2) -Heart rate is the number of times a person s heart beats per minute. When you are preforming a type of exercise that will increase your heart rate, then your heart will pump blood all around your body faster and especially to muscles that are working the most because they require the most oxygen because of the intensity they are working at. It is vital to take your resting heart rate and the normal heart rate is 60-100bpm. For example, our cardiovascular exercise was cycling on a stationary bike for 20 minutes at a reasonable pace and this will depend on whether your heart rate will increase at a slow, fast or steady rate. However, the first 5 minutes we cycled at a very fast pace in order for your heart to pump more blood all around the body and to the required muscles in order for them to work harder. But the response is that the heart rate levels off, which means that it becomes steady so that after beginning the exercise and you’re like 5 minutes into it then your heart r ate will stay the same or increase by little bits unless you change the intensity all the time which is not required when doing cardiovascular exercises. -Stroke volume is the amount of blood pumped by the left ventricle and this is measured in mL/beats. The average resting stroke volume is 70 mL/beat and this is best measured when you wake up because you are at you’re at full rest meaning you have done nothing to increase your

Applied Corporate Finance Concerns

Question: Discuss about the Applied Corporate Finance Concerns. Answer: Introduction: The overall study mainly states the concerns of a shareholder regarding stock offering of Facebook and the overall growth which could be attained by the company. In addition, the study also delivers the relative concern regarding the projected growth, which is been mentioned in the IPO of Facebook and its ability to achieve targeted gaols. The overall functioning of Facebook and management decisions method are also a serious concern for the shareholders. The concerns of shareholders is mainly regarding the growing competition in the social media platforms, which limits the possibility of Facebook to grow its revenue in time. Lastly, the overall revenue of Facebook is also evaluated to understand the future growth and current valuation of the company. There are relatively different types of concerns regarding the stock offering of Facebook and its future growth in the stock market. These concerns mainly reflect the doubt, which shareholders have on the overall growth of Facebook. Some of the researchers mentioned that the Wall Street for increasing share valuation of company mainly needs the continuous increment in revenue growth. On the other hand, other researchers argued that IPOs after the financial crises has low responses from shareholders due to the rising concern regarding risk from investment. The concerns of shareholder are depicted as follows. Controlling power in Facebook: Facebook has a distinct shareholder pattern, where voting share are different from normal shares. This distinct shareholder pattern mainly comprises of Class A and Class B shares, where mainly Class B shareholders are allowed for making major decisions in the company. This distinguished shareholder selection pattern is the main concern for the company. In the Class B shareholder pattern, Mark Zuckerberg mainly holds around 55.8% of the stock, which allow Mark Zuckerberg to make all the relevant decisions. Some researchers mentioned that the controlling power of Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook mainly hinders likeness of shareholders in making adequate decision for continuous growth. The overall strategic decisions in Facebook are mainly conducted by Mark Zuckerberg, which increases concern of shareholders regarding managerial activities. Mark Zuckerberg solely takes the decisions and any mistake conducted by him could result in massive losses and hinder investment capital of the sharehold ers. The overall organisational structure is too centralised, where decisions taken by Mark Zuckerberg needs to be followed by all the shareholders and managers. The initial public offering is mainly conducted on Class A, where 180,000,000 shares is been provided at the rate of $34 to $38 per share. The main concerns of shareholder is that no share is been conducted on Class B, which controls decision of the company. This mainly makes the shareholders nervous regarding the initial decision, which are been conducted to increase growth and revenue of the company. Other researchers argued that shareholders mainly reduce their exposure in the company where they are not able to make adequate decision regarding future growth of the company. Intrinsic valuation of Facebook: The second major concern for the shareholders is the valuation of the intrinsic value which is been derived for the company. This intrinsic valuation is mainly conducted from DCF valuation, which was prepared by Professor Aswath Damodaran. After evaluating the intrinsic valuation and n DCF valuation over share price of the company is mainly estimated at $32.44, which is will under the quoted price. This mainly confirms that overall valuation of the company is adequate and it might effectively help in generating revenue for shareholders. However, the main concern regarding DCF valuation is that it cannot be conducted in fast growing company, where actual values are tied up in intangibles and patens. This is the main reason behind overall valuation of initial IPOs, as it started with $20 and ended in the range of $34 to $38. This overall initial IPO range is .well above intrinsic value, which makes share of Facebook less attractive. Thus, the shareholder is also concerned about valuati on of the intrinsic value, which might reduce the overall likeness for the company. Some researcher stated that wrong valuation and estimation could mainly nullify the valuation of DCF and increase risk of investment. Furthermore, all the major companies like LinkedIn, Myspace, Groupon, Zynga, etc current share price is lower than IPO. Only shares of LinkedIn are higher than its IPOs. This mainly increases the concern of shareholders regarding their investment during the IPO of Facebook and the future growth of the share price. Thus, the overall valuation and increasing demand of Facebook share has mainly raised the initial price of IPO. This increasing demand has mainly pushed the overall IPO price to $34, which is relatively higher than the intrinsic value of $32.44. In addition, the rising demand for Facebook shares does not only increase risk from investment but also increases concern for future growth of the company. Therefore, concerns regarding IPO of Facebook are genuine and investors should be careful regarding valuation of the company. Facebook has been accused of privacy violation, which has mainly reduced the trust of users among the websites. In addition, this mainly reduces the number of the users, which is been using services of Facebook. Moreover, the increasing negative expectations and rising lawsuits on Facebook mainly increase concerns of shareholders. The main income of Facebook is generated from advertisements, which only increases due to the rising accumulation of users. Any type of legal issues and lawsuits could mainly hamper the service users retention capacity of Facebook, which could hinder future revenue of the company. This mainly reduces the massive number of users, which was enjoyed by Facebook and any new lawsuit might further reduce the number of users accumulated by the company. The rising litigations against Facebook are the main concern of the shareholders, which could reduce revenue and decline the overall share value from initial IPO. Thus, the overall concern of shareholders is regardi ng the future share prices of the company, which might be influenced by the declining share price. Demonstration of low revenue growth: The overall revenue growth of Facebook has mainly declined from 2010 to 2011, where the company has mainly witnessed an increment in expenses. Moreover, the estimated revenue growth of Facebook in 2012 for advertisements mainly declined, due to increasing number of mobile users. In addition, professor Damodaran mainly stated that in 2016 Facebook overall growth might decline to 2% from 40%. This is due to the rising use of mobile Facebook usage conducted by the users. However, the mobile application of Facebook does not accommodate any advertisements, which is major source of revenue for the company. This mainly threats the long-term revenue and in turn could hinder rapid growth, which is been achieved by Facebook. This rising concern regarding the falling revenue might hinder the future growth and reduce share price of the company. Some researchers mainly depicts that valuation of Facebook could increase in future if the company includes advertisements in mobile application. This mi ght increase revenue of the company and in turn help in generating higher profits. The last concerns of shareholders are regarding the performance of different IPOs, which has been conducted after the economic crisis. The IPOs in US are mainly devalued after the initial public offerings and reduce investment capital of the investors. This concern is viable, as shareholders mainly need a confirmation, which does not reduce share price of Facebook from the initial IPO offerings. However, past share price performance of different companies mainly depicts the higher risk, which is faced by shareholders after IPOs. Some of the researcher mainly stated that companies like LinkedIn, Myspace, Groupon, and Zynga IPOs mainly decline in value after one year, which mainly increases concerns regarding IPO of Facebook. Some of the researcher mainly depict that value of shares decline after the initial IPOs commencements and needs adequate valuation of the company. Conclusion: The overall assignment mainly depicts the relevant valuation of Facebook and relative concerns regarding IPO initiation of the company. In addition, there are relatively factors, such as inappropriate valuation of DCF, past performance of same companies after initiation of IPOs. Moreover, mobile MAUs are mainly increasing from 2009 o 21012, which indicates that users mainly prefer Facebook mobile platform. Thus, any further decline in overall revenue from advertisement due to rising mobile users could mainly reduce share price of Facebook from its initial IPO price. The innovation of technology is mainly essential for Facebook, which could help in continued growth of the company. These depicted reasons are the main concerns of shareholders regarding the IPO initiation of Facebook.