Evaluating the Historical Capital Budgeting Method Essay Example for Free

Evaluating the Historical Capital Budgeting Method Essay Currently AES employs Project Finance Framework. Project finance tends to be used in projects with tangible assets with predictable cash flows in which construction and operating targets can be easily established through explicit contract. The key to AES projects financing lies with the precise forecasting of cash flows. In effect, the possibility of estimating cash flows with an acceptable level of uncertainty allows for allocation of risks among various interested parties. The ensuing certainty in cash flows allows for high level of leverage and enables project assets to be separated from the parent company. Let us now take a closer look at the pros and cons of the Capital Budgeting System currently in place. Principal Advantages Non-Recourse The separation of the parent company is structured through the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). This SPV is the formal borrower under all loan documents so that in event of default or bankruptcy AES is not directly responsible before financial creditors. Instead, their legal claims are against the SPV assets. Maximize Leverage Currently AES seeks to finance the cost of development and construction of the project on highly leveraged basis. High leveraged in non-recourse project financing permits AES to put less in capital to put at risk permits AES to finance the project without diluting its equity investment in the project. Off-Balance Sheet Treatment AES may not be required to report any of the project debt on its balance sheet because such debt is non-recourse. Off balance sheet treatment can have the added practical benefit of helping the AES comply with covenants and restriction relating to borrowing funds contained in loan agreements to which AES is also a party. Agency Cost The agency costs of free cash flow are reduced. Management incentives are to project performance. Most importantly close monitoring by investors is facilitated. Multilateral Financial Institutions One of the four constituents that have contractual arrangement with the SPV in a typical project are the banks (an integral part group of financiers that include share holders, insurers, equipment manufacturers, export credit agencies and funds). Among these banks there are multilateral financial institutions (like IFC, CAF and etc). Presence of these institutions as financiers helps in raising capital from these institutes at lower cost and secondly it is also read as a positive sign by commercial banks. Drawbacks Projects V/S Division The company is not only expanding its geographical boundaries, but it is also diversifying its business through backward and forward integration. The current financial model does not provide the AES with the big picture, which now constitutes more number of variables that are being influenced by multiple factors due to the increase in depth and breadth of the organization. Complexity Financing of projects requires involvement of a number of parties. They can be quite complex and can be expensive to arrange. Secondly it demands greater amount of management time. Macroeconomic Risk The current methodology employed by AES for capital budgeting does not take into account the exchange rate risk. This risk will be of higher magnitude in the developing countries because of their unstable monetary and fiscal policies[2]. As we have seen that fluctuation in exchange rate has greatly hurt the AES business and they were unable to mitigate this risk as they haven’t anticipated it. This risk becomes important when the exchange rate fluctuation affects balance sheet items unequally. Thus keeping check on the foreign exchange rate requires timely adjustment of both the items of revenue and expenditure, and those of assets and liabilities in different currencies. Political Risk: This is another important factor which the current financial management system does not take into account. This will be of significant importance when it comes to investing in developing countries where frequent changes in government policies occur. Does this system make sense? The financial strategy employed by AES was historically based on project finance. This approach solely took into account those factors that minimized AES exposure to the project and achieved the most beneficial regulatory treatment thus ensuring availability of financial resources to complete the project. The model worked well for the domestic market as well as for the international operations, provided the opportunities undertook by AES were either in the sector of building and running a power plant or simply buying an existing facility and upgrading it and then operating. The underlying assumption over here was that the symmetrical and asymmetrical risks faced by the project were more or less same irrespective of its geographical location (Refer to Exhibit 3). However when AES started diversifying the breadth of its operations by incorporating other offshoots of energy related business and transforming from a cogeneration to a more utility organization with majority of expansion occurring in developing economies. This diversification of business increased the symmetrical risks like business risk, a classic example of which we see in Brazil where AES experience shortfall in demand /sales volume due to Energy Conservation Policy of Brazilian government and this had a chain effect on debt servicing capacity of the SPV as well the stock price of the parent company. Other factor that current model was not able to include was the risk of devaluation of currency in developing economies which resulted in significant losses due to the inability of the company to survive its international debt obligations. Expansion in developing economies also exposed the business to political risk where the policies change erratically with changes in government. Hence we see that the geographical diversification of business causes asymmetrical risk to increase causing bimodal behavior in the result. Project financing becomes less recommendable as a symmetrical risk becomes more manifest. This constitutes a problem for emerging countries where these risks tends to be at the forefront. Lal Pir Project Valuation Scenario 1: Pakistan In order to calculate the value of project for the Lal Pir project in Pakistan, we first need to calculate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) using the new proposed methodology. For this we have followed the approach given in exhibit 8 of the case. The first step is to calculate the value of levered ? using the formula and information given in the case[3]. The value of the levered ? comes out to be 0. 3852 or 38. 52%, which essentially means that our project is not very highly correlated to the market return. Using this value of ? we now calculate the cost of Equity (refer Exhibit 4A). We have used the return on U. S. Treasury Bond (i. e. 4. 5%) as the risk free return in calculating the cost of equity. The cost of equity comes out to be 0. 072 and similarly, using the risk free return and the default spread (given in exhibit 7a of case) we calculate the cost of debt which comes out to be 0. 0807. It is important to note that the cost of debt and the cost of equity also need to be adjusted for the sovereign spread (0. 0990 for Pakistan). Once we have the adjusted costs of equity and capital we can now calculate the WACC for the project using the formula given in case where we essentially multiply equity and debt ratio with the adjusted costs of equity and debt respectively[4]. The WACC in this scenario comes out to be 0. 1595 or 15. 95%. However, now we need to adjust this WACC for the risks associated with doing the project in Pakistan and we do this by using Table A given in the case. We know that the total Risk Score for Pakistan is 1. 425 and since there is a linear relationship between business specific risk scores and cost of capital[5] we need to adjust our WACC by 7. 125% thus making our final WACC 23. 075%, using which we calculate our NPV (refer to Exhibit 6) from the year 2004 to 2023, and it comes out to be negative $234. 34 million. Scenario 2: USA For USA similar calculations are made to calculate the WACC (Exhibit 4B). However there are two things that are different. First we see the sovereign spread is equal to zero. Secondly, in this case we would need to calculate the business risk using the information given in exhibit 7a of the case (refer to Exhibit 5). This score comes out to be 0. 64 and using this score, our business risk comes out to be 3. 23% and adding it to our calculated value of WACC, we get our final WACC of 9. 64%. Using this we calculate our NPV for USA which comes out to be negative $ 35. 92 million (refer to Exhibit 7). Adjusted Cost of Capital and Probabilities of Real Events in Pakistan In calculating the adjusted cost of capital for Pakistan the WACC is adjusted for six common types of risks: Operational, Counterparty, Regulatory, Construction, Commodity, Currency and Legal. We can clearly see from table A given in the case that besides construction there is a probability of all these risks actually effecting the project in Pakistan. In these, the highest probability is that of currency risk and the legal risk. The adjusted cost that we have calculated is adjusted by the total risk score for Pakistan. There is a linear relationship between the total risk score and adjustment to the cost of capital, i. e. a score of 1 leads to an adjustment of 500 basis points in the WACC. When we calculate the WACC for Pakistan through traditional formula it comes out to be 15. 95%, however in order to incorporate the risk factor associated with Pakistan we need to adjust it for the Total Risk Score, which in this case is 1. 425. So we simply multiply this by 500 and we find out that we need to adjust our WACC 23. 075%. Since this 23. 075% is adjusted using the total risk score we can safely assume that it incorporates for the probability of the afro-mentioned six types of risks in WACC with respect to Pakistan. Discount Rate Adjustment: USA v/s Pakistan As mentioned earlier the discount rate is adjusted based on the total risk score of the country. This total risk score is compiled from 6 main types of risks, the probability of which varies from country to country. If we simply compare the risk scores for USA and Pakistan[6], we can see that there is a major difference between the risk profiles of both the countries. For instance, while currency, regulatory and legal risks are significantly high in Pakistan, they do not exist in the USA at all. Also we see that operational, counterparty and commodity risks are higher in USA as compared to Pakistan. Similarly when the respective WACCs of the two countries are adjusted for their risk we see that the adjusted WACC for Pakistan (23. 075%) is much higher as opposed to that of USA (9. 64%), which essentially implies that Pakistan is inherently a riskier country to invest in as opposed to the USA and any investments made in this region would have to cross a higher hurdle rate than if they were made in the US region.

Non Print Media On Education Education Essay

Non Print Media On Education Education Essay The positive impact of non-print media on education is increasingly important among students who are struggling to learn English in school settings. As Aufderheide (1993) claims, media influences peoples understanding of social reality. In particular, non-print media has a close relationship with contemporary technology which students have access to in their daily life. The value, belief and understanding of the world views may be constructed from non-print media. For example, the first point is that their participation in online chat provides a precious opportunity to communicate with people in the whole world so as to improve their language expression and construct the world views. Secondly, commenting on fan fiction processing and evaluating online information are beneficial for students to share opinions and develop critical thinking. Thirdly, playing video games, in some ways, develops students narrative thoughts, which is helpful for improving their written compositions. Theref ore, we need to recognize the genuine pleasures and benefits students receive from non-print media. Compared with the previous blog 3, I place an emphasis on the teachers input this time. The teacher will teach students language structures which will be used in photo captions and utilize non-print media such as movie segments and photos to guide students. When students understand what they need to do in the final presentation, they will pay more attention to non-print media effectively in the preparation stages and gradually find non-print media assisting their language learning. Barthes (1968) indicates that a writerly text has various meanings, and it requires people to actively explore and appreciate it. Students are asked to make photo albums and recreate or delete one character based on the original movie they choose. In the preparation stage their abilities of innovative thinking and language proficiency are gradually developed. For example, in my activities, the teacher gives examples of how to use language structures to write photo captions. It is a helpful way to construct students basic knowledge. When students understand the instructions, they can take the initiative to discuss, search for useful information and work in cooperation with each other. Task 2 requires students to recreate or delete a character and this part is not taught in class but needs students active exploration and appreciation. In the presentation, students need to do reasonable assumptions and give detailed explanations. In my activities, formative assessment will be used to monitor students learning progress and score their final presentation because formative assessment is an effective tool to adapt the teaching to meet students need. There are some reasons why I use formative assessment. First, it helps the teacher to know what students learn at a particular period and modify the instruction accordingly. For instance, when students ask the teacher questions or present what they have done, the teacher will know current status of their language ability and give them advice. Because of effective feedback from the teacher, students may find opportunity to revise and rethink their learning. I think students need to ask themselves what I have done and what I need to improve in every step. Second, it helps students to reduce pressure. Formative assessment is an ongoing assessment and it focus on process rather than results. In every stage, students may receive the teachers feedback and other peers sugges tion, so they may have clear direction how to do better in the final presentation. To a certain extent, it releases students pressure. Their participation in discussion and feedback time also gives them chances to modify and replan the upcoming presentation because the role of formative assessment is to improve learning. So the purpose of using formative assessment is to help the teacher and students clearly know learning improvement in every stage. A students feedback form will be designed as one part of formative assessment because I think students self-reflective process is very important. When filling in the feedback form, they may rethink what they have done, where they should improve and what they learn from this cooperation work. Students feedback form helps the teacher to modify the instruction, and create appropriate lessons and activities next time. Teaching material and Assessment Target group: F.6 ESL students with high English proficiency Class Size: 6 groups of 4 students (24 students) Learning Objectives:  ·impart basic knowledge of language structures  ·improve communication and cooperation skills by using non-print media  ·develop critical perspectives on movie characters adaptation  ·improve their confidence in speaking English Non-print media involved:  ·Photo  ·Movies  ·Electronic Magazine  ·Facebook  ·Websites Requirements:  ·Students work in groups of 4.  ·Each group needs to make a photo album and the photos (not more than 15) need to be chosen from the movie they watch. Task: 1 Present photo captions (15 minutes each group) by using certain language structures (the teacher will give the input before the presentation). Every student need to attend the presentation. 2 Based on the original movie, recreate or delete one character and state reasons. Date Duration Input Output Sep 4th Lesson 1 40 minutes Break 15 minutes The teacher needs to 1 teach students some language structures which are used in photo captions 2 tell students what content and features should be involved in captions The students will 1 understand how to use a one-sentence or two-sentence description in a photo caption 2 know how to use a photo caption to best present the movie theme Lesson 2 40 minutes 3 show some movie segments and choose photos which best present the theme 4 give the examples by using language structures to describe photos Students preparation stage 1 Students review what they learn in class individually. 2 Students discuss which movie they want to choose and what photos best represent the theme. (Remarks: Students can share ideas after class or use online tools such as Facebook because it functions as a discussion board and photo sharing platform. 3 Students can read some electronic magazines because they include the latest news of movies and characters, a great number of photos and film reviews. 4 If necessary, students can ask the teacher questions when they meet difficulties. 5 Each group spends some time rehearsing the presentation. Date Duration Students The teacher Sep 16th Lesson 3 50 minutes Break 15 minutes Continuous 50 minutes 1 play some movie segments and briefly introduce the main theme and content 2 show photos album and use certain language structures to describe the photos 3 Illustrate the reasons why your group recreate or delete one character 4 Other groups students can ask questions if necessary 1 assess each groups presentation 2 ask questions after the presentation Feedback Form: Presentation Group ___ Group members name:___________________ Grade:________ Assessment items Needs improvement Satisfactory Good Excellent Ideas and organisaiton 1 Can use certain language structures to describe photos 2 Can link the movie theme and supporting details to photos 3 Can express reasons why recreate or delete a character 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 Language 1 Can use appropriate words and expressions 2 Can use grammar structure clearly 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 Pronunciation and delivery 1 Can pronounce words clearly and accurately 2 Can speak at a measured pace 3 Can make the voice heard satisfactorily 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 Communicative strategies 1 Can use appropriate body language (i.e. eye contact, movements, gestures) 2 Can use the available time to cover the main point 3 Can finish the presentation in the regulated time 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 Cooperation and Responses 1 Can cooperate with group members fluently 2 Can answer the teacher and other students questions immediately 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 Comment Students feedback form Non-print Media Less use Appropriate use Usually use More often Photo Movies Electronic Magazine Facebook Websites Do you think non-print media is useful in your language learning? If Yes/No, state some reasons. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What difficulties you meet when you start your group work? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In your mind, what do you need to improve in your final presentation? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What do you learn from this group work? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Do you have any suggestion for the next activity? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thomas Cook Tour Operation UK Ltd :: Business and Management Studies

Thomas Cook Tour Operation UK Ltd Introduction Thomas Cook Tour Operation UK Ltd is the third largest travel group operating in the UK travel industry, owning it’s own travel distribution channels, tour operation and airline. The company believes that they have earned their position through consumer recognition for their quality and expertise in providing package holidays. The instability of the market caused by high sensitivity to economic change and the intangible and perishable nature of the products sold, forces companies competing within the travel industry to constantly seek new and imaginative ways to create demand and maintain or strengthen their position. A combination of economic downturn, a lack of consumer confidence, natural disasters and the effects of terrorism have had a major impact on the performance of Thomas Cook Tour Operations. In this report I will analyze the marketing strategies used by the company and discuss the effectiveness in achieving their objectives. Company The tragic events of September 11th 2001 had a devastating affect on industries throughout the world. The travel and tourism industry however was hit the hardest. Increasing fear amongst consumers afraid to fly and a downturn in the world economy caused a drastic decline in the demand for both business and leisure travel causing passenger numbers to plummet. Thomas Cook tour Operations, like it’s competitors experienced high profit losses as a result of falling passenger numbers, added security costs, falls in their share prices and increased insurance premiums in which occurred I the aftermath. Prior to September 11th the travel industry experienced a dynamic growth between 1995 to 2001. During 2001 20.6 million package holidays were sold to the British Consumer, 1 growth of 2.6%. However the deterioration of the industry’s success came immediately after the terrorism attacks. Thomas Cook Tour Operations were as a result forced to develop a new strategy in order to save their rapidly falling profits. In order to develop their new strategy, the company carried out a SWOT analysis. This is a technique that involves identifying a company’s strengths and weaknesses in the business, the opportunities presented by the trading environment and any threats opposing the company. The below information is adapted from the Thomas Cook Tour Operations’ Chief executive Update. Strengths Existing percentage market share Thomas Cook reputation Existing Thomas Cook image and brand recognition High level of awareness within target market Knowledge and experience of market trends Large number of distribution channels Good product variety Weaknesses Holiday Essential brand not well established and relatively low demand for the product. Confusion and lack of identification of other Thomas Cook brands e.g. JMC and holiday essentials. High volume costs High capital expenditure, i.e. marketing expenses, data processing costs and human resources, e.g. staff turnover Over capacity Excessive fixed assets i.

Free Essays - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy :: Catcher Rye Essays

Catcher in the Rye - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy Throughout the book Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a boy who does not know his place in life, illustrates the human need for logotherapy. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, wrote "Mans search for meaning", in which he describes his experiences and ways of resisting the efforts of dehumanization in the holocaust. In Viktor Frankl's writing he delineates Logotherapy, which are three principles of mankind. The main character in Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, he is an unstable young man, who wanders around New York for three days, without knowing where to go or what do. Holden Caulfield would benefit if he applied Logotherapy to his everyday life. The first principle of logotherapy states that's man has an inborn will to meaning, "We seek to live not only for ourselves, but to contribute something of worth to other people and to the world we live in."(370) Holden Caulfield rarely shows this trait, but he does reveal it seldomly to people he does not know for example when he says to a cab driver, "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near central park? That little lake? By any chance do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?âˆÂ ¦"(60) This exhibits that Holden cares for some things, which means he has a will to meaning somewhere inside of him, he just needs to find it, like one of his teachers says, "âˆÂ ¦but I can very clearly see you dying nobly, for some highly unworthy cause"(188) In this quote, Mr. Antolini is telling Holden that he believes he will do something worthy with his life, but it will not be something very useful. Man has free will acts as the second aspect of logotherapy. Viktor Frankl states, " Man's freedom is no freedom from conditions but rather freedom to take a stand on whatever conditions might confront him"(371) Holden Caulfield sometimes shows free will, "âˆÂ ¦I couldn't think of a room or a house or anything to describeâˆÂ ¦So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allies baseball mitt."(38) This shows he can think for himself and that he does not just do what people tell him to do. Free Essays - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy :: Catcher Rye Essays Catcher in the Rye - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy Throughout the book Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a boy who does not know his place in life, illustrates the human need for logotherapy. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, wrote "Mans search for meaning", in which he describes his experiences and ways of resisting the efforts of dehumanization in the holocaust. In Viktor Frankl's writing he delineates Logotherapy, which are three principles of mankind. The main character in Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, he is an unstable young man, who wanders around New York for three days, without knowing where to go or what do. Holden Caulfield would benefit if he applied Logotherapy to his everyday life. The first principle of logotherapy states that's man has an inborn will to meaning, "We seek to live not only for ourselves, but to contribute something of worth to other people and to the world we live in."(370) Holden Caulfield rarely shows this trait, but he does reveal it seldomly to people he does not know for example when he says to a cab driver, "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near central park? That little lake? By any chance do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?âˆÂ ¦"(60) This exhibits that Holden cares for some things, which means he has a will to meaning somewhere inside of him, he just needs to find it, like one of his teachers says, "âˆÂ ¦but I can very clearly see you dying nobly, for some highly unworthy cause"(188) In this quote, Mr. Antolini is telling Holden that he believes he will do something worthy with his life, but it will not be something very useful. Man has free will acts as the second aspect of logotherapy. Viktor Frankl states, " Man's freedom is no freedom from conditions but rather freedom to take a stand on whatever conditions might confront him"(371) Holden Caulfield sometimes shows free will, "âˆÂ ¦I couldn't think of a room or a house or anything to describeâˆÂ ¦So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allies baseball mitt."(38) This shows he can think for himself and that he does not just do what people tell him to do.

Growing Up in Apple Valley :: essays papers

Growing Up in Apple Valley Growing up in Apple Valley is an indelible experience not too many people go through. Every time I say I’m from Apple Valley people always don’t know where Apple Valley is. I usually say that it is off the Interstate 15 freeway, like you are heading to Las Vegas, right next to Victorville. Then they finally realized that they have heard of Apple Valley. It is very indecipherable to say exactly where Apple Valley is. People constantly think that Apple Valley is simply a big desert and there are only poor quality people who live there. The truth is Apple Valley is a very beautiful place to live. Apple Valley has some imperfect parts of the town and there are its good parts. I feel that the good parts overcome the bad parts. I have seen a lot of other cities that are much worse and they still have a well-rounded reputation. For instance, the High Deserts biggest city, Victorville. Victorville has much more crime than Apple Valley, much more pollution, and many more troublesome citizens. Victorville also has a lot more traffic on their streets because there are so many more people. Apple Valley has about two-thirds the amount of population Victorville has and with that comes less traffic on the roads. Less traffic on the roads means less smog pollution, less traffic accidents, less paramedic’s the city has to hire, and less the city had to pay out towards medical response. Most cities want to save money so they might be able to spend more money on the city or even cut some taxes. The less smog pollution is a really pleasant factor that comes with living in Apple Valley. It is nice to know that you are breathing in fresh air, not air that is dirty and full of pollution. Apple Valley really doesn’t have much to do for kids and teenagers. That is probably one of the main complaints about Apple Valley. The way I see the situation is you can always drive somewhere and the fun really isn’t that long of a drive away.

Evaluation for Firebirds Wood Fired Grill Essay

Eating out is a treat for me. I occasionally call up some family and/or friends and treat myself to a nice dinner. There are many restaurants in my hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina to choose from, but there is one in particular where I love to spend my hard earned money. Firebirds Wood Fired Grill located at Northlake Mall Dr. has become my new favorite place to dine for dinner on the weekends. Firebirds have the three qualities I look for when I visit a restaurant for the first time: great ambiance, excellent service and good food.The atmosphere of a restaurant sets the mood for any dining experience. Owner Dennis Thompson created a well-defined gap between casual and fine dining. The aura of Firebirds is meant to imitate that of a ski lodge in Aspen. Warm lighting, complimented by fire colored chandeliers, gives this restaurant a nice tone for an engaging conversation with your significant other or some good laughs with some friends or family. Firebirds, also has a separate lounge area for those who just want to go straight to happy hour after work. I call this area, â€Å"the kick back and let your hair down section†. The beautiful stone fireplace, the wall of 500 bottles of wine, and the beautiful bold color seating sets the mood for a great evening out with coworkers after work or a place to have a drink and appetizer after shopping in the mall. Valet, Hostesses and Servers are all apart of Firebirds seamless service. The Valet does a great job with promptly parking and retrieving my car. Hostesses are always in place as you walk in so that you won’t have that confused look wondering if you seat yourself or wait for assistance. The servers are very professional and polite. They are able to answer questions about menu items while waiting patiently for you to complete your order. I love the fact that they are prompt with getting your appetizers out to you well before my entrà ©e. They were also attentive to refilling my glass when it was getting low. Entrà ©es are prepared nicely and cooked to your liking. If you’re not satisfied the servers have no problem with taking it back immediately for correction. The cook and the manager come to your table and make sure your meal is superb.Based on the name, one might assume that Firebirds is a steakhouse concept, but steaks are only half of the menu. Firebirds menu have a good level of diversity. You can get anything from a big juicy burger to a lobster dinner. This upscale restaurant can be a little pricey compared to other bar and grill places, but it’s worth it. To start, I love to get the lobster queso dip and chips and their famous onion rings for my appetizers. Firebirds steaks are pretty good, but I prefer the salmon with light seasoning. My most favorite meal at Firebirds is a salad, yes a salad. The Strawberry and Shrimp salad is simply delicious, besides the obvious it has spiced pecans, goat cheese crumbs and jicama tossed in a homemade vinaigrette dressing. This salad packs a lot of flavor and is quite fulfilling. I may call up my girls on Friday and pay Firebirds a visit.Every dining experience I’ve had with Firebirds has been persistent. The complimentary valet parking is greatly appreciated especially since the restaurant is connected to North Lake Mall. The atmosphere in Firebirds is inviting, the service is great and the food is delicious. What more do you need in a restaurant? Perhaps live entertainment on Friday evenings wouldn’t be such a bad idea though.

An Analysis of Dylan Thomas “ Do not Go gently into that Good night” Essay

Dylan Thomas wrote this poem for his dying father, it   was published on December 16, 1952, along with six other poems in â€Å" In Country Sleep â€Å". The Poem is a villanelle. It is made up of five tercets, a unit of three lines of verse, followed by a quatrain, a unit of four lines of verse. It is a lyric poem. It makes of rhymes on every other line of the poem. Dylan also makes use of the repetition of a particular line to put his point across.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Do not go gently into that good night† is a passionate poem about fighting death. Dylan Thomas uses metaphors in describing the agony of death and how one must fight against it. He compares death to darkness, as a line recurring   points to this †Rage, rage against the dying of the light†. In this poem, Dylan Thomas talks about life, and reminds the reader why life is worth fighting for. He suggests images that call to mind, days in a life of   a man, when there was laughter and merriment,   as seen in such lines as these â€Å"Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The poem’s main theme is fighting for life. It is an impassioned plea to his father to cling on to existence and not be carried into the darkness. Dylan Thomas words reverberates in one’s head as he seems to plead desperately that life not be given up so easily.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The poem can also be applied in the lives of people who are not in danger of dying. It seems to call out to the living to live their lives to the fullest and not succumb to the darkness of ignorance and fear. This lyrical poem appears to be something a young person may write, for it is full of bravery and invincibility- much like what teenagers or young ones would feel. Dylan then uses the elements of age. A young person, full of life asks someone to hold on a little longer in the same way that he probably held vigil beside his beloved father.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dylan’s seemingly simple poem is actually very inspiring because it holds a message of hope. It draws the audience in and then encourages them to examine their existence and ask if one is happy or contented. If not, then Dylan’s battle cry is more than enough to kindle a light in a reader’s heart. It is his proclamation of existence, his fervor to â€Å" Rage against the Dying of the Light† that is contagious and that enables him to engage readers and hold their attention and truly fight the darkness within and with out , much like how Dylan continuously did for his father, to whom this poem was written for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night: Critical Overview. REFERENCES † Poetry for Students. 1998. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, eNotes.com. January 2006. 1 May 2008. .   Thomas, Dylan. â€Å"Do not go gently into that Good Night† 2007. Poets.org, from the Academy of American   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Poets. Retrieved 29 April 2005 from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377