1) Who is the best of the CNN Heroes? Please rank these seven entrepreneurs in terms of which person is doing the most significant work.
Personal Ranking of CNN Heroes:
1 – Kakenya Ntaiya
2 – Dr. Georges Bwelle
3 - Robin Emmons
4 – Chad Pregracke
5 – Dr. Laura Stachel
6 – Yash Gupta
7 – Dale Beatty
In my mind , Kakenya is doing the most significant work of them all, providing impoverished children in Kenya with the chance to learn and fulfill their dreams. This is a fantastic idea, as this allows these children to grow up and become successful, productive problem solvers for their communities. While it is difficult to quantify this, as the others are all doing significant work, I believe her work will have the most dramatic effect in an area of the world that most clearly needs help. That being said, it is not a viable business model for a for-profit business, though it functions well as a not-for-profit or with the help of NGOs. For the highest probability of getting one’s money back, I would invest in Dale Beatty’s Purple Heart Homes, as it helps people living in the first world, therefore having the best chance of having other companies and governmental organizations helping them out with funding and resources.
2) What are the four rules of good song lyrics? Please give examples (good and bad) of each of your rules. What is the best song ever written? What are the components that make it so good? In order to have good song lyrics, there have to be four factors to consider. First, the lyrics have to be truthful; great song lyrics transport the listener into the artist’s state of mind, without explicitly stating what the song itself is about. One must gain the sense of a greater truth about the storyteller’s life (or life in general) when listening to these lyrics, instead of simply expressing shallow pop nonsense about whatever girl you like that week. One great example of this is Weezer’s “In the Garage,” in which you get a feeling the lyrics are ripped out of Rivers Cuomo’s own journal as a kid. However, fakery like Justin Bieber’s “Baby” just comes across as insincere and cloying.
Secondly, great use of detail and poetry must be central to these lyrics, with wonderful wordplay that is pleasing to the ear and conveys thoughts and ideas in an unexpected way. Arcade Fire lyrics are typically good for this sort of evocation, like in “Wake Up” and “Neon Bible.” However, other bands don’t do this as well, with straightforward lyrics like in Britney Spears’ “Everytime.”
Thirdly, good song lyrics must be catchy. Repeatability is a great aspect to a good song, and part of that is having lyrics and phrases that people remember either for their novelty or their sense of truth. Many good Oingo Boingo songs fit the bill here, including “Little Girls” and “No One Lives Forever”; however, songs like “Blurred Lines” have such unmemorable lyrics and odd structure that they are hard to hold onto.
Finally, a good song has lyrics that are inspiring. Some of the greatest songs have also been calls to action, like John Lennon’s “Imagine,” teaching the world that it can live in peace. While lyrics can be catchy, a great song will use those lyrics to spur its listener to do something about the world and make a great change. Conversely, The Black Keys don’t inspire me to do anything with “Everlasting Light,” especially since the lyrics are so repetitive and slight.
3) Please write a 300-words-or-more memo recommending an investment in FOUR of the following NINE companies or commodities.
Re: Investment Advice
Having considered your proposal to invest $100,000 in four different companies, I believe I have come up with solutions that will bring you great dividends in the future. First, there is the social networking company Facebook, one of the largest companies in the world with more than 1 trillion users (Keulen, 2014). Because of Facebook’s highly entrenched nature in pop culture and society, it is not going anywhere fast unlike many other online businesses, making it a great, reliable investment with a lot of earning potential (Keulen, 2014).
Secondly, there is the electronics company Apple. Apple has long been one of the fastest-growing electronics companies in the world, with an expanding and ever-present brand of fast, sleek and consumer-friendly products. Everything from smartphones, tablets and laptops has been innovated due to the Apple brand, and sales are constantly high, making it a low risk for high reward (Hughes, 2014).
Thirdly, you should invest in the car-sharing company Zip Car. These services are rapidly growing in size and usage in major metropolitan areas, as they provide an effective car-sharing service for people who do not own vehicles. As fewer millenials own cars and use more car-sharing services like this, the dividends will be sure to increase (Badger, 2014).
Lastly, you should invest in the Uniqlo clothing retailer. This particular company is on the rise, starting in Japan several years ago and growing Uniqlo into one of the most successful Japanese clothing retailers in the world. In recent years, he is growing his company further, setting up local stores in major American cities and running up nearly $200,000 in sales every single day (Urstadt, 2010). Due to this impressive expansion, it seems prudent to invest in this company as well.
I hope these recommendations are to your liking, and best of luck in your future investments.
Sincerely,
4) Please read the two articles (www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/10/27/the-changing-face-of-american-grocery-stores.aspx ; http://fortune.com/2014/04/04/next-up-for-disruption-the-grocery-business/). How does Brian Stoffel say that grocery stories are changing? What "two disparate movements" is he talking about? Name two key ratios.. In his article, Brian Stoffel notes two distinct ways in which grocery stores are changing. First, the advent of stores like Whole Foods advocates a return to more local, organic produce and natural products, offering a higher-end consumer experience and high-quality products at equally high prices. This provides consumers with a greater accessibility to co-op quality food, which accompanies the movement of customers toward organic food. Secondly, supermarkets started adding grocery departments to their stores, with the idea of getting people in the door so they can buy other goods as well in these superstores. Stoffel notes that “One out of every four food purchases in our country today happens inside of a Wal-Mart,” and that 35 million square feet at Wal-Mart distribution centers focuses on food (Stoffel, 2013).
My favorite grocery store is Mariano’s, and I believe it handles a good mix of the Whole Foods brand of high-end local produce and the big-box nature of a grocery store like Jewel quite well. Brian Stoffel would likely not change his mind if he lived in my neighborhood, as he is correct about the two different movements between boutique organic stores and big-box department store usage. Since this time, things have still changed slightly; online ordering is now an increasingly likely phenomenon, as people love having materials and products coming to them, as well as the freedom of choice that comes from having a wider variety of products online. Younger generations want a greater variety and freedom of choice in a grocery store, which can be mined for incredible profit. It may be possible to have a “Netflix for groceries,” in which regular, smaller grocery deliveries can be sent to your door on a subscription basis, perhaps even at random or according to a set of preferences. Some kind of online grocery business could really break through to this market and help these businesses take off.
5) Please write an open letter to TWO of the following: The Joker and any character played by Will Smith.To The Joker:
I completely get where you’re coming from with the whole ‘chaos reigns’ thing; I really do. You’re sick and tired of the corruption and hypocrisy of Gotham, particularly of the Batman and his inability to actually do any good in the city other than keep making monsters like yourself. However, I have to take objection to the way you’re going about it, which is inconsistent with what you claim your whole ethos is. In the hospital with Harvey Dent, you said that you like to see what happens when people’s plans are messed up, and that you are an angel of chaos. However, I can’t help but feel that, for someone who likes to show just how freeing chaos can be, your plans are incredibly intricate. For example, you plan to get yourself caught, implant a cell phone connected to a bomb in the stomach of an acolyte, and go on a merry chase with the Batmobile, at which any point your plan would have been ruined if you had actually killed the Batman. This, to me, is not the hallmark of an agent of chaos, making you quite the hypocrite, sir. Machiavelli was not an agent of chaos; he knew exactly what he was doing. Practice what you preach.
We know, we know, you’re a tortured, scumbag superhero with a mean streak and a big ego. However, you need to get with the program and realize that what you have is an incredible gift that can be used to help people who are in all kinds of need. While I’m aware that your self-destructive lifestyle in the face of fame is reflective of the kind of grungy behavior that happens to famous people in real life, you’ve got a higher responsibility due to your powers. Remember when Spider-man’s uncle said that? Take it to heart. After all, you might just have a psycho murderess who’s also from your planet (and conspicuously married to your publicist) to contend with, and you’ll need all the good PR you can get from that point.
6) Please visit this site: 'Black Friday: Ghostly Photographs of America's Abandoned Malls'. Look at the abandoned malls and select your favorite three malls. Devise a plan to revive them.
Rolling Acres Mall is a sprawling location, with escalators, huge fountain locations and high ceilings. To that end, I believe it might make a perfect location for a new education facility, such as a college or university. Its wide surface area would provide substantial room for classes, libraries and other facilities, while still being centrally located in one building.
At the time it opened, Randall Park Mall in North Randall, Ohio was the largest shopping center in the world; to that end, I believe the mall itself could be made to serve a variety of uses for the town. The multi-screen movie theater still functions, which I believe could be the central focus of a renovation, turning it into an amusement park or recreational center of sorts. The movie theater would be reopened, showing films on a regular basis as it used to. The fountain or some other larger courtyard area could be replaced with a public pool or ice skating rink, offering citizens of the town the chance to have some aquatic fun while being able to easily transition the plumbing and other utilities material to suit the needs of the water park. Storefronts could be turned into video game arcades, table tennis courts, pick-up basketball courts, and so on. There may even be room for a library or cultural center within the mall.
Works Cited
Badger, Emily. “Millennials may impact the economy by driving less.” Star Tribune Business.
October 18, 2014. (http://www.startribune.com/business/279479062.html).
Hughes, Neil. “'Now is the time to invest' in Apple ahead of new product launches, Morgan
Stanley says.” Apple Insider. Apr. 17, 2014. (http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/17/now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-apple-ahead-of-new-product-launches-morgan-stanley-says).
Keulen, Pim. “Facebook: Attractive Investment From an Earnings Quality Perspective.” Seeking
Alpha, Sept. 22, 2014. (http://seekingalpha.com/article/2511985-facebook-attractive-investment-from-an-earnings-quality-perspective).
Mitchell, Dan. “Next up for disruption: The grocery business.” Fortune. April 4, 2014.
(http://fortune.com/2014/04/04/next-up-for-disruption-the-grocery-business/).
Stoffel, Brian. “The Changing Face of American Grocery Stores.” Fool. October 27, 2013.
(http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/10/27/the-changing-face-of-american-grocery-stores.aspx).
Urstadt, Bryant. “Uniqlones.” New York Magazine. May 9, 2010.
(http://nymag.com/fashion/features/65898/).
Valera, Stephanie. “Black Friday: Ghostly Images of Abandoned Malls.” The Weather Channel.
April 08, 2014.
