enron questions

1. How did Anne Beliveaux respond to Jeffrey Skilling's claim that he was "innocent of every one of these charges." What were the charges? the charge against Skilling was fraud. anne wanted Skilling to recieve the full punishment because the bankruptcy that he caused wiped out her retirement fund.

2. What was Daniel Petrocelli specifically asking Judge Lake to do? What was the response of the judge? Petrocelli wanted the judge to remove 10 months from Skills sentence, to which he replied "no."

3. What is the difference between a Puzzle and a Mystery? Be as specific as possible! Please consider why Gladwell does not believe the difference to be "trivial." Puzzles come to satisfying conclusions. a culprit can easily be found simply because he/she is the person who with held information. Mysteries can be changed and hard to interpret, and do not always come to a satisfying conclusion.

4. What does Gladwell mean when he states: "Puzzles come to satisfying conclusions. Mysteries often don't." mysteries do not come to satisfying conclusions because there is no definite end result, and the result itself can be altered and changed depending what the facts say.

5. Initially, what did most people think of the Enron scandal? Did they think it was a Mystery or a Puzzle? Why would it matter? What does Gladwell think? Most people initially think that Enron was a scandal because it was caused due to fraud on behalf of Skilling. most people think that Enron was a puzzle becuase they believed that everything was evident and that it was a matter of time before Skilling was convicted. this matters that it was puzzle becuase people would believe that Skilling was the cause of the downfall, even if he was found innocent. Gladwell believes that this is a mystery.

6. Please explain Mark-to-Market Accounting. this is an account that makes the company look like it is making more money than it really is.

7. Gladwell claims that: "When a company using mark-to-market accounting says it has made a profit of ten million dollars on revenues of a hundred million, then, it could mean one of two things..." Please explain the two possibilities. What did Wall Street Journal report Jonathan Weil's source want him to find out? one possibility was that is that teh company has the money in its account and will have the remaining after taxes, or that the money is a prediction that the company is betting on. Weil's source wanted him to find out if the money that Enron was making was "real' and not a prediction on what they were going to make.

8. What is the connection between subprime loans and Mark-to-Market Accounting? the connection between these two things is the loans that are made to people are expected to be higher that they really are.

9. Why did Weil find Enron's financial statements "sobering?" Enrons financial statements were sobering because the money that the executives though they were going to make were non existant and without this money, enron had made a loss in that year.

10. Why was James Chanos interested in Enron? Chanos was interested in Enron because he earned money by predicting companies tha will fall in stock.

11. Who was Bethany McLean? Bethany Mcean was a reporter for fortune magazine.

12. Why does Gladwell believe Watergate to be a classic puzzle? gladwell believes this is a classic watergate scandal becuase

13. Did Jonathan Weil have a Deep Throat? he did not have a Deep Throat

14. Why was Weil concerned that the officials at Enron weren't concerned about who would win the 2000 election? Weil was concerned because no matter what, the elections were not going to affect the company

15. After considering how Weil got his information, why does Gladwell believe Enron to be a mystery?

egyptogram

notes

Egyptian hieroglyphics translation

• process of elimination
• more symbols to work with over time
• use of apriori knowledge: used prior knowledge to translate

assumptions are equal to premise
deduction: applying apriori knowledge in the form of a general theory

syllogism: do not create truth, but used properly, valid arguments in a syllogism can preserve truth

example:

• premise 1: all dogs are mammals
• premise 2: fido is a dog
• conclusion: therefore, fido is a mammal

syllogism arguments are not true/false, but valid/invalid
truth: a property of a statement

Egyptogram translation

i though that the egyptogram experiment was a good idea to do for the introduction of "reason." the activity we did tested our ability to reason between symbols and letters. it also introduced us to learn through a process of elimination and the meaning of certain symbols and order to how things are conveyed.

i thought that the story about the Kpelle people was interesting in that the kpelle see a story as a whole piece, not the way that western culture sees a story, which is to contain details. in western culture we pull apart a story and interject our own reason behind it and try to interpet it. However, it appears in the Kpelle culture, people see a story as a whole and do not use their reasoning.

Wild Child project

option B: by andrew cameron and zac arndt

re-write of 'worth his weight in gold' by steel pulse

lyrics:

we fould a wild child

he doesn't know how to do anything

he don't know how to speak

he don't know how to walk, cry laugh, or sing

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

teach victor to learn how to speak

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

teach victor hot from cold

Dr. itard

also teach him some emotions

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

it has to be proven that he can learn

he doesn' know how to laugh or cry or to feel depressed

he's an emothionless guy

as abel say "he knows the referance to what you say"

yelling at him will surely make him cry

he knows louder sounds are bad

that he's made you mad

you've taught him, you've tauht him

emotion

when he's rewarded he's happy

a glass of water makes him feel free

a bowl of milk fills him with glee

a wheelbarrow ride is fun

now he knows his emotion

now nex is perception

he has to perception

so teach him, teach him yeah

develop victor's thresholds

let him feel a hot coal

let him listen, tast, touch, and see

the same was done with a girl named Genie

he's still a wild child

but now he has learned some brand new things

now lets teach him speach

then we'll teach him reason but he still can't sing

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

how it's time to teach him how to talk

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

now it's time to prove that he can speak

Dr. itard

lets test the theory "innatism"

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

it's also essential to be a man

teach him how to write and speak

practicing all day, preacticing all week

with letter exercises and hwo they sound

and naming house hold objects

we praise that day

the day that he said 'lait'

and then in 1970

they taught language to Genie

she learned language in a close way

by listening and word practice all day

we've lost the wild child

because how he has now become civilized

things are going good

better than expected, that's no lie

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

yes, we've taught him how to reason

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

let him feel the hot flame

Dr. itard

let him see how you use a spoon

Dr. itard, Dr. itard

victor's sone has now ended

notes

1. Why does Dr. Itard want Victor to speak? (you should consider the questions asked on Genie, p. 72) to get the the heart of this question.

• to fit into society
• to be more like a man
• to prove that victor is able to speak
• to prove that there is in fact an ability in all humans to be able to understand and pick up a language, born with syntax

2. How does Dr. Itard hope to teach Victor:
a) Perception: exposing him to hot and cold. does thorugh a tub of hot water.
b) Language: words that match objects. had him play with alphabet blocks. repititon of speach toward victor. trying to figuring out the problem rather than just memorizing the answer... erasing the pictures and putting them elsewhere on the board for victor to figure out where to put it next. Genie- understood vocabulary before she could speak. she would learn language from her caretakers, by listening to them.
c) Reason: dr. itard let's victor see him eat with using a spoon, and then has victor try it.(deductive). victor puts his finger in the flame, sees that it is hot, so he will not put his finger in the flame anymore.(inductive). Genie is able to roam around and see other kids playing, therefore she learns what freedom is. (inductive).
d) Emotion: dr. itard punishes victor for doing the right thing. dr. itard figures out that victor knows what is morally right and wrong. victor cries when he is yelled at also.

genie questions #2

1. What was so significant about Chomsky's argument? chomsky argument was so significant becuase it explained how we move a sentence in order to understand it, which condenses the infinite variety of sentences in a language.

2. What do you make of Chomsky's bird argument on p. 36? i think that chomsky's argument is agreeable becuase a species ins designated to perform the the way nature intended.

3. Do you agree with Chomsky's claim about the island at the end of Chapter 7? Please explain your answer. i do not agree with chomsky's claim that a child would invent his/her own language if they were left on an island alone because language takes years to develop. also, in order to develop a language, there has to be a need of communication between people.

4. In Chapter 10, why were Genie's observers pleased to see her hitting other children? genies observers were pleased to see her hitting other children becuase she was no longer inflicting pain on herself, but on others. this action proved that she had a sense the she was an individual

5. Describe how Genie's language was developing. genie was able to interpret objects adn she had the ability to understand things. however, she lacked the vocal vocabulary to communicate with other people.

6. After reading Chapter 11, what are the primary differences between the reading and the film? after the film and the passage the primary differances between Genie and Victor were the ways that they were trained and their origin. victor was found in the wild, whereas genie was found in a locked room. with victor, he had some sort of stimulus where as Genie had none whatsoever.

7. How did the film, Wild Child impact the symposium members? What is meant by: "all of us saw in the movie what we were prepared to see to confirm to our own biases."? what was meant by this quote was that by watching the movie, the depiction of the advancement of the wild child would be verified by the interpretation of the director.

8. What do you think of Dr. Elkind's quote on p. 59? How do you feel about Dr. Freedman's suggestion on p. 59-61? i think that Dr. Elkind has the right idea with what he is saying becuase linguists are trying to apply emotion to the simple use of words to prove that they are taught the same way that language is taught. 

9. Why was it important for Itard to teach Vistor to "imagine the needs of others (p. 73)"? Does CAS do this? Why or why not? it was important for Itard to teach victor the needs of others so he could relate to other people. this does nto apply to CAS becuase cas is just a way to torment students who are having a tough enough  time in school. 

10. After reading Chapter 14, do you agree that Truffaut's film ending was too optimistic? i think that Truffaut's film ended to optimisticly becuase he ended it by depiciting victor returning to Dr. Itard, when in reality, the experiment with victor failed due to his aging into puberty.

through deaf eyes and abel essay

Deaf culture is impacted by both oralism and sign language. However sign language has a greater impact of the deaf view of reality than oralism.

Sign language impacts deaf culture because of its classification as a language. The sapir-whorf hypothesis states that humans are influenced by the language that they use. This hypothesis applies to the deaf view of reality because sign language is a language of gestures rather than words. This influences the deaf community because they appear to be more expressive when communicating than those who can hear. one example of this is deaf poetry. when one of the people being interviewed on the program Through Deaf Eyes, signs a poem, some say that it is based on gestures that get to the true meaning of the poem. this could be argued because with sign, the words of the poem are more expressive to the view because the person who is reciting the poem can choose to put either less or more enthusiasm into certain gestures which would change depending on the reciter. this would change because each person who recited the poem would have different thoughts and ideas on what gestures would be emphasized more or less. also in the program, it is explained that deaf people have dialects to the way that they sign depending on where the person is from. these dialects may be the reason why some are more expressive in signing or more fluid in their movements. oralism also impacts the deaf community and its view of reality, but not as much as signing does. with oralism, a person does not use gestures, but reads the movement of lips. this method of learning to communicate limits the use of expression on behalf of the deaf person. this is so because in the hearing world, most expressions are utilized by the volume that we assign to each word.  

deaf culture is impacted by these two methods of learning in that they have some sort of impact on the way that deaf people think. Signing has both its direct values and limitations on the view of reality. First, signing's impact on the way deaf people think is that they were forced to interpret with thier eyes and not their ears. this use of their eyes could also train their eyes to be more attentive to details in everyday life. therefore deaf people tend to be more aware of the sights that are surrounding them. even though sign language may allow deaf people to view their surroundings  in an altered reality, it restricts deaf people to remain in their own reality of "eyeth." this limits their thinking as to how other people perceive reality like those who live on "earth." oralism also has its values and limitations. with the method  of oralism, deaf people people can community with hearing people. one example of this is Marlee matlin's role at the Oscars. she may be deaf, but through the oral method she was able read the nominees to everyone who was watching and listening. this allows them to perceive both views of reality on "earth" and eyeth." it also can train the deaf on different ways to analyze. however, the oral method limits the total view of reality on both worlds. 

     sign language and oralism both depend on the language that they are associated with. oralism is based on an audible language, such as English or french. this means that persons who learn oralism is confined to the language that is taught to him or her. so the deaf people who learn English are confined to those who speak English. however, sign language assigns one gesture for a situation or action so it can be communicated in many different countries

     even though sign language and the oral method have an impact or reality, some people could claim that the impact is very in severe. the claims that a person arguing the impact would be that everyone sees the same reality, so how can some people claim that we all perceive differently.

     sign language has a large implication on the deaf view of reality. their thought of meaning is not on namings words to the things, but rather using a gesture that fits what a person is trying to describe.  

abel language questions 2

 

1. What are the functions of language?  Just provide the main ones Abel describes. one of the functions of language is to transmitt information. the other function of language is to act expressively. the examples of the functions are poems that abel provides.
2. What is significant about the story of the tribal boys and the table? the significance of the story is the language can be interpreted in different ways to diffrernt people
3. What is the “inscrutability of reference?” (p. 228) the inscrutability of referance is that there is no alternative for leraning the meaning of a word.
4. What does Abel mean when he says that “Words are mere breaths of air, or scribbled pencil marks, but as used in a ‘language game’ by a speech community they are not arbitrary? “( p. 228) abel means that words arent anything unless they are used by the community in a way that conveys meaning.
5. What is the difference between Animal and Human Language? animal language is differant than human language because in animal language there are specific sounds and utterances for specific situations and behaviors.   
6. What is Chomsky’s argument on how humans learn language?  Be specific about linguistic competence. chomsky's argument on how humans learn language is that the ability already implanted in the mind of hunans which gives humans comptance in learning language. 
7. What does Abel think about Chomsky’s argument? abel thinks that language is not something that is pre-learned, but is learned through exposure.
8. How would you answer Abel’s questions:” Would an infant learn to speak, although isolated from adults, he were constantly within earshot of a radio?” (p. 231) i think that an infant would learn to speak if he was in earshot of a radio because he would be exposed to some sort of language that has structure. also infants learn to speak from repetition of language and not constant lessons.
9. Why does Abel believe that “language is not in fact unique in the spectrum of human capacities?” (p. 231) abel believes that language is not unique because it is only way in which humans communicate.
10. What does Abel mean when he says: “We all learn these codes of stance, mannerism, gesture, tactility, interpersonal behavior…yet we are equally unable to state them fully”? (p. 232) hunmans know what each gesture looks like and what meaning it is trying to convey. however, we cannot fully understand why we interpret them as meaning what we conveu them to mean.  

Genie: a scientific tragedy

1. What was Psamtik's experiment? What did he hope to learn? Did he?

Psamtik was an Egyptian Pharaoh who was interested in language and its origins. his plan was to seperate two newborns and give them to two sheperds under the instructions that they should not speak to the children. this was to find what language is the language that first appeared. the childrens first word was Bekos, which is bread in phrygian.

2. Rymer claims on pg. 5 that "while his experiment was flawed in fulfilling its declared intention...it embodied both the theological questions and the practical quandaries that still bedevil the discipline." Where did Abel hint at this same concept?

abel hinted at the same concept when he was discussing the use of language.

3. Why do Linguistics and Astronomy "constitute an unlikely sisterhood"?

linguistics and astronomy are an unlikely sisterhood because both of these sciences are more observational than experimental which means that there arent any ways to run experiments to tests a hypothesis.

4. Why was the Social Worker concerned about the young girl that came to her Welfare Office with her mother?

the socila worker was concerned about genie because she was pale, malnourished, and could not speak at all. she showed evidence of physical abuse.

5. Consider the history of Linguistics outlined in Chapter 5. Please explain how the study of language grew from the religious to the biological and finally to the psychological.