All,

 

Scroll down for a fantastic dog story - great photos and 1 minute read. It's really beautiful ... and amazing - suffering can break open even a dogs heart. Why not? They possess awareness and self-reflection, as well (not all, but not all people do. I sometimes watch people closely and think it is rarer than we suppose - I'm still working on it myself!). I suspect that the same Awareness that permeates us does so with them and all things but with different brains and nervous systems they process information differently. I don't know, but animal compassion is a real phenomenon.

I read the Snopes link and the story was verified and regrettably Jasmine passed away in Oct of last year.

 

Gordon

 

PS: If you like dog/animal stories and theories I would urge you to check out this man: http://jeffreymasson.com/

He is the former keeper of the Freudian Archives and stirred up controversy when he found some of Freud's unpublished papers that pointed to real assault by relatives in some of his patients and this in turn was allegedly masked by some of his theories because they couldn't be spoken of honestly and openly in his times (see The Assault on Truth, Against Therapy, and Final Analysis). Dog's Never Lie About Love and When Elephants Weep are his most popular books on animals and their emotional life.


True Story.

In 2003, police in Warwickshire , England , opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. The dog had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had quite clearly been abused.


In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned, or otherwise in need.


Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.









Jasmine, however, had other ideas. No one quite remembers how it came about, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It would not matter if it were a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting animal. Jasmine would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre, and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."


"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them, and it helps them to not only feel close to her, but to settle into their new surroundings.. She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs, and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."






Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits - and one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster-mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection, and makes sure nothing is matted.

"They are inseparable," says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs, and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.






Pictured from the left are: "Toby", a stray Lakeland dog; "Bramble", orphaned roe deer; "Buster", a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; "Sky", an injured barn owl; and "Jasmine", with a mother's heart doing best what a caring mother would do...and such is the order of God's Creation.
                              

Get your hotdogs! Old marketing paper.

Every week we had to dash off a paper that summarized the chapter we would be discussing - pretty standard stuff. I found this in an old file and thought I would post. It is from October 25, 2011.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Reflection Statement #10

     Promoting a product is the last of the 4P’s and to be effective the marketer must begin with the goal in mind. These goals can vary and must be in accord with the company’s short and long-term goals. However, narrowing the goal can help simplify the ad, which increases the likeliness of its effectiveness. Also, knowing the goal and how to measure success can help the marketer determine if the ad has been successful.

     Beginning with the end in mind the marketer must return to basics and define advertising and its importance. Advertising is the means by which a company interacts with the marketplace by raising awareness of its products, brands and position. In order to effectively do this a marketer must hold a potential clients attention, grab their interest, stir their desire and motivate them to action.  

     There are several models that describe the flow from attention to action but they all basically fall into one of three broad categories. The first attempts to appeal to a potential customer’s cognitive faculties by increasing brand awareness and knowledge. The second, called affect, tries to increase positive attitudes and associations toward the brand. And finally, the final model seeks to drive behavior and encourage a purchase of a particular brand. Each of the categories corresponds to where a product resides in the product life-cycle. Cognition appears early in the brand’s life and as awareness grows the marketer seeks to use affect to cement customer attitudes. Finally, as the brand matures a marketer seeks to remind customers to purchase the product. However, integrating all the elements is the most effective strategy of all.

     Filling in the models above we can point out that cognitive ads, which appeal to the intellect, make two kinds of arguments. The first is the one-sided arguments which focuses on a product’s benefits while the two-sided argument, though mentioning the benefits, also acknowledges limitations. If the product is deficient or if a competitor simply makes a higher quality product, both limitations are addressed and the unique qualities of one’s own product are emphasized.

     Emotional ads have the goal of generating buzz. Most are humorous, though these are not as effective due to the fact that while people remember the joke, they often forget the brand. Fear is also used but viewers may choose to forget the ad if the message or graphics are too unpleasant. Closely related are ads that induce guilt. As a general rule it is best to avoid them. However, an emotional appeal can be used to convey the image a company wants to convey to customers. But, these must be well placed and the message is as important as the medium. Both cognitive and emotional ads, of course, ultimately seek to drive behavior.

     However, one of the most difficult challenges facing marketers is deciding how to measure the effectiveness of an ad. There are several ways in which this can be done. DAR or day-after -recall tests can be conducted the day after an ad is played to see how impressionable the ad was and these hard numbers can convince others in management that the expense was worth it.

     But, a competent marketer should know something of the final result beforehand. An ad should ideally be created using a two-step process where the concept for the ad is first tested on a series of focus groups and then the flow of the ad is studied. A marketer, by being aware of his company’s goals, needs to have a basic threshold to score against to gainsay an advertisement.

     This threshold or measure of evaluation should measure a customer’s attitude toward the both the ad and the brand. It is important that the targeted segments do not overlap and that each ad that is designed for a targeted segment not overlap with another.

     Two tools can be used to measure the effectiveness of an ad and its associations. The first is the cognitive network which graphically depicts all of the associations with a certain product. The second is a marketing diagnostics table that uses percentages gained from customer surveys to measure all the way from awareness of a brand through purchase. This table can show the marketer probabilities of customer action, check for weaknesses, and help him decide what course of action should be undertaken to improve recognition and sales.

     We can extend on these ideas by spending some time on the concept of subliminal advertising. We have mentioned above that retailors will create ambience in stores and usually do this with music. This is also done explicitly with image branding. But, to appeal directly to the subconscious mind (it is at least debatable if such a thing really exists) is supposedly against the law and a violation of marketing ethics. However, not many people know this (if true) and a large urban myth has built up around this idea which persists in popular culture. This myth appeals to those who feel that marketing is little more than a method of manipulation and psychological knowledge, which is at best designed to help people, is being used to control them.

     In the movie “Fight Club” the character played by Brad Pitt works in a movie theatre and decides to turn the tables on corporations by inserting photos of the male anatomy into the movie where before they had been subliminally been inducing customers to buy popcorn and soft drinks. Indeed, the movie ends with the credit bureaus and major banks being blown-up in order to set things at par and start the world over on even ground. We can hear some of these echoes today in the Wall Street protests. It is clearly in the interest of corporations to emphasize basics.

     One way marketers could do this is with an ad campaign similar to the ones put out by the Beef, Egg and, Dairy Associations. These ads are simply designed to raise awareness of the product and the industry. Occasionally, the oil companies will remind people that they are really in the business of selling energy and it is implied that oil is simply the energy they sell. The Marketing Association of America has two articles (one is really a comment) that mention this type of advertising and the latest one from 2009 affirms the myth of the “sex” in ice ad from the 1970’s and goes on to say that this type of advertising works, though interestingly, sex itself does not sell.* A comment left by a reader assert that we are in a situation now where people are turning away from conspicuous consumption which is reminiscent of the end hopes depicted in  “Fight Club”.  At any rate, the American Marketing Association would be wise to codify their ethics, punish violators, and run ads such as other associations now do. This is needed more than ever.

     In my own life I have encountered this “myth” several times. Evidently, this concept is more widespread than many would like to acknowledge. Friends, who know that I have an interest, indeed a passion, for marketing have regaled me from time to time with examples they have heard of that may or may not be true. Not only is the “sex” in ice myth (if it is a myth) popular, but supposedly liquor companies have shaped their labels like tombs in order to appeal to alcoholics and even cigarette labels are thought to have the same appeal. Honestly, I do not know what other shapes bottle or cigarette labels could take, but the interest lies in the widespread idea that clinical psychological knowledge is abused for the benefit of corporations seeking profits.

     Everyone hopes to catch the magician performing the illusion, but it takes two to make a magic show. My friends told me these anecdotes because they were concerned I would do the same to them. But, every salesman will tell you that what closes a deal and keeps a customer is honesty and genuine concern. Marketing is as honest as the one who perceives it.

 

 *Retrieved from http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/SearchResults.aspx?fb=q

They Are Billy

In April 2011 I was writing a term paper and wanted to use an article from a magazine called Guideposts that I had never forgotten. It is a magazine I used to read when I visited my grandmother and the article left an impression on me that was so strong I remembered not only the full content of the story but even the title almost 16 years after it was published. I wrote to Guideposts and they kindly sent me a reprint free of charge.
I hope it is as unforgettable to you as it is to me.

Dear Mr. Jackson,

Please find the article you requested below. Thank you for your interest.

Whom do we see when we see the homeless? In our August 1989 issue Donna Tesh found a heartbreaking answer to that question

They Are Billy
November 1995

Subject: Homeless: Helping others: Sibling relationships: Death and dying
Abstract: sister learns about helping others after she realizes her own brother lived as a homeless man
by Donna Tesh, Garner, North Carolina

“Billy’s dead.”
The soft, shaky voice on the other end of the line belonged to my mother—our mother, mine and Billy’s. There had been three of us children: Billy; my sister, Twila; and me. We had grown up in Florida, but now, in the summer of 1987, my minister husband and I lived in Wilson, N.C., and my mother lived in an apartment only 10 minutes away. Twila had moved to Georgia, and Billy—well, the last address we had for him was in Phoenix, Ariz.
It had been 10 years since Billy went west. There had been a broken marriage, a period of drinking, and when his little boy died soon after his first birthday, Billy just picked up and left. After Mom dropped him at the bus station that day in 1977, we were never sure of his whereabouts or how he was getting along. We sent letters and cards, and one Christmas we even mailed a box with gifts and a small artificial tree complete with tinsel and lights. It was always the same story, though—no reply.
Holidays were difficult. Mother’s Day was especially so. That day was always hard for Mom, and Billy’s thoughtlessness would get me riled. Then I would turn around and worry about him, wondering if he was all right or if he was still alive. But our letters were never returned; we found a glimmer of hope in that. Sometimes I would wonder if he knew that he had another nephew. Sammy, my second son, was now 10 and had only heard about his uncle Billy. Sammy included Billy in his prayers at night. We all prayed for Billy.
Mom was drinking tea in the kitchen when I got to her apartment. I wrapped my arms around her. “Mom, are they sure?” I clung to some dim hope that this was all a case of mistaken identity.
“Yes, they’re sure,” she whispered. The police had been able to identify him from a large scar down the center of his chest, from when he had open heart surgery as a child to correct a congenital defect. They also had his fingerprints on file. Apparently Billy had a police record.
Mom looked frailer than I had ever seen her. She was recovering from cataract surgery and had just begun feeling stronger, but the bad news seemed to sap whatever strength she had regained. I called Twila in Georgia and we arranged to meet in Atlanta and fly together to Phoenix. Mom would remain at home.
During the long flight, my sister and I reminisced about our brother. I recalled how Billy and I would go rowing on the canal behind our house when we were kids. Billy never talked much, but I was always impressed with how easily and steadily he rowed. Twila remembered how bright and handsome he was, with an easy smile and a twinkle in his eye.
But as we made the descent into Phoenix, we grew silent, bracing ourselves for what lay ahead. We would have to dispose of his belongings—furniture, clothes, books. Billy loved to read, so I knew there would be lots of books. We had brought along a box of heavy-duty plastic garbage sacks. It would be best, we decided, to give most of his things to the Salvation Army. Any personal mementos we would bring back home for Mom. We were organized, Twila and I.
I watched the other passengers filing through the arrival gate to be greeted by friends and hugs. Everywhere, hugs. My heart ached trying to conjure up an image of a pleasant-faced man waiting to show his sisters the town.
Armed with a rental car and a city map, we set out for police headquarters downtown. The detective who ushered us into his small office was matter-of-fact, but not unfeeling. He seemed to sense how difficult this was for us and wanted to make it as businesslike as possible. He got us some coffee, then sat down to tell us what had happened.
Billy, working as an itinerant laborer, had been hired by a landscaper to do a day’s work. He no sooner put on the new work gloves they had given him than he dropped dead from a massive coronary.
“What about the police record?” I inquired with some trepidation. Nothing major, we were assured. Maybe just the sort of thing a man does when he’s desperate for his next meal. We decided not to pry any further.
The detective then reached for a small glassine bag that contained Billy’s personal effects. He spread the contents neatly on the desk: a dull comb; the stiff new work gloves Billy never had a chance to dirty; a beat-up old wallet; an old grimy, tattered, doubled-over Christmas card with some writing in Mom’s neat hand.
“That’s how we knew where to get in touch with you,” remarked the detective, pointing to the card. “Looks like he carried it with him everywhere.”
A lump grew in my throat.
“Nothing much else here,” he continued, almost clinically. “These are receipts from a plasma center where he had been selling his blood. A punch card from a soup kitchen. Oh, yeah . . . some pictures.”
There, spilling out from the ragged billfold, was my Sammy’s first-grade picture. And one of my oldest son, David, along with some other family shots.
I grasped Twila’s hand. “He knew,” I said.
But that was it. When we asked about seeing Billy’s apartment, the detective stared at us for a moment, a pained look in his eyes. There was no apartment. No furniture, no books, no possessions. Nothing to give away. Even the work shirt and jeans Billy wore that day were borrowed. “Home” was some cot in a shelter, or the street.
“Your brother was one of our homeless,” explained the detective blankly, looking away.
Billy . . . homeless? All the evidence was there, but it was simply so hard to grasp. What did that mean, homeless? That Billy was one of those people you see with such numbing regularity on the nightly news, people without names, people you never dreamed you might know? Something had happened to our brother.
In the following couple of days, as we arranged a burial for Billy, Twila and I retraced the life he had led. We saw the soup kitchen where he had taken his meals. We saw the labor pool where he went to find menial work. We saw his last apartment, which was mean and dirty. He hadn’t even been able to hang on to that.
We saw the YMCA where he sometimes went for a shower. A woman there said that several months before, Billy had been coming regularly and using the gym equipment. He had appeared to be shaping himself up, getting ready for another go at life. But then he stopped. Something, something we just couldn’t understand, made him slip back, drinking again perhaps, living on the streets. “It’s a shame, really,” she said quietly.
We wanted to see Billy one last time. The funeral director the detective had recommended led us into a small chapel. We walked past rows of empty chairs to the far end, where the body had been placed on a stretcher and covered with a white sheet pulled up to the chest.
He looked much older than his 43 years, thinner than we remembered him, practically gaunt. There were some unfamiliar scars on his chest and arms. His hairline had receded. But there was no mistaking that face, that soft, gentle look he wore even in death. No one else was around, and we were grateful for the solitude. Twila and I stood there for some time, crying softly. And then we prayed.
We prayed for Billy. But we also found ourselves praying for the others we had seen, for the people standing in line for food, for the men at the labor pool, the children playing between the cots at the shelter. Somewhere they must have loved ones like us, wondering and worrying about them, asking God to keep them safe.
I bent over and kissed Billy’s brow. Mom always referred to it as his sweet spot. All her children had them, she asserted, and that’s where she kissed us when she tucked us in. “That’s from Mom,” I whispered.
Neither Twila nor I will ever forget our experience in Phoenix. It’s made an impression on our lives. We look at the poor and the homeless, and no longer are they nameless people. They are Billy.
These days, since Twila sold her beauty shop, she helps out by giving haircuts in the local shelters. Near one of the shelters they’re creating a chapel for the homeless to worship in. Twila and her husband are going to buy a pew in Billy’s name.
As a minister’s wife I’ve always been asked to do my share for the poor. Now it’s taken on a personal meaning. Why Billy didn’t come to us for help we’ll never know, but he needed it, and there are so many more like him out there. They may be afraid or ashamed or just too confused to know where to turn. They need us. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,” Jesus teaches us, “ye have done it unto me.”
Yes, I do it for someone else’s Billy—and for you, Lord.

Festival of the Dead - Reflections on the NDE

This is extracted from a letter I wrote when a relative lay dying. The bottom portion is a follow-up.


All,

Of all footsteps, that of the elephant is supreme;
Of all mindfulness meditations, that on death is supreme.

The Buddha

It was my great good fortune to spend several hours this weekend speaking with someone who, several years ago now, had a full-blown Near Death Experience (NDE). I hope you will indulge me for a moment and allow me to share with you my joy. Together, we may learn from this and I am happy to share something of this with you. This person is only the second one I have met in a lifetime of seeking out people such as this, but something about this person's manner captured my attention and I asked them if they were familiar with the experience and then pressed the issue and somehow won their trust enough for them to relate the entirety of the experience to me. I am immensely grateful to this person for giving me their trust and I will not breach it nor will I relate the details of their particular expeience since the literature is filled with such stories, but will generalize for the benefit of us all.
 

I don't care for the term, NDE, and the whole genre has become sensationalized since was it was first brought to national attention in the US in the 1970's by Dr. Raymond Moody. This is due to marketing and the pathological obsession we have with being young all of our lives. The experience itself is as old as mankind and the reports, from Plato in the West to the Upanishads in the East, have generally agreed on the basic outline of the phenomenon. Such an experience, like all religious experience, belongs to the realm of myth and dream. Due to our materialism (much needed, yes, but also something quite new and overblown) we tend to discount these realms, but they have generally been understood to be both the origin of true knowledge and the means by which that knowledge is communicated. Consult your Bibles, in whatever religion you follow (if any), and you will see that dreams, visions, and experiences such as the NDE play a staring role. They are natural and it is wise to pay attention to this part of nature.
 

From what I can discern the NDE here in the West is a little different than what is experienced by traditional peoples in the sense that we have a more developed sense of independent self. Also, our moral actions are not dictated by our clan or caste, but it is a function of the individual (which doesn't exist as we think of it in clan or caste). The most interesting side effect of this is the panoramic life review. The person I spoke to this weekend underwent this. Most NDE's generally involve several factors, but it is only the rarest that has them all together and the panoramic review is among the most fascinating. Much has been written about it and I would encourage you to investigate the literature.
 

During the panoramic life review the individual sees every thought he or she has had, experiences every event from not only their own perspective but as if they were everyone else, too, and are responsible for those people's feelings, and often, even people those people affected. This is arresting. They are usually at this stage in the presence of a Light, which they identify later according to their cultural beliefs. This Light is understood and experienced as the repository of all that is loving, good, true and holy. Not a single one of them ever wants to leave its presence. However, as the spindle of their lives unwinds the experiencer is often left with a feeling of utter shame and amazement: shame that one has not lived according to the minimal standard that is revealed by the love emanating from the Light, and amazement that one is more fully conscious than ever before. From what I can gather, this Light seems to be a Prime Identity whose being is so powerful and explosive that it spills over into and as all consciousness, like sparks from a welders torch. It seems to be aware of Itself as being everything else, as some of the experiencers testify ("What you do to the least of these, you do to Me").

 

 

So, the lesson seems to be this. Our lives have a purpose and meaning beyond what our conscious mind can fathom and we truly are our brother's keeper. The Golden Rule isn't some nifty phrase, but a mandate woven into the very fabric of things. Further, it isn't the big things that stand out to this Light such as getting a new car or volunteer work, say. It is the little things and sacrifices made along the way. Implicit in the life review is the question, "What have you done with your life (to show Me)?" Again, this has nothing to do with our human accomplishments, but with the little everyday things (How can you impress something that is aware of Itself as everything?). During this review the experiencer is pure soul (for lack of a better word) and the ego, which finds reasons for how and why we treat each other the ways we do and seeks to explain them away, is unavailable to defend us. It is not who or what we really are, it seems, but even a little self-reflection will tell us that these social selves we forge and pay so much attention to by creating boundaries and acquiring possessions, do not represent ourselves, but like Emerson said, misrepresent ourselves. God, help us make those little everyday acts our church and to consider one another as the immortal beings we already are and act accordingly.
 

As I was writing this I got word that my grandmother has just died. Some years ago she hovered near death and saw her favorite brother and her mother, both of whom told her it was time for her to go with them. She was always a fearful woman and tenaciously clung to her body, but it is soon to be sent to the crematorium and the ashes buried. All she has now are her thoughts and her deeds and the feelings inherent within them. It is a chilling thought - death; but a liberating one, at the same time.
 

I hope you enjoy the video's even though they are somewhat sensationalized as so much of everything is. They will give you a flavor of what was told to me this weekend, though in much more detail. I have several copies of my favorite NDE book if anyone would like one. It is a compilation and deals with the life review more extensively and better than any other I have come across. I bought a stack of them years ago and have been careful about who I give a copy to, but if you are sincerely interested you may have or borrow one (though I doubt anyone will). If you do, I will not tell anyone. If you would like a reading list I can put one together for you - some of the books are worthwhile and some are not.
 

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

Hamlet
 

Live well,
 

Gordon
 

Videos/Photos - cut and paste if needed
 

Dr. George Ritchie: I first read his little book, Return From Tomorrow, way back in the mid 1980's. I highly recommend it, but not his second book. He even had to rewrite it to make it more "marketable". Better to stick with the first story of a first hand account. He also is the man who met Raymond Moody on a street corner at UVA and inspired Moody to write, Life After Life, which opened the door to public discussions about this topic.Honestly, I've lost a lot of respect for Moody over the years, but will always be grateful to him for writing that first book.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do8f8QaRGuE&feature=related
 

This one is an account from a neuroscientist who taught at Harvard Medical School for 15 years. It is narrated by Morgan Freeman. All I know about this one is this video, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlwyU0_M88o&feature=related

 

Beautiful photos of our little corner of the world:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/nasa-space-photos_n_1635689.html#slide=more22393
 

 

Addendum: From an e-mail concerning a new book and an article critiquing it.

 

Here is another take on the Dr.'s new book. I think the article is hammy and the objections are getting old and miss the point entirely.
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-stenger/not-dead-expereirnces-nde_b_1957920.html?utm_hp_ref=religion-science

 

 

I disagree with the author. As I implied in that e-mail when my grandmother died, I don't think this is a supernatural experience - I think it is a preternatural experience. It is inherent within nature and is something we should pay attention to. I also don't think there can ever be any "hard" evidence of such occurrences. After all, the mind is a story-teller. It spins stories always and about everything. Even "visions" or experiences of the Void (to Buddhists) or Absolute (to Christians) beyond time and space where there are no images or reference points must later be recounted as a story and so the gaps must be filled in. That is what ultimately makes these experiences ineffable. If a kettle is boiling the scientific way of looking at it is to say it has reached 212 degrees. But, it may have been placed on the stove to begin with because a long lost friend is coming for tea. Which is "more" true? I think it is the explanation that tells a more coherent story (the second one) to the human mind here and now.
 

John Keats once wrote as the Industrial Revolution was gaining ground in England, "There was a rainbow seen in heaven the other day; now it is listed in the catalogue of common things." The point is that the NDE and the Life Review that many have takes us back to first things philosophically - namely, how are we to best live our lives? That is the Socratic question and it is for me the point of studying NDE's; of contemplating death and the consequences thereof.

Dollars to Doughnuts - Accounting Paper

This is a rough draft of a Managerial Accounting paper I turned in to Dr. Jackson last year. I am meeting with Dr. Jackson Wednesday to get her advice on taking on-line accounting classes through LSU. Dr. Jackson was a fantastic professor and brought a sense of humor to the classroom that made me look forward to her weekly meetings.
I think this is the paper (though not finalized) for which I received the highest grade in the class. I was always proud of this accomplishment. There is another paper I have kept, but it was a group project and is nine pages long!

Accounting 6300                                                                                                                

Dr. Pamela Jackson

November 8, 2011                                                                                                                

 

Charley’s Family Steak House Parts A & B

 

1. Describe the business and organizational structure of Charley’s Family Steak House.  What are the current concerns of the owner of Charley’s Family Steak House?  How does he propose to remedy his concerns?

     Charley’s Family Steak house is comprised of four units that are owned solely by Charley Turner through a private corporation.  Each unit has the menu posted on the wall and customers place their orders and pay for their food, which is then brought to them by servers. Although each unit has the same menu the prices are not fixed. The manager of each location is given discretion to raise or lower certain prices by no more than 5%.

     Mr. Turner and an assistant purchase the food for each unit based on requests placed by the managers of those units.  Labor costs vary at each unit depending on position. Cooks are paid $12 per hour with a $1 raise being considered by Alex, the General Manager of Unit 2, which tells us that managers have some discretion in how much the cooks are paid. Servers are paid a standard wage and tips are split among them. Each manager has a POS system installed that allows them to view gross sales by menu item, how often coupons are used, and by net sales.

     Advertising is handled almost exclusively by Mr. Turner.  Once a month he places ads in local newspapers that contain coupons that expire within two weeks. However, each manager is given a small budget to with which to promote their individual unit. Overall, Mr. Turner budgets 3.5% of gross sales for advertising.

     Despite his business model and organizational structure, Mr. Turner is not without concerns. Fixed costs and how to cover them are on his mind as we are told that he is considering test market serving breakfast at one of his stores to cover them. Also this would help in more fully utilizing his facilities.  Also, one of his managers had recently been caught falsifying reports and this is making him wonder how to improve his overall planning and control system.

     Operating expenses have also been a concern as he has had to convince Alex that these expenses are basically fixed and vary with customer volume, but only above a certain base amount. Mr. Turner and Alex agreed that identifying each cost would be too time consuming and had compromised and left the budget the same for the coming year as it had been for the year before.

     Insurance, too, is a concern. Premiums are expected to rise and this expense is allocated to each unit based on square footage. In the coming year Mr. Turner is deciding whether or not to add another restaurant and this will affect the allocation amount to each unit. Other costs related to running the business such as licenses and fees are paid by headquarters.  

     Finally, Mr. Turner is considering creating a bonus package for his store managers. This package would be based on how well the unit performed as measured against predetermined sales and profit goals. Mr. Turner thinks that this will give each manager greater incentive to careful review their annual forecasts and to meet target goals.

2. Given the information provided in the case and the parenthetical calculations provided below by your accountant, explain the factors that are used to arrive at the forecast of Gross Sales and Net Sales in the company’s 2008 Operating Plan in Exhibit 2 on page 118.

a.            Gross Sales (3850 x 40% x $7.50) + (3850 x 60% x $10.50)

b.            Net Sales (3850 x 40% x $7.00) + (3850 x 60% x $10.00)

                (Explain the source of each number in the parenthetical calculations)

 

A.      Gross sales are determined by taking the average weekly customer count of 3,850 (multiplied by 52) and multiplying it by the percentage of those customers who eat at lunchtime, which we are told amounts to 40% and multiplying that by the average amount of the diners check, which we are told is $7.50.The same is done for dinner customers using 60% and $10.50 for the check amount. Alternately, we are told in the case that the unit expected to sell 182,000 meals over the whole year with a 10% increase being calculated which would be added to 1, thus making it 1.1. This in turn would be multiplied by 40% and the average meal cost and the same would be done for dinner, but 60% and $7.50 would be multiplied by 182,000 and 1.1. These percentages are targets set by Mr. Turner and Alex.  

B.      Net sales are determined by multiplying 182,000 by 1.1 (last year plus the projected increase) by .50 (the average of 40% and 60%). This comes to 100,100 which is subtracted from the gross and this leaves us $1,761,760

 

3.            Given the information provided in the case and the parenthetical calculations provided below by your accountant, explain the factors that are used to arrive at the forecast of for each of the following expenses from Exhibit 2 on page 118. (Note:  Miscellaneous, Insurance, and Management expenses are all given in the case and require no calculation, and, therefore, no explanation.)

a.            Food ($1,861,860 x 55%) = 1,024,023. Food sales are 55% of gross sales.

b.            Labor [(2000 x 4) x $13] + [(.16 x 3850 x 52) x $3] = The budgeted labor hours per year for 4 full-time cooks (2000x4) for 182,000 customers. They are paid $13 per hour and this is added to budgeted labor hours for servers. The budget labor hours for 2007 was 28,800 (1800 x 16) for 182,000 customers.  This calculates into .16 hours per customer (28,800 total hours/182,000). In 2008, they expect 3850 customers a week (.10 increase in customers). 3850 x 52 = 200200 customers.

Thus, 200,200 customers requiring .16 hrs. each for cashier and server services x$3 per hour = $96,096.

Cooks = $104,000 (as you calculated) Cashiers/Servers = $96,096 (per explanation above)

TOTAL = $200,096

c.             Other Operating Expenses ($1,861,860 x 8%) is gross sales x’s actual gross sales from 2007 (they agreed to keep the percentage the same) = 149,949.

d.            Advertising ($1,861,860 x 3.5%) = $65,165. We are told that Mr. Turner plans to incur advertising expenses of 3.5% of gross sales.

e.            Depreciation ($2,000 x 12) = $24,000. This is the monthly amount by the number of months in the year and is a fixed cost.

f.             Licenses and Fees ($11,250 x 1.04) = $11,700. The cost is increasing by 4%, so it is 1.00 + .04.

g.            Rent ($6,000 x 12) = $72,000. We are told rent is fixed for 10 years.

h.            Rent Overage ($61,860 x 5%) =$95,000. We are told that each year payments equal to 5% must be made on gross sales above $1,800,000.

 

 

4. Assume the forecasted sales volume for Unit No. 2 in 2008 is reduced to 3,700 meals per week from 3,850 meals per week.  Prepare a revised 2008 Operating Plan for similar to Exhibit 2 for this reduced forecasted volume.

 

Revised budget

Gross Sales                                         $1,789,320

                                                                   $96,200

Net Sales                                               $1,693,120                                        

Food                                                       $984,126

Labor:                                                     $196,352 (cooks - $104,000/Servers - $92,352)

Other Operating Expenses                 $143,146

Contribution                                         $369,496

Operating Expenses:                                     

Advertising                                            $62,626

Miscellaneous                                         $3,000

Depreciation                                          $24,000

Insurance                                                  $9,400

Licenses and Fees                                $ 11,700

Rent (Base)                                            $ 72,000

Rent (Overage)                                                  0 -Under $1,800,000

Management                                         $95,000

Total Operating Expenses                  $277,726

    Profit                                                   $91,770

To Autumn

I walked this evening in the gloam as the sky tuned first vanilla, then calico, then inky black as darkness fell. I love this time of year and I thought about one of my favorite poems, "To Autumn", by John Keats. It is considered one of the greatest poems in the English language because it is almost perfectly descriptive. In other words, the "I" of the author is hardly in evidence. Keats called this "negative capability" if memory serves me right and it is the goal of poetry (or was until everyone started prattling on about themselves in the 20th century). It is the ability to see clearly because one is not standing in one's own way. If only we cultivated this ability and applied it to business, relationships etc. This isn't a cold or impersonal attitude. On the contrary, it is precisely in those moments when we forget ourselves and our sense of "I" and look with wonder at a person or an object or perform an action correctly or morally that we are truly free.

I have visited where Keats died in Rome and read two or three biographies about him. He is second only to Shakespeare to me. He died when he was 25 and had written for only 4 years. He was a serious artist who left an enduring legacy. How different from our pop stars and beatniks.


John Keats (1795-1821)

TO AUTUMN  

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

A song by the English folk singer Nick Drake to accompany that captures the mood of  such an evening. Another bright star who eclipsed too soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2jxjv0HkwM

MEMOries

I thought I would preserve some of my papers here since computers can be temperamental and thumb drives can be misplaced.
I got the highest grade in the class for the first one and post the second for sentimental reasons.

TO: Dr. Catherine P. Slade, Ph.D.

FROM: Gordon Jackson, MBA Student

DATE: March 16, 2011

SUBJECT: Group 4 – The Master’s Table Project

The Master’s Table is an organization dedicated to feeding the homeless and has been operating in the Augusta area for almost thirty years. They have opened a new facility on Fenwick Street and plan to host events such as weddings and large meetings. The task before them is to inform the community that the facilities are available for use.

Event Planning Project Cancelled

Group 4 met with Jason Lutes, the Founder and Director of “B3” and contractor for The Master’s Table, on March 7^th and proposed either hosting an introductory event for The Master’s Table or exploring other advertising options. Mr. Lutes was enthusiastic about the idea of an event and hoped it could be coordinated to coincide with Master’s Week. However, subsequent discussion revealed this goal to be untenable due to the short notice and scheduling conflicts invitees would have during Master’s Week. So, by the end of the meeting we had agreed to create a “Starter Kit” for prospective clients. During the meeting the target audience was identified as consisting of the following:

· Second marriages

· Socially conscious individuals, groups and businesses

· Donors and their heirs

The target audience is to be informed that use of the facility is tax-deductable. The main competition is determined to be Enterprise Mill, which also has a complete catering kitchen, so supporters are to be encouraged to use a “venue with a social conscience.”

Starter Kit Project -New

Mr. Lutes sent Group 4 a brochure on March 9^th to give the group ideas for the project. A conference call was held on March 14^thand the project was discussed in greater detail. Mr. Lutes appears to be highly receptive to this project because he has Starter Kits for his other business concerns and this will an asset that can be used well into the future. The Starter Kit will contain the following information:

· Why the Master’s Table should be chosen by client

· Rules and regulations

· List of approved vendors and procedure for approving new vendors

· Detailed information about the facilities and how to use the kitchen etc.

This will be collected and put in the form of a brochure and perhaps, a CD. It is to contain photos of the facility and is intended to be a permanent part of the Master’s Table’s rental operation – an advertisement and a selling point that is professional enough to convince the target audience that the facilities and staff are competitive. This is our group’s planned outcome.

Follow-up

A meeting has been scheduled for 9:00 p.m. on March 16^thin Allgood Hall with Mr. Lutes. After the conference call an e-mail was sent to Mr. Lutes detailing the information the group will need to get started.

Personal Efforts and Observations

I have participated in each meeting and was the main enthusiast for the Event idea since my role would have been to travel the area and meet new people. During the physical meeting with Mr. Lutes it is my opinion that I was the most vocal socially and drilled down on the target audience, the competition and asked, “Why the Master’s Table?” – which I think is the most important question. Others were more detailed oriented from that point on in the meeting, mainly Ms. Thomas-McKie. The conference call was held in the office of Ms. Thomas-McKie and she did almost of all of the talking due to her proximity to the phone. Afterwards, a group member who had been late to meetings or silent came up with the body of the e-mail’s talking points, which was impressive.

My greatest challenge will be to find a new role in the project. I will propose at the next meeting that I write the main body of the brochure and proofread it. Also, I find my strength to be building rapport and grasping the “big picture” and whittling it down to a few succinct points. However, as an introvert I probably over estimate my social skills and I may not be as detailed oriented (idea wise) as others due to laziness. I have always had a fondness for the “big picture” and tend to let details “take care of themselves”. In a group setting, of course, this means letting others do it for me. I will say that my background in sales prompted me to ask the all important questions of “why would someone rent here, who is our target audience, and who is our main competition”?

In conclusion, my goal for the next meeting(s) will be finding a role in the new project and becoming more detail oriented in conception.

This second was for a proposal for an extracurricular paper.

Augusta State University

Memo

To:        Dr. Catherine P. Slade, Ph.D.

From:   Gordon Jackson; Krutiben Zemse

Date:    10/27/2011

Re:       Faculty Sponsor Request

Janice Sherman, CEO of the Neighborhood Improvement Project, has requested that we conduct a research study on the impact of community health centers on the utilization of ER visits by the uninsured and underinsured. Previous research has been done for the Spring Creek Health Cooperative (SCHC), a multi-county partnership in Southwest Georgia, and we hope to replicate this study. The study is a Return-on-Investment analysis based on hospital admissions, medication assistance, medical home referrals and medical supplies. The study was conducted between June of 2007 and June of 2008 using 780 patients enrolled in SCHC. The study determined that by avoiding ER visits, reducing hospital admissions, and by providing medication assistance to the uninsured and underinsured the SCHC was able to save community hospitals over $3,000,000 with a minimum of investment.

We intend to identify a representative sample of Belle-Terrance Health Center’s new patients since 2007 from the Greater Augusta Health Network’s (GHAN) database. We will examine the patients use of the ER prior to their becoming a patient at the center. ER visits will be classified as urgent, emergent or non-urgent. With the data collected and categorized we will determine the economic impact, if any, of the Belle-Terrace Health Center on community hospitals.

We kindly request that you advise and assist us as our Faculty Sponsor for the duration of the project. Please, let us know if you require further information.