Monday, May 4, 2009
Mr. Andre Reflection
Apart from using logic symbols and equations to explain syllogisms, the language of logic seemed to have little practical application. The riddles were very helpful in showing how paradigms cause people to limit their way of thinking. Never having heard the Spider and Black Deer story, I can't comment on it.
Senior Reflection
Doing the extended essay over the summer seems like a good idea. The E.E. seems to be too difficult to fit in anywhere else, and summer is the best time. Apart from the generic "Do your work" mantra, the utilization of the summer seemed like the only useful piece of advice. It shall be heeded.
Enron #2
1.) The S.P.E. (Special Purpose Entities) gives company owned contracts to a subsidiary of the company which allows the company to borrow from the banks without having to pay interest.
2.) If the assets given to the SPEs didn't make money, Enron could pay the SPEs back with Enron stock, essentially getting money without having to give collateral.
3.) The information does count as a mystery because Enron's list of SPEs was public information and included in Enron's annual report.
4.) Downloaded is a reference to public knowledge, but scrounged up gives the impression of massive amounts of digging and having to find hidden information.
5.) Enron being the largest company of its type at the time, had thousands upon thousands of papers of financial documents so sorting and analyze them all would take years. Andrew Fastow was the CFO of Enron as was largely responsible for all the actions the company took.
6.) Information changes purpose and value over time
7.) By understanding that the situation was a mystery, if forced them to value all information given in oder to deduce the existence of the Nazi rockets.
8.) The detection of prostate cancer is preventative and therefore requires all the information one can get. Treatment however is very different. It requires specific problems to be addressed.
9.) Spies used to be required because of the secrecy shared between he two countries, but now that everything is public that IA on both sides can't even begin to process it all.
10.) Inman believes that we need people who understand the culture of a country to gather information as they would be more privy to the subtle nuances that someone not from that culture would not be able to pick up on.
2.) If the assets given to the SPEs didn't make money, Enron could pay the SPEs back with Enron stock, essentially getting money without having to give collateral.
3.) The information does count as a mystery because Enron's list of SPEs was public information and included in Enron's annual report.
4.) Downloaded is a reference to public knowledge, but scrounged up gives the impression of massive amounts of digging and having to find hidden information.
5.) Enron being the largest company of its type at the time, had thousands upon thousands of papers of financial documents so sorting and analyze them all would take years. Andrew Fastow was the CFO of Enron as was largely responsible for all the actions the company took.
6.) Information changes purpose and value over time
7.) By understanding that the situation was a mystery, if forced them to value all information given in oder to deduce the existence of the Nazi rockets.
8.) The detection of prostate cancer is preventative and therefore requires all the information one can get. Treatment however is very different. It requires specific problems to be addressed.
9.) Spies used to be required because of the secrecy shared between he two countries, but now that everything is public that IA on both sides can't even begin to process it all.
10.) Inman believes that we need people who understand the culture of a country to gather information as they would be more privy to the subtle nuances that someone not from that culture would not be able to pick up on.
Enron #1
1.) Skilling was being brought up on charges of fraud. Beliveaux asked if Skilling was willing to live off of $1600 a month. This was used to show that Enron had no only damaged its shareholders, but employees as well.
2.) Petrocelli asked if the judge would reduce the sentence by a few months so that Skilling didn't have to go to a maximum security prison with violent offenders. The judge denied his request.
3.)A puzzle has information missing (i.e. a piece) but a mystery, all the information is present.
4.) A lack of information can be found, but since a mystery requires analysis, which is subjective.
5.) As is with most corporate scandals, someone always lies about something, so Enron was expected to be no different, but as it turns out all information was available, it was just a matter of asking Enron for the records.
6.)Mark to Market accounting lists future contract purchases as real tangible money.
7.) The money can either be listed as actually existing, or as what the company is projecting to make. Weil was asked to find out if Enron actually had money.
8.) Defaulted loans arose when high-risk customers were given sub-prime mortgages, thus showing how ineffective mark to market accounting can be.
9.)All the financial records proved that Enron had no physical money and that all the funds they had were projected 10 years into the future.
10.) Chanos job was to bet on the losses of companies and saw that Enron was showing signs of failing.
11.) McLean was a writer for Fortune Magazine who first investigated Enron's money problem.
12.) Watergate was a puzzle because Deep Throat was the missing piece of information that Woodward and Bernstein needed.
13.)No because he investigated and discovered the information himself, he wasn't missing a piece of information that he couldn't get himself.
14.) The officials didn't seem to mind the connection between a candidate for president from an oil family and the other being an environmentalist. Somehow that didn't raise any eyebrows to anyone.
15.) The officials at Enron completely cooperated with the investigation and all the information was given to Weil when he asked for it, so no information was technically missing, all that had to be done was it needed to be analyzed.
2.) Petrocelli asked if the judge would reduce the sentence by a few months so that Skilling didn't have to go to a maximum security prison with violent offenders. The judge denied his request.
3.)A puzzle has information missing (i.e. a piece) but a mystery, all the information is present.
4.) A lack of information can be found, but since a mystery requires analysis, which is subjective.
5.) As is with most corporate scandals, someone always lies about something, so Enron was expected to be no different, but as it turns out all information was available, it was just a matter of asking Enron for the records.
6.)Mark to Market accounting lists future contract purchases as real tangible money.
7.) The money can either be listed as actually existing, or as what the company is projecting to make. Weil was asked to find out if Enron actually had money.
8.) Defaulted loans arose when high-risk customers were given sub-prime mortgages, thus showing how ineffective mark to market accounting can be.
9.)All the financial records proved that Enron had no physical money and that all the funds they had were projected 10 years into the future.
10.) Chanos job was to bet on the losses of companies and saw that Enron was showing signs of failing.
11.) McLean was a writer for Fortune Magazine who first investigated Enron's money problem.
12.) Watergate was a puzzle because Deep Throat was the missing piece of information that Woodward and Bernstein needed.
13.)No because he investigated and discovered the information himself, he wasn't missing a piece of information that he couldn't get himself.
14.) The officials didn't seem to mind the connection between a candidate for president from an oil family and the other being an environmentalist. Somehow that didn't raise any eyebrows to anyone.
15.) The officials at Enron completely cooperated with the investigation and all the information was given to Weil when he asked for it, so no information was technically missing, all that had to be done was it needed to be analyzed.
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