How to Make Game of Thrones Wildfire

Wildfire is the fictional green green substance used in  George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy world to immolate foes when dragon fire isnt handy and swords just arent enough. According to the HBO Game of Thrones series, the liquid burns in the presence of urine and burns so hot it melts  wood,  stone... even  steel... and, of course, flesh! Oh, and it burns with an emerald green flame. In the television series and Martins A Song of Ice and Fire novel, the secret of wildfire was pyromancer magic, but we all know the best magic is simply science that isnt well-understood, right? Martins fictional goo resembles modern napalm (except for the green color) and Greek fire, a real-life weapon used during the Byzantine era (also, probably not green). Make (a Safer) Wildfire This wildfire recipe wont be of much use if you want to melt stone, but it makes nice ambiance lighting when youre reading Martins books or need to find your way back to the kitchen for a snack during Game of Thrones. You end up with a green liquid that burns bright, vivid green. It spreads out nicely, like pyromancer wildfire, but it doesnt burn as long or as a brightly. Wildfire Materials Borax  Green Food ColoringMethanol (Methyl alcohol is available as Heet fuel treatment or as a lab chemical.)Hand Sanitizer Gel (The alcohol-based stuff is what you want. You only need this if youre making the gel.)Heat-safe container.   You can get a similar result using high proof grain alcohol or rubbing alcohol and copper(II) sulfate (usually sold as an algicide) if borax is unavailable. Its not as good as the borax-methanol mixture, though, so dont substitute if you dont have to do so. Lets Make Wildfire Pour a bit of methanol into your container. You dont need a lot. Dont taste it (youll get a headache or go blind if you drink enough) and dont splash around in it (its absorbed through your skin). There are warnings on the label youd do well to read. Oh, and its flammable, but thats kind of the whole point.Stir in a drop of green food coloring. Pretty right?Break up any clumps in your borax and stir a spoonful into the liquid. You dont need an exact measurement. It only takes a small amount to get green flames. If you add too much, youll have white sediment in the bottom of your container.Light your creation and admire the pretty green fire. If you do this indoors, be advised your smoke alarm likely will sound (mine did). Blow out the flames when youre sufficiently amused.Now, if you want to make a gel out of this, you can stir in hand sanitizer until you get the consistency you want. Hand sanitizer is a mixture of water and ethyl alcohol. Because there is ethanol in it, you can mix it in with the methanol without too much trouble. Adding the water also means you have a chance to add powdered copper(II) sulfate, which dissolves in water, but not so well in alcohol. You dont need to add copper sulfate... Im just throwing it out there as an option.Ignite the gel. Still green, but not quite as bright, right?If you want to try again, all you need to do is add more methanol. It is important you only add more fuel after the flames have been extinguished. Use common sense. You can blow out the flames. You can also extinguish the fire with water, but then you wont be able to re-light it. Safety Considerations Yes, this is a real fire. Yes, it can burn you or ignite your hair or clothing if you spill it while its lit, just like any other type of alcohol lamp. Responsible adult supervision is required. Responsible is the keyword. Dont play pyromancer. Wildfire, Greek Fire, and Burning on Water Although it wasnt green, Greek fire or sea fire was a real incendiary weapon used in naval battles from around 672 onward into the 12th century. Its formulation is unknown but may have included ingredients such as pine resin, calcium phosphide, naphtha, niter, quicklime, and sulfur. It was almost certainly a mixture based on bitumen, petroleum, or sulfur. While the mixture floated on water, its unclear whether or not it could actually be ignited by water. An Italian recipe from the 16th century that supposedly burns underwater is made from willow coal, sulfur, wool, camphor, incense, alcohol and some sort of burning salt and pergola. You can try to decipher the Italian text, or just rely on modern chemistry to ignite a green flame with a drop of water.

Target and Positioning Essay - 5882 Words

Running head: TARGETING AND POSITIONING PAPER iPod Targeting and Positioning d University of Phoenix MKT 463 Targeting and Positioning the iPod There are many factors to consider when marketing a new or existing product. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning are important when identifying the specific target market, examining the role that consumer behavior plays when applying basic marketing concepts, and examining the impact of purchase trends on consumer behavior. Internal and external influences on consumer behavior are all factors that must be considered when applying marketing strategies. Learning and memory theories are also factors considered when applying marketing strategies. In addition, strategies for†¦show more content†¦Yet positioning takes into consideration more than just how a customer feels about a particular product. Areas such as channels of distribution and overall budgeting and cost must also be considered in the strategic plan on how to best deploy any product. Apple has chosen to distribute the iPod in a manner consistent with many of its current p roducts and it is no surprise leading the pack is their Internet sales. However, it has also taken another unique approach to putting this product in the hands of consumers. Apple is currently running a promotion in which it is giving away an iPod Nano to those college students who are purchasing their more expensive Mac PCs. Apple believes that this approach will not only lead to greater brand recognition but also contribute to profits that are collected from those individuals downloading videos, songs, and more via their web links. Purchasing Trends Globalization Globalization is having a major impact on purchasing trends, but iPod has yet to reap the fruits of increasingly lucrative foreign markets. The world is becoming smaller, largely due to advances in technology that facilitate communication on a global basis. The youth in countries like India and China frequent McDonalds and don Levi’s yet they have not accepted the iPod for a number of reasons. Apple will have to pursue an international scope in its marketing efforts. The organization has already taken such action by usingShow MoreRelatedIKEA: Target Market and Positioning Strategy1157 Words   |  5 PagesIKEA: Target Market and Positioning Strategy When analyzing an organization’s target market, the first step is to understand the business and what they hope to achieve through their marketing strategies. Targeting and positioning strategies consist of analyzing and identifying segments within a given product-market, choosing which segment or segments to target, and developing and implementing a positioning strategy for each targeted segment (Cravens Piercy, 2009). 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The Four Phases Of Small Business Strategy Planning

The Four Phases of Small Business Strategy Planning There are a host of definitions for strategy. Rather than trying to be comprehensive or creating a definition that tries to be the authoritative source, I ll use a simple definition of strategy for my purposes. Strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve outcomes. That s it. This definition is loyal to best tenants of strategy as well; be flexible, nimble and leave options until you reach the appropriate time or level to add further definition. The process of defining the desired outcomes is usually incorporated into the concept of strategy planning. In an agile and well-led organization, execution is also wrapped into strategy so that the plans can stay flexible, updated, and resources can be used to increase success. The best, most refined, and most successful strategy model has evolved from ancient China, was updated in Prussia, and has slowly been creeping into the business world. There are four steps to the process and I prefer to keep them all under the strategy umbrella to help leaders reach the planned outcomes. The iterative sequence is: setting goals, planning, actions, and outcomes. In setting strategic goals, you must consider what outcomes you desire for your business. Assuming that you are in business to earn revenue, you must link your outcomes to needs that your customers have in order to capture that revenue. The best source for setting goals is your business mission, values, and visionShow MoreRelatedUnderstanding The Benefits Of Strategic Management1674 Words   |  7 Pageswith respect to an example using the struggling retailer, Sears. Sears succumbed to the lack of innovation, which shows that if a firm stands still, it will be run over by the competition. 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Structural Functionalist Free Essays

A society is a complex unit, made up of interrelated parts. All these parts form the structure of the society and each sub unit has to perform its given task. Social structures are stressed and placed at the center of analysis and social functions are deduced from these structures. We will write a custom essay sample on Structural Functionalist or any similar topic only for you Order Now This perspective looks at how the various parts of the society come together and perform their individual tasks interdependently and interrelated to promote social stability and order and in turn the smooth functioning of the society. Structural functionalism is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole, and believes that society has evolved like organisms. This approach looks at both social structure and social functions. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. As a structural theory, Functionalism sees social structure or the organisation of society as more important than individual. Functionalism is a top down theory. Individuals are born into society and become products of all the social influences around them as they are socialised by various institutions such as the family, education, media and religion. Functionalism sees society as a system; a set of interconnected parts which together form a whole. There is a relationship between all these parts and agents of socialisation and together they all contribute to the maintenance of society as a whole. Structural functionalism concentrates on the positive and negative functions of social structures. Societal functionalism is a particular type of structural functionalism that aims to explain the role of social structures and institutions in society, the relationship between these structures, and the manner in which these structures constrain the actions of individuals. According to structural functionalists, individuals have little to no control over the ways in which particular structures operate. Indeed, structural functionalists understand individuals in terms of social positions. It is not individuals who are ranked, but positions that are ranked according to the degree to which they contribute to the survival of society. High-ranking positions offer high rewards that make them worth an individual’s time and effort to occupy. The structural functionalist perspective also takes into account the concept of value consensus. Functionalists believe that society is held together by this consensus, or cohesion, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. They share the same ideas, beliefs and morals which bind them together. Functionalists believe that without such collective shared values and beliefs, achieving social order is impossible and social order is crucial for the well-being of society. They believe that value consensus forms the basic integrating principle in society. And if members of society have shared values they therefore also have similar identities, this helps cooperation and avoids conflict. Value consensus also ensures that people have shared: – Goals, Roles and Norms. Any social system has four basic functional prerequisites: * adaptation * goal attainment * integration and * Pattern maintenance. The function of any part of the social system is understood as its contribution to meeting the functional prerequisites. Adaptation refers to the relationship between the system and its environment. In order to survive, social systems must have some degree of control over their environment. Food and shelter must be provided to meet the physical needs of members. The economy is the institution primarily concerned with this function. Goal attainment refers to the need for all societies to set goals towards which social activity is directed. Procedures for establishing goals and deciding on priorities between goals are institutionalized in the form of political systems. Governments not only set goals but also allocate resources to achieve them. Even in a so-called free enterprise system, the economy is regulated and directed by laws passed by governments. Integration refers primarily to the ‘adjustment of conflict’. It is concerned with the coordination and mutual adjustment of the parts of the social ystem. Legal norms define and standardize relations between individuals and between institutions, and so reduce the potential for conflict. When conflict does arise, it is settled by the judicial system and does not therefore lead to the disintegration of the social system. Pattern maintenance refers to the ‘maintenance of the basic pattern of values, institutionalized in the society’. Insti tutions that perform this function include the family, the educational system and religion. No theory has been there without any criticism. The structural functionalist perspective also has been criticized on the grounds that it neglects the negative functions of an event such as divorce. The perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the part of society’s members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in changing their social environment, even when such change may benefit them. Functionalism sees active social change as undesirable because the various parts of society will compensate naturally for any problems that may arise. How to cite Structural Functionalist, Papers

This Paper Addresses the Guiding Principles and Elements That Feature

Question: Why This Paper Addresses the Guiding Principles and Elements ? Answer: Introduction An integrated report is a communication document that details how an organizations performance, governance and prospects results to values creation for the company in short, medium and long term basis. The main objective of this report is to share the company insights with various company stakeholders such as shareholders and other business partners. The report entails both financial and non-financial reporting of the company whose main advantage is wholesomely presenting the company image to the stakeholders in one document. Main Purpose To establish governing guiding principles and content elements The main purpose of the integrated report is to provide the guiding principles that and content elements that directs on what needs to be included in the report and why such items are important. The framework enables those preparing the integrated reports to have a uniform outlook that is easy to understand and captures important aspects that stakeholders need to know in the companies they have interests in. (BUSCO, 2016) The framework is basically developed in view of private sector and profit making companies of any size but the integrated report can be varied to accordingly to fit into a public sector organizations as well as non-profit organizations. It is therefore an empirical formula or guidance that can be replicated in different forms to suits different types of organizations, so long as the modification is not a great deal of departure from the basic guiding principles and elements. The integrated report framework type of information that needs to be included in the report that can be used to asses how and organization or company intents to create value based on the resources at its disposal. Once its clear how the organization intents to create value then the report can be summed up as an integrated. The framework does not provide benchmark or marking scheme to assess the quality of an organization strategies or its performance level. The integrated report captures the value created by the company is preserved or diminished in respect to resources available within the reach of the company. The value created is also captured in terms of short, medium or long term contexts. (Morros, 2016) Key benefits The integrated report key benefits to all stakeholders. The integrated report aims at creating transparency and accountability in the manner in which the company capitals are managed. The six main capitals are; financial, human, intellectual, social, natural and manufactured. Since the management is aware about how these capitals are managed the other stakeholders like strategic business partners, shareholders and government regulators need to understand or know how these capitals are managed. By producing integrated report the management or the board of the organization also fulfill their mandate of reporting on all activities concerning the organization to the other stakeholders. This is one way in which the integrated report benefits all the stakeholders. Apart from promoting accountability of the above capitals, integrated reports also promotes the interrelatedness of these capitals. To the shareholders perhaps they might not understand how the capitals interrelate with each other to result to value creation. The might know the total profits posted by the company but they dont understand the players that moved or determined the profits. The major factors that needs to be taken care of by the organization in order to keep on boosting the profits, the integrated report therefore simplifies these aspects to the shareholders in order for to have a real grip of what drives the organizations they have interests in. The international integrated reporting framework Guiding principles Strategic focus and future orientation One of the guiding principle of an integrated report is that it should provide insight knowledge in the organizations strategy and how these strategies corresponds to the organizations ability to create value. On the guidance of this principle the integrated report is able to provide insights risks and opportunities that are present in the organization. Connectivity of information With this principle the integrated report should be able to provide wholesome or holistic picture of how various factors in the organization can interrelate to create value for the capital invested over time. Stakeholder relationships The integrated report should point out the relationship of the organization with key stakeholders and to what extend does it exist. It highlights how the organization is able to benefit from such relations in terms of achieving the organizational objectives. Materiality A good integrated report should highlight information regarding matters that have fundamental bearing on the ability of the company to create value with its resources in the context of short, medium and long terms. Conciseness An integrated report should always be concise with relevant information that provides clear understanding of the organizations performance, governance and prospects to all stakeholders. This raises the understanding of the company activities and boost clarity of issues among the stakeholders. Reliability and completeness Under this principle an integrated report needs to have all important or material maters both negative and positive in correct balance without leaving out important materials that should have been included. Consistency and comparability The integrated report should always have consistent information that will remain correct even in future. The information should also be comparable to other organizations so that stake holders are able to put the report into various contexts. 4.2 Content elements Organizational overview and external environment A good integrated report needs to highlight what objectives does organization have and within what context does the organization operate in. Governance The report should show how the organizational governance enables it to create value within the short, medium and long term context, thus promoting the same understanding across all the stakeholders. Business model An integrated report should paint the picture of what organization model looks like. It helps the other shareholders to understand how the business operation of the organization they have interest in is set up. Risk and opportunities The report should highlight specific risks and opportunities the organization face /have. This enables the other stakeholders appreciate the strategies the organization have. Strategy and resource allocation The report should indicate to all shareholders the direction the organization is taking and how is it going to achieve set objectives. Performance The report should always point out the performance of the company in terms of meeting its organizational objectives in a specific period of time and in respect to the capital of the company. This enables the stakeholders to gauge if the organization is meeting their expectations. Outlook An integrated report should inform the stakeholders the challenges and uncertainties it is facing and the implications it may have on the company objectives. This will help the stakeholders to appreciate mechanism put in place by the organization to mitigate these uncertainties. Basis of preparation and presentation The report should highlight to the stakeholders on what basis did it determine what to include in the report and what not to include. This helps everyone related to the organization to appreciate the content of the report. Comparative evaluation Evaluation of the principle The 2016 AMP limited financial captured guiding principles of the integrated report in a number of ways. The report captures the companys strategy in terms of how the company is planning to meet its objectives within the context of the surrounding environment. The report is also consistent from one point to another in simple manner that is understandable. From the report it is easy to draw consistency and comparability with other reports as it highlights items such as profit, capital invested and time taken to realize the objectives. The report is also concise and provides necessary information on all parts that it has captured. Although the report is reliable it has however not addressed stakeholder relationship and thus lacking in completeness. (Soyka, 2013) evaluation of content element The element content of the integrated report is also present in the AMP 2016 financial report. The report provides the organizational overview of the company as well the governance structure. It also reports on the risks and opportunities for the bank in the Australian market context. The report also highlights the performance of the bank during the financial year 2016 and paints an outlook of the company in terms of challenges it might faces as captured in the directors report. The document does not however capture the basis of the preparation of the report and how the contents in it were determined. (Soyka, 2013) References BUSCO, C. (2016). INTEGRATED REPORTING. [Place of publication not identified]: SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PU. Mio, C. Integrated reporting. Morros, J. (2016). The integrated reporting: A presentation of the current state of art and aspects of integrated reporting that need further development. Intangible Capital, 12(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.3926/ic.700 Rezaee, Z. (2015). Business sustainability. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing. Schaltegger, S., Bennett, M., Burritt, R. (2006). Sustainability Accounting and Reporting. Dordrecht: Springer. Soyka, P. (2013). The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Integrated Reporting Framework: Toward Better Sustainability Reporting and (Way) Beyond. Environmental Quality Management, 23(2), 1-14. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tqem.21357

Social Loafing free essay sample

Working in groups is essential in the business world and in general many of the tasks that humans face cannot be accomplished alone. Although group projects are essential, they can harbor difficulties in communication, time management, coordination and other aspects. One phenomenon that can occur while working in groups is called social loafing. It is the conscious or unconscious decrease in exerted effort in group settings due to the decrease in social awareness. These individuals may exert much more effort when working by themselves but when in a group setting they feel less of a need to do so. Social loafing is a complex physiological subject that is very prevalent in group settings. Social loafing is caused by task interdependence, task visibility, and group size. Although it can be detrimental to the group, there are different tactics to help prevent and cure social loafing. Social loafing is the tendency to reduce individual effort when working in groups compared to the individual effort used when working alone. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Loafing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is similar to ‘free riding’, a concept in which an individual does not bear a proportional amounts of work but shares all of the benefits of the group. Many studies conclude that individuals frequently exert less effort on collective tasks. An early example done in 1913 by a German researcher tested the size of a team verses the effort expended. He had teams do a rope pulling experiment and noted that was the number of group members increased, there was a decrease in overall performance. Social loafing is caused by a few different psychological tendencies. The first is called task interdependence. This is the degree of task-driven interaction among group members. If individuals perceive their tasks as more interdependent, they may find it difficult to feel a sense of personal achievement in their work. They may withhold their effort when conditions do now allow them to exhibit their accomplishments. With high task interdependence, individuals may feel that their efforts are indistinguishable from their coworkers. The second tendency is called task visibility. It is an individual belief that a supervisor is aware of their efforts. When tacks are not highly visible by others, they may not want to exert a high level of effort because there is no punishment from exerting low effort. Lastly, the size of the group can have an effect on social loafing. As a group size increases in size, individuals feel more anonymous and therefore contribute less consciously or unconsciously. It may also be more difficult to assess each group member’s contribution to projects when there are lots of members. The issue of social loafing is easily remedied if a few precautions are taken for group projects. It is important to articulate a role to each individual in the group and how that role plays a part in the completion of the group goal. Within each of the roles given to members, they should have specific, short-term, deliverable and measurable goals that can be tied directly to that individual. Evaluate each person based on these individual goals and reward those that meet and surpass their goals. Lastly, keeping the groups at a reasonable size for the task can prevent social loafing. If everyone in the group has a task, they will be less likely to cause social loafing. In conclusion, Bibliography http://www. radford. edu/~jaspelme/_private/gradsoc_articles/social%20loafing/Individual%20differences2. pdf http://comm. colorado. edu/~kuhnt/1600/liden. pdf http://www. joshuakennon. com/mental-model-social-loafing/

Platos Allegory of the Cave in Pleasantville Essay Example

Platos Allegory of the Cave in Pleasantville Essay Example Platos Allegory of the Cave in Pleasantville Paper Platos Allegory of the Cave in Pleasantville Paper Writer and director Gary Ross captured the essence of Plato’s philosophical views in his movie, Pleasantville. The movie is about two siblings, David and Jennifer, who live in completely different high school social scenes. Jennifer is the wild, extroverted teen who is obsessed with partying and boy drama. David, on the other hand, is a social outcast and spends most of his time watching TV, specifically, his favorite show, Pleasantville. David idolizes the show because of the perfect town in which everyone is accepted and there is never anything that goes wrong. When the siblings’ mother goes away, the two are left arguing over what TV channel to watch. As their fighting develops, they eventually break the remote, which leads to the plot twist when the two are transported into the town of Pleasantville. This movie directly relates to Plato’s philosophical beliefs, specifically his conclusions about the Allegory of the Cave. However, the movie can also be loosely related to Plato’s noumenal and phenomenal realms in the sense that it is hard to tell the difference between the intelligible and sensible realms. Plato’s beliefs are interpreted and modernized in the movie, which demonstrate the four truths that Plato realizes in his Allegory of the Cave conclusions. Pleasantville helps the audience understand the conclusions Plato draws from the Allegory of the Cave. Plato’s first conclusion explains why gathering knowledge and education can be difficult. The movie is a parallel because David and Jennifer’s cave is the life they lead as high school students. They are brought to the light when they are transported to Pleasantville. There, they must adapt to a different lifestyle and confront the truths about themselves that they ignored in the superficial world they once inhabited. When they are brought to Pleasantville, they also act as a philosopher who is bringing knowledge to the small town. For the people that live in Pleasantville, they are stuck in a cave and David and Jennifer are their keys to the light. The movie contrasts parallel universe’s, showing that perspective is what makes someone stuck in a cave. Because the people of Pleasantville and David and Jen learn new things about themselves, they all escaped the cave and gathered knowledge. The road to enlightenment was not an easy road, however. David and Jennifer had a difficult time maturing and leaving behind their old masks; the town of Pleasantville had a very difficult time gaining a new perspective- the town leaders tried everything they could to forbid people from leaving their perfect little world. This parallel of the cave explains Plato’s first conclusion of how education can often be difficult because it means turning your back on everything familiar. The movie also very clearly identifies with Plato’s second conclusion that explains why philosophers are often ridiculed. When Jennifer and David were transported to Pleasantville, they were immediately hated for disrupting the order in the town. They had to learn how to cope with a completely different world, while also instilling in others their new perspective and experience. While Pleasantville is black and white, the town represents the ignorance that people in the cave feel. However, when the town begins to turn to color, the people are finally seeing the light and escaping from the cave. This I somewhat ironic because, for both the people of Pleasantville and David and Jen, they all begin their journey in black and white. This is interesting because, from Jen and David’s perspective, the two had already experienced the world and were sent to Pleasantville to not disrupt anything. They, however, were very mistaken. They were just as ignorant as the people of Pleasantville, just in a different way. Jen’s radical actions of having sex when she goes on a date in Pleasantville do not make her turn to color because her actions are what would be expected from her back in her own cave. She only turns to color when she gets in touch with her emotions and relieves some insecurities that had hindered her from being her full self. The people that first turn to color are ridiculed by town leaders and people that had not yet left the cave. This explains why philosophers are often ridiculed; the people that were in color, representing philosophers, had divorced mundane concerns and found their true inner spirit. Plato’s final two conclusions describe the nature of education and the role of the philosopher, which are also dramatized in the movie. Plato tells that the role of an educator is to point their students in the right direction. In Pleasantville, the people are both students and teachers. They are teachers to Jen and David; the townspeople teach Jen and David the importance of tradition and good values. The townspeople are also students: they learn from Jen and David how to ignite their inner flame and break from the cave that Pleasantville once was. Similarily, Jen and David are also both students and teachers. They are students in that they take the lessons from the people of Pleasantville in order to help them reach the sun and gather knowledge about a world they were unfamiliar with. They are teachers in that they help orient the people of Pleasantville to get in touch with their daring and adventurous side. In this way, being a teacher is the role of the philosopher- the teacher must help others escape from the cave to experience life. Everyone that turned to color towards the beginning of the movie were the â€Å"philosophers† or â€Å"teachers† that helped instigate everyone else to turn to color. They helped share their knowledge and encouraged people to reach the sun and gather all new kinds of knowledge. Plato’s final two conclusions explain the nature of the philosopher in educating others and how the student has all the information inside them, they just need to tap into their inner mind to retrieve it. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Gary Ross’s Pleasantville each were very insightful in helping understand the other. By studying the allegory, it was very easy to understand the themes and symbols present in Pleasantville. Conversely, by watching Pleasantville, it was very easy to understand and modernize the conclusions Plato draws in his allegory. Through comprehending both, it is easier to understand Plato’s four truths: why knowledge can be difficult; why philosophers are ridiculed; the nature of education; and the role of the philosopher.