Latke vs. Hamentashen Debate LiveBlog

Latke vs. Hamentashen Debate LiveBlog 8:02 pm Im here in 26-100 getting ready to watch the 2008 Latke Vs. Hamentashen debate. In essence, take a bunch of MIT professors and hundreds of interested parties listening intently, cheering on their favorite Jewish tasty. Im going to try to semi-flow this debate, keeping you updated on all of the important bits and some of the funnier jokes. Pictures could be scarce because of how hard it is to take, compress, crop, upload, and insert pictures while typing. I did manage to catch some candids of the human Latke and human Hamentashen. Can you guess which is which??? Anyway, the debate is now beginning, more word soon. 8:11 pm Master of ceremonies Jeremy Wolfe is explaining the origins of the Latke vs. Hamentashen debate. 8:13 pm They are going to flip the ritual package of Top Ramen in order to decide who begins the debate. With a call of heads, Team Hamentashen has decided to speak second. Peter Dourmashkin, Stephen Van Evera, and Patrick Winston are now being introduced and will soon be arguing for the Latke. 8:16 pm This is turning into a roast! Im not sure they could have made any more physics/TEAL related jokes when introducing Dourmashkin, who is now speaking. Major Food = Minor Holiday Latke = Hanukkah Minor Food = Major Holiday Hamentashen = Purim Hamen = Bad Guy Latkes are brain food (read they look like brains) After testing if a potato floats in a large beaker of water (it didnt), Dourmashkin pulled a latke from his pocket and, lo and behold, it floated! You thought Archimedes said Eureka? Psh, he said Your Latke! Latkes are obviously superior! 8:22 pm Latke is round, therefore associated with a nice transcendental number (pi). Hamentashen is triangular, therefore associated with an ugly transcendental number (sqrt(3)). Dourmashkin is done speaking and now Ari Epstein is being introduced for Team Hamentashen. Were all receiving paper plates in the audience. Only the Hamentashen side is getting little stickers to go along with them. Thats because were awesome!!! Constructivism: The learner learns more through experience and construction than via the normal method of LOL IM AT MIT AND GLAGLASDKGHSJDHGLKJSFDH - Thats the sound you make when a firehose sprays you in the face. Hamentashen affords options, lots of different fillings, while the latke allows potato and . . . sweet potato. Its fun to make Hamentashen with friends, its a great party food! Latke? No. Hamentashen is dessert! Latke? No idea, is it even food? 8:30 pm I JUST MADE A HAMENTASHEN OUT OF A PAPER PLATE AND STICKERS! 8:31 pm Patrick Winston was just introduced and is ready to argue for the latkes again. Theyre playing a video of a tour in the underground of Stata. Twisting and turning through machine rooms we get lost and confused but then BOOM! A door opens and a nice little kitchen is all set up and latkes are frying. The actual home of Katzs Delicatessen!!! 8:38 pm An impromptu Turing test revealed the following revelations: 8:40 pm Hazel Sive is now being introduced. Adult Hamentash is the only multicellular lifeform with triangular symmetry. . . go figure? A biological approach to hamentashen should be a bit interesting. How does a single cell become an adult hamentashen with 10^12 cells? Single - disc ~10^5 cells - larva - immature hamentashen - adult hamentashen 10^12 cells Um, apparently now were looking for mutant hamentashen. The first is a hamentashen with too much filling. Another is one with too many tails. The last is one that has arrested development, it never folded. It has been scorned and named latke. Therefore, Latke = mutant Hamentashen. QED 8:46 pm Stephen Van Evera is now being introduced. Latkes Rule, Hamentashen drool. is the title of the next slide. Hes discussing . . . WTF!? He just spent an entire minute discussing the word Sniviling and Snivility and how its a great thing to accuse your opponent of. Its vile, associated with evil, badness, Brittney Spears, and generally distasteful things. I take offense! Old Glory: Love it well by loving latkes! The stars on the flag? Nope, latkes. 50 latkes, all on our flag! Now were chanting USA USA LATKES LATKES USA! Like at a political rally. Wow, I hope that these slides hit the internet, I need to show you some of this stuff! Latkes=hot oil, therefore, latkes improve national security if you can pour the hot oil over the castle wall onto Bin Ladens head. Hamentashen? No good for killing people. Fooey on them. Surrender monkeys! 8:57 pm Vote For Latkes! Pull the Lever for Latkes! 8:58 pm Erik Demaine is now being introduced. Hamentashen is an anagram for. . . . . enHances math!!! (I think they may have just won right there. Boo-yah) Twice as many syllables, twice as good. w00t. The latkes goal in life is to fold into a hamentashen. Hamentashen can never be folded into a circle, why? BECAUSE CIRCLES DO NOT EXIST! Therefore there is no perfect latke. QED. 9:04 pm Circles cant tile, they waste space while sitting in the pan and cooking. Latkes, while wasting heat during cooking, contribute to global warming! Traingle versus circle, its clear that the triangle will just pop the circle. Duh folks, Hamentashen wins! Intermission time! 9:09 pm Rebuttals from hamentashen now. MIT is a place of truth, knowledge, and honesty! Hamentashen enhances math! If you take two hamentashen you can make the Jewish star. Hot oil good for weapons? Ok. WHY ARE YOU MAKING FOOD WITH IT? 9:13 pm Rebuttals from latke now. Bulls eating hamentashen is dangerous. Leonardo, a smart robot creature from the media lab, just verified that latkes are wonderful and hamentashen are evil. Leave it to the robot! 9:20 pm The latke team argues: The MIT Hamentashen Team will cause Bin Laden to take over the world! QED 9:22 pm Were voting now, who will win!? Latkes? Hamentashen? CAN YOU HANDLE THE SUSPENSE??? 9:23 pm TIE! Thanks for reading, Im going to go eat Jewish food now!

Latke vs. Hamentashen Debate LiveBlog

Latke vs. Hamentashen Debate LiveBlog 8:02 pm Im here in 26-100 getting ready to watch the 2008 Latke Vs. Hamentashen debate. In essence, take a bunch of MIT professors and hundreds of interested parties listening intently, cheering on their favorite Jewish tasty. Im going to try to semi-flow this debate, keeping you updated on all of the important bits and some of the funnier jokes. Pictures could be scarce because of how hard it is to take, compress, crop, upload, and insert pictures while typing. I did manage to catch some candids of the human Latke and human Hamentashen. Can you guess which is which??? Anyway, the debate is now beginning, more word soon. 8:11 pm Master of ceremonies Jeremy Wolfe is explaining the origins of the Latke vs. Hamentashen debate. 8:13 pm They are going to flip the ritual package of Top Ramen in order to decide who begins the debate. With a call of heads, Team Hamentashen has decided to speak second. Peter Dourmashkin, Stephen Van Evera, and Patrick Winston are now being introduced and will soon be arguing for the Latke. 8:16 pm This is turning into a roast! Im not sure they could have made any more physics/TEAL related jokes when introducing Dourmashkin, who is now speaking. Major Food = Minor Holiday Latke = Hanukkah Minor Food = Major Holiday Hamentashen = Purim Hamen = Bad Guy Latkes are brain food (read they look like brains) After testing if a potato floats in a large beaker of water (it didnt), Dourmashkin pulled a latke from his pocket and, lo and behold, it floated! You thought Archimedes said Eureka? Psh, he said Your Latke! Latkes are obviously superior! 8:22 pm Latke is round, therefore associated with a nice transcendental number (pi). Hamentashen is triangular, therefore associated with an ugly transcendental number (sqrt(3)). Dourmashkin is done speaking and now Ari Epstein is being introduced for Team Hamentashen. Were all receiving paper plates in the audience. Only the Hamentashen side is getting little stickers to go along with them. Thats because were awesome!!! Constructivism: The learner learns more through experience and construction than via the normal method of LOL IM AT MIT AND GLAGLASDKGHSJDHGLKJSFDH - Thats the sound you make when a firehose sprays you in the face. Hamentashen affords options, lots of different fillings, while the latke allows potato and . . . sweet potato. Its fun to make Hamentashen with friends, its a great party food! Latke? No. Hamentashen is dessert! Latke? No idea, is it even food? 8:30 pm I JUST MADE A HAMENTASHEN OUT OF A PAPER PLATE AND STICKERS! 8:31 pm Patrick Winston was just introduced and is ready to argue for the latkes again. Theyre playing a video of a tour in the underground of Stata. Twisting and turning through machine rooms we get lost and confused but then BOOM! A door opens and a nice little kitchen is all set up and latkes are frying. The actual home of Katzs Delicatessen!!! 8:38 pm An impromptu Turing test revealed the following revelations: 8:40 pm Hazel Sive is now being introduced. Adult Hamentash is the only multicellular lifeform with triangular symmetry. . . go figure? A biological approach to hamentashen should be a bit interesting. How does a single cell become an adult hamentashen with 10^12 cells? Single - disc ~10^5 cells - larva - immature hamentashen - adult hamentashen 10^12 cells Um, apparently now were looking for mutant hamentashen. The first is a hamentashen with too much filling. Another is one with too many tails. The last is one that has arrested development, it never folded. It has been scorned and named latke. Therefore, Latke = mutant Hamentashen. QED 8:46 pm Stephen Van Evera is now being introduced. Latkes Rule, Hamentashen drool. is the title of the next slide. Hes discussing . . . WTF!? He just spent an entire minute discussing the word Sniviling and Snivility and how its a great thing to accuse your opponent of. Its vile, associated with evil, badness, Brittney Spears, and generally distasteful things. I take offense! Old Glory: Love it well by loving latkes! The stars on the flag? Nope, latkes. 50 latkes, all on our flag! Now were chanting USA USA LATKES LATKES USA! Like at a political rally. Wow, I hope that these slides hit the internet, I need to show you some of this stuff! Latkes=hot oil, therefore, latkes improve national security if you can pour the hot oil over the castle wall onto Bin Ladens head. Hamentashen? No good for killing people. Fooey on them. Surrender monkeys! 8:57 pm Vote For Latkes! Pull the Lever for Latkes! 8:58 pm Erik Demaine is now being introduced. Hamentashen is an anagram for. . . . . enHances math!!! (I think they may have just won right there. Boo-yah) Twice as many syllables, twice as good. w00t. The latkes goal in life is to fold into a hamentashen. Hamentashen can never be folded into a circle, why? BECAUSE CIRCLES DO NOT EXIST! Therefore there is no perfect latke. QED. 9:04 pm Circles cant tile, they waste space while sitting in the pan and cooking. Latkes, while wasting heat during cooking, contribute to global warming! Traingle versus circle, its clear that the triangle will just pop the circle. Duh folks, Hamentashen wins! Intermission time! 9:09 pm Rebuttals from hamentashen now. MIT is a place of truth, knowledge, and honesty! Hamentashen enhances math! If you take two hamentashen you can make the Jewish star. Hot oil good for weapons? Ok. WHY ARE YOU MAKING FOOD WITH IT? 9:13 pm Rebuttals from latke now. Bulls eating hamentashen is dangerous. Leonardo, a smart robot creature from the media lab, just verified that latkes are wonderful and hamentashen are evil. Leave it to the robot! 9:20 pm The latke team argues: The MIT Hamentashen Team will cause Bin Laden to take over the world! QED 9:22 pm Were voting now, who will win!? Latkes? Hamentashen? CAN YOU HANDLE THE SUSPENSE??? 9:23 pm TIE! Thanks for reading, Im going to go eat Jewish food now!

Keily Maldonado english essay - 779 Words

Keily Maldonado Period 1 The Noble Savage Lost in Space Jean Jacques Rousseau was a French philosopher and writer, born in Switzerland, who strongly influenced the theories of the French Revolution and the romantics. Many of his ideas sprung from his belief in the natural goodness of man, whom he felt was warped by society. The story of the noble savage is often a reflection on the ways we are corrupted by the civilization we create. Its a myth that tells us only in the more natural state of the hunter-gathering tribe do we retain a pure connection with the world. The noble savage was the man of nature who lived according to the commands of natural law, thought according to natural reason, and understood God and creation by way of†¦show more content†¦These days, the Noble Savage is usually dismissed merely as a figment of imagination, ignoring the power the image held in the Enlightenment mind, and the impact of its appeal to influential thinkers of the time. They saw with their own eyes, not ours. 1. (A Native American Indian known as the noble savage untouched by modern civilization. Beside him stands a civilized European.) In the film Avatar one of the few true myths of the modern world, the noble savage, gets updated and transplanted to an alien moon. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush comfortable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The growth of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Navi. The films title refers to a genetically engineered Navi body with the mind slightly like a human, and is used to interact with the natives of Pandora. The film Avatar (2009) I was struck by how easily anxieties that began with an older era of European colonialism could be morphed into a future of space exploration and exploitation. In spite of the miracles of air travel and antibiotics, computers and cell phones, we clearly retain a sense of having lost something. In a world of rapidly approaching limits to population and resources this anxiety is not a surprise. The movie doesn’t give the vibe that civilization is bad. But in a sense, separates technology from

Comparison Between Bkfc And Mali Essay - 1664 Words

BKFC v Mali 5. Does the BKFC owe a duty to prevent pure economic loss of $2,500 caused by negligent words â€Å"huge profits† to Mali? It is necessary to consider the following salient features, alongside reasonable foreseeability, as concluded in Hedley Byrne v Heller. First, whether there was reasonable reliance. There is a significant level of reliance on Mali’s behalf as she quit her job, relying on the ‘huge profits’. Though it is unclear whether this was communicated to the BKFC, the BKFC should have reasonably known that an individual depositing $2500 for a stall at their festival, following their words ‘huge profits’, would have reliance. Further, James McNaughton Paper Group v Hicks can be applied with regard to the reasonableness of reliance, where the court concluded the plaintiff should have made their own enquiry into the business rather than relying solely on the defendant’s statement. Additionally, the contract Mali signed further reduces the reasonableness of her reliance. Secondly, whether the defendant was in a position of authority. The BKF C enticed Mali by stating she would gain â€Å"huge profits†, similar to the facts of Norris v Siberas wherein Norris induced Siberas to purchase a venue stating it will be a â€Å"gold mine†. However, unlike Norris v Siberas, wherein there was no relationship of proximity, the relationship between Mali and BKFC can be distinguished as it is closer to a commercial relationship. Thirdly, as the contract

The Typical Detective Genre Portrayed in Sherlock Holmes...

The Typical Detective Genre Portrayed in Sherlock Holmes Literature The late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a phenomenally successful writer, not only in the Victorian era but is still popular today; his Sherlock Homes stories were perhaps his most successful, in which he combines realistic situations of murders and scandals with the improbable situation of such a successful detective. Victorian London was an exceptionally dangerous place to live. Prostitution, opium dens and murders were inescapable. A womens role within the household was very much dependent on her class and her husband, purely due to the fact was that herr husband was the breadwinner. They were to stay at home; sex was supposedly purely for reproduction.†¦show more content†¦His initial thought of his deception lasting until his debts were cleared was taken over by greed. As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually married, with out anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation. St Clair was obviously oblivious to the fact that people were suspicious of him. This occurs often in detective stories to add drama and surprise to the ending. He considered his begging to be an occupation Surely he did not deem this to be a stable and satisfying career for some one of his status. The story of this swindler is ironic as in order to keep his high status, he had to come down to such a low status that people pitied him. Is Neville St Claire responsible for his actions or was the true crime committed by society for showing the fraudster empathy? The Victorian society should be criticised for judging people, but surely detective stories thrive on judgement and first impressions. The class system in Victorian times was very much divided. People did not tend to mix socially indifferent classes. The Working class was very much the factory workers and labourers, who often lived in horrendous conditions in slums. Irene Adler from A Scandal in Bohemia was secretly seeing the king but because of her low position in the social order and the fickle personality of the king, they were forced to break up. Holmes provesShow MoreRelatedThe Diary Of Anne Rodway And The Speckled Band1850 Words   |  8 PagesDetective fiction is filled a wide array of characters and plotlines that can be analyzed for cultural significance and meaning within the literature. I chose to analyze â€Å"The Diary of Anne Rodway† and â€Å"The Speckled Band† because they were two very different styled stories in their narration, character development, and plot deliveries. Although they were had various dissimilar aspects, both portrayed women in a light that put them in an inferior position to men. I wanted to know why classical detectiveRead MoreVictorian Novel9605 Words   |  39 Pagesshape and development. It was the novel that was the leading form of literature in the 19th century England. The term ‘novel’ itself was a simple narrative form, which in opposition to its forerunner, the ‘romance’ focused on the affairs of everyday life such as scientific discovery, religious debate, politics or colonial settlement. Though there are many arguments among critics which dates frame the period of Victorian literature, it is commonly accepted that it was the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)

Sop for Commerce free essay sample

I Priyesh Kulkarni completed my Graduation in Bachelor of Commerce (Honors Course) in It taught me how to manage financial affairs, prepare balance sheets, etc. I liked the commerce field so I decided to do masters in that field. In I completed my Masters degree in Commerce. While doing the masters degree I joined our own finance company where my work was totally related to the finance field. Along with that I did Post Graduate Diploma in Management, again specializing in Finance and completed it in While doing the job I thought about getting some acquaintance with the computers so I did Advanced PC Applications from NIIT in and a training program from Indira Gandhi National Open University in C, C++ and JAVA in I am an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP), the certificate provided by Oracle Corporation, USA. I did 2 projects in oracle. One was about Banking System and the second was about the Super Market. We will write a custom essay sample on Sop for Commerce or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The Banking system was small software that handled all the transactions regarding bank, which provides the account holder information, and handling day-to-day transactions. This software automatically updates the account holder’s account mentioning the current balance in his account. The super market was sophisticated software, which stored the information regarding customer, products, vendors and credit card. This software also generated various bills like invoicing bill, receipt bill and customer payment bill. After doing these many courses and 2 projects in computers I found that my interest towards computers has increased further. Moreover, now in every industry knowledge about IT is required. So I discovered that either I have the option to do Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) from India itself or go outside India to get a good Masters degree in computers. As in India, MCA is for three years, which I thought, is not feasible for me. So I decided for the second option i. e. doing MS in Computer Science from USA, which is a two year course. Further, MS in computer science is a professional degree worldwide and it will be easier for me to fulfill my dreams of becoming a software professional and getting a good job in India. Moreover, by doing this course from USA I will get an international l exposure and it will also enhance my overall personal development.

Aspen Technology free essay sample

Aspen is a software company which was established in 1982. The company mainly provides simulation solutions to process manufacturing companies. The main industry which the company focuses on is chemical processing. The entire idea began with the project of Advanced System for Process Engineering in MIT in 1976. This project was than acquired by Lawrence Evans whom founded Aspen. In a very short amount of time Aspen became a major player in the simulation part of the software industry. The company started off as a privately owned firm but in 1995 turned into a publicly traded company with a capitalization of 200 million dollars. The leading product of Aspen is Aspen Plus; we have to note that 48 % of sales were stemming from this product in 1995. The company gives great significance to RD as the customers commitment depends on the development of Aspen’s current products. In 1995, 11. 4 million dollars was dedicated to RD. We will write a custom essay sample on Aspen Technology or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There is a factor of foreign currency expense as 20% of the total RD expense was denominated in British pounds; the rest was in U. S dollars. Aspen enjoys a collection of committed and loyal customers; we can come to this from the increase of the licensing fees between the periods of 1988 and 1995. There were three increases in those periods at the rates of 10 percent. It is also crucial to note that 90 % of Aspen’s customers renewed their licensing agreements. Aspen attained 34 % of revenues from license renewals. An additional 34 percent was gathered from providing further services to current customers. The company has sales offices in UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Brussels. There is a joint venture operation with China’s national petroleum and petrochemical company. Aspens European operation headquarters is located in Belgium. Aspen’s general sale policy is built upon non-cancelable contracts which last three to five years. The annual cost of a license for a single US user is between $10,000 to $25,000 dollars. The company’s policy of offering three to five years contracts enables options of financing to customers. Aspen’s interest rates for the last year are between 9. % and 11%. The rate of interest in 1995 was 12%. Aspen generated revenue from UK which was denominated in pounds, in Japan sales were in yen, in Germany the revenue was denominated in marks. This information is essential as we are going to observe the currencies to properly grasp the risk exposure stemming from foreign currency exchange. Aspen’s financing plan to customers created a problem for the company; in 1995, the revenue was $57. 5 million and th e received cash from customers was $38. 5 million. As we can comprehend the company’s receivable account regarding installments soared however the company faced a cash flow problem. Aspen sold cash receivables to GE Capital and Sanwa Bank for cash. Foreign denominated contracts attained dollars immediately however dollar denominated contracts were discounted based on the treasury rate. Let us take note of this as for the contracts that are not sold right after agreement, Aspen will bore risk as the interest of the contract stemming from the finance institutions will not be passed to the customer. It is crucial to point out that Aspen uses hedging for foreign exchange receivables however expenditures denominated in foreign currency is not hedged. This is the current portrait of the company, let us observe the exposures. The Risk Exposures of Aspen: The foremost risk exposure of Aspen stems from the financing cycle of the company. The company’s offered deferment plan which consists periods of three to five years triggers the company to have low cash flows. The installment receivable account however is high because most of the customers prefer the deferment plan. Aspen to finance its cash cycle therefore sell the receivables for cash, this has risks since the accounts that are not sold at the spot of the agreement could create losses due to alternating US treasury rates (if the account is dollar denominated), forward exchange and interest rates (if the account is foreign currency denominated). The sale of receivables also depends on the purchasing willingness of counterparties. Aspen could find itself in a contracting finance cycle if the deferred payments are not paid on time and the finance institutions are willing to accept any further long term installment receivables. We also have to note that the company has further liabilities such as the 4 million dollar subordinated debenture to the Massachusetts Capital Resource Company. In the case of delayed payments of receivables, the purchasing unwillingness of finance institutions towards future sale of receivables and currents loans could trigger bankruptcy of Aspen. The long term deferment plan increases business but poses grave risk for the cash flow of the company. We also have to note that positive cash carries great significance as Aspen is now a publicly traded company, the cash flow could directly affect the stock price f the company and therefore influence the interest of investors towards Aspen. The company is also subjected to foreign exchange exposures due to the sales in foreign markets. The data shows us that 48 % of Aspen’s revenues come from United States, 31 % comes from Europe, 12 % from Asia and 9 % from other regions of the world. This subjects the company to have a hedge plan for British pounds, Yen, Yuan, Mark. We have to distinguish the fact that the company has hedging for receivables however this does not apply to expenses. We can come to the conclusion that the company is focused on â€Å"stable net income† to establish confidence among the investors. This could however trigger a problem as we can see that the expense in 1995 stemming from the Belgium headquarters is $5,153,000. Since we acknowledge that Aspen’s business is growing every year, the expenses shall also increase at a following rate therefore the expense denominated in foreign currency shall no longer be a negligible amount and cause serious problems due to foreign exchange exposure. In summary, the company has exposure due to operational and strategic factors. The company’s business with countries other than United States creates the problem of foreign currency denominated revenues and expenses. The strategic exposure is company’s unwillingness to hedge against foreign exchange expense exposure. Since the company is always at the risk of low cash flow, Aspen mainly focuses on net income therefore does not dedicate sufficient attention towards expense exposure. Financing Cycle: As Aspen is now a publicly traded company, the deferment plan should be reviewed. In 1994, the revenue generated from services is $44,975,000. In 1995, it is $57,498,000; there is an increase of 27 percent in revenue. Let us observe how this is distributed in terms of cash; the cash in 1994 is $2,488,000 and in 1995 $4,189,000. The cash denomination of year 1994 is 5. 5 percent and for 1995 it is 7. 28 percent. The increase in cash compared to the overall increase in revenue is minute. We can also look at the deferred revenue as in 1994 it is $4,183,000 and in 1995 it is $4,994,000; we can comprehend that there is an increase of 19 percent in deferred revenue. This increase is almost as much as the increase in overall revenue. After we observe these numbers, we can conclude that the deferment plan of Aspen should either change or a new strategy is needed. A higher percentage of cash business would certainly solve the problem of low cash flow of the company; it would even limit the long term foreign exchange exposure. This could however trigger loss of customers as most clients of Aspen prefer financing their licensing fees. Instead of one to five year financing plans, the company could offer financing for shorter periods of time, this would work favorably as long term forward exchange contracts do not find much demand. The shorter term financing could also increase the appetite of financial institutions regarding the purchase of long term account receivables. If the company does not wish to change any variable with the current financing plan, another possible path to limit the financing cycle exposure would be to establish a strategic partnership with a financial institution. The company would have guaranteed demand by selling account receivables therefore would have a certain future dealing with cycle exposures. There would not be any concerns regarding the appetite of purchase towards long term receivables. This could be established by sharing a certain amount of the profit with the financial institution, allowing them to share the risk with Aspen. The sale of receivables would be at the established and favorable rates compared to the market data. Foreign Exchange Exposure: The company’s 48 percent of revenues are attained from United States. This does not create any problems since the 2/3 of the company’s expense is US dollar denominated. The problem is with the 52 percent of the revenue; this is not only gathered from a single location but 31 percent from Europe, 12 percent from Asia and 9 percent from other locations. The company obviously has direct foreign exchange exposure from revenues. Aspen’s hedging method is selling long term foreign currency receivables and gathering dollars for it. They also enter into forward currency contracts when license agreements are signed. The method of selling long term foreign currency receivables is not reliable since purchasers could not be found for contracts which are longer than two years. The company therefore used a series of one year forward contracts to swap the expired ones. In this scenario the timing could be problematic for Aspen. The best way to hedge for long term foreign currency revenues would be to create a portfolio of currencies by basing Canadian dollar due to low standard deviation and correlation and decreasing the amount of other currencies would limit the exposure. We can see that Canadian dollar is less risky due to the stability of the currency. At the current portrait, the company due to the financing faces low cash flows since the company is publicly traded; low cash flows would have adverse effects on investor confidence. The company should focus on net income and have proper plans for hedging revenue. Aspen is long for all currencies when we observe the case from annual sales and expenses but the company is short for currencies when we look at it from cash flow. Aspen emphasizes on stable â€Å"net income†. Since they sell account receivables, they actually can accomplish this but as explained above in certain situation basing the hedging on the sale of account receivables could have serious consequences. A problem which is being overlooked by Aspen is the foreign currency exposures from expenditures. As we look at the figures, we can see that the expected operating expense for Aspen is $50,947,000. The operating expense of Aspen stemming from United States is $35,810,000; this indicates us that the foreign operating expense of Aspen is $15,137,000. This is a large amount and we can see that British pound, Belgium franc and Japanese Yen are the largest denominated debts so hedging is required against three currencies. We can use the same principle as discussed above; building a portfolio of currencies and basing our portfolio on a reliable currency such as Canadian dollar. We can see that Canadian dollar has low standard deviation and correlation. We should also lower the proportion of other currencies while we use Canadian dollar as the foundation of our portfolio. It is crucial that while the company focuses on foreign exchange revenue exposure, Aspen should also hedge against expense exposure. We can see that as the business of Aspen is growing so is the foreign denominated expense. Competition: There are various firms that can create market share problems for Aspen. Simulation Sciences is a software company that has entered the simulation software industry, creating solutions specific to chemical industry. We have to state that 65 percent of Aspen’s business comes from chemical industry. They are located in United States and this might increase competition for Aspen this could eventually affect the cash flow which is sometimes poses conflicts for the company. Hyprotech is a Canada based company. They already old 10 percent of the chemical industry market for simulation software. The specialty of their product is that it is interchangeable from steady state to dynamic state. This could pose a problem for Aspen since the loyal customer base could demand add on or such functionality and this would increase the RD costs of the company. Chemshare and Chemstations are Houston based companies although not as established as Aspen or Simulation Sciences due to th eir location they pose a threat for the domestic market share of the company. Belsim and Prosim are simulation software companies located in Belgium and France, they pose a threat towards the European market share of Aspen. The affects of these competitors could trigger higher prices in expenses and better terms of financing, it is crucial to comprehend the market share and place of these competitors to properly shape Aspen’s plans. Conclusion: Aspen has exposure due to the financing cycle, offering long terms of deferment to clients trigger low cash flow. Since the company is publicly traded, the low cash flow could have an adverse affect on investor confidence and thus lower the stock price. We have reviewed possible options to alter the financing cycle without damaging the demand, shorter financing frames or strategic partnership with a financial institution could limit the exposure of Aspen and eventually solve the problem of low cash flow. We have to stress the severity of this problem as the company could bankrupt because of deferred payments. There is also the foreign exchange risk both from operational and strategic reasons. The operational exposure is because the company attains revenues abroad United States and the currency is foreign denominated. The strategic risk stems from the fact that company neglects to hedge against foreign currency expenses and the data shows us that the expense is sizeable and as the business grows so does the foreign expense†¦ We have suggested that the company should hedge with the use of a currency portfolio, emphasizing on reliable currencies such as Canadian dollar due to low standard deviation and correlation. The proportion of other currencies should be reduced for effective hedging. Aspen should also acknowledge the market share and effectiveness of competitors as they can have a direct impact on revenues and thus the stability of net income.