Barack Obama Back to School Essay Example for Free

Barack Obama Back to School Essay On September 8th 2009, the president of The United States, Barack Obama gave a speech called â€Å"Back to School†. The speech was about the responsibility that you have as a young individual responsibility you have for yourself, your teachers, parents, and your country. Obama mentions, among other things, that you have to attend school to find out what your good at, and what you want to make of your future. He says that without education your never going to get the job you want most. He says that what you make of your education is going to determine the future of the country and if you quit school and quit on yourself, your giving up on our country. Throughout the speech, Obama makes references to not only his own life experiences, but also, the American dream. He ends his speech by saying, that it is hard to be successful and that you have to fight to achieve your goal in life. You have to practice, study hard and not be afraid of asking people for help. Furthermore he ends his speech by asking his audience questions and to say that he has great expectations for this new generation. The President of the United States Barack Obama is the speaker of the text â€Å"Back to School†. His audience is not only the young people at Wakefield High School, but moreover young people attending school in all over America. P. 1 l. 1: â€Å"Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? † It is already indicated in the first line that he is trying to level with his audience, the young students, despite of his status. Furthermore he uses the words â€Å"I know†, and almost turns them into a phrase. With this phrase, which appears several times through the text, he indicates to the audience that he knows their feelings or thoughts. The imagery in this speech is very vivid, showing what success looks like, and what an individual could make of their life. With the use of small and simple sentences Obama tries to get the point across that school is important and one needs an education to survive in this world. The length of the speech shows how adamant he is of children staying in school, and trying to better their future. There is a lot of repetition in the speech, stating that school is important, and an education is necessary in life, and that you cant get what you want without practicing hard, studying even harder and always trying your best. There seems to be no form of alliteration in this speech. Many people use the alliteration of speech to capture the audience and individual minds. Obama references to many other famous people who have failed many times and still succeed. â€Å"J. K. Rowlings who wrote Harry Potter her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, ‘I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And thats why I succeed. ’†. The language of this poem shows that the speech is meant for a young audience, possibly kindergarden-12th grade. Barack talks about staying in school, a the responsibility an individual has as a student. He directly addresses the audience, by using the word â€Å"you†. He uses a very direct tone in order to capture the audience in a better way. With the use of logos, the spectators can better understand what the President is saying to them by using his own experiences, and journeys. Trying to sound like president Kennedy, Obama makes the audience feel comfortable, and makes them feel like what he is saying is true. He uses promptness and sternness to show how serious education is, not only for yourself, but your country. Toward the middle of his speech Obama says â€Å"The truth is, being successful is hard. You wont love every subject that you study. You wont click with every teacher that you have. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. And you wont necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try. † This helps ones mind feel at ease with knowing he’s speaking the truth.

The Movie Called Crash English Literature Essay

The Movie Called Crash English Literature Essay Most people would say that at one time or another they have felt like seeking revenge. Is it not in human nature to fight back when we are hurt? Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo does something extraordinary. Framed by his best friend for a crime he has never committed, he takes it upon himself to seek revenge on all those involved. This revenge all but consumes him; it becomes the focal point of his existence. Many a murder, rape, and assault in todays society have been the result of revenge. Thankfully, not everyone goes to such extremes to seek payback for a wrong done unto them. The film however lets us live vicariously through Dantes. We can sympathize with his emotions and almost excuse him for his actions because of the extenuating circumstances he has gone through. One concept discussed was that of a role model. The power to shape society comes from those that we look up to in a leadership positions. There are positive and negative role models. It is hopeful that the ones we choose to look up to fall into the positive rather than the negative category. As an example, Edmond Dantes is a good man that becomes victim of unfortunate circumstances. If the film had continued as started Dantes would have been a positive influence. However, due to his twist of fate he becomes a negative role model up until the very end of the movie. This is when he acknowledges all he has done in the name of revenge and realizes although the outcome is good what he had done to get there was wrong. It is never a good idea to seek revenge as it hurts everyone involved. This was the lesson Dantes figured out at the very end of the film. The concept of social mobility is quite interesting. I know I myself, would not turn down such an opportunity within my lifetime. Think of all the doors that can open up to one that is privileged enough to up their social position. Many people in our society work very hard daily not just to survive, but also in the hopes to better their lives in such a way. Would social mobility not have been a benefit to some of the characters in Boyz n the Hood? It could have opened doors to a better education, and perhaps replaced poverty with the opportunity to lead a better quality of life. Maybe fewer characters would have lost their lives. Such an improvement in social class may have provisioned them with the opportunity to become productive members of society. The third concept I can identify with is that of the psychopath. I am sure that at some point in our lifetime we will all meet up with at least one. For me that psychopath was a friend in high school. She was so charismatic that you could not help wanting to be friends with her. Soon however, I caught her lying in order to manipulate me. Everything she did was with the focus on her getting her way; or whatever object she desired at the time be it human or otherwise. When confronted my friend would easily laugh things off, often making me feel silly for mistrusting her in the first place. In the end her lack of remorse for the hurtful things she had done cost our friendship. This friend had personality traits closely related to that of Christine from The Bad Seed. Christines lack of empathy and remorse lead to murder in her attempt to get whatever her heart desires. Christine plays the part of a charming and perfect little girl. She is poised, well mannered, and a doting daughter. Und erneath the exterior, she is actually a manipulative psychopath controlling the unwitting adults and world around her as if they were puppets. 4. We viewed some great socially relevant films this quarter. Here are two more that I believe would fit in perfectly as well. Crash an intense socially charged movie that involves people of all colors, races, social classes and sexual orientation. To put it precisely there are enough issues brought up in this film to offend everyone. However, strange as it may sound it is not stereotypical in the least. Every character has a surprising quality about them that keeps the viewer from forming or keeping an absolute opinion of them. The movie in itself is about different groups of people living in Los Angeles whose lives become intertwined in some way; usually violence, and collide. Each character in the film tends to play the part of the protagonist. Yet they also tend to foil themselves through their own prejudices. In turn, every character actually becomes their own antagonist as well as that of those around them. Crash is full of conflict in regards to racial tension or profiling, corruption within the police force, and political issues. It deals with issues such as drugs and poverty affecting minorities, as well as revenge. It exposes how the characters seeking revenge take their anger out on an entire race rather than those who originally wronged them. The main setting takes place in Los Angeles over a two-day period. However, we find the background switching back and forth from the affluent part of the city, to a middle class neighborhood, and finally to the poverty stricken hood. A wide variety of concepts we studied can applied within the film. Hypergettoization applies to the poverty, despair, and drug addiction the characters living in the hood are dealing with. The strain theory pertains strongly to a part in the movie when two young black men steal a car that would normally be unattainable to those living in poverty. The concept of stratification is viewed throughout the entire film; and strong divisions of society with emphasis on its different levels are clearly pointed out. 12 Angry Men is another film with the subject matter of social conflict and prejudices. A young Latino from the slums remains accused of murdering his father and put on trial. A jury of twelve men from very different social, economic, and cultural backgrounds convenes to decide the boys fate. Initially eleven of the twelve jurors are quick to declare the boy guilty due to their own personal prejudices. One lone unprejudiced juror is able to convince the others to put their hatred aside in order for the boy to be given a fair trial. The non-biased juror represents the protagonist in the film; while those with prejudices act as the antagonists. The jurors symbolize our government, while the young Latino is representative of all those who the government has ever unjustly accused. The conflict in this film is also based on racial bias, prejudice, and fairness. The film is set in a juror room on a particularly stifling hot day. The air conditioning is broken leading to heated tempers and the trapped feeling of sardines in a can. Symbolic of the stifling feeling one must have while waiting for others to make the decision of your fate. The criminology concept fits into this film. Especially in the sense of how a criminal should be treated by society. The consensus of jurors did not go in with the innocent until proven guilty attitude; it was quite the opposite. Intersectionality may also be applied to the film. If we have an understanding of the interrelationships between different social and racial groups; then we can have better relationships with members of different social profiles. 6. The movie The Bad Seed brings up many psychological questions. It is an extremely risquà © movie for the culture of the 1950s since this was a time when the issue of juvenile delinquency was becoming more progressive. The most controversial question this movie poses is are there those that are just born evil? The second important issue addressed is that of mental disorders. Is it safe to assume that those that fall under the category of psychopath or sociopath acquired these traits through a hereditary condition? It seems that it is more acceptable or the norm for us to think of adults as having these types of disorders. When it comes to children with these psychological problems, it tends to be harder for society to accept the idea. Who wants to believe that children are not always as innocent as they seem? Although many questions are brought up, there are no definitive answers by the end of the film. We as viewers are left to question ourselves about our own beliefs on the subject. Perhaps it is not such a silly idea to believe that a psycho or sociopath is actually born into society and not necessarily the product of society. The most obvious concepts that apply are sociopath and psychopath. Rhoda obviously has all the classic traits. She is charming and sweet, yet she is a manipulative liar that will stop at nothing including murder to get what she wants. Nature vs. nurture is relevant as well. The theory to this day is still very debatable. Is a persons personality determined more so by their genetic background or the environment they grow up in? In Rhodas case, the former rather than the latter appears to be the true. Where does this leave us by way of role models? Rhoda seems to have had positive role models. Her parents and the upstairs property owner known as Aunt Monica, all have prominent roles in her life. We know role models can have a positive or negative effect but Rhodas role models seem to have neither influence on her. She is what she is with or without their example. Other relevant concepts that apply are norms; or proscriptive norms since murder is obviously a taboo act in our society. The Bad Seed is a great controversial film the ending does not seem fitting. However, I wonder what would have been done differently, had there been no Hays Code restrictions at the time. 7. The main point of Bulworth is to express the radical change that needs to take place within politics. It is time for a new attitude; the rich control politics. The middle class and the poor do not have very much pull if any. In reality, politicians are just puppets filled with the ideas of those with the money to finance their campaign. The film also points out that there is still an incredible amount of racialism. People of color are still not treated, as they should be; even by politicians who promise to address the issues that are of most concern to them. Warren Beatty is attempting to address the separation issue that is still upheld today between social classes and race. Through all his rhyme and rap Beatty gets his point across shockingly well. The message that he is trying to convey is that people are people. No matter the color or race, people of the same social classes need to break down the walls. The white middle class has much more in common with the black middle class than they will ever have with the rich. Once society understands this concept, we would no longer exist as the ghosts but would become the spirit that Beatty is looking for. I believe he is telling us that only at such a level can we expect the changes we are looking for to take place. Politicians need to take on more of a populist attitude such as Bulworth. The common person deserves to have his needs met just as much as the rich. The film makes an issue of pointing out and mocking the oligarchy that takes place during a political campaign. Lastly, the entire film is an allegory based on the corrupt process of politics, how we live as a society, and the economics of the U.S.

Can Terrorism Be Defeated Only By Military Means Criminology Essay

Can Terrorism Be Defeated Only By Military Means Criminology Essay We blindly cant say that terrorism is the only option to reduce or stop terrorism without examining how terrorist groups end or fade out after some years. The governments in the other hand will have different options like military force, intelligence team, political negotiations and economic sanctions. The governments should prioritise their options on the terrorist organisations. According to a research, which examined more than 250 terrorist organisations from the period of 1965 to 2006, it found that many of the terrorist organisations ended because of the local police intervention like that of the Al-Umma organisation which carried out attack in Coimbatore during 1998. Many other organisations stopped their or dissolved their campaign due to intelligence or because of the settlements with the governments. It is to be noted here that military force did not have an adverse effect on the terrorist organisations to stop their violence against the non-combatants. United States stance on Al-Qaida proved wrong when the chief (Osama Bin Laden) was caught only by the intelligence force rather than the war on terror which lasted for more than a decade. Until the year 2006, there were around 648 terrorist groups and the research found that their survival for a longer term was due to the factors of economic condition, control type, their ideas, size and their goal. According to this research by Memorial for the prevention of Terrorism, it states that 268/648 groups ended within the year 2006, 136 groups fell apart because of difference in strategies and goals and the remaining 244 were active. The main reason for most of the terrorist organisations to quit terrorism was due to local police intervention and intelligence or a beneficial agreement with the governments to satisfy their needs for a particular group of people. Only very less terrorist organisations ended because of the military force. Military force was affective only when the terrorist groups were large and had the state-of-the art weapons to defend their goals and needs. The only place where military force turned out to be a good idea was in Sri Lanka when the government fought against the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE). This group demanded a separate land for Tamils in Sri Lanka which caused the biggest civil war in the history. Only in this case, governments action of using military force was beneficial because the opponent was well armed and had a large army to reach their goals. The research also found that the terrorist organisations which had some religious sentiments took longer time to stop their activities but rarely achieved their goals. Size of the group also determined their results. The example of a bigger group coming out victorious in terrorism was that of the army found by Mohammed, the founder of Islam which conquered Mecca in the Holy war or Jihad. The research also found that the terrorist from upper-income groups were nationalist and rarely were religiously motivated. COUNTERTERRORISM RATHER THAN WAR ON TERRORISM: After the September 11 attack by Al-Qaida on the World Trade Center, United States strategy to fight terrorism was mainly by the military action. They have also employed some non-military operations like reducing the foreign assistance and securing their states with more power. It was only during the Obamas regime, counter terrorism proved to be effective rather than the War on Terror Obama employed the intelligence squad to break in to or kill the al-Qaida chief in 2009. This initiative proved beneficial and the U.S killed their target in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. This made a way for many countries to withdraw the aspect of War on Terror and employ counterterrorism. As of 2008, the war on terrorism had not much effect on Al-Qaida as it remained strong and well organised. Its goal of uniting Muslims to fight the west remained strong and it continued to encourage terrorism to be employed in more places around the world. They conducted many such attacks without any problems when military attacks were employed on them. Military force only helped the governments to reduce some bigger attacks like that in New York or Mumbai. United States then decided to change their strategy to negotiate some political settlement with the Al-Qaida. As Al-Qaida was religious and fought the war against the west in the name of Allah, the negotiation strategy was not effective. So the governments should decide to abolish them by two strategies. They are: Governments should start to depend on intelligence and policing to destroy Al-Qaidas plans in attacking the non-combatants. Al-Qaida is a large group who are active around the world and commit some deadly acts only when a message is received from the head of the group. In order to track their moves and those peoples involved in the attacks, U.S has employed Central Intelligence Agency and FBI to track and demolish the terrorist activities with the help of foreign police and some intelligence agencies. The governments should also reduce their military personnel in the borders and promotes local forces to take charge as they had a greater understanding of the places. The main aim of this move is to promote counterterrorism as this proved to be effective than War on Terrorism in many countries who are fighting terrorism. This replacement in strategy also makes the terrorist think that they are criminals and not warriors who are fighting for the religious cause of Jihad. DEPENDING ON INTELLIGENCE: The U.S government should concentrate more on police forces and an intelligence agency at least after the Al-Qaida Chief was killed in the counter attack by the U.S Navy Seals. The governments should now focus on CIA, FBI and increase the budgets which specialises in counterterrorism. The military forces should have the same strategy for the groups involved in insurgencies and for large groups. According to Hoffman, he suggests the intelligence agencies to cooperate with the local police and the intelligence agencies in the countries where terrorism is prevailing to build more effective ways to combat them. Policing and intelligence are best suited to demolish the terrorist organisations like Al-Qaida because of their operation in many countries. These terrorist organisations are decentralised and receive funds and messages from a particular place to carry out a operation. The operations of these terrorist organisations are a little complex and have different nodes for operation. The se nodes can be easily identified and demolished only with the help of police and intelligence groups. The main drawback of this type of act is reducing the nodes of the terrorist organisation in many countries than in a single country. This method of counterterrorism is only possible only by the full support of the local police and the community unlike that in Pakistan. The terrorist organisations in the present days are easy to be demolished by the police and intelligence networks because of its structure. The terrorist organisations employ top-down or bottom-up approach to communicate between themselves. As the message needs to be passed by many people, it is easy for the intelligence agencies to track their location. These terrorist organisations dont get demolished if only the key members are caught or killed as in case of Al-Qaida. The terrorist organisations have a large network and can work without the commandments of the key leaders. These terrorist networks are active for long term because of its the presence of its hubs. The terrorist organisations get isolated if the hubs that send most messages are destroyed or demolished. These hubs are also easily isolated because it is considered as the information centre for the terrorist organisations. These hubs can be busted with good intelligence activities like tracking down the telephone lines, monitoring the email, couriers and fax facilities in countries like Pakistan. By these measures by the personnel, terrorist can be caught, arrested and enforced in the court of law. There are different steps involved in this kind of approach which include data analysis, capture of key leaders of terrorist organisations and amending the law in some special cases. For the list of above operations, police and intelligence agencies are best suited to do the acts. DATA ANALYSIS AND INFORMATION COLLECTION: Data collection and analysing the information proves to be one of the important aspects of intelligence bureau on terrorists. There are different ways in finding the terrorist activities. They are by human intelligence or by signal intelligence. The information got by the human network proves to be the most beneficial one. But it takes determination and patience to break up the human network of terrorists by recruiting the terrorists who are already in the terrorist groups. It is difficult to recruit the informants from the terrorist groups because of the faith and love for their friends and religion. According to an intelligence agency, it takes around 18 month for a terrorist to carry out any attack on the public. This period of establishment is the important period for the intelligence agencies to identify, arrest and reveal the plan of their action. Another source for the intelligence agencies could be from the fundamentalist mosques who oppose terrorism. They might prove to be useful recruits as they might provide some information on the relative or friends of some terrorist and their recent activities. Detaining some important individuals who are associated with the terrorist groups would make them less capable of launching some large attacks. If this case of detaining and arresting the individuals in a small terrorist organisation takes place, the other operator may lose confidence and become some mere criminals. Making these men mere criminals would be possible only with the help of media and the intelligence personnel and not with some counter attack by the military forces. Another difficulty that might be faced by international intelligence agencies is with the cooperation with the local police and intelligence agencies as they might have their internal security issues to be solved. The information got by human couriers wa s more beneficial than the signal intelligence. The top terrorist individual understood the drawbacks of using cell phones and internet to transmit some information to their hubs. So they decided to send the information through some trusted individuals who had been in the organisation for many years. Only by continuous monitoring by the intelligence agencies, the couriers can be caught and be beneficial. This was the case when the U.S Navy seals found out the whereabouts of the Al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden. The U.S intelligence agency spied on some couriers to find out and kill the chief. In this case open action by the U.S Navy was unavoidable because of the doubt he (Osama) tried to defend him by hiding behind his wife. Capture of Key Leaders: Another important way of counterterrorism is to capture their key leaders and punish them severely according to the law. The terrorist should be punished severely because they were involved in some deadly acts to kill the non-combatants in the particular country. The law should punish them in a way which should be as an example for the other criminal and terrorists in the country. This task also involves collection of evidence for some terrorists before producing the convict before the court of law. Producing an individual before the court of law for terrorism might not be easier as that of drug trafficking, it should have direct connection with the deadly acts. The capturing of terrorist in any position of their group hierarchy will reveal much important information about their future attacks. The communicating devices used by terrorist such as diaries, laptops and cell phones will provide some very sensitive information on the future attacks and the names of other group members. Fo r example, capture of Khan Muhammad with his laptop in 2004, revealed the plans of Al-Qaida to attack the gold mines in Pakistan and also some attacks on IMF and Citigroup buildings in United States. Another good example to prove this fact is that of capturing of Osama Bin Laden on May 2. In the recent news, it revealed that his diaries contained some very sensitive information about the Al-Qaidas links with other terrorist groups and their future plans to attack many places in the world. Other measures to combat terrorism: Other ways to stop terrorism is by the help of legal approvals. This process may involve accusing the acts of terrorist organisations such as recruiting members, buying of weapons from other countries. These legal procedures will help the intelligence agencies and the local police to stop the acts of terrorism by some means like freezing the bank accounts of the suspected terrorists, conduct searches by modern means and to interrogate suspects who pose a terrorist threat to the community as whole. Freezing the accounts of the terrorist organisations also help the intelligence agencies to get leads about their whereabouts. But nowadays, terrorist exchange the money to fund their operation through some third person in the place where the money should reach and this illegal activity is called hawala in Islamic terms. The money transferred by the hawala means is not recorded or taxed by the governments. Monitoring of the money movement from the terrorist organisation is a tedious task fo r the intelligence agencies.

Death, Why Do They Write Thee Essay -- Literary Analysis

The medical world affects our qualms and contemplations every day, whether it is that disease one may struggle with every day or that stomach ache one may have tussled with after consuming some horrendous food. Today, although it may not seem like it, we are privileged to have our prime worries be that of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and mental ailments. All of those terrible infirmities, that we have yet to conquer, seemingly slip into occupations, conversation, compositions, and the routine of our everyday lives. This dilemma has always been a part of history, since colds were life threatening. At one point in time life expectancy was young, almost half of what it is today, many infants didn’t survive birth and diseases went rapid. One can imagine how petrified the people of those periods were. Scientific advancements in the medical field certainly affect the emotions and actions of death in daily life; this correlation is evident in literature throughout the ages, in arrange ments by authors, such as John Dunne, Jonathan Keats, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. From the ages of superstition and homemade remedies arose the foundation of a complex medical world. The 1600s marked the termination of the Renaissance; however, the urge to learn more about the sciences persisted. One improvement was found in the previously women ran apothecary shops or pharmacies (Strocchia). The medical world was reformed when William Harvey discovered how blood circulates in 1628, which became â€Å"the basis for modern research on the heart and blood vessels† (Strocchia). Blood endured as a topic of interest and several years later in 1656 experimentation began on blood transfusions (â€Å"Medical Advances Timeline†). Towards the end of the decade blood cells, tissue... ...e River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. 235. Print. "The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Medical Advances Timeline†. Infoplease. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. . Mulrooney, Jonathan. "Keats In The Company Of Kean." Studies In Romanticism 42.2 (2003): 227-250. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. "Renaissance Medicine." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. . Strocchia, Sharon T. "The Nun Apothecaries Of Renaissance Florence: Marketing Medicines In The Convent." Renaissance Studies 25.5 (2011): 627-647. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. Thomas, Christina. "Jonathan Keats." English IV. Wheelersburg High School, Wheelersburg. Winter 2012. Lecture. Death, Why Do They Write Thee Essay -- Literary Analysis The medical world affects our qualms and contemplations every day, whether it is that disease one may struggle with every day or that stomach ache one may have tussled with after consuming some horrendous food. Today, although it may not seem like it, we are privileged to have our prime worries be that of cancer, Alzheimer’s, and mental ailments. All of those terrible infirmities, that we have yet to conquer, seemingly slip into occupations, conversation, compositions, and the routine of our everyday lives. This dilemma has always been a part of history, since colds were life threatening. At one point in time life expectancy was young, almost half of what it is today, many infants didn’t survive birth and diseases went rapid. One can imagine how petrified the people of those periods were. Scientific advancements in the medical field certainly affect the emotions and actions of death in daily life; this correlation is evident in literature throughout the ages, in arrange ments by authors, such as John Dunne, Jonathan Keats, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. From the ages of superstition and homemade remedies arose the foundation of a complex medical world. The 1600s marked the termination of the Renaissance; however, the urge to learn more about the sciences persisted. One improvement was found in the previously women ran apothecary shops or pharmacies (Strocchia). The medical world was reformed when William Harvey discovered how blood circulates in 1628, which became â€Å"the basis for modern research on the heart and blood vessels† (Strocchia). Blood endured as a topic of interest and several years later in 1656 experimentation began on blood transfusions (â€Å"Medical Advances Timeline†). Towards the end of the decade blood cells, tissue... ...e River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. 235. Print. "The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Medical Advances Timeline†. Infoplease. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. . Mulrooney, Jonathan. "Keats In The Company Of Kean." Studies In Romanticism 42.2 (2003): 227-250. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. "Renaissance Medicine." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. . Strocchia, Sharon T. "The Nun Apothecaries Of Renaissance Florence: Marketing Medicines In The Convent." Renaissance Studies 25.5 (2011): 627-647. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. Thomas, Christina. "Jonathan Keats." English IV. Wheelersburg High School, Wheelersburg. Winter 2012. Lecture.

American Corporations and Internet Pornography Essay -- Exploratory Es

American Corporations and Internet Porn      Ã‚   In this essay, we shall consider the so-called "reputable" mainstream American companies that are reaping huge profits from Internet porn, as well as related considerations.    Marriott, Westin, and Hilton are known for their pornographic video deliveries to paying rooms, a practice which Omni Hotels discontinued when confronted by the American Family Association. On the other hand, Internet porn companies like Yahoo! In its x-rated Geocities sites, was not intimidated by AFA's threats. Instead, it took US Attorney General Ashcroft's strong action to intimidate Yahoo! into only a partial-withdrawal from Internet porn. However, Yahoo! Still retains marginally pornographic material on websites.    AT&T is the biggest American company that has accommodated itself to the pornography boom. Its cable division, AT&T Broadband, distributes to subscribers the explicit porn channel, The Hot Network; and this has unfortunate repercussions in the world of Internet pornography. In the spring of 2001, an interfaith coalition of relig...

Does Economic Wealth Lead to Well-Being

Does Economic Wealth Lead To Well-being? In 1974, USC Professor Easterlin put forward that within a country the rich have higher average subjective well-being (SWB) than the poor. Nevertheless, the average SWB is uncorrelated with income between rich countries and poor countries. For example, the Gallup poll of 2012 well-being from Livescience website (2011) shows that Panama has 61% of people who said they are thriving, which had a greater score than the USA. The modern economy based on the opinion that the growth in the economy can lead to SWB increases.Surprisingly, economic growth does not bring more happiness. Therefore, this is the Easterlin Paradox. One explanation is ignoring variables, in the first part of this essay, noneconomic factors such as health, environment or family will be discussed, and these factors will counteract the positives of wealth. Then the second part will account for why economic wealth cannot measure happiness. There is also a certain amount of opinion to support economic wealth give rise to happiness. It will be presented by discussing GDP issues in part three.Well-being does not only depend on economic factors, but it also be influenced by work, environment, health or family relations etc. The Weighted Index of Social Progress sees Sweden, Denmark and Norway on top, while the Happy Planet Index sees Colombia and Costa Rica among the leaders (Measures of Well-being, 2006). And a few South American countries’ SWB is as high as developed countries such as Puerto Rico, or Guatemala. The above cases show that economy is one of the elements in estimating SWB. It is evidence that economic wealth results in the working burden raising dramatically.Working pressure disrupts the staff’s life balance and thousands of work makes staff feel anxious every day. As the economy grows rapidly, the environment is polluted heavily. It is evident that the quality of environment decreasing gives rise to individuals’ SWB fall. Ano ther contributing factor is health which is regarded as the most important aspect by the majority of people. Better health conditions give people confidence as well as well-being. Sometimes, individuals are entangled with family issues, and the negative effects from family cancel out the positive effects from economic income.If a government considers increasing SWB, it should make more in policies that promote good governance, liberties, democracy, trust and public safety (Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, 2011). Personal satisfaction lies in diverse factors, and earning does not play a major role. Section 2 will be devoted to the two explanations why GDP cannot measure the real SWB, especially in developed countries. A United Nations reported that the UK is only the 18th happiest place to live (British people are more miserable than Costa Ricans and Israelis, UN finds, 2012). Firstly, take case of a rabbit eats carrot.A rabbit finds a room filled with a large quantity of carr ots while the rabbit is going to starve to dying. Apparently the rabbit will gobble down the carrots, but the carrots will be become less attractive when the rabbit is almost full. According to the story, in rich countries the SWB rises up to a particular point, but it will never go beyond point. That is the reason why advanced countries (for example, USA, UK, France and Germany) SWB was not ranked in the top position. In reality, money is the carrot. The meaning of 100 dollars is significantly dissimilar between beggars and billionaires.When economy develops to a certain extent, economic factors cannot measure happiness because there are several variables to act on the SWB simultaneously. An amount of factors were introduced at the last paragraph. The second explanation is more psychological. The major determinant of SWB is the relative life condition (comparing with people in the same level) rather than the real life condition. Being more specific, if one individual has better liv ing condition than the other people who live in the same area, the one is more satisfied. This psychological comparison is called keep up with the Joneses.For this reason, the SWB will not change even if economic growth brings about rising incomes. For instance, on the one hand, country people live in the countryside and local residents lead the similar country life. On the other hand, people who live in urban areas lead completely diverse lives. Their social circles usually have a great number of affluent individuals, so the psychological pressure which is caused by the wealth comparison is greater than the happiness of high income. There are also positive views to support economic growth leads to SWB.To be empirical, countries with a lower GDP typically have more problems. Taking an example of Africa, according to the graph of geography of happiness from the Economist website (2010), countries at the bottom (mostly African) had lower score (The rich, the poor and Bulgaria, 2010). Most areas of Africa are rural. Africans now distinctly desire a better life. Although rich countries are clearly happier, the correlation is not perfect (The rich, the poor and Bulgaria, 2010). In the research of assistant professor Stevenson, they take a 0 to 10 life satisfaction scale to survey the work.People who live in the rich countries place themselves around 7 and 8. At the same time, people in the poor countries consider themselves at about 3. As the matter of fact, increasing GDP can raise average satisfaction. For instance, nations with booming GDP imply government can spend more capital on health care, education or environmental protection. It is not apparent that a lager GDP measures citizen’s health, education or intelligence directly, but it does continue to contribute to citizen’s life. This paragraph provides a summary and a discussion of some extensions of this paper.Firstly, basic needs are meet differences in well-being are less frequently due to i ncome, and more frequently due to factors such as social relationships and enjoyment at work (Why money doesn’t buy happiness, 2007), different variables influence SWB jointly. Secondly, two explanations were presented to interpret that GDP cannot measure the real SWB. The saturating point exists in the process of economic development promotes SWB, and then the economic factors will not be crucial. What is more, the psychological comparison is a vital determinant in SWB, though the income rising expressively brings plentiful happiness.Thirdly, GDP can increase national SWB authentically. To individuals, large income raises SWB in the short term. There are a number of separable components of SWB (Diener, 2000). Thus, money does not buy happiness. SWB is difficult to be calculated and can be measured in different ways. Happiness, as the ultimate goal, requires the most encompassing measure (measuring of well-being, 2006). Bibliography 1. Deutsche Bank Research, 2006, Measures o f Well-being. Available from http://www. dbresearch. com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000202587. PDF [Accessed 19 April 2012] 2.Dinener, E. 2000. Subjective Well-being: The Science of Happiness and Proposal for a National Index. American Psychologist, vol. 55, No. 1, 34-43. 3. Livesciene, 2011, Top 19 Happiest Countries (and the 20 saddest). Available from http://www. livescience. com/13790-19-happiest-countries-20-saddest. html [Accessed 16 April 2012] 4. The Daily Beast, 2007, Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness. Available from http://www. thedailybeast. com/newsweek/2007/10/14/why-money-doesn-t-buy-happiness. html [Accessed 19 April 2012] 5. The Economist, 2010, Comparing Countries. The rich, the poor and Bulgaria.Money really can buy you happiness. Available from http://www. economist. com/node/17722557. html [Accessed 26 April 2012] 6. The Telegraph, 2012, British people are more miserable than Costa Ricans and Israelis, UN finds. Available from http://www. thetelegr aph. co. uk/lifestyle/9184916/British-people-are-more-miserable-than-Costa-Ricans-and-Isrealis-UN-finds. html [Accessed 4 May 2012] 7. Yale School of management, What Are the Economics of Happiness? Available from http://bpp. wharton. upenn. edu/betseys/press%20reaction/Easterlin%20Paradox/YaleSOMInterview. pdf [Accessed 26 April 2012]

The third maddening buzz

Fear, disappointment, and disbelief filled my mind as I opened my tear filled, burning eyes.   Everything was a blur, as if it were surreal.   There was a massive amount of dust from the air bag, and smoke coming from under the hood of my car.   As I turn to my right, remembering Josh had been with me in the car, I begin to panic.All that I can see is his head against the windshield.   I begin to shout his name as I shake his shoulder.   â€Å"Josh   Josh, are you okay?   Say something†Ã‚  Ã‚   The weight of the world has just come crumbling down on me and from that moment on my life was changed forever.The third maddening buzz of my alarm woke me as I groggily slid out of bed, and into the shower.   It was the start of another routine morning, or so I thought.   I took a shower, and quarrelled with my sister over which clothes were mine to wear, and which were hers.   Luckily, it was Memorial Day, so we didn’t have school.   If it were a normal we ekday, we would have surely been late.My boyfriend Josh decided to stop by to see me after I was finished my grooming routine.   While sitting at the table with my parents, Josh informs us that his parents have invited us to a picnic at their house today.   We decided that we should bring something, perhaps a watermelon or cantaloupe.   Without missing a beat, my parents advise me that I need to go to the store to pick these up.With music blasting and voices singing and talking, it was another typical ride to the store, only this time we didn’t make it very far.   We backed out of the driveway, after a white truck had passed.   I begin to speed up to the speed limit (25 miles per hour).   Josh is a neat freak, so as soon as we are on our way, he decides to round up the trash in my car.After going about a quarter of a mile down the road, only three houses away from my house, the white truck begins to turn left into a driveway.   Not thinking anything of it, I slo wed down to give him time to get out of my lane. When he was out of the way I hit the gas again.   Within the blink of any eye, the white truck had shifted into reverse and backed into my lane.   I slammed on the brakes, the tires squealed, but it was too late.I opened my eyes, and gasped for air.   Fear filled my head. My eyes burned and stung.   It was hard for me to catch my breath.   The dust from my airbag was circulating within the car. In that very moment I kept saying to myself, â€Å"It was just a dream, I am still sleeping, you’ll wake up in a few minutes.†As the dust settles, I begin to see that this is no dream.   I could see the white truck in front of my car, and slightly on top of my hood.   Smoke begins to fill the air from the engine in my car.   I start feeling pain in my right foot, shooting up my right leg.   My chest hurt, as if someone was stomping on it.   I feel as if my neck is on the verge of snapping off of my body. As I a m beginning to notice all of my bodily injuries, I remember that Josh had been riding with me.