Bob likes cheese Essay Example for Free

Bob likes cheese Essay In these pages a few years ago, I reported on some of my findings at having reached very old age. I was then in my early 90s. Five years further down the hill, I have a few more matters to note. Certainly I have not gained in wisdom, but due to so little physical activity and fewer social goings-on, I have begun to inhabit the static house of my head. To my surprise I find it a somewhat well-furnished abode, occupied with what I remember, have heard recently, and observed. Ernest Hemingway boils things down to the essentials, his friend William Faulkner lets the pot boil over, spilling onto the stove, down onto the floor, and maybe somehow catching the kitchen on fire. With Faulkner we can feel the vines tangling, the magnolias blooming, the plants around Emilys house breeding, helping to hide her from the harshness of the world she lives in, a world in which she doesnt really belong. This tangling of blooming and breeding is replicated in the fancy words and long, complicated sentences for which Faulkner is famous. Part of lushness is that other side of nature, the side we might not want to look at, and the side thats in store for everything in nature: death and decay. Faulkner never neglects this side (certainly not here), and with every blooming rose, he gives us a rotting one, too. The lushness is also ironic, and perhaps a reaction against a lack of lushness. We know that although Emilys place was probably lush and overgrown, she never went outside to enjoy it, and only rarely even let in the light from outside. The story not only celebrates a lush life, by representing its opposite, but also cautions us against alienating others, against pushing others to hide from the light of life. Next Page: Whats Up With the Title?

Are We in a Post-Modern Age? Essay -- Post-Modernity

This paper answers the question: Are We in a Post-Modern Age? Post-Modernism can be described as a particular style of thought. It is a concept that correlates the emergence of new features and types of social life and economic order in a culture; often called modernization, post-industrial, consumer, media, or multinational capitalistic societies. In Modernity, we have the sense or idea that the present is discontinuous with the past, that through a process of social, technological, and cultural change (either through improvement, that is, progress, or through decline) life in the present is fundamentally different from life in the past. This sense or idea as a world view contrasts with what is commonly known as Tradition, which is simply the sense that the present is continuous with the past, that the present in some way repeats the forms, behavior, and events of the past. I would propose that traditional ways of life have been replaced with uncontrollable change and unmanageable alternatives, but that these changes and alternatives eventually create something that may result in the society that traditionalists actually seek after; the balance between Nature and Technology. Modernity itself is merely the sense that the present is a transitional point, not focused on a clear goal in the future but simply changing through forces outside our control. I will first describe how "Modernity" came about, and then to indicate some of the features for which "Post-Modernity" is meant to be a reaction, response or addition to modernization. Beginnings of Modernity: First, I aim to give a broad historical picture against which we may understand the rise of Modernity as an idea related to science and society or as a framework for a view of rationality. We know that we experience change as either progress or transition, that is, we view our historical situation and our lives presently as deriving meaning and value in some unrealized future. The shift from Renaissance humanism to Modern rationalism can be understood in terms of four shifts: (1) from an oral culture in which the theory and practice of rhetoric played a central role to a written culture in which formal logic played a central role in establishing the credentials of an argument; (2) from a practical concern - with understanding and acting on particular cases to a more th... ...spicious of the belief in shared speech, shared values, and shared perceptions that some would like to believe form our culture but which in fact may be no more than empty, if necessary, fictions. I believe we should be committed to salvaging what we can of the ideals of Enlightenment and Modernity. We need to stay open to all valid claims of reasoning, knowledge, spirit, tradition, and humanity; for we are not, and cannot be, all knowing in this life. To be focused so completely upon Post-Modernism or Modernity, suggests that we can somehow define a group, any group, in the sense of its cultural essence; which is not in truth completely possible or even wise. Are we in a Post-Modern Age? I would say yes as a defined theory or word, but in the reality of man and life, the answer is No. Man is continually changing and adapting and for ever continuing to progress in spirit, technology, and social/cultural adaptation. Whatever age we are presently in, we are modern compared to the one before, each age lives its own Modernity; each era obligated to find its own balance between Nature and Technology, Tradition and Progress; a continuous cycle until the end of man.

Gender Segregation

Davis Anderson Sociology 3337 Prof. Korinek October 23, 2012 Group 7 Analysis of: Revisiting the Glass Escalator: The Case of Gender Segregation in a Female Dominated Occupation This critical examination and study, done by Karrie Ann Snyder and Adam Isaiah Green, dives into the data of a predominately women’s job, nursing, to find out if men really have a â€Å"glass escalator† when it comes to advancing up to top positions and dissects the notion of horizontal segregation.The glass escalator theory is one that assumes males in female dominated professions are pushed up the ladder to administrative and supervisory positions much easier and faster than women. Throughout the article, they explain the methods used to gather the data, both quantitative and qualitative and provide a plethora of information such as level of education, employment setting, number of years worked, personal interviews etc. They also break down the data and refute claims that although widely belie ved, may be false. It is somewhat ironic that the topic of this week’s thought-piece paper is on the sexual segregation of nursing.Just about a week ago I was sitting in the orthodontists office and I looked over at the staff photos on the wall. Dr. Pobanz was in the middle with about 10 ladies on each side of him. That made me go back and think, and I came to the realization that I have never seen a male besides the doctor working in a dentist or orthodontist office. Although it is not exactly a nursing position, it is a similar occupation and I would imagine has similar statistics concerning sex segregation. In my mind, it is just expected that most all nurses are female.It seems that back a few decades ago males were unheard of in the nursing field, but today they are becoming more common. It is interesting that this occupation is so stereotypical female that studies of this magnitude are conducted. So why is it that nursing is so dominated by females? Well, nursing is ass ociated with caring for others, being affectionate, and serving under someone of higher ranking. Males face strong societal pressure that steer them from entering occupations such as this as they do not want to be perceived as feminine or gay because of the nature of their job.Only 5. 5 percent of nurses in 2000 were men, a very small minority. Many people think that of the few men that are in the nursing field, it is easier for them to move up to higher ranking positions. The face is that in administrative and supervisor positions women are just about as likely as men to hold those spots. The problem is that many people believe the societal stereotype that it is easier for men to gravitate toward the top positions, when in reality it is just about the same for both sexes.In the article, Carol Kleinman is referenced when she says that men, relative to women, enjoy systematic advantages in the nursing industry in terms of promotion and hiring (p273). The findings from this research s uggest something very different than the assumptions of others. â€Å"As shown in Table 3, men do not receive higher returns for education, nor is there a significant interaction between years as a nurse and sex. These results suggest that, contrary to the glass escalator hypothesis, men are not promoted earlier in their career to top positions. (p281) The data suggests that rather than there being a segregation of male and females vertically among the sectors of nursing, horizontal segregation is much more likely, meaning grouping of gender in specialized areas is common. Certain areas seem to be made up of more of one gender than the other. For example, men are over represented in ICU, OR, and ER while women are over represented in outpatient, post anesthesia, labor/delivery, and general medical-surgical departments (p286).When interviewed about why they chose their specialization, men seemed aware of the gender connotations of their job, while women rarely mentioned it as a fact or. This is a direct cause of why segregation across different areas of work is much more prevalent than segregation through the administrative ranks. The name nurse often carries with it negative connotations in the eyes of males. It is inherently feminine in its perception and plays a large role in scaring men away or causing them concern about what others think and leading them into positions that are thought of as more manly.Nursing is unique in the wide range of specializations that it offers, and that may play a part as to why horizontal segregation is so widespread as opposed to vertical. Oftentimes males seek positions of prestige and in nursing those desires may be filled by working in masculine roles as opposed to higher-ranking positions that would typically validate success in other professions. From the data gathered and personal accounts reviewed, it seems that men chose positions thought of as more masculine based primarily on fulfilling the conceptions of gender iden tity.Financial interests and personal desires do have an effect, but it seems that sticking to the gender â€Å"rules† is the largest factor in determining the careers of practicing male nurses. The data in this study is vast and complex. It is hard to determine the sole contributor to the occurrence of gender segregation in the nursing practices. So many factors play into every individuals decisions, but signs point overall to an adherence to gender norms and affirmation for males that their occupation is not completely a woman’s job.

Ansoff Matrix Essay

Ansoff Matrix 3 BY arnab007 The Ansoff Matrix Providing strategic options is a role of the marketing plan, but how does the marketing team come up with bright ideas? Fortunately there is a simple tool that can help – the Ansoff Matrix. Developed in 1957 it still holds true today – a 2 x 2 matrix that guides planners in coming up with options. Basically, it gives you four options dependent on two variables – developing new products or entering new markets. New product development and entering new markets involve expense and therefore risk. They also produce risk to your brand – if an undertakers’ firm were to branch out into whoopee cushions their credibility as an undertaker would be scarred! Therefore, the further down or right on the grid you go, the higher the risk. When is a product entirely new or when is it Just an amendment? That is subjective, so Judgement must be used – a car manufacturer producing a new model probably doesn’t count as â€Å"new’ but if that same company were to launch a mission to Mars it may well do†¦ There is no guarantee of success for any plan, as highlighted below: Market Penetration You stay with the same product and keep selling it to the same people. So how do you grow? The answer comes from adjusting the marketing mix – maybe promoting yourself better, making the product better or lowering the price. It is the least risky option, but consequently is likely to reap the least reward. A good example of market penetration is Fuller’s London Pride – once a regional ale in the South East but now the best selling cask ale in the I-JK (CAMRA). They have done this by relying on a high quality product but increasing promotional activity – articularly advertising connected with sports events. On the other side is Rover – they kept selling similar cars to the same market but Just lost touch. The product was well-overtaken and badly promoted, and the results are there for all to see. The moral of the story? Even if you do nothing, make sure you do something! Product Development If you have a well-respected brand with your customers, it may be possible to sell them other things. This is probably the most common option to head in as companies can use the good will they have in the market to generate credibility. As long as the ew product in question isn’t too left-field, customers will like it. uality pens. For many people a Mont Blanc is the pen to have. The trouble is, once you have a fountain pen, ballpoint and a pencil, that is it. Mont Blanc’s quality means you may have the same pen for life, so you will never buy anything from them again. As a result, Mont Blanc decided to start selling you other things: cuff links, wallets, notebooks and so on. The same high quality prestige brand transferred to other products with great success. Possibly the world’s best-known brand got it seriously wrong when they launched a ew product . Coca Cola’s premium bottled water, Dasani, was launched their existing I-JK consumer market, but unfortunately they got it very wrong. Dasani was little more than bottled tap water and the fall-out hit Coca Cola hard. It wasn’t Coke’s first time though after the New Coca Cola debacle nearly ruined them. If you are going to launch a new product, make sure that it reflects your brand and won’t damage what you already have. Market Development Selling the same product to a new market is a tricky proposition, but a number of companies have done it very well. Guinness, Lucozade and Skoda have all managed to salvage weak brands by launching them into a new market. However the most successful repositioning was Sony PlayStation – a repositioning that was pre-planned, not firefighting. Sony had planned to sell PlayStations to children then, once the product life cycle had reached maturity, relaunch in the adult market – enter Lara Croft. Failed repositionings litter the history of marketing but, for me, the most interesting is that of cricket. Some marketing chaps went to America, saw baseball and thought Wow! That will make cricket trendy! Cricket clubs suddenly had silly names like Scorpions (what on Earth have scorpions got to do with Derbyshire anyway) and music was blasted out every time a run was scored. The youth market was not impressed. It was only when the core product was improved that cricket’s popularity returned – thanks be to Freddy Flintoff and co. Diversification So, you know nothing about the mark et you are selling to or about the product you are launching. Sounds like a recipe for disaster†¦ The risks of diversification are otentially grave, but the rewards can be enormous. Caterpillar used to make yellow diggers and bulldozers and sold them to construction companies. Now they sell boots to young adult consumers. Apple used to sell computers to graphic designers. Now they adorn the belt of Just about every 16-24 year old in the country with the iPod. The reward has been easy to see. When diversification goes wrong, you can be left with a feeling of: â€Å"What were they thinking? † Sir Clive Sinclair produced and sold one of the first home entertainment transport. Still, a C5 can be worth a fortune on EBay.

Cultures Essays - Gender Studies, Gender, Anthropology, Sex

Cultures Essays - Gender Studies, Gender, Anthropology, Sex Cultures - culture concept first clear definition developed by British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor - examples of species of animals that lead a social existence without culture: ants, bees therefore, society can exist without culture, but culture cannot exist without society - no member of a society has exact version of his/her culture as another - gender: the meanings cultures assign to the biological differences of the sexes -therefore, ones sexual identity or gender is culturally constructed - gender differences are as old as human culture- about 2.5 mill. yrs. - arose from biological differences - relationships between food foragers are open although both sexes usually do not carry out same tasks - subculture: a distinctive set of standards & behavior patterns that a group within a larger society operates by - example of subculture: Amish (who rely on horse for transportation as well as agriculture & have their own set of ideas dissimilar as well as similar to the society) - old-order Amish originated in Austria and Moravia during Reformation- now mainly populate Ohio, Indiana & Pennsylvania - pluralistic societies: societies that have a diversity of cultural patterns -

Should violent images and language be censored or banned from national Essay

Should violent images and language be censored or banned from national media - Essay Example adays, parents have to sneak into the room every now and then to make sure that their innocent child is protected from the impacts of evil forces trying to reach their child through video games. This may also have a negative impact on the parent-child relationship in which the parent has to spy on the child. This may, for the least, inculcate curiosity in the child’s mind regarding the spying parent. In extreme circumstances, the child may become violent and abuse the parent and force him/her out of the room. Even if all the deleterious effects of incorporating sexuality and violence in the video games are overlooked, the fact that these factors are incorporated into the video games on the cost of their quality can not be ignored. Video game makers that do not have a nice strategy in mind for the plot or theme of the game may still have their product do good business in the market by making the audience attracted towards the violence or sexuality incorporated therein. In this sense, makers of such video games are essentially committing the crime of tarnishing the image of video games in the public’s eye. A vast majority of the proponents of violence and sexuality in video games suggest that access to such games should be allowed after a certain age limit. They emphasize that this is a useful way to prevent the minds of innocent children to go wild before they physically mature up. But this argument is totally flawed. Although it apparently seems an easy way to end the debate, yet anyone with the desire to curtail sexuality and violence in the video games can easily challenge this argument for several reasons. This is because of the fact that age restrictions when placed upon something play a fundamental role in making that thing a social taboo, and taboos often happen to be the biggest adventures for juveniles and adolescents to explore. The idea of placing age restrictions on the violent video games makes them all the more exciting and appealing for the

The Learning Curve Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Learning Curve - Essay Example As the essay starts, David Sedaris is found saying â€Å"The teaching job was offered at the last minute, when the scheduled teacher found a better paying job of delivering pizza† (Sedaris, 2009, p.83). This sentence is very funny as it creates a situation in the mind of readers that the scheduled teacher was just about to make his way to school but then he changed his path and opted to deliver pizza for more money. Thinking about a teacher (or about to be teacher) delivering pizza on a bike itself seems very funny. In the very next sentence David Sedaris is found saying that he was given two weeks to prepare and in those two weeks he did prepare by standing in front of the mirror and practicing â€Å"Hello , class, my name is Mr. Sedaris† (Sedaris, 2009, p.83). The author has used irony in this particular sentence to elucidate his situation. He was given a couple of weeks to prepare notes and practise the way he would teach instead he spent those weeks in practising ho w he would introduce himself to the class. In one part of the essay, David Sedaris writes â€Å"childbirth is one of those details that looks to slip the mind of most opera characters† (Sedaris, 2009, p.85). It was funny to read this because of the situation that was created before this sentence actually emerged in the essay. David Sedaris was describing Victoria Buchanan high-school reunion and how she passed out and ended up with a hippie. It was then the writer said the following words. This type of humour is called ‘cheesy comedy.’ Under such type of comedy a writer looks to humorously degrade someone or a group of people by making through jokes. In reality people forget that someone is being degraded because the joy of laughter is greater than the insult being made (Young, 2002, p.95). At one other portion of the essay the writer writes â€Å"Nobody dies on Wednesday – hadn’t these people learned anything?† (Sedaris, 2009, p.86). The fun ny thing about the sentence is that David Sedaris is the teacher and he is asking whether the students had or had not learned anything. His clueless state of mind together with the absurd reasoning that nobody dies on Wednesday makes him sound like a ‘slapstick’ comedian. According to Judy Carter, slapstick comedy is something that makes an actor look foolish and funny at a very serious entourage. Thus when David Sedaris says that nobody dies on Wednesday on a serious situation it makes him sound goofy and slapstick (Carter, 2001, p.60). Although it might be used as light humour, some of the text might be offending to some of the readers and could be regarded as a little controversial. When David Sedaris says that he managed to get the teaching job as the scheduled teacher failed to show up because he got a better paid pizza delivery job, he seems to degrade the teaching occupation. Teaching is regarded as a very respectable job as it is expected from the teachers to im part knowledge and groom the youth of a nation. But it does not look like David Sedaris places the same importance to it. Also he is shown as an irresponsible teacher setting the wrong kind of example to the other teachers to follow. There comes huge responsibility with this occupation and the writer clearly laid more emphasis on his semblance when he talked about rehearsing in front of the mirror. Though funny it sets the wrong message to the larger audience. The