Do Good People Turn Evil - 925 Words

In his short article Do Good People Turn Evil?, Doctor Adam Grant suggested that researchers might have drawn the wrong conclusions from both Stanley Milgram’s â€Å"obedience† experiments, and Philip Zimbardo’s infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. Milgram’s studies focused on the conflict between one’s obedience to authority, and one’s personal conscience. He devised a series of experiments in which involved participants (ordinary males from the New Haven area), to electrocute another individual. Participants where given the role as a â€Å"Teacher† and were paired with a â€Å"Learner† (an actor and confederate of Milgram unbeknownst to the â€Å"Teacher†). The procedure was rather simple; the â€Å"Learner† is given a list of word pairs to remember. The â€Å"Teacher† would then proceed to test the â€Å"Learner† by naming a word and asking the â€Å"Learner† to recall its partner pair. For every wrong answer, the â€Å"Teacher† would be instructed to administer an electric shock amongst the â€Å"Learner†, increasing the level of shock each time. His experiments were an attempt to answer the question â€Å"How far would one go in obeying in structions that were given by an authority if it involved harming another person?† Moreover, Milgram wanted to explain how ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities— seemingly normal Germans whom tormented individuals during the Holocaust— through his studies. Ultimately, it was observed that sixty five percent of the participants did in fact administer electricShow MoreRelatedEvil In Frankenstein Essay1201 Words   |  5 Pagesshown in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley people grow evil without the presence of others with which they can relate. If someone feels they are alone, their actions will stray from their good intentions, and soon their intentions will not be so good either. The awful deeds done by humans, including those done by Frankenstein’s Monster, are done because isolation drives people to malicious actions. Frankenstein, Walton, and the monster would all be better people if they had a companion to help them throughRead More Good Vs. Evil : How Do People Become Evil?1527 Words   |  7 PagesBoris Hennig PHL 201 February 22, 2015 Good vs. Evil: How do People Become Evil? Through the centuries, the words ‘good’ and ‘evil’ have been used extensively to describe certain things or situations. The subject of good versus evil is one that often causes great debate as the two terms are not facts, but entirely subjective. When people are born, we presume they are innocent, because as infants they are not capable of carrying out actions that are evil, or good. They are a clean slate, and as timeRead MoreDefining Good and Evil873 Words   |  4 Pages Good and evil are more connected to each other than what people give them credit for. Good coexists with evil and there can be no good unless there is also an evil. Something that benefits a society would be considered good. On the other hand, if it does not benefit a society, it would be considered evil. The term good and evil can be associated with whatever a person sets their moral to be. When a person finds joy in something, they call it good. On the other hand, if it brings them agonyRead MoreThe Line Between Good And Evil In Philip Zimbardos The Lucifer Effect1185 Words   |  5 Pagesbetween good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.† Every indivdual has the decision between good and evil. Not every person will choose the right side of the line. When an indivdual crosses over the line to the evil side this is known as The Lucifer Effect. Philip Zimbardo, the individual that coined the idea, presented the ideas behind why people change and turn evil even if though their whole life they were not known as an evil person. According to Zimbardo, people turn evil for oneRead MoreThe Simpsons, Family Guy, Aladdin, And All The Scary Movie Movies1127 Words   |  5 Pagesmovies, books, and TV shows that make fun of evil. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Aladdin, and all the Scary Movie movies. There are numerous ways in which each makes fun of evil. Scary Movie alone uses numerous ways to mock evil, and turns all these scary, evil things into something to laugh about. Aladdin has people who are supposed to be evil, and come up with all these ideas to destroy good, but it always turns around on the evil people and works out for good. The Simpsons has an episode where Homer sellsRead MoreGeorge Zimbardo s Mock Prison Experiment And Other Past Events1507 Words   |  7 Pagestheme of â€Å"good† people turning evil under the pressure and influences of different ideas and people are commonly seen. This idea of good people turning bad was further strengthen in Philip Zimbardo’s Mock Prison Experiment and other past events such as the French Foreign Legion, the guards in the Abu Ghraib prison, and so on. This event demonstrated that even innocent, good beings could transform into an abusive and evil person, given the right conditions and incentives. So what is good and whatRead MoreThe Duality Within People By Christopher Nolan s The Dark Knight1278 Words   |  6 PagesWithin People The eternal struggle between good and evil is seen within human nature, as it is one of the most complex and controversial topics analyzed by many philosophers since the Ancient Greeks. The confrontation and differences of good and evil are displayed in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, through the character of Harvey Dent, who becomes Two-Face. Two-Face plays a crucial role for the understanding of human nature, as he is a manifestation of the inner turmoil of good versus evil thatRead MoreChristians Beliefs on Good and Evil Essay examples1164 Words   |  5 PagesChristians Beliefs on Good and Evil Christians may believe many different things about the power of good and the power of evil. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that God is all good and perfect. They teach that God perfectly loves; they also teach that God has the power to do anything (omnipotence). But there are all kinds of evil things in the world that cause people to suffer. These include moral evil, natural evil; such as floods, disease, hurricanes, fires andRead MorePaganism In Beowulf1182 Words   |  5 Pagesthroughout this poem, it showed a mixture of the two beliefs. These beliefs played a major role in the society of the seventh century, and these themes are still shown in today’s society. As students of literature we see that these universal themes of good and evil are not only evolving but also causing mankind to feud with one another. Furthermore, in the poem Beowulf it tells of a time when the Geats and Danes encountered many conflicts because of the different beliefs of a Christian and pagan cultureRead More God And The Problem Of Evil Essay1252 Words   |  6 PagesProblem Of Evil Everyday it is possible to read a newspaper, or turn on TV or radio news and learn about evil going on in our world. Banks are robbed, cars are stolen, violent murders and rapes are committed. Somewhere in the world the aftershock of an earthquake is being felt. Cancer is killing millions of people each year, while other debilitating conditions continue to affect many with no cure to end their suffering. President Bush said that our country is fighting a war against evil. We all

My Personal Philosophy Of Nursing - 1304 Words

My Personal Nursing Philosophy A nursing philosophy is concepts or values that a nurse embraces within his/her practice and allows these concepts and values to shape the way he/she practices nursing and drives the purpose of their nursing care. It is important for each nurse to develop his/her philosophy of nursing to be a purpose driven nurse. Each nurse will have his/her own nurse philosophy because each believes differently. Nursing philosophies might come from different understandings but still point to one thing. They point towards the benefit and for the good of the client. Nursing philosophies can have several key concepts that are used in nursing models that include: client, health, environment and nursing. Today there are many nursing theorists who have developed their own nursing philosophies that help nurses shape their personal nursing philosophy. Rosemarie Rizzo Parse is a nursing theorist that captures some of the essentials of nursing philosophy and created the Human Becoming Theory of Nursing. Parse’s Theory of nursing causes one to think differently about the client, health, environment and nursing. This theorist has caught my attention because it focused on many of the beliefs and values that I identify with. My personal values include: compassion, integrity, professionalism and commitment. Body My nursing philosophy is rooted in the desire to give and selflessly serve those in need. I believe that nursing is not about treating a healthShow MoreRelatedPersonal Nursing Philosophy : My Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1475 Words   |  6 PagesPersonal Philosophy of Nursing When one thinks of a nurse they often think of a caring, compassionate, knowledgeable individual. They don’t often think that every nurse comes from different situation, past experiences, and life changing events that make nurses who he or she is. Everyone on this earth is unique and has something to contribute. The same goes for patients. Each patient has a different background and have different interests which make them who they are. In order to give the optimalRead MorePersonal Nursing Philosophy : My Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1190 Words   |  5 PagesPersonal Philosophy of Nursing Megan A. Farrell Moberly Area Community College Introduction I, Megan Farrell, am currently a Licensed Practical Nurse at a treatment center that works with prisoners. I accepted a clinical positon here as a graduate, but plan to work in a hospital setting once I have become a Registered Nurse working in the Intensive Care Unit. I quickly worked my way up the latter from the clinic nurse to the Chronic Care nurse and I am quite passionate about furtherRead MoreMy Nursing Philosophy : My Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1093 Words   |  5 PagesPhilosophy is a distinct disciple on its own right, and all disciplines can claim their own philosophical bases that form guidelines for their goal† (Meleis, 2012, p. 28). In simpler terms, philosophy is your worldview and thought process of life. Our philosophy transcends into our beliefs and values’, examining our philosophy allows us to discover what is important to us and helps define priorities and goals (Meleis, 2012, p.28). Being aware of our philosophy creates individuality in each personRead MoreNursing Philosophy : My Personal Philosophy Of Nursing932 Words   |  4 PagesMy Philosophy of Nursing My personal philosophy of nursing began at an early age watching my mother volunteer for 25 years on the local rescue squad, following in the footsteps of her mother. I learned that helping others in a time of need should always be a priority. Respect and dignity should always be shown to people, no matter the who they are or where they are from. I have and will continue to show compassion for others while administering professional holistic care, guided by the AmericanRead MoreMy Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1053 Words   |  5 PagesThis aforementioned are the podium upon which the value and philosophies of the success of each profession is based. These philosophies and values do not operate in a vacuum. They influence the way which professionals carry out their day to day activities for maximum success. Consequently, Nursing and Nurses are not immune to the great influence of values and philosophies, be it at personal or corporate levels. This is because, nursing as a profess ion deals with the constant interaction with patients;Read MoreMy Personal Philosophy Of Nursing949 Words   |  4 PagesMy Personal Philosophy of Nursing My inspiration to pursue a career in Nursing began at a young age, after reading the biography of Florence Nightingale. I was in middle school, and intrigued at her courage, and dedication to care for the sick. As I entered college, and into a formal nursing education program, I still viewed nursing as, the care provided to another in need. Without my knowing, I was developing a philosophy of nursing for myself. As the years passed, I began to realize that nursingRead MoreMy Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1676 Words   |  7 Pagesfamous philosophies and a personal nursing philosophy is presented, including the personal definitions of the four phenomena of nursing namely person, environment, health, and nursing. The said philosophy will then be compared to other professionally-acclaimed philosophies. Included in the discussion is the importance of a nurse’s role in providing health care to persons, family, and the society and how it is able to address problems in the face of cultural and spiritual differences. Personal PhilosophyRead MoreMy Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1081 Words   |  5 PagesRunning head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 6 Personal Philosophy of Nursing Caroline Thiongo BSN V Millers College of Nursing Abstract This paper explores my personal nursing philosophy that I will convey in my career of nursing. It is my belief that nursing is a commitment to public service and a desire to help those in need. Nursing is a discipline of knowledge acquired both through formal education and through life experiences. The sum of these parts continuesRead MoreMy Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1330 Words   |  6 PagesMy Personal Philosophy of Nursing The purpose of this essay is to depict the personal philosophy of nursing and any future aspirations I have acquired in my first semester of nursing school. Before I can create my own philosophy of nursing, I must first understand and define what philosophy is and how it relates to nursing. According to  the Oxford Dictionary, philosophy is â€Å"the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline†Read MoreMy Personal Philosophy Of Nursing1289 Words   |  6 Pagesalways been my driving force in life and my approach to nursing. This paper aims at talking about my personal philosophy of nursing; a profession I am looking forward to. First, I will base my personal philosophy of nursing on four of the nursing theorists who have added more meaning to my understanding and appreciation of the profession. I will equally mention the driving philosophy of the Santa Fe Community College Nursing Department. According to the American Nurses Association, â€Å"Nursing is the protection

Technically free essay sample

We have examined your bubble-jet printer, repairs will cost $148. 00 plus tax. shall we go ahead? 2 The hard disk crashed at 4:15 p. m. , before I had time to copy today’s work onto safety disk. 3 Do you have Hama A16 Electronics Camera Flash in your department? You can recognize it by the words Sort emit Automatik on the base. 4 Confirming our telephone conversation of October 17th effective October 31st, Myra Weiss and Dan Helwig will be reassigned to your Division for six months. 5 The safety label warned: â€Å"Toxic solution: Handle with great care! 6 Progressive corrosion inside the pipes has reduced liquid flow by 21% since 1966, a condition which, if not corrected, could cause system shut down in less than 12 months. 7A cause for celebration, work on the Feldstet contract was completed February 16, three days ahead of February 19 scheduled completion date. When the digital exchange was installed at Multiple Industries, eight lines were left unused for anticipated staff expansion and also so for providing dedicated lines for a planned facsimile transmission network between branches. We will write a custom essay sample on Technically or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 9 The overhead steam pipe ruptured at 10:10 a. m. damaging the computer equipment and oak furniture. Fortunately, the office was empty as everyone had gone down to the cafeteria for coffee break. 10 May I have company approval to attend the course †Preparing for ISO 2001 Approval,† to be held at Oklahoma State University May 16-20? Also, as attendance is limited, may I have a reply by April 28? 11 At the April 15th meeting, the Executive Committee approved your April 10th request to attend the May course on â€Å"Preparing for ISO 2001 Approval. † Francine Williams, who attended the same course in January, was particularly helpful in recommending that you attened. 2 Before submitting purchase requests for new or replacement equipment , ensure that you †¢ complete all manufacturer details, †¢ attach price quotations, †¢ quote appropriate specifications, †¢ list an alternative supplier, and †¢ secure the divisional manager’ approval. He has kept up with his work, although he missed several sessions Bob Jenkins and Marie Gonzales angrily walked out, before the meeting ended Hamel who arrived late, left in a hurry. Paul Rogers worked until 9 p. m. last night, but John Morse left well before quitting time. I’ll have more time to spend on the budget, after the inventory is finished.

Vicarious Leisure Class Essay Example

Vicarious Leisure Class Essay Living the Lifestyle of a Celebrity: Conspicuous Consumption within the Leisure Class In Thorstein Veblen’s, The Theory of the Leisure Class which was first published in 1899, Veblen identifies a problem in our society for which many did not see. Veblen described society as a division of classes, one of these classes as he described as the â€Å"leisure class† or what we know today as the wealthier, upper class. In this book, Veblen describes society, and the economy, through the leisure class and analyzes their lifestyle through his time. The leisure class is a predatory culture and harmful to society, he explains, a leisure class has emerged from a â€Å"peaceable to a consistently warlike habit of life† (Veblen 7). Through this predatory class, Veblen describes various terms associated with the lifestyle of the leisure class, conspicuous consumption, vicarious leisure, and conspicuous leisure are only few terms he uses. These terms and the study of different lifestyles in different stages of development are described throughout this book, to explain the competitiveness and harm for which the upper class has brought to our society. In this paper, I will describe and discuss Veblen’s terms and lifestyles of the leisure class, how it relates to Karl Marx and his theories in society, and also similarities in which Veblen’s description of the leisure class is seen today. According to Veblen, the leisure class developed during the barbarian era, more specifically during the transition from savagery to barbarism, which also brought a more warlike community. Veblen argued that these warlike characteristics emerged through the leisure class; the members of this class were mostly men. We will write a custom essay sample on Vicarious Leisure Class specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Vicarious Leisure Class specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Vicarious Leisure Class specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer During this time, hunting and gathering was the primary labor work, which was mostly employed by men of the leisure class. Veblen explains that even though this type of work provided food, farming and other work was more productive than hunting and gathering. The leisure class took over these warfare positions and prevented individuals of the lower class from learning to fight or owning weapons, this is when the leisure class started to gain their power and other classes started to rely and depend on the leisure class. In the predatory culture, this time of employment becomes only a form welcome to the upper class, this is what Veblen describes as conspicuous leisure, these individuals are wealthy enough to avoid work and engage in a type of lifestyle for which no other class can live. Individuals of conspicuous leisure don’t necessarily have to work because they already have the money. Veblen explains the individual’s time is â€Å"consumed non-productively (1) from a sense of the unworthiness of productive work, and (2) as an evidence of pecuniary ability to afford a life of idleness† (Veblen 23). During this time the leisure class started to emerge and the divisions of class’s were becoming more known to society. Similar to Veblen, Karl Marx also believed society was made up of class divisions. He explained his theory of class division through â€Å"proletariats† (have nots) and â€Å"bourgeoisie† (haves). The proletariats were those of the poorer class, which had nothing and the bourgeoisie were the wealthier class that had everything; these individuals would be considered the leisure class. Like the bourgeoisie, Veblen explained that individuals of the leisure class were expected to have almost everything, from servants to luxuries goods, this type of conspicuous consumption defined their status within the leisure class. These individuals of the leisure class can afford servants however the â€Å"real† leisure class, or the individuals at the top of the leisure class, can afford servants and also servants who do nothing. Marx believed that â€Å"class exploitation takes place when the labor power of one man is the property of another (Romero et al. . Marx theory is shown through servants of the leisure class. â€Å"Class Exploitation† is seen in the leisure class when the labor of servants is the property of those of the leisure class, â€Å"there supervenes a division of labour among the servants or dependents whose life is spent in maintaining the honour of the gentleman of leisure† (Veblen 63). Servants are only one factor that shows the wealth of the leisure class. According to Veblen, a member of the leisure class is known to show off his/her earnings. This type of behavior goes all the way back to the barbarian era when men showed off trophies, weapons, and other ideal possessions, â€Å"the last evidence of productive labour is its material product- commonly some article of consumption† (Veblen 44). The leisure class must have certain goods or items to gain fulfillment. This is similar to Karl Marx’s â€Å"false consciousness† which is described as a â€Å"sense of common identification with members of the same class† (Romero et al. ). False consciousness† is seen in the leisure class, regarding Veblen’s conspicuous consumption, the leisure class must consume certain items to be â€Å"happy† this is not necessarily known and explained however within every member of the leisure class they must have certain things to live happily in the upper class. Veblen defined this behavior within the leisure class in Chapter 6, â€Å"Pecuniary Canons of Taste†, â€Å"as it is a desire to live up to the conventional standard of decency in the amount and grade of goods consumed† (Veblen 102). He explains that the standard of living is keeping up with the others of one’s personal class. For example, if a neighbor buys a new car, you may go buy a new car just to keep up. â€Å"Each class envies and emulates the class next above it in the social scale, while it rarely compares itself with those below or with those who are considerably in advanced† (Veblen 104). Veblen defines the divisions of labor and that one whom competes with a higher class, through material may not be able to afford some materials of the higher class, and competing with a lower class is not striving for increasing achievement, so individuals stay within their class and compete with those whom are a little bit higher than them in the social structure. Marx defines this theory of â€Å"false consciousness† as something for which the individual does not necessarily notice, however it occurs. Like Marx, Veblen describes this standard of living as a habit, it’s something an individual is immune to and becomes a lifestyle, to which the individual does not realize they are constantly competing to keep up with the same lifestyles as others. â€Å"A standard of living is of the nature of habit. It is a habitual scale and method of responding to given stimuli† (Veblen 106). The longer the habit, the harder it is to let go, so one is constantly trying to keep up with class, society, and the standard of living. To keep up with the standard of living, individuals, mostly of the leisure class, will constantly continue to consume luxuries items and even though they are constantly consuming new items, the individual never seeks satisfaction; this refers to what Veblen describes as â€Å"chronic dissatisfaction†. This term is defined as always wanting more, one is never satisfied with what they have so they are constantly needing more (Veblen 31). Chronic dissatisfaction is a continuous cycle once one earns or receives something they just strive for the next thing. Chad Ochocinco is a NFL football player, who is constantly striving for more. He pursued modeling, then acting, and now has his second television series, and a video game. Ochocinco is an example of chronic dissatisfaction, although he has money and a career he wants more, after receiving a television series, he continued to strive for another one and added on a video game (â€Å"Wiki:Ochocinco†). Like Ochocinco, many individuals of the leisure class, continue to need more, this includes luxuries and other items. This type of consumption leads to another one of Veblen’s arguments of conspicuous consumption, which is when one consumes various goods, the best of food, and luxuries to show off one’s earnings. Conspicuous consumption is seen in our society today, this type of behavior does not just exist within the leisure class, however throughout every class and individual in our society. The want to consume is nothing new, we work and live to consume, we are what we consume. As seen with celebrities today, they consume the best cars, the best clothes, the biggest houses. Veblen explains a man of wealth â€Å"consumes freely and of the best, in food, drink, narcotics, shelter, services, ornaments, apparel, weapons, and accoutrements, amusements, amulets, and idols or divinities (Veblen 73). This type of consumption is what Veblen describes as â€Å"conspicuous waste†, the manner in which people dress is always seen and noticed, especially when celebrities are displaying them. With conspicuous consumption, the consumption and wealth must be displayed and noticed. As seen on the television show â€Å" Mtv Cribs† many celebrities, who are members of the leisure class, show off their homes, cars, clothes, and other items. Veblen argues this is harmful to our society, these luxuries and types of consumption are only for the leisure class, and one is expected to live this certain lifestyle in order to keep their standing in the leisure class. A man of the leisure class must consume certain goods and give away certain types of rewards or gifts to with hold his position within the leisure class. One example of conspicuous consumption he gives, which is seen today, is the consumption of â€Å"intoxicating beverages or narcotics†, which members of the leisure class are known to consume (Veblen 70). Like Grey Goose and Jose Cuervo, many celebrities only drink the top self alcohol. Also, many celebrities are getting involved in alcohol or drug related crimes, however we still honor them. For example, Lil Wayne, Michael Vick, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton are only a few celebrities who were convicted of criminal charges, yet are still in the lime light today. Paris Hilton was convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) in 2006, and charge in 2007. In 2007, Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her probation, â€Å"according to prosecutors, she fail to enroll in an alcohol education course by mid-April 2007, and was stopped for two more traffic violations, including driving with a suspended license† (â€Å"Wiki:Paris Hilton†). After these incidents took place, Paris Hilton continued to live vicariously through the leisure class, from initially earning her fortune from her great-grandfather’s wealth, (Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels) she continues to be a social icon, with her own hit television show, â€Å"Paris’s BFF†, as well as, her role as an actor in several movies, singer, model, and author (â€Å"Wiki: Paris Hilton†). Like Paris Hilton, many members of the leisure class are still honored and have status after criminal offenses, or drug/alcohol related mistakes. These celebrities are idols and influence our society, this is another reason Veblen argues the leisure class can be harmful to our society, â€Å"drunkness and the other pathological consequences of the free use of stimulants therefore tend in their turn to become honorific† (Veblen 70). The â€Å"emergence of the leisure class coincides with the beginning of ownership† (Veblen 22). During the barbarian stages, women became a form of ownership. Women were seen as a status symbol, a trophy wife, for which men of the leisure class could own and show off. When we own people, we own material or production, so by owning something one can exploit his earnings. Like ownership, most women of the leisure class are considered â€Å"vicarious leisure†. Veblen’s â€Å"vicarious leisure† is defined as people who live the life as though they are a member of the leisure class however don’t get all the material that comes with it because they are living through the wealthy. Throughout the barbarian stages, men were considered the breadwinner and worked while the women stayed at home while women were considered to live through their spouses. The women of the household were not suppose to work and were expected to be more â€Å"showy† about their leisure than men, they were expected to be beautiful and represent the household’s wealth. Like women, Veblen claims many individuals of the leisure class receive their wealth from their ancestors and get wealth without even working for it, â€Å"wealth acquired passively by transmission from ancestors or other antecedents presently becomes even more honorific than wealth acquired by the possessor’s own effort† (Veblen 29). Like mentioned earlier, celebrity Paris Hilton received her wealth through her great grandfather, Conrad Hilton whom was the founder of Hilton hotels. Through his wealth, Paris Hilton had a very wealthy childhood. She was born in New York, and moved to several different homes, including the homes in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons, which are all very upper class locations (â€Å"Wiki: Paris Hilton†). Hilton had all the references to succeed and was not obligated to work. Like Hilton, Veblen describes these types of individuals within the leisure class, he refers to the leisure class as â€Å"waste†, meaning the leisure class does not contribute to society or the world as a whole, â€Å"does not serve human life or human well-being on the whole† (Veblen 97). Hilton pursued her career in modeling, eventually getting signed with Donald Trump’s model agency and appearing in various magazines (â€Å"Wiki: Paris Hilton†). Hilton’s career as a model, is an example of Veblen’s view on waste in the leisure class, pictures of Hilton in various magazines has no specific benefit to our society however only benefits her and her status, and wealth within the leisure class. According to Wikipedia, in September 2009, Hilton’s quote in one of her books, â€Å"Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in† was added to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Similar to Hilton, many celebrities and women care a lot about what they wear and how they dress. In Veblen’s chapter, â€Å"Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture† he describes how dress is an example of conspicuous waste, and how most women express their leisure through clothing. Like many celebrities and individuals of the leisure class the point of having nice clothes is to show them off, â€Å"our dress, therefore, in order to serve its purpose effectually, should not only be expensive, but it should also make plain to all observers that the wearer is not engaged in any kind of productive labour† (Veblen 170). This type of clothing is not used for protection or comfort yet its primary purpose is for show. Many women of the leisure class wear heels to work, especially women who are considered celebrities are constantly wearing heels wherever they go. Veblen explains that for a women to wear heels to work is unnecessary and â€Å"even the simplest and most necessary work extremely difficult† (Veblen 171). Today, dressing and fashion of the leisure class is very evident and is expected, however this is nothing new, this expensive and uncomfortable clothing for women goes very far back. The corset is, in economic theory, substantially a mutilation, undergone for the purpose of lowering the subject’s vitality and rendering her permanently and obviously unfit for work† (Veblen 172). The corset is only one example that Veblen gives, however this piece of clothing is the most constricting, and is only worn for show, ignoring the discomfort of the clothing. Veblen also continues to argue that the fashion and clothing styles change with the seasons and also are different in various areas. It’s amazing for one to see that this was the case during Veblen’s time because this is very true today. With winter, comes scarf’s, boots, and sweaters while summer women tend to wear shorts, cut off shirts, ect. Veblen also explains that the urban areas are more involved in fashion changes than the rural areas, meaning the wealthier communities have greater amounts of conspicuous waste in their clothing. New York City is one example of Veblen’s argument, this city is known for fashion and most women in New York City are examples of dress as a conspicuous waste. Sex in the City† was a huge television series and movie, about four women who lived in New York City and engaged in the fashion world. Through these four women, one can see the effects of an urban area on the style of dress needed to fit into the city. In the first â€Å"Sex and the City† movie, Carrie after a breaking it off with her boyfriend and buying very expensive shoes she expl ains, â€Å"It’s really hard to walk in a single woman’s shoes—that’s why you sometimes need really special shoes†. As in Veblen’s time, society is still using dress as a conspicuous consumption, which is more evident in women than men. If an individual is wearing cheap clothing, this can be considered unworthy by some, and those who wear expensive clothing are seen to be of the wealthier class. Dress as a conspicuous waste is seen as a spiritual need. For example church, when a family is getting dressed for church they tend to dress up in formal clothing. Veblen describes the need for this type of dress for spiritual reasoning is â€Å"not wholly, nor even chiefly, a naive propensity for display of expenditure† (Veblen 168). Veblen’s theory of leisure class is still in existence today and has a huge influence on our society as a whole. Today, the leisure class is taking over the media and is the idols and the people for which society looks up to, they are considered the successful individuals of society, the wealthy. Before reading Veblen’s book, I never thought the upper class, or now as I call it the leisure class, as harmful to society, however now it seems as though this standard of living and conspicuous leisure and consumption is harming our communities and the way individuals of our society live their lives. Conspicuous consumption is seen in every division of class, not just the leisure class. Each class is striving among themselves to be better than the other. One example Veblen uses in the book, is the use of silver spoons, explaining that many individuals of the leisure class use articles of gold, even though there are spoons for which are made from machines which are cheaper, and in most cases are more useful and better. However, the beauty and price of these expensive items are the reasoning behind this conspicuous consumption. Like Veblen’s example, this is seen in our society today, from decorations in a person’s home, to their cars, to their style of clothing, ect. Our society has grown to constantly be involved in conspicuous consumption and compete with others of the same class. Veblen was definitely correct with his ‘Theory of the Leisure Class’ and his theory is still very present today. I was surprised to see how present the leisure class was in pre-historic times and how similar the behavior of the leisure class is to the leisure class today. However, without the leisure class, and competitive society, I’m not sure if our society would be as successful as it is today. Many individuals strive for success because of the competitive drive and competition within our society. So maybe the leisure class and the competitive factors within the division of classes is good for the society, or maybe Veblen’s theory is right and the leisure class is actually harmful to our society and world as a whole. Works Cited Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class. NewYork: Peguin, 1899. Print David Ashley, David Michael Orenstein. Sociology Theory: Classical Theory. Boston: Pearson, 2005. Print Romero, Rachel. Sociology 230: Classical Theory. Texas Aamp;M University. College Station, TX: August-November, 2010. Lecture Wikipedia: Paris Hiltion. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Web. 21 November 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Paris_Hilton. E2. 80. 9306:_As_an_author Wikipedia: Chad Ochocinco. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Web. 20 November 2010 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Chad_Ochocinco Paris Hilton’s DUI Charges. Find Law. Web. 2010 http://news. findlaw. com/cnn/docs/ent/cahilton92606cmp. html Bushnell, Candace. Sex and the City. Part One. New York, 2008. Movie Thorstein Veblen. Academic Search Complete (ESBCO). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. July 1, 2010. Print. Vicarious Leisure Class Essay Example Vicarious Leisure Class Paper Living the Lifestyle of a Celebrity: Conspicuous Consumption within the Leisure Class In Thorstein Veblen’s, The Theory of the Leisure Class which was first published in 1899, Veblen identifies a problem in our society for which many did not see. Veblen described society as a division of classes, one of these classes as he described as the â€Å"leisure class† or what we know today as the wealthier, upper class. In this book, Veblen describes society, and the economy, through the leisure class and analyzes their lifestyle through his time. The leisure class is a predatory culture and harmful to society, he explains, a leisure class has emerged from a â€Å"peaceable to a consistently warlike habit of life† (Veblen 7). Through this predatory class, Veblen describes various terms associated with the lifestyle of the leisure class, conspicuous consumption, vicarious leisure, and conspicuous leisure are only few terms he uses. These terms and the study of different lifestyles in different stages of development are described throughout this book, to explain the competitiveness and harm for which the upper class has brought to our society. In this paper, I will describe and discuss Veblen’s terms and lifestyles of the leisure class, how it relates to Karl Marx and his theories in society, and also similarities in which Veblen’s description of the leisure class is seen today. According to Veblen, the leisure class developed during the barbarian era, more specifically during the transition from savagery to barbarism, which also brought a more warlike community. Veblen argued that these warlike characteristics emerged through the leisure class; the members of this class were mostly men. We will write a custom essay sample on Vicarious Leisure Class specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Vicarious Leisure Class specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Vicarious Leisure Class specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer During this time, hunting and gathering was the primary labor work, which was mostly employed by men of the leisure class. Veblen explains that even though this type of work provided food, farming and other work was more productive than hunting and gathering. The leisure class took over these warfare positions and prevented individuals of the lower class from learning to fight or owning weapons, this is when the leisure class started to gain their power and other classes started to rely and depend on the leisure class. In the predatory culture, this time of employment becomes only a form welcome to the upper class, this is what Veblen describes as conspicuous leisure, these individuals are wealthy enough to avoid work and engage in a type of lifestyle for which no other class can live. Individuals of conspicuous leisure don’t necessarily have to work because they already have the money. Veblen explains the individual’s time is â€Å"consumed non-productively (1) from a sense of the unworthiness of productive work, and (2) as an evidence of pecuniary ability to afford a life of idleness† (Veblen 23). During this time the leisure class started to emerge and the divisions of class’s were becoming more known to society. Similar to Veblen, Karl Marx also believed society was made up of class divisions. He explained his theory of class division through â€Å"proletariats† (have nots) and â€Å"bourgeoisie† (haves). The proletariats were those of the poorer class, which had nothing and the bourgeoisie were the wealthier class that had everything; these individuals would be considered the leisure class. Like the bourgeoisie, Veblen explained that individuals of the leisure class were expected to have almost everything, from servants to luxuries goods, this type of conspicuous consumption defined their status within the leisure class. These individuals of the leisure class can afford servants however the â€Å"real† leisure class, or the individuals at the top of the leisure class, can afford servants and also servants who do nothing. Marx believed that â€Å"class exploitation takes place when the labor power of one man is the property of another (Romero et al. . Marx theory is shown through servants of the leisure class. â€Å"Class Exploitation† is seen in the leisure class when the labor of servants is the property of those of the leisure class, â€Å"there supervenes a division of labour among the servants or dependents whose life is spent in maintaining the honour of the gentleman of leisure† (Veblen 63). Servants are only one factor that shows the wealth of the leisure class. According to Veblen, a member of the leisure class is known to show off his/her earnings. This type of behavior goes all the way back to the barbarian era when men showed off trophies, weapons, and other ideal possessions, â€Å"the last evidence of productive labour is its material product- commonly some article of consumption† (Veblen 44). The leisure class must have certain goods or items to gain fulfillment. This is similar to Karl Marx’s â€Å"false consciousness† which is described as a â€Å"sense of common identification with members of the same class† (Romero et al. ). False consciousness† is seen in the leisure class, regarding Veblen’s conspicuous consumption, the leisure class must consume certain items to be â€Å"happy† this is not necessarily known and explained however within every member of the leisure class they must have certain things to live happily in the upper class. Veblen defined this behavior within the leisure class in Chapter 6, â€Å"Pecuniary Canons of Taste†, â€Å"as it is a desire to live up to the conventional standard of decency in the amount and grade of goods consumed† (Veblen 102). He explains that the standard of living is keeping up with the others of one’s personal class. For example, if a neighbor buys a new car, you may go buy a new car just to keep up. â€Å"Each class envies and emulates the class next above it in the social scale, while it rarely compares itself with those below or with those who are considerably in advanced† (Veblen 104). Veblen defines the divisions of labor and that one whom competes with a higher class, through material may not be able to afford some materials of the higher class, and competing with a lower class is not striving for increasing achievement, so individuals stay within their class and compete with those whom are a little bit higher than them in the social structure. Marx defines this theory of â€Å"false consciousness† as something for which the individual does not necessarily notice, however it occurs. Like Marx, Veblen describes this standard of living as a habit, it’s something an individual is immune to and becomes a lifestyle, to which the individual does not realize they are constantly competing to keep up with the same lifestyles as others. â€Å"A standard of living is of the nature of habit. It is a habitual scale and method of responding to given stimuli† (Veblen 106). The longer the habit, the harder it is to let go, so one is constantly trying to keep up with class, society, and the standard of living. To keep up with the standard of living, individuals, mostly of the leisure class, will constantly continue to consume luxuries items and even though they are constantly consuming new items, the individual never seeks satisfaction; this refers to what Veblen describes as â€Å"chronic dissatisfaction†. This term is defined as always wanting more, one is never satisfied with what they have so they are constantly needing more (Veblen 31). Chronic dissatisfaction is a continuous cycle once one earns or receives something they just strive for the next thing. Chad Ochocinco is a NFL football player, who is constantly striving for more. He pursued modeling, then acting, and now has his second television series, and a video game. Ochocinco is an example of chronic dissatisfaction, although he has money and a career he wants more, after receiving a television series, he continued to strive for another one and added on a video game (â€Å"Wiki:Ochocinco†). Like Ochocinco, many individuals of the leisure class, continue to need more, this includes luxuries and other items. This type of consumption leads to another one of Veblen’s arguments of conspicuous consumption, which is when one consumes various goods, the best of food, and luxuries to show off one’s earnings. Conspicuous consumption is seen in our society today, this type of behavior does not just exist within the leisure class, however throughout every class and individual in our society. The want to consume is nothing new, we work and live to consume, we are what we consume. As seen with celebrities today, they consume the best cars, the best clothes, the biggest houses. Veblen explains a man of wealth â€Å"consumes freely and of the best, in food, drink, narcotics, shelter, services, ornaments, apparel, weapons, and accoutrements, amusements, amulets, and idols or divinities (Veblen 73). This type of consumption is what Veblen describes as â€Å"conspicuous waste†, the manner in which people dress is always seen and noticed, especially when celebrities are displaying them. With conspicuous consumption, the consumption and wealth must be displayed and noticed. As seen on the television show â€Å" Mtv Cribs† many celebrities, who are members of the leisure class, show off their homes, cars, clothes, and other items. Veblen argues this is harmful to our society, these luxuries and types of consumption are only for the leisure class, and one is expected to live this certain lifestyle in order to keep their standing in the leisure class. A man of the leisure class must consume certain goods and give away certain types of rewards or gifts to with hold his position within the leisure class. One example of conspicuous consumption he gives, which is seen today, is the consumption of â€Å"intoxicating beverages or narcotics†, which members of the leisure class are known to consume (Veblen 70). Like Grey Goose and Jose Cuervo, many celebrities only drink the top self alcohol. Also, many celebrities are getting involved in alcohol or drug related crimes, however we still honor them. For example, Lil Wayne, Michael Vick, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton are only a few celebrities who were convicted of criminal charges, yet are still in the lime light today. Paris Hilton was convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) in 2006, and charge in 2007. In 2007, Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her probation, â€Å"according to prosecutors, she fail to enroll in an alcohol education course by mid-April 2007, and was stopped for two more traffic violations, including driving with a suspended license† (â€Å"Wiki:Paris Hilton†). After these incidents took place, Paris Hilton continued to live vicariously through the leisure class, from initially earning her fortune from her great-grandfather’s wealth, (Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels) she continues to be a social icon, with her own hit television show, â€Å"Paris’s BFF†, as well as, her role as an actor in several movies, singer, model, and author (â€Å"Wiki: Paris Hilton†). Like Paris Hilton, many members of the leisure class are still honored and have status after criminal offenses, or drug/alcohol related mistakes. These celebrities are idols and influence our society, this is another reason Veblen argues the leisure class can be harmful to our society, â€Å"drunkness and the other pathological consequences of the free use of stimulants therefore tend in their turn to become honorific† (Veblen 70). The â€Å"emergence of the leisure class coincides with the beginning of ownership† (Veblen 22). During the barbarian stages, women became a form of ownership. Women were seen as a status symbol, a trophy wife, for which men of the leisure class could own and show off. When we own people, we own material or production, so by owning something one can exploit his earnings. Like ownership, most women of the leisure class are considered â€Å"vicarious leisure†. Veblen’s â€Å"vicarious leisure† is defined as people who live the life as though they are a member of the leisure class however don’t get all the material that comes with it because they are living through the wealthy. Throughout the barbarian stages, men were considered the breadwinner and worked while the women stayed at home while women were considered to live through their spouses. The women of the household were not suppose to work and were expected to be more â€Å"showy† about their leisure than men, they were expected to be beautiful and represent the household’s wealth. Like women, Veblen claims many individuals of the leisure class receive their wealth from their ancestors and get wealth without even working for it, â€Å"wealth acquired passively by transmission from ancestors or other antecedents presently becomes even more honorific than wealth acquired by the possessor’s own effort† (Veblen 29). Like mentioned earlier, celebrity Paris Hilton received her wealth through her great grandfather, Conrad Hilton whom was the founder of Hilton hotels. Through his wealth, Paris Hilton had a very wealthy childhood. She was born in New York, and moved to several different homes, including the homes in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons, which are all very upper class locations (â€Å"Wiki: Paris Hilton†). Hilton had all the references to succeed and was not obligated to work. Like Hilton, Veblen describes these types of individuals within the leisure class, he refers to the leisure class as â€Å"waste†, meaning the leisure class does not contribute to society or the world as a whole, â€Å"does not serve human life or human well-being on the whole† (Veblen 97). Hilton pursued her career in modeling, eventually getting signed with Donald Trump’s model agency and appearing in various magazines (â€Å"Wiki: Paris Hilton†). Hilton’s career as a model, is an example of Veblen’s view on waste in the leisure class, pictures of Hilton in various magazines has no specific benefit to our society however only benefits her and her status, and wealth within the leisure class. According to Wikipedia, in September 2009, Hilton’s quote in one of her books, â€Å"Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in† was added to The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Similar to Hilton, many celebrities and women care a lot about what they wear and how they dress. In Veblen’s chapter, â€Å"Dress as an Expression of the Pecuniary Culture† he describes how dress is an example of conspicuous waste, and how most women express their leisure through clothing. Like many celebrities and individuals of the leisure class the point of having nice clothes is to show them off, â€Å"our dress, therefore, in order to serve its purpose effectually, should not only be expensive, but it should also make plain to all observers that the wearer is not engaged in any kind of productive labour† (Veblen 170). This type of clothing is not used for protection or comfort yet its primary purpose is for show. Many women of the leisure class wear heels to work, especially women who are considered celebrities are constantly wearing heels wherever they go. Veblen explains that for a women to wear heels to work is unnecessary and â€Å"even the simplest and most necessary work extremely difficult† (Veblen 171). Today, dressing and fashion of the leisure class is very evident and is expected, however this is nothing new, this expensive and uncomfortable clothing for women goes very far back. The corset is, in economic theory, substantially a mutilation, undergone for the purpose of lowering the subject’s vitality and rendering her permanently and obviously unfit for work† (Veblen 172). The corset is only one example that Veblen gives, however this piece of clothing is the most constricting, and is only worn for show, ignoring the discomfort of the clothing. Veblen also continues to argue that the fashion and clothing styles change with the seasons and also are different in various areas. It’s amazing for one to see that this was the case during Veblen’s time because this is very true today. With winter, comes scarf’s, boots, and sweaters while summer women tend to wear shorts, cut off shirts, ect. Veblen also explains that the urban areas are more involved in fashion changes than the rural areas, meaning the wealthier communities have greater amounts of conspicuous waste in their clothing. New York City is one example of Veblen’s argument, this city is known for fashion and most women in New York City are examples of dress as a conspicuous waste. Sex in the City† was a huge television series and movie, about four women who lived in New York City and engaged in the fashion world. Through these four women, one can see the effects of an urban area on the style of dress needed to fit into the city. In the first â€Å"Sex and the City† movie, Carrie after a breaking it off with her boyfriend and buying very expensive shoes she expl ains, â€Å"It’s really hard to walk in a single woman’s shoes—that’s why you sometimes need really special shoes†. As in Veblen’s time, society is still using dress as a conspicuous consumption, which is more evident in women than men. If an individual is wearing cheap clothing, this can be considered unworthy by some, and those who wear expensive clothing are seen to be of the wealthier class. Dress as a conspicuous waste is seen as a spiritual need. For example church, when a family is getting dressed for church they tend to dress up in formal clothing. Veblen describes the need for this type of dress for spiritual reasoning is â€Å"not wholly, nor even chiefly, a naive propensity for display of expenditure† (Veblen 168). Veblen’s theory of leisure class is still in existence today and has a huge influence on our society as a whole. Today, the leisure class is taking over the media and is the idols and the people for which society looks up to, they are considered the successful individuals of society, the wealthy. Before reading Veblen’s book, I never thought the upper class, or now as I call it the leisure class, as harmful to society, however now it seems as though this standard of living and conspicuous leisure and consumption is harming our communities and the way individuals of our society live their lives. Conspicuous consumption is seen in every division of class, not just the leisure class. Each class is striving among themselves to be better than the other. One example Veblen uses in the book, is the use of silver spoons, explaining that many individuals of the leisure class use articles of gold, even though there are spoons for which are made from machines which are cheaper, and in most cases are more useful and better. However, the beauty and price of these expensive items are the reasoning behind this conspicuous consumption. Like Veblen’s example, this is seen in our society today, from decorations in a person’s home, to their cars, to their style of clothing, ect. Our society has grown to constantly be involved in conspicuous consumption and compete with others of the same class. Veblen was definitely correct with his ‘Theory of the Leisure Class’ and his theory is still very present today. I was surprised to see how present the leisure class was in pre-historic times and how similar the behavior of the leisure class is to the leisure class today. However, without the leisure class, and competitive society, I’m not sure if our society would be as successful as it is today. Many individuals strive for success because of the competitive drive and competition within our society. So maybe the leisure class and the competitive factors within the division of classes is good for the society, or maybe Veblen’s theory is right and the leisure class is actually harmful to our society and world as a whole. Works Cited Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class. NewYork: Peguin, 1899. Print David Ashley, David Michael Orenstein. Sociology Theory: Classical Theory. Boston: Pearson, 2005. Print Romero, Rachel. Sociology 230: Classical Theory. Texas Aamp;M University. College Station, TX: August-November, 2010. Lecture Wikipedia: Paris Hiltion. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Web. 21 November 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Paris_Hilton. E2. 80. 9306:_As_an_author Wikipedia: Chad Ochocinco. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Web. 20 November 2010 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Chad_Ochocinco Paris Hilton’s DUI Charges. Find Law. Web. 2010 http://news. findlaw. com/cnn/docs/ent/cahilton92606cmp. html Bushnell, Candace. Sex and the City. Part One. New York, 2008. Movie Thorstein Veblen. Academic Search Complete (ESBCO). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. July 1, 2010. Print.

An Actors Guide to Laughing on Stage

An Actors Guide to Laughing on Stage For some actors, crying on cue is easy, but laughing naturally on stage is the big challenge. Since there are so many ways to laugh in real life, there are many different techniques for evoking laughter for a theatrical performance or for the camera. The Study of Laughter The sounds of laughter are similar around the world. Most laughter consists of H-sounds: Ha, ho, hee. Other bursts of laughter might contain vowel sounds. In fact, theres an entire field of science dedicated to the study of laughter and its physical effects. Its called gelotology.   Learning about the mental and physical aspects of laughter can help actors become more adept at producing laughs on cue. Behavioral neurologist Robert Provine conducted a year-long study and discovered some of the following: Females laugh more often than men.Men are more likely to attempt to make others laugh.Speakers (joke tellers) laugh almost 50% more than their audience.Laughter often occurs at the end of a sentence.We laugh more when in the company of others than when we are alone. If youd like to know more about the psychological aspects of laughter and humor, check out Provines article The Science of Laughter and this excellent essay Marshall Brain that provides biological information on How Laughter Works. What Motivates Your Characters Laughter? If you can laugh spontaneously and sound believable, youre ready for your audition. If the laugh sounded forced it might be because you have no idea why your character is laughing. The more you empathize with your character, the more you can feel like her and laugh like her. Psychologists say there are typically three reasons for laughter: Incongruity: We anticipate something but then experience something surprisingly contrary to our expectations. (This often happens when responding to a hilarious comedian.)Superiority: We witness someone making a fool of himself and we feel better because of his idiocy. (This happens a lot with slapstick humor.)Relief: After a tense situation has occurred, we might ease our stress with our laughter. Or, sometimes we might laugh in order to remove tension from a situation. (This is where most nervous laughter originates.) Practice various types of laughter based on the different motivations. Working by yourself (possibly filming) is a good way to begin. However, you might get better results by practicing with a fellow actor. Try some simple, two-person improv activities in order to place your characters in situations that call for laughter. Afterward, you can touch base with each other, discussing what looked and felt real. Watch Yourself/Listen to Yourself Before you worry about imitating others, get to know your own natural laugh. Try to film or record friendly conversations with others. Set aside enough recording time so that you and your friends can overcome your self-consciousness. (Knowing that you are supposed to laugh is often the best way to kill potential laughter.) Once the conversation gets going, the recording device wont seem so intrusive. After you have some of the laughter recorded, watch and/or listen to yourself carefully. Notice the movements you make. Notice the pitch, volume, and length or your laughter. Also, pay attention to the moments before the laughter. Then practice recreating these same gestures and sounds. (More improv activities might be in order.) Watch How Others Laugh As an actor, you are probably a people watcher already. If you havent taken up the pastime of carefully watching others, its time to begin. Spend the next five days observing how others laugh. Do they giggle in a high pitched spurt? Do they phone in a courtesy laugh just to please others? Are they intoxicated? Maniacal? Childish? Are they laughing sarcastically? Uncontrollably? Are they trying (but failing) to hold it in? Take notes if you can. Watch movies and television shows, keeping an eye on the characters that laugh. Do the actors make it work? Does it seem forced? Why /why not? When rehearsing, try out some of these brand new laughs which you have observed. Acting for the stage can be a highly repetitive art form. Once you have mastered a laugh, you must then find ways to keep your reaction fresh. Be in the moment, be in character, and above all, listen to your fellow actors, and your reaction of laughter will be natural night after night. Laughing for the Camera If you are acting for the camera, theres good news and bad news. The good news: you can create many different takes and an editor/director can choose the one that works best. The bad news: film crews are expensive, and time equals money. The director will grow impatient if you cant come up with a realistic chortle. Depending on the scene and your fellow actors, the off-camera interaction can often evoke genuine laughter. Also, surprise moments between actors can work wonders as long as the director is in on the joke. A classic example of this is the famous jewelry box scene from Pretty Woman. According to Entertainment Weekly, director Gary Marshall instructed Richard Gere to snap the jewelry box shut as Julia Roberts reached for the necklace. Ms. Roberts did not expect the action, and she bursts into laughter. What started out as a prank became one of the most memorable parts of the film. Theres a clip of this scene currently on YouTube. Check it out, and then begin finding your own techniques; perhaps youll laugh your way to a successful acting career.

How My Local Library Helped Me Get from Jobless and Broke to Six Figures a Year

How My Local Library Helped Me Get from Jobless and Broke to Six Figures a Year In 2008 I had the world I had a good job I loved. I earned a pretty good salary, and was constantly praised What is that old saying about pride going before the fall? Yep, thats exactly what happened. Through no fault of my own, the company I worked for as a high-end retail sales manager went bankrupt. We received no advance notice that they were closing our store. On a Thursday in late June of 2008, it was business as usual. Friday shut down. That was the same year the economy crashed in the United States, creating a perfect storm of financial fear and self-doubt in my life. I sold my car and most of my possessions, so I would have some cash to fall back on in case I didnt find another job right away. To bolster my income as I continued to look for work, I decided to learn about this whole making money online thing. Since I could not even afford a monthly Internet bill, I walked to and from the near I stumbled across a few Internet marketing forums, where I sold articles for as little as $5 or $10. After just over a year of cranking out low-paying work seven days a week, my financial situation slowly began to improve. I persisted. I took online courses and writing classes. That persistence paid off. One of my clients told me I should become a copywriter because my writing converted so well for him. I thanked him, hung up the phone and immediately grabbed my Websters Dictionary. I had no clue what a copywriter was! Almost instantly, I began writing copy instead of content. I realized that copywriting was where I needed to be, and where my natural inclinations and talents belonged. I began offering copywriting services to my clients and cut back on writing content. Fast forward eight long years, and I am on pace to flirt with a six-figure income this year. Whats the take-away from this story? Dont give up when things get tough. Always keep your Big Why in the front of your mind. Ask yourself why you want to earn a living as a writer. Be brutally honest with your answer. Keep asking yourself why, over and over, until you get to the basic motivating factor that drives your writing desires. Was it fun for me, walking in the rain, the cold and the heat, seven days a week to my local library to frequently sit next to some less than desirable people while I taught myself how to make a good living writing online? Of course it wasnt. But it was necessary. Do whatever is necessary to live your dream life. Its not really as hard as you may think. It may take time. It is certainly going to take effort. But the personal empowerment and freedom that the freelance writing lifestyle delivers is worth any cost as long as your Why? is big enough.

Europe Agriculture Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Europe Agriculture - Assignment Example Climate change has resulted in a shift in agricultural production, thus altering the food composition. There is an elevated use of pesticides and herbicides, new plant and animal strains and different production environments such as greenhouses. Although most of them are supposed to ensure that the nutritional quantity is not limited, there are questions raised about the quality. Climate change affects the nutritional quality of foods in many ways such as increased use of agrochemicals, spread of pathogens and changes in the soil structure and composition. The principal purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which food safety and nutrition quality are affected by climate change in Europe. The paper will also give recommendations for solutions and/or further research. The paper explores the issues that climate change is likely to affect, as far as food safety is concerned. It identifies various issues such as agrochemical use during production and storage, marine biotoxins, and extreme environmental conditions. The paper will contribute information to answering the research question. Farkas, J., J. Beczner, and C. S. Mohà ¡csi-Farkas. "Potential impact of the climate change on the risk of mycotoxin contamination of agricultural products in Southeast Central Europe." Acta Univ Sapientiae Aliment 4 (2011): 89-96. The paper looks into the impact of climate change on the contamination of agricultural products by fungi. It explores the various mycotoxins that have been common in the past, and the new trend brought about by climate change. I will derive information on such emerging issues from this research This paper reviews the various food safety factors that are affected by climate change. It recommends that collaboration between relevant organizations is mandatory to address the issue. It will contribute more

Sexuality in Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sexuality in Islam - Essay Example Allah has described very dreadful punishments both in this world and in the world hereafter for the people who practice homosexuality. Allah says in the Quran, â€Å"What! Of all creatures do ye come unto the males, and leave the wives your Lord created for you? Nay, but ye are forward folk† (Qur'an 26:165 cited in â€Å"Islam and Homosexuality†). The people of Hazrat Lut (P.B.U.H.) practiced homosexuality. They practiced it both indoor and in the public. Prophet Lut (P.B.U.H.) repeatedly told them to stop this practice, but they would not listen, thus inviting the wrath of Allah and one day, those people were all destroyed together by Allah. Islam condemns homosexuality because it has myriad evil consequences. Homosexuality distorts the family system and deprives people of their gender traits. Islam allows the man to marry no more than four women at one time. Polygamy has been practiced by a lot of prophets in the history of Islam. Prophet Abraham, Prophet Moses, Proph et Jacob, and the Prophet Solomon had three, two, four, and 700 wives respectively (â€Å"An Introduction to Polygamy†). Critics say that if man is allowed to keep four wives at one time, the woman should also be allowed to keep up to four husbands at one time. But polygamy is in no circumstances allowed for the women in Islam. This makes sense. When a man marries four women, the child any of the wives would bear would be certainly his. On the contrary, when a woman makes love with more than one man at a time, there is no certainty in the child’s belongingness to a particular man unless the child is genetically tested. In addition to that, women generally outnumber men. Thus, when a man marries more than once, more women are likely to get married in their life than otherwise. Although polygamy for men is allowed in Islam, yet it is not practiced equally in all Islamic countries. Polygamy is so well-practiced by the Muslims in the Arabia, that it has also become a cultu ral trait. Polygamy is so ingrained in the Arab culture that a man keeps all the wives in the same home but in different rooms. In many Muslim countries including India and Pakistan, women cannot stand another wife of their husband. They cannot share their husband’s love with another woman. This is the reason why practicing polygamy for a Muslim man in these counties exposes him to a lot of cultural and social issues, though he is religiously justified as long as he does justice to all of the wives. There is a very sheer population of Muslim men in India and Pakistan that have more than one wife at the same time. This is purely a cultural issue. In these countries, women cannot even bear a look of their husband’s wife, what to talk of living in the same home like the Arabian women do. It is noteworthy that while Islam allows the man to keep up to four wives at one time, Islam also obliges the man to do justice to each of the four. This essentially means that a man has to distribute equal amount of money, time and assets among the wives. If a man has two wives and he lives with one more than the other, he is doing injustice and will be held accountable for his actions on the doom’s day. There are no age restrictions in marriage in Islam. A man can get married to an elder woman and so can a woman. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) was only 25 years old when he was proposed by Hazrat Khadija (P.B.U.H.) who was 40 years old at

Genealogy Revised Essay Example for Free

Genealogy Revised Essay Hundred years ago, the thought of bringing enough cash to purchase your dream house was outrageous. In a modern setting, holding a rectangular piece of plastic smaller than the size of your palm can get you almost anything you want. A credit card was thought to bring convenience to humanity. No longer do people need to bring a stack of cash out or fearing that they might have the financial incapacity to get the latest Gucci bag on the showcase. Go crazy with your shopping-spree but can you really handle it? Credit card is a â€Å"silent killer† to many people, causing a lot of unforeseeable harms as deadly as cancer-cells. BlackBerry Mobile phones have become a necessity to numerous people in the modern world. Cliche as it may sound, mobile phones have brought people closer together. However, how close do you really want it to be? With the of BlackBerrys introduction, business executives and even students can now have access to information from a device the size of their palms. Users can be in their own little world without fearing or worrying the world outside them. The work load of a business person has increased because the idea â€Å"not bringing work home† is long applicable. BlackBerry is a â€Å"devil’s device† that shares a similar implication to George Orwell’s â€Å"Big Brother is watching you! † in the novel 1984, because with a BlackBerry, there is no excuse to not respond to a call or any other form of communication. Female Undergarment Wearing a pair of low-cut jeans and revealing part of the underwear is no longer considered inappropriate in certain societies. Originally, the female undergarment’s primary function is to comfot, support and enhance the femalebody form. In addition, the modern function of the under garment also are also inclined to modesty and erotic display purposes. Diamond When it comes to diamond, many may connect diamond to the purity and longevity of a marriage. Nowadays, in a world where marriage no longer lasts forever, the diamond has become ironic in what its qualities represent. Structurally, the is bonded by several carbon molecules. Despite the various possible substitutes for diamonds were introduced such as crystal, synthetic diamonds and even plastics, but the uniqueness and the superiority of a

Feature extraction using crossing number (cn) and ridge tracking technique

Feature extraction using crossing number (cn) and ridge tracking technique PROPOSED ALGORITHM: FEATURE EXTRACTION USING CROSSING NUMBER (CN) AND RIDGE TRACKING TECHNIQUE The various steps involved in feature extraction are as given below: 3.2.1 ADAPTIVE BINARIZATION The enhanced greyscale image is converted to a binary image using adaptive binarization [1]. Global thresholding is not used for binarization because of possibilities of non-uniform illumination on the surface of scanner. Thus using adaptive binarization with a window size of 91 x 91 (This size was finalised after a number of trial and errors). The algorithm can be outlined as follows: Algorithm: Adaptive binarization Input: Enhanced greyscale image e(x,y). Output: Binarized image bin(x,y). For each pixel (i) of e(x,y) Compute local mean (ml) in the 91 x 91 neighborhood of the pixel. If ml > e(xi,yi) then, bin(xi,yi) = white. Else bin(xi,yi)= black. End For. - 3.2.2. THINNING The binarised image is skeletonised using medial axis transformation (MAT)[1] to obtain a single pixel thin ridge structure. The thinning algorithm can be outlined as follows: Assumptions: Region points are assumed to have value 1(white) and background points to have value 0(black). Notations: 1. The 8 neighbour notation of a centre pixel p1 is as shown. p9 p2 p3 p8 p1 p4 p7 p6 p5 2. n (p1) is the number of non zero neighbours of p1. I.e. n (p1) = p2 + p3 + †¦. + p9. 3. t (p1) is the number of 0-1 transitions in the ordered sequence p2, p3,†¦p9,p2. Algorithm : Thinning Input: Binarized image bin(x,y). Output: One pixel thinned image th(x,y). Steps: 1. W.r.t the neighborhood notation a pixel p1 in bin(x,y). is flagged for deletion if the following conditions are satisfied; 2 ≠¤ n(p1) ≠¤ 6 . t(p1)=1. p2 V p4 V p6 = 0 p4 V p6 V p8 = 0 2. Delete all the flagged pixels from bin(x,y). 3. W.r.t the neighborhood notation a pixel p1 in bin(x,y) is flagged for deletion if the following conditions are satisfied; 2 ≠¤ n(p1) ≠¤ 6 . t(p1)=1. p2 V p4 V p8 = 0 p2 V p6 V p8 = 0 4. Delete all the flagged pixel from bin(x,y). 5. Go to step 1 if bin(x, y) is not same as the previous bin(x, y) (indicating that single pixel thickness is yet not obtained) 6. Assign the image bin(x, y) obtained from step 4. to th(x, y). Thus one iteration of the thinning algorithm consists of applying step 1 to flag border points for deletion deleting the flagged points; applying step 3 to flag the remaining border points for deletion; and deleting the flagged points. The basic procedure is applied iteratively until no further points are deleted, at which time the algorithm terminates, yielding the skeleton of the region. 3.2.3 ESTIMATING SPATIAL CO-ORDINATES DIRECTION OF MINUTIAE POINTS. Minutiae representation is by far, the most widely used method of fingerprint representation. Minutia or small details mark the regions of local discontinuity within a fingerprint image. These are locations where the the ridge comes to an end(type: ridge ending) or branches into two (type: bifurcation). Other forms of the minutiae includes a very short ridge (type: ridge dot), or a closed loop (type: enclosure). The different types of minutiae are illustrated Figure 1. There are more than 18 different types of minutiae [2] among which ridge bifurcations and endings are the most widely used. Other minutiae type may simply be expressed as multiple ridge endings of bifurcations. For instance, a ridge dot may be represented by two opposing ridge endings placed at either extremities. Even this simplification is redundant since many matching algorithms do not even distinguish between ridge ending and bifurcations since their types can get flipped. The template simply consists of a list of minutiae location and their orientations. The feature extractor takes as input a gray scale image I(x,y) and produces a unordered set of tuples- M = {m1,m2,m3mN}. Each tuple mi corresponds to a single minutia and represents its properties. The properties extracted by most algorithms include its position and orientation. Thus, each tuple mi is usually represented as a triplet {xi, yi, ÃŽ ¸i}. The crossing number (CN) method is used to perform extraction of the spatial coordinates of the minutiae points. This method extracts the bifurcations from the skeleton image by examining the local neighborhood of each ridge pixel using a 33 window. The CN of a ridge pixel ‘p is given as follows CN=0.5 { i=18pi-pi+1 } p(9) =p(1) . For a pixel ‘p if CN= 3 it is a bifurcation point. For each extracted minutia along with its x and y coordinates the orientation of the associated ridge segment is also recorded. The minutia direction is found out using a ridge tracking technique. With reference to figure 3.3 once the x and y coordinates of the bifurcation point are known, we can track the three directions from that point. Each direction is tracked upto 10 pixel length. Once tracked we construct a triangle from these three points. The midpoint of the smallest side of the triangle is then connected to the bifurcation point and the angle of the resulting line segment is found which is the minutia direction. Assumptions: Ridges are assumed to have value 0 (black) and background points to have value 1(white). Notations: The 8 neighbor notation of a center pixel p1 is as previously shown. The algorithm for extracting the minutiae using the crossing number technique can be outlined as follows: Algorithm: Crossing number Input: Thinned image th(x,y). Output: Image with (x,y) coordinates and orientation thita of each minutia. Steps: 1. For every pixel p in th(x,y) compute the crossing number (CN) ; CN=0.5 { i=18pi-pi+1 } p(9) =p(1) . 2. If CN= 3, the pixel p is declared as a bifurcation point and its x and y coordinates, i.e. p.x and p.y are recorded. 3. The orientation at the bifurcation points p.ÃŽ ¸ is calculated using tracking algorithm. Fingerprint matching Process:- Each minutiae may be described by a number of attributes such as its position (x,y), its orientation ÃŽ ¸, its quality etc. However, most algorithms consider only its position and orientation information. Given a pair of fingerprints and their corresponding minutiae features to be matched, features may be represented as an unordered set given by I1 = {m1,m2.mM} where mi = (xi, yi, ÃŽ ¸i) I2 = {m1,m2.mN} where mi = (xi, yi , ÃŽ ¸i ) Here the objective is to find a point mj in I2 that exclusively corresponds to each point mi in I1. Usually points in I2 is related to points in I1 through a geometric transformation T( ). Therefore, the technique used by most minutiae matching algorithms is to recover the transformation function T( ) that maps the two point sets . The resulting point set I2 is given by: I2 = T(I1) = {m†1,m† 2,m† 3.m†M} m†1 = T(m1) m† N = T(mN) The minutiae pair mi and m†j are considered to be a match only if (xi-xj)2+(yi-yj)2≠¤r0 min( |ÃŽ ¸i − ÃŽ ¸Ã¢â‚¬  j | , 360 − |ÃŽ ¸i − ÃŽ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ j | ) Here r0 and ÃŽ ¸0 denote the tolerance window. The matcher can make on of the following assumptions on the nature of the transformation T Rigid Transformation: Here it is assumed that one point set is rotated and shifted version of the other. Affine Transformation: Affine transformations are generalization of Euclidean transform. Shape and angle are not preserved during transformation. Non-linear Transformation: Here the transformation may be due to any arbitrary and complex transformation function T(x,y). The problem of matching minutiae can be treated as an instance of generalized point pattern matching problem. In its most general form, point pattern matching consists of matching two unordered set of points of possibly different cardinalities and each point. It is assumed that the two pointsets are related by some geometrical relationship. In most situations, some of the point correspondences are already known (e.g. control points in an image registration problem [5,4,6,7])andthe problem reduces to finding the most optimal geometrical transformation that relates these two sets. However, in fingerprints, the point correspondences themselves are unknown and therefore the points have to be matched with no prior assumption making it a very challenging combinatorial problem. There have been several prior approaches where general point pattern techniques havebeen applied. Some of these have been discussed here. Ranade and Rosenfield [8] proposed an iterative approach for obtaining point correspondences. In this approach, for each point pair mi, mj they assign pij , the likelihood of the point correspondence and c(i, j, h, k), a cost function that captures the correspondence of other pairs(mh,m_k) as a result of matching mi with mj. In each iteration pij is incremented if it increases the compatibility of other points and is decremented if it does not. At the point of convergence, each point mi is assigned to the point argmaxk(pik). While this is a fairly accurate approach and is robust to non-linearities, the iterative nature of the algorithm makes it unsuitable for most applications. The hough transform [9] approach or the transformation clustering approach reduces the problemof point pattern matching to detecting the most probable transformation in a transformation search space. Ratha et al [10] proposed a fingerprint matching algorithm based on this approach. In this technique, the search space consists of all the possible parameter under the assumed distortionmodel. For instance, if we assume a rigid transformation, then the search space consists of all possible combinations of all translations (Δx,Δy) , scales s and rotations and ÃŽ ¸. However, to avoid computation complexity the search space is usually discretized into small cells. Therefore the possible transformations form a finite set with Δx ÃŽ µ {Δ1x,Δ2x . . .ΔIx} Δy ÃŽ µ {Δ1y,Δ2y . . .ΔJy} ÃŽ ¸ ÃŽ µ {ÃŽ ¸1, ÃŽ ¸2 . . . ÃŽ ¸K} s ÃŽ µ {s1, s2 . . . sL} A four dimensional accumulator of size (I Ãâ€"J Ãâ€"K Ãâ€"L) is maintained. Each cell A(i, j, k, l) indicatesthe likelihood of the transformation parameters (Δix,Δjy, ÃŽ ¸k, sl). To determine the optimal transformation, every possible transformation is tried on each pair of points. The algorithm used is summarized below for each point mi in fingerprint T . for each point m_j in fingerprint I for each ÃŽ ¸k ÃŽ µ {ÃŽ ¸1, ÃŽ ¸2 . . . ÃŽ ¸K} for each sl ÃŽ µ {s1, s2 . . . sL} compute the translations Δx,Δy Explicit alignment: An illustration of the relative alignment using ridges associated with minutiae mi and mj ∆x∆y=∆xi∆yi-s1cosÃŽ ¸k -sinÃŽ ¸ksinÃŽ ¸k cosÃŽ ¸kxjyj †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦(1) d Let (Δix,Δjy) be the quantized versions of (Δx,Δy) respectively. e If T{mi} matches with m_j increase the evidence for the cell A[Δix,Δjy, ÃŽ ¸k, sl] A[Δix,Δjy, ÃŽ ¸k, sl] = A[Δix,Δjy, ÃŽ ¸k, sl]+1 3.The optimal transformation parameters are obtained using (Δ*x,Δ*y, ÃŽ ¸*, s*) = argmax(i,j,k,l) A[Δix,Δjy, ÃŽ ¸k, sl] References: Gonzalez, Woods, and Eddins. Digital Image Processing using matlab. Prentice Hall, 2004. D. Maltoni, D. Maio, A.K. Jain, S. Prabhakar, Handbook of Fingerprint Recognition, Springer, 2003, ISBN 0-387-95431-7. R.Thai, Fingerprint image enhancement and feature extraction. Australia. Anil Jain, Salil Prabhakar, Lin Hong, and Sharath Pankanti. Filterbank-based fingerprint matching. In Transactions on Image Processing, volume 9, pages 846-859, May 2000. Anil Jain, Arun Ross, and Salil Prabhakar. Fingerprint matching using minutiae texture features.In International Conference on Image Processing, pages 282-285, october 2001. L. Hong, Y. Wang, and A. K. Jain. Fingerprint image enhancement: Algorithm and performanceevaluation. Transactions on PAMI, 21(4):777-789, August 1998. L. Brown. A survey of image registration techniques. ACM Computing Surveys, 1992. A. Ranade and A. Rosenfeld. Point pattern matching by relaxation. Pattern Recognition, 12(2):269-275, 1993. R. O. Duda and P. E. Hart. Use of the hough transformation to detect lines and curves in pictures. Communications of the ACM, 15(1), 1972. N. K. Ratha, K. Karu, S. Chen, and A. K. Jain. A real-time matching system for large fingerprint databases. Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 18(8):799-813, 1996.

Augustine Vs. Aquinas Essay

Saint Augustine of Hippo, as he is most commonly referred, of the early fifth century and Saint Thomas Aquinas, of the thirteenth century, are considerably well-known for their philosophical and theological discoveries. Even though both are famous for venturing to integrate Christianity with their philosophical thoughts, they took completely different paths in doing so. Aquinas took an Aristotelian path, being a strong follower of Aristotle while Augustine, took a Platonic path, considering Plotinus as his mentor. Both delved deeply into the concept of ethics dichotomy, the human nature, and the human’s ability to know, and to do, the good. Christianity does hold true to the fact life after death exists. (Bray, 2003). Augustine’s view on the nature of the human beings states that each individual is â€Å"trapped by sin in immorality and untruth† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 39). A human being cannot access that after-life unless they devote themselves fully to G od. It is only through the process of â€Å"illumination† and â€Å"divine assistance† that an individual can be truly fulfilled as a human being. Basically, only through the love of God can one reach to the ultimate truth about themselves and learn to see and do the good. â€Å"Divine assistance is necessary to rid us of vice, turn our hearts towards God and enable us to acquire virtue† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 42). He believed that the man’s â€Å"corrupted desire’s† to knowledge stemmed from the Garden of Eden, where man’s thirst to be â€Å"like God† led to feeling pride and then led to the fall of that individual. When an individual stirs their attention away from the realm of God is when they get plundered by temptations such as pride, power, wealth, fame, and even human love. He believed that an individual remains disordered if he places his temptations above the love of the God. â€Å"Wherever the human soul turns itself, other than to you, it is fixed in sorrows, even if it is fixed upon beautiful things external to you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  (Vaught, 2005). As a result of these disorderly desires, or â€Å"cupidity† as he called it, Augustine came to reject a â€Å"man’s desire for common knowledge† concluding that such desire drives an individual away from God. This was a complete opposite the Aristotelian belief that â€Å"all men by nature desire to know† (Aristotle, 1966). He believed that these temptations blind an individual’s ability to know and to do the good. In simple terms, â€Å"that which was spiritual was good and that which was â€Å"of the flesh† was evil† (Campolo, 2007). As an alternative, Augustine emphasized on divine illumination, conversion and faith, which were the true means of happiness and salvation. (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 40). It is important fathom that Augustine was against spe cifically to the type of knowledge that enticed the â€Å"lusts of the eyes.† In compliance with the views of Plotinus, Augustine maintained that it is through God that an individual inherits true knowledge. It is imperative for the human being to become reasonable and use that knowledge in limits. It is the only method that can help them disregard the temptations and strengthen their mind for divine illumination. In his book, Confessions, Augustine states that â€Å"If we love God first, we will love the right things in the right way, our loves will be properly ordered, and we will find fulfillment† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 41). Aquinas on the other hand, believed that human goodness depends on the actions performed by an individual that are in agreement with our human nature, which also defines the morality of an individual. He further explains that an individual consists of a specific cognitive power, which is the â€Å"intellect† that enables us to fully comprehend the goodness of a thing. Human action’s are always in pursuit of human fulfillment, which Aquinas believes, is happiness, even though those actions may not always be right. â€Å"We desire what fulfills us as human beings although we might be wrong about what fulfills us. The right understanding of and orientation towards human fulfillment is the foundation of morality† (Crook & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 45). Similar to Augustine’s temptations, Aquinas refers to â€Å"external goods† such as wealth, honor, fame, glory, and power and states that these are easily secured by evil individuals. â€Å"These cannot be th e highest good because fulfillment is incompatible with evil and wicked people can secure any of these goods† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 45). â€Å"Internal goods† such as relationships, morals, and knowledge have the capability of providing  fulfillment since such goods are infinite. Hence, Only God can completely satisfy such desires. Moreover, it is only God alone that is sufficient for human fulfillment. Like Augustine, Aquinas believed that without a divine assistance, an individual is â€Å"morally incapable† to reach God since each person is in â€Å"bondance to sin.† Without divine assistance, no one can achieve happiness nor can get a vision of God. â€Å"So we must know God in order to be happy but we, by our natural powers cannot know God. The hope for attainment of fulfillment lies not in our natural capacities but must lie in supernatural grace to heal us and direct us toward God† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 46). It is really hard to determine which philosopher I would agree with the most. Even though both took different routes in explaining their philosophies, their ultimate goal was to explain human fulfillment, which they further explained can only be attained by means of God. Even though each individual desires for knowledge, both philosophers, in one way and the other, theorized that â€Å"God is superior to any concept that we humans could understand or apply† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 39). God is the main origin of all happiness, intelligence and knowledge that exists in a human being. I would agree more with Aquinas’s view that a man’s natural desire for knowledge is the main supply to fully understand God and his capabilities. All in all, both medieval philosophers cultivated their beliefs significantly influenced by Christianity even though they both satisfied their ideals by approaching them in completely different ways. Aquinas followed the footsteps of Aristotle whereas Augustine’s views relied upon the influences set forth by Platonius. Sovereignty of the ancient philosophers can clearly been seen in the works of both Augustine and Aquinas, whether it was human nature or the ability of the human knowledge to know and to do the good. Despite multiple differences in theory and the paths taken to explain their theories, it must be taken into consideration that God was the ultimate concept the two philosophers were in agreement with. References Aristotle. 1966. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Grinnell, Iowa: The Peripatetic Press. Bray, G. (2003). AUGUSTINE’S KEY. Christian History, 22(4), 42. Clark, K. J., & Poortenga, A. (2003). The story of ethics: Fulfilling our human nature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Campolo, T. (2007). How Jewish was Jesus? Tikkun, 22(6), 26-28. Vaught, C. G. (2005). Access to God in Augustine’s Confessions: Books X-XIII. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press.

eBay

1) EBay pursue international growth through acquisitions and partnership in related and unrelated business. eBay goal was to expand its international presence in an effort to create an on line global marketplace. In many of this international website, eBay had to adapt and provide local language and currency options to gain popularity. The best approach that eBay had was by forming partnership with local companies. This strategy helps them to understand local cultures and ensure that the company was meeting local need. eBay has had tremendous success in Latin America and Europe. But in Asia has been a failure, in Japan they had to pull out of the market due to the poor market share that they were able to get. In china they still struggling to gain market share so they decided to due joint venture to learn a little bit more about the local needs. 2) eBay biggest competitive advantage was said by the founder of the company â€Å" we have specialize in e-commerce, payments and voice communication. Google stands for search, Yahoo largely stands for content† this clearly defines the completive advantage of specializing at what they do the best. In order to support this eBay has done a lot of acquisition, this offered distinct services and target specific market niches, which allowed eBay to broaden its customer base. When it comes eBay in Asia , the company run into a lot of trouble due to an inability to build a community effect in the country that focuses in customer service. But this was difficult for Ebay because changes at global level had to be approving in United States. This made it more difficult for rapid changes in the local market. eBay 1) EBay pursue international growth through acquisitions and partnership in related and unrelated business. eBay goal was to expand its international presence in an effort to create an on line global marketplace. In many of this international website, eBay had to adapt and provide local language and currency options to gain popularity. The best approach that eBay had was by forming partnership with local companies. This strategy helps them to understand local cultures and ensure that the company was meeting local need. eBay has had tremendous success in Latin America and Europe. But in Asia has been a failure, in Japan they had to pull out of the market due to the poor market share that they were able to get. In china they still struggling to gain market share so they decided to due joint venture to learn a little bit more about the local needs. 2) eBay biggest competitive advantage was said by the founder of the company â€Å" we have specialize in e-commerce, payments and voice communication. Google stands for search, Yahoo largely stands for content† this clearly defines the completive advantage of specializing at what they do the best. In order to support this eBay has done a lot of acquisition, this offered distinct services and target specific market niches, which allowed eBay to broaden its customer base. When it comes eBay in Asia , the company run into a lot of trouble due to an inability to build a community effect in the country that focuses in customer service. But this was difficult for Ebay because changes at global level had to be approving in United States. This made it more difficult for rapid changes in the local market.