Over Consumption in America Essay Example for Free

Over Consumption in America Essay Over the past 50 years, the standard of living for American families has doubled. Most of these families live in a two-income household in order to acquire the money needed to live up to these standards (Pierce). This change has enabled Americans to own more material possessions and has also caused them to want even more. It is this concept of wanting that is leading to the growing problem of over consumption in America. People are contributing to the problem by eating more and buying more and more non-essentials such as TVs, computers, and cars. People find themselves wanting more and more material things in order to become happy, when in actuality it may be having the reverse effect because it is not possible to ever obtain everything that he/she wants (Easterbrook 124). By living more simply we can become happier by spending more time with our families and communities and also by helping others. In the past, TV was thought to be a way to bring the family together. However, today, more than three quarters of American families own two or more televisions. Having multiple sets causes family members to watch different programs, in separate rooms, pulling the family apart as opposed to bringing them together. Even some children have TV sets in their rooms. Instead of playing outside, kids are spending hour in front of the television (Winn 465-66) Children are also being affected by other new electronics. High-tech childrens toys are becoming more and more common. Instead of playing outside with other kids, children in our society play video games or play on a computer. Even educational toys are being made electronic. Special laptops are being made for children as young as preschool or kindergarten. This is becoming all that children know. Their generation is growing up reliant on computers. In the future they might not have a choice to relax and live more simply because the high tech world is all they know (Kalson). Another issue contributing to the problem of over consumption is cars. For some people, owning a car can be necessary. For others, public transportation is an option. Owning one or more cars can also affect the  community by using unnecessary amounts of fuel and by polluting. The car also allows us to live a high-speed life. Americans are constantly traveling or working and are not taking the time to relax as we did in the past. Americas fast paced lifestyle is part of the reason we dont spend as much time with our families and friends as in other cultures (Wilson). Americans also contribute to over consumption by the amount of food we eat. Obesity is a growing issue in American society today. Twenty percent of children are overweight. If this problem persists, the next generation could be the first in 200 years to have a shorter life expectancy than the last. The greatest issue of this problem is fast food and the portions of it. Instead of eating healthy, home cooked meals, Americans are replacing them with fat and calorie loaded fast foods and precooked meals. This problem is leading towards more health problems. 30 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls born in the year 2000 are expected to have diabetes at some point in their life. Americans can fight this problem by trying to live more like people in other countries by eating healthier foods, smaller portions, and teaching children how to eat right (Mieszkowski). Part of the reason that Americans have such a large role in this problem might possibly be because of advertising. Because our media is so widely spread and easily accessed, Americans can be more easily persuaded. This issue can also relate back to the problem of watching too much TV. Because the United States has no regulations on advertising, anyone can be affected by any amount of advertising. Children, who are more susceptible, can be manipulated into thinking that they need something that they really dont. This problem could possibly solved by restricting the amount of advertising or where advertising is aloud. We can also resist this problem being more aware of it. By judging each ad to see if it is coercive, deceptive, or manipulative, we can remove the emotional appeal of the commercial and make a more rational decision (Hirschberg 61-68). However some people think that over consumption is not the problem: (S)quandering money on big screen TVs, McMansions, restaurant meals,  oversized cars and luxury vacations (are not to blame) for insolvency and all those maxed-out credit cards. Instead (it is) the high cost of housing and education (F)ixed expenses that can quickly create a sea of red ink when families face layoffs, illness, or divorce. Skyrocketing health-care costs add to the problem (Gardner). If Americans started to live more simply, we could not only gain happiness by relaxing and spending more time with our families, but we could also give some of our extra money or belongings to charity. Helping those in need can give us a sense of self worth that could not be obtained by living as we do now. Linda Pierce argues that simplicity values are important to enrich a persons life. She states that Limiting material possessions, Meaningful work weather paid or volunteer, relationships with friends and family, pleasurable leisure activities, and a connection to community are good values to strive for in order to live simply (Pierce). Over consumption is affection all Americans lives, especially the lives of children, the next generation: TV and video games have vanquished running around outside. Kids in the city have too few places to play. And (sic) ids in the suburbs have no sidewalks to walk on, much less places to walk to. Fewer kids walk or ride their bikes to school, either because theres no safe route, or its simply too far. At school, phys ed and recess have been shortened or eliminated, through the double whammy of budget cuts and he renewed emphasis on academic testing. And (sic) many schools sells junk food to kids in the cafeteria in attempt to subsidize shrinking budgets through soft drink and candy bar revenue (Mieszkowski). The longer this problem goes unsolved, the harder it will be to overcome it. It is important to overcome this problem to gain happiness by gaining leisure time and spending more time with their families and communities and also by helping others in need. If we can accomplish this, Americans can stop associating a good life with material possessions but with personal happiness instead. Gardner, Marilyn. Do two incomes mean deeper debt?. 5 Dec. 2005 http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P61852.asp. Easterbrook, Gregg. The Progress Paradox. New York: Random House, 2003. Hirschberg, Stuart. The Rhetoric of Advertising . Kalson, Sally. Study finds toddlers immersed in electronic media. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. 29 Oct. 2003: D1. Mieszkowski, Katharine. Growing Up Too Fat. Salon 4 pp. 5 Dec. 2005 http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/04/16/kids_obesity/index3.html. Pierce, Linda Breen. The Simplicity Resource Guide. 5 Dec. 2005 http://www.gallagherpress.com/pierce/overview.htmhttp://www.gallagherpress.com/pierce/overview.htm. Wilson, James Q. Cars and Theirs Enemies. Winn, Marie. Television: The Plug-In Drug.

Mobile Phone-based Interaction Techniques Essay -- Technology, Bluetoo

Many of the research presented in the field of mobile phone-based interaction techniques that have been developed so far fall into three main classes according to Sas & Dix [21]. In some research, the personal device effectively acts as an extended input device for text editing or pointing task. In others, the phone is used to upload and download media using standard content and protocols. The third class is where the mobile phone is a more integral part of the interaction, typically using the display of the device in concert with the public display. Ballagas et al [7] present a survey of the existed interaction techniques that use mobile phones as pointing device. Alongside with the survey, they present an analysis on these techniques based on the following taxonomy: position, orient, select, path, quantify, and text .The study concludes that the mobile phone is suitable devise for positioning tasks in various ways especially when interacting with public display in pervasive environ ment. Bellow we present some studies based on Sas & Dix classification [21]. Mobile phone as pointing devise: As a research area, several studies use image processing and visual recognition as a base in there interaction technique, since that most of the smart phones and handheld devices are equipped with digital camera. Jiang et al [1] attempted to take advantage of this fact by proposing a study to interact with display through mobile device camera. There method uses the position of the cursor on the display as the basic input source. The presented systems depend on a closed-loop of feedback between the handheld device and the display to provide continuous-visual feedback. This closed-loop starts with presenting the cursor on the display. Then, th... ...sts of three units: the Symbian client application running on the mobile phone. The role of this unit is to enable users to select a track from the presented list on the phone screen. The second unit is the server application running on a PC which counts the votes from all client unit users. The last one is a large public display which acts as the main user interface showing the track list and their votes. Kaviani et al [13] propose new user interface concept that take advantage of the input and output capability of large public display and mobile phone. They call this mode of interface as â€Å"dual display†, which allows users to execute multimedia user interfaces across both large and small display types. By shifting parts of a user interface down to a personal mobile device number of problems originating from limitations in large display real estate can be solved.

We should embrace nihilism for growth in understanding

â€Å"Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy† (http://www.iep.utm.edu/n/nihilism.htm). In a nihilist perspective, there are no beliefs in dogma, religion and other socially constructed norms and standards. Nihilists question the set of universally made way of thinking and that there is nothing real in this world.SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONâ€Å"Social constructs are institutionalized entity or artifacts in a social system, invented or constructed by participants in a particular culture or society that exist because people agree to behave as if it exist, or agree to follow certain conventional rules, or behave as if such agreement or rules existed† (wikipedia.org). Social constructs are created entities in whi ch people or groups of people perceived them to be true. Social constructs are perceived realities that are put into a convention to be turned into social beliefs.Some examples of social constructs are religion, morality, sexuality, class and many more. These social constructs play a major role in people’s daily lives. Social constructs became an integral part of people’s daily lives. These became inevitable realities of their existence. Basically, how people act are based on social constructions. Social constructions dictate the everyday lives of people. Social constructs determine how people will act and what their pattern of actions is. These social constructs are the perceived rightness of actions in a particular given situation. Therefore, people’s lives are controlled and move by social constructs.Social constructs evolve and changes as time pass by. It depends on the richness of thought of human beings. The minds of human beings are very rich and full of possibilities. People have the capability of evolving one system of thought into another. A particular social construct is not permanent and will not last forever because it only depends on the people who were the ones who constructed them. Social constructs are dynamic because the minds of people are also dynamic. What most people are experiencing now may just become a history of tomorrow.THE WORLD AS A REALM OF MEANING AND CAN BE DISCLOSED BY NIHILISMFor Heidegger, he viewed the world as a realm of meanings and possibilities. These possibilities are for Da-sein to discover and the meanings are for Da-sein to assimilate. This world for Heidegger is where the Da-sein is situated and part of the facticities given to the Da-sein. This world is for the Da-sein to discover and understand. The world gives meaning to the existence of man and man is to exhaust these meanings or possibilities. Hence, the world is where the Da-sein interacts and for him to assimilate.This word â€Å"alethei a† describes the world for Heidegger. â€Å"Aletheia† means revelation and concealment which constitutes the world’s disclosedness to man. The world is the realm of meanings for man that man is always in constant assimilation. Even if it reveals itself to man, it also conceals something to man and that the task of man to assimilate and understand is a never-ending task and that Heidegger called man as â€Å"always already understanding the world†.The word â€Å"always† signifies the infinity of understanding that man is task to reveal the world, the never-ending task of correlation and understanding. Man as Da-sein is the very nature and function of man as a being who is thrown into this world. â€Å"Da† means there and â€Å"sein† means being. Da-sein is openness to the world and the readiness of man to exhaust and assimilate. Da-sein is the there of being of man, the very thrown ness of man into a particular context. To understand mo re of man as Da-sein, we will tackle on the succeeding parts the functions of being a Da-sein.According to the great Heidegger, attunement is man’s mood or state of mind in which affects his perception of reality. He viewed man as always in the mood and is always ready to understand reality. Man as being thrown into this world, attunement is already embedded in his being. This attunement as already embedded in the being of man girds man to understand. Given the facticity of Da-sein as being-in-a-world, he is always in the mood to seize reality or to be conscious of reality and thus constituting man’s openness to the world. Da-sein as the there of being is always situated in the world thus, a temporal being.This situated ness of man gives him ample opportunity to correlate with the world and to fulfill his very nature as an understanding being who is already attuned to do so. Man becomes conscious by virtue of interaction, which is the very process of understanding for Heidegger. To correlate with the world is to exhaust its possibilities, to assimilate its meaning. Through interaction, man becomes conscious of reality, becomes conscious of meaning. Reality is already in the realm of meanings, which constitutes the world, and it is only for man that he can be conscious of and that is by virtue of correlating with the world.To question dogma and religion and other social constructs can be a tool for better understanding of reality. As discussed, Heidegger emphasized that man can slowly reveal the reality of beings by correlating with the world which is the world of meaning and possibilities. The world has its own meaning. The nihilistic view in its proper use, such as not totally for destruction but of finding the truth behind the world, it can open man’s eye to the real meaning of this world. Man as Da-sein in being a nihilist can be able to arrive at a better truth regarding the world. The world still has a lot to give in man’s unde rstanding of it that is why dogmas and principles of today must be questioned because it is still not in its absolute state.NIHILISM AS A TOOL TO A BETTER UNDERSTANING OF REALITYMan’s life is full of socially constructed norms and beliefs that are the ones dictating what he ought to do and act. There is religion that dictates morality and there is government that dictates who are enemies and not such as who are terrorists and not terrorists. A society is comprised of many ideas and perspectives that battles to gain monopoly. Man is put in the center of contrasting views.With the birth of nihilism, there came an opportunity to arrive in a truth wherein wrong dogma and beliefs can be erased and replaced with better ones. Nihilism can give good effects if not put in its extreme nature of destruction. Questioning beliefs and dogma is a healthy process to undertake. Through questioning, man can slowly reveal to himself the true essence of his existence. Questioning must also not b e intertwined with destruction because it can be a truly great means for development and better understanding.â€Å"I hope to bring some balance and clarity to a number of realities that seem to attract a great deal of misunderstanding: [1] the very serious issues of violence in Islam [including recent Muslim violence]; [2] the abhorrence that many Muslims have of violence; [stereotypes of Islam and Muslims as inherently violent]; and [4] the larger context of violence in our world [not just the Muslim world], much of which is woven into the fabric of our society in such a way that we may not even regard it as our own violence† (Hussain, 2006). The misunderstandings such as looking as a Muslim to be violent can be corrected by the nihilist perspective. People can arrive to a certain truth that not all Muslims are violent and stereotyping can be erased.NIHILISM AS A TOOL TO END CHAOS AND VIOLENCE IN THIS WORLDThe chaotic world is brought about by the differences in beliefs and norms and even in the practices of different religions. These are products of social constructions. With different beliefs and principles and with the devotion to such beliefs and principles, it brings chaos and even to violence. People seem to impose their own beliefs to other people which also have their own set of beliefs. By imposing one’s beliefs, it creates an atmosphere of competition that gives tensions and chaos to this world.Nihilism can be a tool to end all chaos and find peace in this world. People, in there different perspectives, can look at the common ground of their different beliefs. To question their own beliefs is a healthy process and even comparing their own beliefs to others is also a healthy process. This is an act of nihilism. People will not destroy their principles and beliefs but rather, developing it to be better set of beliefs and principles. One example can be seen in the realm of religion where we can see differences but looking at the greater reality of it, there are much more similarities that can be used in arriving to a better belief, a belief that can be bannered by all people from different contexts. Even the difference of science and religion, if nihilistic perspective can be used in a proper way of dialectics and questioning, people may arrive at a certain truth that science and religion has its common ground and that one will not be an opposition of the other.CONCLUSIONThe world is a realm of meaning and possibilities and is plague with socially constructed beliefs and principles. With the birth of nihilism, which is a perspective that most of a time attributed to destruction, the world may find better understanding in its hand. By the method of questioning which is a healthy process, people can arrive to better understanding of reality and the very principles and beliefs that they believe. Therefore, we should embrace nihilism.BIBLIOGRAPHYBogossian, Paul. What is Social Construction. 03 Mar. 2007Heidegger, Marti n. The Question of Being. New Haven (Conn): College and University Press 1958.Hussain, Amir. Oil and Water: Two Faiths: One God. Pilgrim Pr, 2006.Nishitani, Keiji. Religion and Nothingness. University of California press, 1983.http://www.iep.utm.edu/nihilism/#H5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism

Sample Resume Ehrich Weiss - 1323 Words

Ehrich Weiss (A.K.A. Harry Houdini) William Newton Mr. Brian Callahan Fifth History May 24th, 2017 Outline Introduction A. Hook B. Rule of three II. Early Life A. Birth date and early childhood 1. Move to Appleton 2. Ehrich The Prince of Air B. Mid and late Childhood III. Mid/Adult Life A. Death of Ehrich’s father B. Starting as a magician 1. Working with Jake Hyman 2. Working with Theo 3. Marrying Bess 4. Working in a traveling medicine show C. Escape artist 1. First starting out as an escape artist 2. Description of underwater trick IV. Death A.†¦show more content†¦Sometimes he would put on magic shows and circus acts for his friends. He called himself â€Å"Ehrich, The Prince of Air!† As Ehrich got older, life became less about play and more about work. At the age of 12, Ehrich’s father couldn’t work anymore. He turned to his sons for help. They all went separate ways in order to find money for the family. Ehrich decided to find work. He wrote his mother a postcard explaining where he was going. He said that he was going to Galveston, Texas to find money and he would be back in a year. Unfortunately, Ehrich got on the wrong freight car and ended up in Kansas City, Missouri! When he got there he searched for odd jobs. He did the best he could to get money. He would occasionally he would send money to his family to help them. There isn’t much information about his time in Missouri. After Ehrich came back from Missouri, he started to find some real jobs. In 1892, Ehrich’s father died leaving his mother with six children. Ehrich was 18 at the time, so he knew he had to start making a life of his own. In this very same year, Ehrich started performing with the name of Harry Houdini. Ehrich decided to use the name Harry Houdini because the man who inspired him was the famous magician Robert Houdin. Harry first worked with a man named Jake Hyman. They went by â€Å"The Brothers Houdini†. They would work at dime museums and beer halls. They did simple acts like vanishing coin tricks. After a while, Jake and Harry decided to