Commercial Log Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Commercial Log - Assignment Example Each commercial has a specific targeted market. The market that is being targeted can be of any class, race, age or gender. Many of the commercials are showing a product or advertising a special. Commercials are a very good way to advertise since thousands of people view them. The commercial developers need to make sure the commercial is appealing to the targeted market so that it gathers the viewer’s interest. Commercials use a variety of different themes that try to spark the interest of the targeted market. Many of the commercials viewed attempted to use humor to gather the viewer’s attention. Most of the commercials used a bad humor that was not very funny at all. The humor made the product unappealing and was not a good way to reach out to the targeted market. Commercial developers that use humor need to make sure that the humor is appealing to a wide variety of audiences. Many businesses use commercials to advertise a new product. New products need to be advertised a certain way. When showing a new product it is important that the short length of the commercial descriptively shows what the new product is and what it can do. If the product is brand new, it is important that the developers show how the product is used and a solution that the product solves. Targeted audiences are the most important part of commercials. When commercials are being created they are usually not created for a general audience. The commercials are created to target a certain group. Some target people that are overweight, sick, enjoy food, or are looking for a good deal. The developers need to target a specific group in order for the commercial to have a better purpose and attract the most attention. After reviewing the commercials it was easy to see how the targeted audiences can be easily persuaded. This is especially so with food advertisements. For example, the Hamburger Helper commercial targeted working families

Hitler Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hitler - Research Paper Example During his time in jail for the failed coup, he wrote a memoir, titled â€Å"my struggle† and after release in 1924 gained a lot of popular support for his attacks on The treaty of Versailles and the promotion of anti-Semitism, Pan-Germany agenda and anti communism (Giblin, p 12). It is this initial support that was a beginning to his consolidation of power and elevation as the supreme leader of Nazi Germany. His career as a decorated war veteran and an intelligence officer gave him an opportunity to acquire crucial information on soldiers and the German worker Party (DAP) and served as a platform to prepare him for the huge task of uniting Germans around a cause, however evil. While at the DAP, Hitler got the chance to meet several influential people who later had a significant input on his ideologies and opinion among them Dietrich Eckart, a member of Thule Society, an occult organization that shared Nazi ideologies that were later implemented by Hitler in his quest for world dominance (Gonen, p 88). Hitler’s ideologies The ideologies of Adolf Hitler were threefold, social, political and social. On the social front, he believed in Germany for Germans and no other. To this effect, only bona fide members of the country were to be the states’ citizens and ‘foreigners’, which included Jews, Gypsies and others, were to be eradicated. Jews were to be eradicated by turning people against them (anti-Semitism). All Germans were to be mentally and physically healthy and therefore people with mental and physical disabilities were to be completely eradicated. Those who destroyed the Nazi’s common interests were also to be fought (Haynes, p53).

Naipauls The Mimic Men: Mimicking Decultivation

Naipauls The Mimic Men: Mimicking Decultivation Naipauls The Mimic Men: Mimicking Decultivation The Mimic Men sets the tone of Naipaulian malaise of the New World conditions and their deep impact on ones psyche. For it is important to remember that Ralph Ranjit Kripal Sing, the exiled ex-politician hero of The Mimic Men is an insider, one who has practiced the most dubious forms of colonial mimicry as a politician and dandy, as husband and businessman and sees through the charade of politics, the deep humiliation and self contempt that results from defeat and failure. Naipauls The Mimic Men is divided into three parts and surprisingly the author has kept the name of the protagonist a secret until the beginning of the second part. The action of the first part takes place in London in the protagonist Ralph Sings youth. He has come there as a student on a scholarship. He lived in the boarding house owned by one Mr. Shylock. The house-keeper is a Maltese woman known as Lieni. The narrator counts plenty of experience to save himself from extinction and the resulting dust to dust; rags to rags; fear to fear ( Mimic Men 48). In fact, the word extinction has been used in a number of times in the novel. The situation where the narrator finds himself is an existential nothingness and he says, The tragedy of power like mine is that there is no way down. There can be only extinction (Mimic Men 48). By the time the narrator looks back and begins to write his past, he is forty. Later when the narrator took to writing like his creator Naipaul himself, he says, that he did so in order to give expression to the restlessness, the deep disorderwhich this great upheaval has brought about. ( Mimic Men 38) Part II of the novel talks about the protagonists unhappy childhood, unenterprising boyhood and the pressures that exerted him to leave his native island Isabella. He hailed from a poor family background in his words, On Isabella when I was a child it was a disgrace to be poor (Mimic Men 101). He descended from generation of idlers and failures. That caused him deep, silent shame (Mimic Men 101). Though his father was a schoolteacher and poor, his mother was from a rich family. Her brother Cecil was at school with the protagonist. He used to imagine that his father had landed on the island after his ship had been wrecked and he had lost all hopes of going back. Part II also talks about his Aryan background in India and how he added another name to his original name of Ranjit Kripal Sing. Ralph Sing is the example of thoroughly, psychologically colonized man, one who knows both the hurts and the excitements of the short-lived euphoria of inconsequential empires of our times. The burd en of guilt and betrayal, the consciousness of a collective shipwreck which all imitative and third-rate mimic societies suffer, makes Ralph Sing the voice of a quiet acceptance of colonial complicity. Ralph is the mimic man raised through a thorough-bred colonial education. The vision of disorder that haunts Sing is not only political, though. He can see no link between action and its result, man and landscape, the perennial reminders of slavery and brutalization. So, in the end a kind of neurosis sets in to carry Sing to the limits of self- derision. In part III the narrator Ralph Sing shares the ups and downs of his eventful life in Isabella soon after his coming over to that island nation with Sandra his wife from London. His marriage and his entry into politics were aberrations, whimsical, arbitrary acts(Mimic Men 219). Sandra quietly left him on a shopping trip to Miami. She never returned. And he never heard about her after that. It was with the instigation of one of his friends Browne that he became a politician. Browne was a man of the people. He was editing a newspaper called Socialist and was regularly contributing articles in it. Like Browne, Ralph Sing was not a thorough politician. He did not want to make a quick buck. The prospect of power in Isabella fatigued him. He felt he had no hold with the earth. He had no positive vision and hope. He had only a vision of a disorder which it was beyond any one man to put it right (Mimic Men 248). After 4 long years Ralph Sing was in a dilemma whether to return to Isabella as a failed politician or to stay back in London. In order to get some respite from his terrible loneliness and to boost up his self-image, he went to a brothel. With her also he failed as a sexual partner. His partner, to quote his words, was in despair. The smile of hysteria was replaced by tears; she reproached her self for my failure (Mimic Men 283). Quite secretly he went back to Isabella. He had thrown away his power. Such a state psychologically decolonized him. The mimic mans emancipation is impossibility, knowing the degree to which he has betrayed and violated himself, killing all truth and native purities. The precariousness of colonial or post-colonial leader, highlighted in The Mimic Men, is his slavery to the West on the one hand and his unease with his portion of the world. The imported culture, economy, industry, institutions and education are the mark of societies that Sing or Browne hoped to retrieve from disorder. Sings escape, his stay-back in London after the delegation has gone back to Isabella follows a penultimate, short visit to Isabella. But his ultimate exile in England is the most fruitful for him, for he is once again, as he says, in well-organised country and he has no wish to go back to the cycle of events he has freed himself from. Ralph Sing, the mover between cultures and geographies, politics and exile, finally turns a complete colonial, waiting perhaps to work on a history of the British Empire. Sings trying to find a settled role in a society defined by the extremes of Negro proletariat on the one hand and the ex-colonial Creole aristocracy on the other, presents the difficulty to place himself and the world he has come to. The attitude of the reader to Sings renouncing of public life, rejecting its emotions as fraudulent and settling down to write a memoir, will naturally be confused. Naipauls tendency for engraving and supplanting one narrative over the other reaches a limit in The Mimic Men. V.S. Naipauls postcolonial citizen helplessly reveals doubleness of identity in his existence whether in his island Isabella or in his city of choice and dream, London. Along with doubleness, irony and black humour also go with it. In fact such are the popular devices of Naipaul in all his fictional works. Ralph Sings increasing tension and alienation wherever he is, is a result of this awareness. He is also not able to identify with the colonizer though he find himself in his own colonizers state and gets the colonizers education and speaks the colonizers own language. The case of Ralph Sing it is simply not possible for him to shake off disposition and disunity. He chose London because he thought that a glamorous city like London could help him beat his sense of alienation. But London fails because Ralph Sing does not have a distinctive cultural identity with one particular culture. What Shashi Kamra points out as the general characteristics of a Naipaulian protagonist quite aptly fits in Ralph Sing ofThe Mimic Men: Naipauls narrator, subverting the chronological and objective order he has created through subjective ordering of his protagonists life and by questioning that order in his tone of irony and satire, creates the terror of placelessness and timelessness as a void- a pit without bottom. (79) Works Cited Kamra, Shashi. The Novels of V.S. Naipaul: A Study in Theme and Form. New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990. Naipaul, V.S. The Mimic Men. Harmondasworth: Penguin, 1969. Should Guns be Permitted in Colleges? Should Guns be Permitted in Colleges? There are many debates over the question Should guns be permitted on college campuses. They should not be permitted because there are people with anger issues, violence , kills caused by alcohol, and committing suicide from depression/stress. Anger issues is one of many examples of why guns should not be permitted on college campuses. Having such an issue is already dangerous because people tend to take that anger out with yelling or fighting. People with that problem tend to snap quickly with just the wrong use of words. So theres no way of telling what might go through a persons mind having a gun on him. Would they take it out with shooting someone for a miss understanding? For example theres a class going on and everyone except one of the students is working, and the teacher tells one of the students to turn his phone in to her because he was on it instead of working. The teacher ask several times but the students decide to keep refusing to hand it to her. When the teacher decides to walk over and ask one last time he can easily take that as a threat because the teacher is in his personal space. When that goes on he decides to pull out his gun and shoots the teacher because of a problem so small. Not only is the teache r dead but the other people in the class are in danger as well. To prevent this from happening the option of weapons allowed shouldnt be allowed to the students. Another reason guns shouldnt be permitted is because of the use of alcohol. When being consumed with too much alcohol you dont think straight, which may cause you to make a bad decision, at the wrong time. There are many parties in colleges where students are introduced to huge amounts   of alcohol.   For example one of the most popular students on campus throws a huge party in one of the dorms where there is a lot of acholic beverages. After a couple of hours when everyone is drunk a guy gets a drink spilt on him. His reaction to the situation is going to be a lot different because of the fact that he is under the use of a high amount of alcohol. So when the drink is spilt on him he gets extremely mad so without thinking twice he pulls out a gun and shoots the person that spilt the drink on him. After this happens he starts freaking out because he realizes what he did so he gets scared and starts shooting all the witnesses there. From him carrying that gun caused him to put ever yones life at risk and because of him being highly influenced by the alcohol at the party. Theres already enough dangerous situations because of drunk driving at the campuses no need to put more dangerous situations. Another dangerous situation that can be caused is if there are people with violent behavior. Violent behavior can be defined as the use of physical force with the intent of physical force. An example would be if there was a class going on and one of the students in there is one of the violent students that dont like being told what to do. The teacher is giving the class because he was being loud and all the students were paying attention to him instead of the teacher. When the teacher decides to get on to him he tells him that no one tells him what to do that he doesnt care who it is and who ever disrespects him like that will pay the price. The teacher replys by saying that is his class and he talks to anyone however he wants. The arguing continues until the student finally gets tired of him he decides to reach in his bag and shoot the teacher. He just killed someone in front of a whole bunch of witnesses. So now he could either put his gun down and surrender or turn even more viole nt because there are witnesses around. Another option he could do is keep them hostages and keep them there until the authorities meet his commands. Everyones lives are at risk now because the opportunity was given to him to bring a lethal weapon. One of the biggest and most dangerous situations come from   depression and   stress. Most of the schools shootings that happened the year of 2015 were because of depression. There are plenty amount of shooting cases happen because of the amount of bulling going on in the schools from elementary schools to colleges. A great example is if theres a student being bullied throughout the whole school year just because he has no friends and always tries to fit in with the rest of the kids. He gets bullied because the way he dresses and because his parents arent financially   stable. Hes been holding all that anger of getting bullied ever since he was little because he knows in a fist fight he wont win against the other guys. In college he gets messed with too but even though it isnt as bad as it was in high school the other students still play pranks on him. Ever since the bullying started he would write down the names of the kids bulling just so he could remember who they were and the pain and embarrassment the would make him go through. One day in the middle of the year of his sophomore year of college he just had enough he was going through depression beca use he had no friends and he was going through a lot of stress because he was trying to keep his grades up but the other students would throw paper balls at him or just   laugh at his clothes theyd do anything to keep him from learning. The day he had enough though he started planning on what he was going to do to stop the problem. He would go to pawn shops and buy guns to help him go forward with his plan and since the college had permitted the students to carry concealed weapons,   he would have no problem getting in the college with the gun. After he buys his ammunition and guns now he just waits for the day of the plan to come and to finally get his revenge on all the students that made him go through depression and that would bully him into lots of stress. Next thing you know the day of the plan comes and he prepares everything he puts the small guns in his pockets and the bigger ones in his back pack. He pulls up to the college and goes to class like if it was any other regular day of school and as the class starts the students that always mess with him start throwing paper balls and spit balls at him. He gets up and turns to look at the group of guys. He reaches in his pocket and pulls the first weapon out and starts shooting one by one the students go down dead. Then he starts walking around the campus looking for the rest of the students on the list. After hes finished killing as many of the students as he can, he may commit suicide because he doesnt want to accept the consequences and hes juts tired of being bulli ed and stressed and just believes that its the only way out. The option of weapons allowed in   colleges shouldnt even be in mind. There are a lot of cases where there are people killed because of fire arm accidents and why put peoples lives even more at risk when theres no need to. Work Cited A Bullet for Teacher: Violence in Schools. Economist 24 July 1993: A26. General OneFile. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. Fear Factors The Three F Words. Officer.com Feb. 2017: n. pag. General OneFile. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. OMeara, Kelly Patricia. Antidepressants May Trigger School Shootings. School Shootings. Ed. Susan Hunnicutt. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2006. N. pag. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. OMeara, Kelly Patricia. Antidepressants May Trigger School Shootings. School Shootings. Ed. Susan Hunnicutt. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2006. N. pag. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 10 Feb. 2017. Students, Administrators Share Thoughts, Questions on Proposed Conceal Carry. Janesville Gazette [Janesville, WI] 15 Oct. 2015: n. pag. General OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2017. Three Wounded in Shooting at Texas College; Not Designed to Bring Us Together; GOP: Obama Wants Era of Liberalism; Reports: Two. Situation Room [CNN] 22 Jan. 2013: n. pag. General OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2017

jesus, the business man :: essays research papers

Purpose/Vision: To restore salvation to a lost world. Background Information: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The earth was His vision, His company. He invented everything in the earth and the placed a man and a woman in charge of the business. Their duties, at the time, included naming the animals and multiplying the population with their seed. Although God had a plan for the way he wanted His company run, the people He put in charge had their own agendas. They rebelled against the owner and tried to take over the business. Due to the insubordinate nature of His employees, He terminated their positions and hired other workers. From then on, under the supervision of different men, the fate of the company went down hill. Money and agricultural profits were at a loss, and the values that the employees once had, decreased with each successor. After seeing His business gradually decline from it's original standpoint, God took up a partnership with His Son, Jesus. He sent Jesus into the world to restore the company back to it's original purpose. Knowing the He needed a qualified staff under Him, Jesus employed twelve men to work with him. Chain of Command: Level 1-Owners: God, Jesus, (Holy Ghost-Silent Partner) Level 2-Supervisors: Peter, Paul, John Level 3-Employees: James, Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Lebbaeus, Simon, Judas Employee Qualifications: 1. Must already be employed * Matthew- tax collector (2:14) * Simon- fisherman (1:16) * Andrew- fisherman (1:16) * James- fisherman (1:19) * John- fisherman (1:19) 2. Must be willing to leave everything and relocate * "And immediately He called them and they left their father, Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after Him" (1:20). Services: Healing Ministries: * Sickness and Fevers: "Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her" (1:31). * Leprosy: "As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed" (1:42). * Withered Hands: "He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out and his hand was restored whole as the other" (3:5). * Demon Possession: "Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind" (5:15). * Issues of Blood: "And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction" (5:34). jesus, the business man :: essays research papers Purpose/Vision: To restore salvation to a lost world. Background Information: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The earth was His vision, His company. He invented everything in the earth and the placed a man and a woman in charge of the business. Their duties, at the time, included naming the animals and multiplying the population with their seed. Although God had a plan for the way he wanted His company run, the people He put in charge had their own agendas. They rebelled against the owner and tried to take over the business. Due to the insubordinate nature of His employees, He terminated their positions and hired other workers. From then on, under the supervision of different men, the fate of the company went down hill. Money and agricultural profits were at a loss, and the values that the employees once had, decreased with each successor. After seeing His business gradually decline from it's original standpoint, God took up a partnership with His Son, Jesus. He sent Jesus into the world to restore the company back to it's original purpose. Knowing the He needed a qualified staff under Him, Jesus employed twelve men to work with him. Chain of Command: Level 1-Owners: God, Jesus, (Holy Ghost-Silent Partner) Level 2-Supervisors: Peter, Paul, John Level 3-Employees: James, Andrew, Phillip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Lebbaeus, Simon, Judas Employee Qualifications: 1. Must already be employed * Matthew- tax collector (2:14) * Simon- fisherman (1:16) * Andrew- fisherman (1:16) * James- fisherman (1:19) * John- fisherman (1:19) 2. Must be willing to leave everything and relocate * "And immediately He called them and they left their father, Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went after Him" (1:20). Services: Healing Ministries: * Sickness and Fevers: "Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her" (1:31). * Leprosy: "As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed" (1:42). * Withered Hands: "He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out and his hand was restored whole as the other" (3:5). * Demon Possession: "Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind" (5:15). * Issues of Blood: "And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction" (5:34).

Positive Feedbacks in the Economy

Positive Feedbacks in the Economy A new economic theory elucidates mechanisms whereby small chance events early in the history of an industry or technology can tilt the competitive balance by W. Brian Arthur onventional economic theory is built on the assumption of diminishing renrrns. Economic actions engender a negative feedback that leads to a predictable equilibrium for prices and market shares. Such feedback tends to stabilize the economy because any major changes will be offset by the very reactions they generate. The high oil prices of the 1970's ncouraged energy conservation and increased oil exploration, precipitat- ing a predictable drop in prices by the early 1980's. According to conventional theory the equilibrium marks the ‘best† outcome possible under the cir- natives will be the â€Å"best† one. Furthermore, once random economic events select a particular path the choice may become locked-in regardless of the advantages of the alternatives. If one pr oduct or nationin a competitive [email  protected] gets ahead by â€Å"chance,† it tends to stay ahead and even increase its lead. hedictable, shared markets are no longer guaranteed.During the past few years I and other economic theorists at Stanford University, the Santa Fe Insurute in New Mexico and elsewhere have been developing a view of the economy based Such a market is initially unstable. Both systems were introduced at about the same time and so began with roughly equal market shares; those shares fluctuated early on because of external circumstance, â€Å"luclC' and corporate maneuvering. Increasing returns on early gains eventually tilted the competition toward VHS: it accumulated enough of an advantage to take vhrually the entire VCR market.Yet it would have been impossible at the outset of the competition to say which system would win, which of the two possible equilibria would be se- Such an agreeable picture often on positive feedback. Increasing-returns eco nomics has roots that go back 70 years or more, but its application to the economy as a whole is does violence to reality. In many parts largely new. The theory has strong lected. Furthermore, if the claim that Beta was technically superior is true, then the market's choice did not represent the best economic outcome. Conventional economic theory of- stabilizing forces arallels with modern nonlinear physics (instead of the pre-ZOth-century physical models that underlie conventional economics), it requires new and challenging mathematical techniques between two technologies or products performing the same function. An example is the competition between water and coal to generate electricity. As cumstances: the most efficient use and allocation of resources. of the economy, appear not to operate. Instead positive feedback magnifies the effects of small economic shifts; the economic models that describe such effects differ vastly from the conventional ones.Diminishing returns imply a s ingle equilibrium point for the economy, but positive feedback-increasing returns-makes for many possible equilibrium points. There is no guarantee that the particular economic outcome selected from among the many alterW. BRIANARTHUR is Morrison hofes- sor of Population Studies and Economics at Stanford University. He obtained his Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973 and holds graduate degtees in operations research, economics and mathematics. Until recently Arthur was on leave at the Santa Fe Institute, a research insdrute dedicated o the srudy of complex systems. There he directed a team of economists, physicists, biologists and others investigating behavior of the economy as an evolving, complex system. and it appears lTth† history of the videocassette I recorder furnishes a simple exI ample of positive feedbaik. the vcR market started out with two competing formats selling at about the same price: VIIS and Beta. Ehch format could realize increasing r erurns as its market share increased: large numbers of VHS recorders would encourage video outlets to stock more prerecorded tapes in VHS format, thereby enhancing the value of owning a WIS ecorder and leading more people to buy one. (The same would, of course, be true for Beta-format players. ) Ir this way, a small gain in market share would improve the competitive position of one system and help it further increase its lead. 92 Scrrmrrc AMERTcAN to be the appropri- ate theory for understanding modern high-technology economies. February 1990 fers a different view of competition hydroelectric plants take more of the market, engineers must exploit more costly dam sites, thereby increasing the chance that a coal-fired plant will be cheaper. As coal plants take more f the market, they bid up the price of coal (or trigger the imposition of costly pollution controls) and so tip the balance toward hydropower. The two technologies end up sharing the market in a predictable proportion that best e>'qploits the potentials of each, in contrast to what happened to the two video-recorder systems. The evolution of the VCR market would not have surprised the great Victorian economist Alfred Marshall, one of the founders of today's conventional economics. In his 1890 Pr'nciples of Economics, he noted that if firms' production costs fall as their arket shares increase, a firm that simply by good fortune gained a high proportion of the market early on would be able to best its rivals; ‘uhatever firm first gets a good start† would corner the market. Marshall did not follow up this observatior however, and theoretical economics has until recently largely ignored it. Marshall did not believe that increasing returns applied everywhere; agriculture and mining-the mainstays of the economies of his timewere subject to diminishing returns caused by limited amounts of fertile land or high-quality ore deposits.Manufacturing, on the other hand, eqioyed increasing returns becau se large plants allowed improved organization Modern economists do not see economies of scale as a reliable source of increasing returns. Sometimes large plants have proved more economical; often they have not. would update Marshall's insight by observing that the parts of the economy that are resource-based (agficulI ture, bulk-goods production, mining) are still for the most part subject to diminishing returns. Here conventional economics rightly holds sway.The parts of the economy that are knowledge-based, on the other hand, are largely subject to increasing retums. Products such as computers, pharmaceuticals, missiles, aircraft, automobiles, software, telecommunications equipment or fiber optics are complicated to design and to manufacture. They require large initial investments in research, development and tooling, but once sales begin, incremental production is relatively cheap. A new airframe or aircraft engine, for example, typically costs between $2 and $3 billion to design , develop, certify and put into production.Each copy thereafter costs perhaps $50 to $100 million. As more units are built, unit costs continue to fall and profits increase. Increased production brings additional benefits: producing more units means gaining more experience in the uct so as to be able to exchange information with those using it already. manufacturing process and achieving greater understanding of how to produce additional units even more mechanisms that did not involve technology. Orthodox economists avoided increasing returns for deeper reasons. cheaply. Moreover, er

Greek Mythology: Naricissus relevancy to today Essay

Many tales have been told of Narcissus, the son of a god who fell to his peril due to his own vanity and love for himself. The story is told according to The Mythology Guide, and this is how it goes: Narcissus was cruel not in the case of Echo alone. He shunned all the rest of the nymphs as he had done poor Echo. One day a maiden, who had in vain endeavored to attract him, uttered a prayer that he might some time or other feel what it was to love and meet no return of affection. The avenging goddess heard and granted the  prayer. There was a clear fountain, with water like silver, to which the shepherds never drove their flocks. Nor did the mountain goats resort to it, nor any of the beasts of the forest; neither was it defaced with fallen leaves or branches; but the grass grew fresh around it, and the rocks sheltered it from the sun. Hither came one day the youth fatigued with hunting, heated and thirsty. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image in the water; he thought it was some beautiful water spirit living in the fountain. He stood gazing with admiration at those bright eyes, those locks curled like the locks of Bacchus or Apollo, the  rounded cheeks, the ivory neck, the parted lips, and the glow of health and exercise over all. He fell in love with himself. He brought his lips near to take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to embrace the beloved object. It fled at the touch, but returned again after a moment and renewed the fascination. He could not tear himself away; he lost all thought of food or rest, while he hovered over the brink of the fountain gazing upon his own image. He talked with the supposed spirit: â€Å"Why, beautiful being, do you shun me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the same; and you smile upon me and answer my beckonings with the like.† His tears fell into the water and disturbed the image. As he saw it depart, he exclaimed, â€Å"Stay, I entreat you! Let me at least gaze upon you, if I may not  touch you.† With this, and much more of the same kind, he cherished the flame that consumed him, so that by degrees he lost his color, his vigor, and the beauty which formerly had so charmed the nymph Echo. She kept near him, however, and when he exclaimed, â€Å"Alas! Alas!† she answered him with the same words. He pined away and died; and when his shade  passed the Stygian river, it leaned over the boat to catch a look of itself in the waters. The nymphs mourned for him, especially the water-nymphs; and when they smote their breasts, Echo smote hers also. They prepared a funeral pile, and would have burned the body, but it was nowhere to be found; but in its place a flower, purple within, and surrounded with white leaves, which bears the name and preserves the memory of Narcissus.(paraphrased from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book III, Narcissus and Echo, lines 477-745) Vanity and the need for outward beauty must have always been an issue in the lives of men and women for this story of Narcissus to ring true even today. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines beauty as, â€Å"The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.† Interesting definition in light of what men and women strive for in what they believe to be beautiful. The internet, magazines, television and the movies tell us what we should look like and what we should be striving for. What all the hysteria toward perfection has meant is billions of dollars spent with in the world of plastic surgery. A person that is dissatisfied with their outward appearance can easily have any part operated on, or filled with fat, or injected with silicon or collagen and viola, perfection! Well not exactly, in fact most people that have plastic surgery want more. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, â€Å"43% of all patients have two and three procedures done within the first three years of their first procedure.† The number one procedure in the Unites States in 2003 was Rhinoplasty, which is the reshaping of the nose. Three hundred thousand Americans had this type  of surgery, with Liposuction running a close second taking three hundred thousand twenty people having their fat sucked out from different areas of their bodies. Leaving breast implants, tummy tucks and eye lid lifts coming in next with over eight hundred thousand surgeries done a year. A quarter of all breast implants are later removed because of complications or concern of future complications. Many of the people interviewed state that they want these surgeries so that they can feel better about themselves, but really more often then not it seems that it is more about what others think. This brings us to media and the pressure for beauty that is beamed into our living rooms daily. Television shows such as The Swan, supposedly takes, self-proclaimed â€Å"ugly ducklings† and they are given the unique opportunity to realize their dreams on an unscripted series that turns a fairy tale into reality. In its first season, THE SWAN became the No. 1 makeover show on television among Adults 18-49. THE SWAN promises to take women who are stuck in a rut and revitalizes them by revealing their beauty and confidence. It offers them an incredible opportunity to undergo physical, mental and emotional transformations and follows them through the process. This series culminates in a spectacular pageant in which one woman ultimately is crowned â€Å"The Swan.† Each contestant is assigned a team of specialists – a coach, therapist, trainer, cosmetic surgeon, and dentist – who work together to design the ideal individually tailored program for her. The team assists the contestants in an overall transformation that is not just about physical change. Two contestants, who compete for a place in the pageant finale, are featured in every episode. The reveals of their individual transformations are especially dramatic because the women are not permitted to see themselves in a mirror during the three-month process. Thus, not only do they find out who has been selected to compete in the Swan Pageant and who will go home to her family, but they see themselves anew for the first time. This sounds so harmless while being life changing. Are these women really ugly ducklings and according to who? The description of the show sounds like it might be actually helping people feel better about themselves. It is the process and competition that makes the whole idea rather unappealing to so many not to  mention narcissistic, for in the end of each show the women finally get to see themselves after three months of dieting, exercise, plastic surgery from head to toe, tooth bleaching or veneers, hair coloring, cutting, and make-up, to reveal, â€Å"I’m so pretty† and then many of them say to the host of the show that they can not stop looking at themselves. They are admiring the outside appearance that has just taken a huge transformation. Then in the end there can only be one Swan and of course the other sixteen finalists are left to feel like they were not good enough or beautiful enough to be chosen, and all though they reinvented themselves they have been lowered back down to be losers yet again. Similar to The Swan is a makeover show on MTV called I Want a Famous Face, where people have plastic surgery to look like their favorite celebrity. Shows such as these inadvertently train people that it is acceptable to change their bodies so other will be happier with the way they look, and so that they can love themselves for the first times in their lives. In these days of plastic surgery to redefine ourselves there would not be a balance in the universe without a psychological diagnosis for these kinds of behaviors. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary describes Narcissism as, â€Å"excessive love or admiration of oneself, or a psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem. Some narcissism could be healthy, â€Å"an individual’s existence would be in jeopardy if some narcissistic traits were not present. These traits protect the ego from severe damage inflicted by others.†(7,Vankin) In this case it can be protective to have some self love and overall it is important to have a healthy self image. Vankin goes on to further explain what true narcissism is, a pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one’s self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one’s gratification, dominance and ambition. According to Vankin, most narcissists (75%) are men. Sam Vankin, Ph.D. has written a book on the subject of Narcissim, entitiled, Magnificent Self Love, in this book he describes narcissism as a personality disorder with distinguishable traits. Feels grandiose and self-important (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents to the point of lying, demands to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements) Is obsessed with fantasies of unlimited success, fame, fearsome power or omnipotence, unequalled brilliance (the cerebral narcissist), bodily beauty or sexual performance (the somatic narcissist), or ideal, everlasting, all-conquering love or passion Firmly convinced that he or she is unique and, being special, can only be understood by, should only be treated by, or associate with, other special or unique, or high-status people (or institutions) Requires excessive admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation – or, failing that, wishes to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply) Feels entitled. Expects unreasonable or special and favorable priority treatment. Demands automatic and full compliance with his or her expectations Is â€Å"interpersonally exploitative†, i.e., uses others to achieve his or her own ends Devoid of empathy. Is unable or unwilling to identify with or acknowledge the feelings and needs of others Constantly envious of others or believes that they feel the same about him or her Arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes coupled with rage when frustrated, contradicted, or confronted Obviously it is fair to say that there are people in this world that could be so in love with themselves that it could be to their own demise. It is also good to know that although there is not a tremendous amount of research on the disorder that there is help out there for these individuals. The story does not end here, there is more to our hero Narcissus. The author goes on to say that when Narcissus dies, the goddess of the forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears. â€Å"Why do you weep?† the goddess asked. â€Å"I weep for Narcissus,† the lake replied. â€Å"Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,† they said, â€Å"for though we always pursued him in the forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.† â€Å"But†¦ was Narcissus beautiful?† the lake asked. â€Å"Who better than you to know that?† the goddesses said in wonder. â€Å"After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!† The lake was silent for some time. Finally it said: â€Å"I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.† This story contains the essence of the impact we can have on others without even knowing it. People should remember that the reflection of ourselves, in the eyes of others during our communication with them, is usually the one that we put there ourselves. Perhaps Thoreau said it best: What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate† – Henry David Thoreau