Busting Bureaucracy with Radical Management: Forbes Magazine Article Cr

Busting Bureaucracy with Radical Management: Forbes Magazine Article Critique The article written by Steve Denning is covered in Forbes magazine to display the innovative and forward thinking studies that delves into why the Max Weber structure of management fails in today's management model (Daniels, 2010). The article is not complex and does not create a new basis, but rather reconstitutes the six bureaucratic principals developed by Weber in the early 1900’s (Daniels, 2010). With the six principals as a solid foundation, Denning (2011) explains and proves a modern fit, custom tailored, model of management for the 21st century. Statement of the Problem Since the early 1900’s the principals of the bureaucratic management structure have been bred into all white-collar hotshots. This type of management model was ideal with respect to the economical and social environment of that time period. While Webers six principals have stayed the same, the economical and social environment has changed exponentially in time with our societies’ technological advances (Dennings, 2011). With a new society, what was feasible in the 1900’s does not sit well in the 21st century. This type of management hinders rather than helps, for example, Jones (2010) explains, that an over-developed bureaucracy can delay decision-making procedures and increase costs due to a tall and centralized type of hierarchy structure in an organization. When there is a multilayered wall of officialdom between the problem and the solution, this waste of time and causes unneeded corporate stress. Moreover, Denning states that the default mental model o f management is not conducive for the once successful bureaucratic management methods (Forbes, 2011). Descripti... ...lateau with their shareholders or managers. Either way, there are a vast amount of inconclusive variables that could have accounted for the drastic display of data over the ten-year span. Works Cited Denning, S. (2011). Busting Bureaucracy with Radical Management | Management Innovation eXchange. Hack Management 2.0 | Management Innovation eXchange. Retrieved May 5, 2012, from http://www.managementexchange.com/blog/busting-bureaucracy-radical- management Jones, G. (2010). Organizational, Theory, Design, and Change. Upper Saddle River: Pearson. (Original work published 2001) The MIX: Busting Bureaucracy with Radical Management - Forbes. (2011). Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Retrieved May 5, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/12/05/the-mix-busting-bureaucracy- with-radical-management/

A Sociological Review of Marketing Molly and Melville: Dating in a Post-modern, Consumer Society

From the late 1980s, more and more commodities were being marketed with increasingly number of customers, women and men. This could be a new phenomenon that people wanted to make they look better to catch the fast-developing world and consumer society. Thousands of heterosexuals dating advertisements, like from magazines and newspapers, so they need improve their qualifications that will be described in the advertisements to attract the isomerism. In this point, men and women got different ways to presenting themselves like Jagger said in her article: â€Å"†¦ In describing the self, women were more likely to stress their appearance, whereas men were more likely to emphasise their finical and educational status and occupation, consistent with traditional ‘sex-role' expectations. † (Jagger 2001) It is true that the way people developing new relationships were depending on selective consumption by others, so dating advertisements are chances for people can represent themselves. Therefore the words ‘masculinity' and ‘femininity' became very important, because the changing meanings of them were part of the consumer society and new definition of self-identity. Men and women are more equally likely to market their bodies when advertising the self and seemed both sex had paid more attention to lifestyle but not work-place or domestic stuff. Like Jagger argued in her article, that major social transformations nearly has been done during the 20-century, along with the rise of media and advertising, the foundation of consumer culture has been established. Based on this new social culture, identities of individual has been described by the way of leisure and consumption much more than work and production, and the changed meaning of self-worth which is a very important factor while advertising a unitary self. Femininity and Masculinity in a Post-modern Society It has been argued in Jagger's article that ‘femininity' and ‘masculinity' were to describer women and men typically since long time ago. Women used to be identified as emotional, caring, domestically, and always should make themselves look beautiful as objectives in men's gaze. These analyses are consistent to the self-identity of women in advertising, majority of the women are more likely to stress their physical attractiveness but not something else. Yet this view of subordinate femininity was re-appraised in the 1980s as stereotyped social identity, people think that consumer culture provided women much more important resources of being an individual new feminine self than before. That means woman should have more opportunity to work, live, or even play with their personal identity and take pleasure of making different roles and masks, to do whatever they wanted equitable. As Jagger pointed out, however, Being a ‘professional', ‘independent', ‘career' woman have been identified. In sharp contrast to the old terrain of domestic femininity, these ‘new women', are held to do things for their own satisfaction and gratification, not merely to attract and keep a man. † (Jagger 2001) In other side, the contemporary debate on men and masculinity has been suggested that it is no longer a simple unitary male identity. Traditionally, men have been identified as ‘strong', ‘brave', ‘responsible', and usually deal with some hard and dangerous social work. This view of identity determined that men have to be cool and cold. Thus caused this kind of characters become very popular in women. For example, ROBOCOP, ROCKY and RAMBO, these were some images of ‘hard-man'; even all of them are violent. Since 1990s, however, this identify of men has been challenged by the value of ‘new man', who is warmer, softer, and more emotional. They being required not only be a worker or even a successful businessman, but also should take at least half of the domestic responsibility as a good father and a good husband. Moreover, muscles now understood as sexy sign of male but not the symbol of working class and rough person. More and more men with masculinity wanted to be enjoyed by female viewer as objectives in the new order of the consumer society. â€Å"It is clamed, therefore, men have become embodied subject, enjoying the same kind of attention that in the past was the preserve of women. † (Jagger 2001) Although the fast-developing consumer society provided both men and women resources of self-identity, required them to change the gender stereotypes, there are still a lot of problems. Some researchers consider that the power of traditional culture still strong or even more signifies. Both men and women are influenced by this cultural ideal. In one hand, it has been argued that a more limited number of the female advertisers still emphasise their physical attractiveness, their caring and ability to listen when representing themselves. A ‘professional', ‘successful' woman always was proved negative and ‘masculine'. Many solutions have been used for fix the problem. Some women construct themselves as mixed subjects that means they can be a good housewives and holding a demanding job at the same time. Also some female advertisers construct themselves in characters that borrowed from media, or describe the appearance of their body directly. It is a truth that many women have been advised by the media for how to be a ‘new femininity' and what that kind of women might look like, identified as subject of gaze. However, these ‘new femininities' did not walk too far from the old notion. They continue to represent themselves in a relatively limited number of images of female selfhood, particularly with regard to their bodies. In the other hand, it seems that masculinity takes many forms to the extent that men produced more versions of the self than women did. Some of them represent themselves as hard working, successful and some others even emphasise their bodies. This could prove that the consumer society paid more attention to the consumption market, which decided that the male's body also could be the ‘product' being sold. But there are small number of ‘new man' that we can not lose sight of: â€Å"For instance, some men constructed themselves as caring, sharing, 'emotional' and ‘sensitive' individuals, anxious to share in the joy of domesticity. † (Jagger 2001) This consist with the ‘trait' of consumer society, which apply the masculine subjectivity is complex and multiple, not just unitary. Therefore, as Jagger considered, there are diverse way of being a man, in this complex and multiple post-modern worlds. CONCLUSION: Dating in a post-modern, consumer society through advertisement could be a good experience of self-identify and representing. The consumer culture has provided individuals some important resources for women and men, but it seems that these resources are not equally available to all of them. Although the meaning of ‘femininity' and ‘masculinity' are changing a lot to fit the consumer culture, women still got more problems when dealing with the new setting of social conditions than these to men. Actually, women become more independent and men become more sensitive nowadays, and both of these changes are relatively to the contemporary consumer culture, which gives people more opportunities to identify themselves. All of these ideas have been critically discussed in Jagger's article, which she gives some nice suggestion to people about self-identity and play diversity roles in this consumer society. Not only for advertisers, but also for all of us who care about ourselves.

Critical analysis of Bob Dylan’s song “Hurricane” Essay

Bob Dylan’s iconic songwriting, unique and distinctive singing voice, as well as his controversial and thought-provoking lyrics has undoubtedly placed Dylan among the elites of modern, American musical history. This is not to say there are those who dislike and generally do not care for his songwriting, but almost everyone has come in contact with his expansive body of work. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, he moved to New York City in 1961 and legally changed his name to Bob Dylan in 1962. In the onset of his career Dylan focused on politically charged themes and acoustic/folk type guitar playing. Protest songs written in the 1960’s established a reputation as a free-thinking songwriter engrossed in the trials and tribulations of the times. After a break from this style, his 1976 album Desire contained the eight and a half minute mega-track â€Å"Hurricane,† which saw a return to the societal-minded songwriting that had helped him make h is name. â€Å"Hurricane,† is a narrative that describes Dylan’s own account of the events in New Jersey bar in June of 1966, which lead to the arrest and imprisonment of Rubin â€Å"Hurricane† Carter, an American middle-weight boxer. Although this is one of his most popular songs, Dylan no longer incorporates it in his live sets. Also, despite its popularity, â€Å"Hurricane,† is truly a masterpiece and a wonderful lens with which to examine this great artist’s literary style and influence. Through the exploration of several critics’ analysis coupled with a detailed examination of the actual song lyrics, it is clear that the song â€Å"Hurricane† by Bob Dylan intertwines modern social elements of race and equity, the literary aspects of genre, language and metaphor, and his own unique and individualistic songwriting that has established him on a plateau of excellence rivaled by no other modern artist. The racial aspects of the song ring out louder than any other theme. Upon listening to the song, Dylan’s emotionally charged singing and sharp lyrics clearly display that fact that Rubin Carter’s skin color had a major influence in his arrest and conviction. This, of course, is just Bob Dylan’s interpretation however. Evan Schlansky, a critic from American Songwriter.com, explores the issue of race and social equity in his analysis. ‘†Hurricane† functions like a real live detective story. It’s a song that peppers the listener with rich details and impolite truths, many  of which are enough to make the hairs at the back of your neck stand up’ (Schlansky, 1). Paterson, New Jersey in the 1960’s was a hotbed of racism and racial issues, and the lyrics explain the direness of the situation. Dylan sings, â€Å"In Paterson that’s just the way things go/If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street, ‘less you wanna draw the heat† (Metrolyrics.com, 1). Dylan is obviously critiquing the law enforcement and judiciary system, as well as striking a chord with racial and political activists everywhere. As mentioned before, Bob Dylan’s songwriting as always been poignant and controversial and although this song was released ten years after the incident, its themes are just as true. He lays blame on society’s elite with the lines, â€Å"And though they could not produce the gun, the D.A. said he was the one who did the deed, and the all-white jury agreed† (Metrolyrics.com, 1). These lines have been regarded as some of Dylan’s most controversial and along with his use of the â€Å"N-word,† he created an extremely moving and thought-provoking example of how racism is still present in society. The first element of Dylan’s genre in â€Å"Hurricane,† relate to his writing the song as a narrative. This means he is singing the song as a story being told of the actual accounts as if Dylan himself was in the bar that night. Gerard Steen, in his essay â€Å"Metaphor in Bob Dylan’s ‘Hurricane'† writes, â€Å"†¦such story format options are also part and parcel of well-conventionalized cognitive genre schemes, such as narrative songs† (Steen, 190). Another important genre aspect of â€Å"Hurricane,† is his utilization of a protest song. â€Å"†¦the accusation of false conviction is clear enough to make the song a serious protest song from the beginning† (Steen, 189). Protest songs were elemental in establishing Dylan’s reputation as a singer/songwriter. â€Å"Hurricane,† marked a return to this style of songwriting. Dylan also uses language to convey his message. Usage of extreme language and powerful metaphors enhance the drama and suspense that builds throughout the song. The metaphors used by Dylan are key to his message. However these metaphors are not always clearly displayed throughout the verses, and the reader (or listener) usually has to make up his/her mind (Steen, 196). These important elements of literary style add to the significance and complexity of this monumental work. Aside from his singing voice, Dylan’s unique songwriting as placed him in a class of his own even among his peers. â€Å"Hurricane,† is a delightful piece to examine based on his return to the in-the-moment style songwriting that had made him famous in the 1960’s. Previous staples of Dylan’s first albums like â€Å"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,† and â€Å"Who Killed Davey Moore?,† had plots seemingly taken right from the papers and words beautifully woven into songs in a way completely peculiar to his own style. In fact many critics argue that the song may have fit more unto one of his earlier albums such as Masters of War or The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (Schlansky, 1). The fact that this song was not released until 1976 also leads to the element of surprise that Dylan (ever the individual) would ever back-track to his previous writing styles. â€Å"Harking back to the days when he used to rip his song ideas from the headlines of newspapers, Dylan masterfully sums up and dramatizes Carter’s story, and also manages to embarrass the system by coming off smarter than every lawyer, cop, and jury on the case. To live outside the law, you must be honest† (Schlansky, 1). Through the exploration of several critics’ analysis coupled with a detailed examination of the actual song lyrics, it is clear that the song â€Å"Hurricane† by Bob Dylan intertwines modern social elements of race and equity, the literary aspects of genre, language and metaphor, and his own unique and individualistic songwriting that has established him on a plateau of excellence rivaled by no other modern artist. Although there are those who do not enjoy Dylan’s music, one would be hard-pressed to find someone who had never heard of him. He is undoubtedly one of the most famous and influential American musicians of all-time. â€Å"Hurricane,† stands as one of Dylan’s true masterpieces and incorporates the best aspects of his literary style and songwriting capabilities. The song was so influential many believe it even helped to get Rubin Carter released from jail and acquitted of all charges. â€Å"†¦but only ‘Hurricane’ actually helped get someone out of jail, even if it did take 12 years (Schlansky, 1). In conclusion, â€Å"Hurricane,† is a song that will stand the test of time, and shines as a beacon of accomplishment in an immense and critically acclaimed body of work. Works Cited Levy, J., Dylan, B., â€Å"Hurricane.† 15 May 2009. < http://www.metrolyrics.com/hurricane- lyrics-bob-dylan.html>. Schlansky, Evan. â€Å"The 30 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs: #21 ‘Hurricane’.† 2009. American Songwriter.com. 15 May 2009. . Steen, Gerard. â€Å"Metaphor in Bob Dylan’s ‘Hurricane’: genre, style and language.† 15May 2009. < http://books.google.com/books?id=O1R79- TsVKoC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=literary+criticism+%22hurricane%22&s ource=bl&ots=Ioa4GCmjjQ&sig=MYMBoFGCnh0yV3ihRZ9gRLmnRXQ&hl=e n&ei=jqgNSopHYzCMdmhpbYG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4 #PPA183,M1>.

Justification of Human Violence Through Fight Club Essay

Throughout the history of the Human Race, violence and destruction is a reoccurring theme. In modern society we view ourselves as socially and economically evolved people when comparing ourselves to our ancestors, who were barbaric and uncivilized in comparison. However, our society has not evolved very far from this. There remains an instinct and desire for chaos and destruction in humans. I will not say this applies to all people, but it cannot be agued that the Human species is the single most destructive creature on the planet Earth. We have created war amongst each other, creating weapons and advancing our sciences for the sake of finding new and better ways of killing each other. The violence is not only contained in war, but in our entertainment as well. Romans used to watch gladiators kill each other in the coliseum, and we today watch action movies of men blowing each other up with guns and dynamite. Video games themselves allow you to kill and maim people, but why would someone want to play a game where you kill someone? Why does a violent and gory movie become so popular? What is it about aggression, destruction, and violence that attracts people? Sigmund Freud developed many theories and ideas about the human mind and explores society and its effects on people. This, as well as the movie and book â€Å"Fight Club†, will help to give insight into the minds of violent people and will give reasoning to their destructiveness. The majority of the world is made up of people who have an urge for violence and corruption, even if they don’t consider themselves to be, and the book â€Å"Fight Club† gives examples of this. Fight Club† is a book that was first written by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996 and was later transitioned into a film in 1999 starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. In this story, the narrator, who is never named in neither the film nor the book, but has been referred to as jack, is an office worker who lost his view on life and has one bad thing happen to him after another. He has insomnia, his condo was blown up by a gas leak, and he is overwhelmed by work, finding himself in different places after he falls asleep. To cure his insomnia, he goes to cancer meetings and other such help group. It is her where he is allowed to cry and have everyone around him assume the worst. This helps him to sleep until his lie is reflected by a woman who starts to do the same thing. Her name is Marla and keeps Jack from being able to cry. They agree to different days so that he can be alone and they ironically become close by the end of the book, due to the fact that Jack is constantly bitter towards her while she is at the self help meetings. He eventually meets a character named Tyler Durden on a business trip and finds himself living with him. Tyler is much more outgoing and adventurous than Jack, and soon becomes his mentor and teacher. After one night of some drinks, Tyler starts a fight with Jack for fun. They continue to do this every few nights and eventually gather a crowd of other men that want to fight as well. They then create fight club, a weekly gathering where two men are put together to brawl against each other in a circle of shouting man. Tyler leads this whole thing, with Jack at his side, but Fight Club grows more and more into a cult, and Tyler creates his own personal army which he call project mayhem, which has the sole purpose of bringing chaos and madness on the buttoned down society that shunned them away and led them to believe that they could be something they’re not. What Tyler tries to teach Jack throughout the story is that he needs to â€Å"hit bottom† meaning that he must detach himself from everything in his life. He says â€Å"It is only when we have nothing that we are free to do anything. With nothing to lose, no one can threaten you and you can do whatever you want. Tyler wanted to teach the world this and planned on using his followers to accomplish this. His big plan was to destroy all the major credit card company buildings and their records, putting everyone’s credit to zero. What Jack eventually finds out is that Tyler is his own split personality. Tyler is an extension of Jack, and only he sees him, but whatever Tyler has ever said to anyone or done, it was really Jack. Fight Club helps to evaluate the reasoning and deduction of violence and the need for chaos. Tyler tells his followers that they have been promises by industry that they could become movie gods and rock stars, but they’re not, and â€Å"we’re slowly learning that fact, and we are very, very pissed off. † Fight Club was created because of the first night with Jack and Tyler, and Tyler says â€Å"How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight. I don’t want to die without any scares. † This means to say that a man is considered to show his true worth and self in a fight. It can show that he is either brave or a coward, or strong or weak. Most people cannot say that they’ve actually been in a fight before, but there is much to be learned about ones self if they are ever to encounter one. However, there are some that have actually started real fight clubs and follow the teachings of the fictional character of Tyler Durden. There do exist real fight clubs. USA Today wrote an online news article about software engineers near the age of 30 to 40, who hold fight clubs in a garage every two weeks. This is inspired by the movie, and these people that fight do it to exert their anger and frustration into something physical. They meet up and have full fledged fights with each other, two at a time and sometimes with weapons to. They took the movie and book quite literally, and many parallels can be seen. The article quotes one of the men who say â€Å"I have fantasies about it† compared to the movie where the narrator says â€Å"You aren’t alive anywhere like you’re alive at fight club. † Another man says â€Å"You get to be a superhero for a night. We have to go to work every day. We’re constantly told to buy things we don’t need, and just for a couple hours we have the freedom to do what we want to do. This is near to what Tyler Durden teaches about losing touch with personal possessions and going back to the hunter gatherer sense and also being able to do what you want. These technical engineers joined a fight club and enjoy it. They say they feel powerful and â€Å"macho†. It can therefore be dismissed that only unintelligent people would have the sense to be in a fight, seeing as we have software engineers doing it. There are other fight club that are started by teens, but they are unfortunate in the fact that sometimes a person is unwilling to fight and is beaten by his attacker. These teenagers get caught and arrested after they make DVD’s of the fight to sell online. This is the ignorant side of fighting. The tech engineers only fight with each other and organize it together, but these teenagers choose to turn it into an act of bullying by prying on the weak and taking advantage of them. It is dishonourable and untrue to the true nature and message of Fight Club. Many people can see the reasoning behind these fighting engineers, but others only see the teenager side of fight club and see it as grotesque, violent, and meaningless. The main idea though, is to put more meaning to your life than that new T. V you want, or the sofa you saw in an Ikea magazine that you think matches your curtains. There is a quote that depicts the meaning Tyler’s lesson very well. It’s from a kid named Lester in a book called â€Å"The Brimstone Journals†. He is talking about his mother working days and his dad working nights, saying â€Å"All so they can buy more crap. Man, it reminds me way too much of this movie on TV where a bunch of slaves were moving some big statue of a god. They had it on these logs that were like rollers and most of the laves pushed this god while the rest picked up the last log and hustled it around to the front. They did this all day. † The meaning behind this is that most people are stuck in the social loop of working hours like a drone, only to buy something you don’t really need. Society has everyone working hard so we can take our money and put it into the system we’re working for. The point is to drive yourself to become more than that and learn more about yourself through fight club. The other people of the fight clubs mentioned could defend to this. The movie has a scene where Jack is mad about his condo being destroyed and the amount of stuff he had in it, saying its ok, his insurance will cover it. This is when Tyler laughs and say â€Å"The things you own, end up owning you. † Meaning we become dependant and needy for material possessions. Fight Club certainly promotes violence, but it does it in a way so others don’t have to become involved if they choose so. It is a good way to get ride of anger and frustration compared to how others have done it before. As long as others have an outlet to express these feelings, others are safe. Some people choose to express their anger with a different violence witch targets others. Husbands sometime hit their wives, a student may bring a gun to school, or maybe even an office worker. These things have happened and are very unfortunate to have done so. In the book , â€Å"The Brimstone Journals† which depict poems of student in high school and their thoughts, Lester is holding his dad’s gun saying he wouldn’t hurt anyone with it, but if he did he would do it naked in the gym saying â€Å"They wouldn’t laugh then, would they? The jocks would crap their pants. The girls’d kiss my fat feet. † These people became unhappy and were mistreated and decided to act back. With fight club, anger is not contained and built up; it is exerted with friends in a brawl. As stated previously, Fight Club remains to be about finding happiness and disconnecting from society. Sigmund Freud has a writing titled, â€Å"Civilization and its Discontents† and in one chapter, he evaluates how men find it difficult to become happy and that the source of our misery is our civilization and the comfort that we as humans have made for ourselves. He says (pg38) â€Å"What we call our civilization is largely responsible for our misery, and that we should be much happier if we gave it up and returned to primitive conditions. † This is the main goal of Tyler Durden in â€Å"Fight Club†. He wants to bring civilization back to its primitive roots because it’s better than the narrowed society and community that we have worked so hard to make for ourselves. He says in the movie â€Å"In the world I see – you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You’ll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You’ll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you’ll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway. † This is the world that Tyler wants to create. A world where skyscrapers and highways are but remnants of an old life, and civilization has downgraded into a society of those who only perform what they need to, and are not bound by industries. Freud goes on to say that (pg38) â€Å"It is a certain fact that all the things with which we seek to protect ourselves against the threats that emanate from the sources of suffering are part of that very civilization. † Mean that society that we have created for ourselves has also created the source of our suffering. Buddhism is known to have said that the source of all suffering comes from wanting something. However, we have created an economy of â€Å"want†, surrounded by advertisements, TV commercials and supermarkets. If wanting something is suffering, then we have created it ourselves and surrounded ourselves with it. Later in this text, he states that â€Å"It was discovered that a person becomes neurotic because he cannot tolerate the amount of frustration which society imposes on him in the service of its cultural ideals, and it was inferred from this that the abolition or reduction of those demands would result in a return to possibilities of happiness. † (pg39) This means that the idea of happiness in our society is reliant on the basis of a lack of work. Our lives are clustered and overwhelmed by housework, jobs, food shopping, and the idea of not doing any of that is the only thing we know as happiness and yet we are stuck in a paradoxical loop. We want to be happy, we have to buy a new coffee table, if we want that then we have to work, if we have to do that, we have to be unhappy. Being happy should not be based on the sheer contrast of unhappiness. Freud changes his subject to man’s view of God. He goes on to say â€Å"To these gods he attributed everything that seemed unattainable to his wishes, or that these gods were cultural ideals. To-day he has come very close to the attainment of this ideal, he has almost become god himself. †(pg44). What he means by this is that gods used to be beings of unforeseen knowledge with the ability to control the element and do as they please, but we have reached an age where we can control our own world and our knowledge has gone beyond what we could have ever imagined. Freud goes on to say â€Å"Future ages will bring with them new and probably unimaginably great advances in this field of civilization and will increase man’s likeness to God still more†¦. an does not feel happy in his Godlike character. †(pg45) This merely re-emphasises what is being said. That our technological and scientific advances allow us to become the God that man has always praised. We are able to alter DNA, remove and fertilise embryos, and the list goes on. In â€Å"Fight Club†, the father figure is what is expected to be seen as a person’s view of god. The narrator says† What you end up doing, is you spend your life searching for a father and God. What you have to consider is the possibility that God doesn’t like you. Could be, God hates us. This is not the worst thing that could happen. Getting God’s attention for being bad was better than getting no attention at all. Maybe because God’s hate is better than His indifference. † The brings a religious aspect to the subject. It can be questioned as to weather or not God is the reason people act violently. This is true, seeing as there are cases where people commit murder in the claim that God â€Å"told them† to do it. And yet, an entire war happened all in the name of God, it was also known as the Crusades. Could the only way to get God’s recognition is to be bad? I can’t be argued that religion has in fact created war, hatred towards other beliefs and murder. Violence is clearly an innate part of the human race as far as history and as a society. â€Å"Fight Club† helps to give a view that gives a justification for fighting and violent actions. With the help of â€Å"Fight Club† and the theories of Sigmund Freud, we have developed a better understanding as to the reasoning of actual fight clubs. We can see that they are not events where the innocent are beaten, but rather gatherings where men can exhort their anger and frustration into a physical manifestation of punches and kicks. We can see now that this type of violence among other people who want it, is better than the type of violence where others are dragged into it unwillingly. â€Å"Fight Club† says a lot of things about society and civilization being the source of our misery, as well as contains parallels with the work of Sigmund Freud. The book â€Å"Fight Club† has influenced many lives and has changed the ideals and views of many. The majority of the world is made up of people who have an urge for violence and corruption, even if they don’t consider themselves to be, and the book â€Å"Fight Club† gives examples of this.

Obesity Epidemic Among African American Women

Chapter II Review of Literature We know that the problem of obesity is a world-wide epidemic and is becoming an even greater threat to the United States. Currently the U. S is the world’s most obese country and with a large margin between second place (James, Leach,  Kalamara, Shayegh 2001). America is also the front runner in a new trend: morbid obesity. Not only does America have the highest population of obese individuals, America also has the largest population of morbidly obese individuals (World Health Organization 2009).Morbid obesity affects both males and females of all ages and ethnicities from different socioeconomic statuses, however, the Black female population that has been affected the most (Lorenzen, (2010). This trend of overweight Black American females has only recently become an epidemic (Davis, 2008). What if any factors played into this abrupt change in obesity levels of the Black-American woman? Obesity and BMI Obesity can be classified as a condition characterized by excessive body fat to the magnitude that is becomes detrimental to one’s health (Ho-Pham, et al. , 2010).There are different methods to measuring ones body mass index with the more common methods being height to weight ratio measurement, waist to hip ratio measurement, skin fold tests, and bioelectrical impedance measurement. For most of these references BMI’s were calculated between a mixture of bioelectrical impedance and skin fold measurement tests. A person should have a BMI of 18. 5 to 24. 99 be considered â€Å"normal† (World Health Organization, 2010). Once a BMI reaches 30 or greater the individual is classified as obese. The term obesity is broken down into 3 different Body Mass Index (BMI) classifications. Having a BMI greater than 30. is considered Class I Obesity. A BMI greater than 35. 0 is considered Class II Obesity and a BMI greater than 40. 0 is Class III Obesity or morbid obesity (World Health Organization, 2000). The Obesity E pidemic Obesity is a worldwide epidemic (Deitel, 2003). 1 out of every 10 adults suffering from obesity worldwide (WHO, 2009) and this number will be doubled by 2015 (Withrow, Alter, 2011). Stemming from this large occurrence there are over 2. 5 million obesity related deaths worldwide each year (CDC 2011). However in America the problem is even greater in that 35. 7 percent of the adult population is obese (CDC 2011).The most current figures available come from a 2005-2006 survey station that 6 percent of Americans suffer from morbid obesity (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2012). The obesity epidemic in the United States represents a critical public health crisis. The increase in obesity can be directly linked to the increase of other major health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and poor health status ( Mokdad, et al. , 2001). Not only does it encompass life threatening consequences such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases but it also results in major healthcare costs (Brown, et al. 2009). The United States spends upwards of $147 billion annually in obesity related healthcare costs (The Washington Post). The rise in obesity is giving way to a new epidemic- morbid obesity. Morbid Obesity and Women Morbid obesity is classified as having a BMI greater than 50. 0 (Strum, 2007). Like in obese people, morbid obese people see the same list of health complications such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, infertility and breathing problems such as asthma and sleep apnea to more severe problems such as diabetes and high premature mortality rates.Both obesity and morbid obesity are a major problem in the United States. It is apparent that morbid obesity is on the rise in the U. S however it is more prevalent in women than in men. Morbid obesity tends to affect women more than men. Currently morbid obesity cases affect females 24% more than males and it is estimated that by the year 2020, 40. 2% o f men will be obese with 3. 1% of that population being morbidly obese and 43. 3% of women will be obese with 5. 8% of that population being morbidly obese (C. J. Ruhm, 2007).Morbid Obesity in Black-American Women Morbid obesity continues to rise throughout America however the most significant increase is seen in Black women. Over 78% of Black-American women are overweight or obese (Davis, 2008), and it is predicted that by 2030, 96. 9% of Black women will be either overweight or obese (Wang, et al. , 2008). In 2002 morbid obesity among Black-American women was more than double that among White and Mexican-American women. 13. 5 % of Black-American women were morbidly obese as opposed to 5. 5% and 5. % in White and Mexican-American women (Wang, Beydoun, 2007). Why it is that Black women are most vulnerable to not only obesity, but to morbid obesity? Could socioeconomics place a factor in these figures? A study was done in 2007 that looked at race, socioeconomic status and food qualit y availability. It was found that in low income urban areas, there was significantly less access to not only major food chains but foods of quality such as fresh fruits and vegetables while having a significantly higher access to convenience store than the rest of the population. Powella, et al. , 2007). Since majority of low income urban areas are made up of black residents then why aren’t Black men’s morbid obesity rates just as high? Both Black men and Black women of the same socioeconomic status have the same access to the same food distribution centers. Both also share the same body compositions as naturally having a greater lean mass to fat mass ratio (Flegal, Carroll, C. L. Ogden, Curtin, 2010). Could there be another factor playing a role in Black women’s prevalence to morbid obesity? Body ImageA study was conducted at Tennessee State University where 218 Black- American females were asked to rate their body image confidence. The findings of this study s uggested that the obese and morbidly obese women rated themselves as having a high level of body image confidence and life satisfaction as opposed to that of the women who were normal or overweight (Lorenzen, L. , 2010). Another study was conducted in 2007 looking at the preferred body images between 80 White- American and 80 Black-American participants. All participants were asked to look at female models and silhouettes of women.The models BMI’s ranged from low to obese. From there the participants were asked to rate each model and silhouette. The study found that there was a significant difference in ratings between Black- American and White-American participants in that model silhouettes with a higher BMI received higher attractiveness ratings amongst the Black-American participants than compared to White-American participants (Davis 2008). Although these studies yielded relatively small samples the results are conclusive in that Black-Americans view a female with a large r BMI as having a more attractive body image.This obesity epidemic in Black-American women is fairly new. If we go back only a few decades ago, the obesity rates of Black- American women has doubled between 1988 and 2004. In addition, various longitudinal studies have shown that there are higher rates of weight gain in black women than in white women. Also during the first BMI examinations in the 1970s, white and black girls had similar levels of BMI but the annual increase in BMI were 30-40% larger among the black girls throughout both childhood and adulthood (Freedman et al, 2005).

China in Its Role as a Donor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

China in Its Role as a Donor - Essay Example However, in the recent two-three years, emerging economies like China, India, Brazil, Kuwait, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Korea have started paying significant roles as international donors. These emerging countries have started changing the scenario of world development assistance by encouraging a shift in the sources of global aid and donations from the DAC countries to the non DAC countries. In the last decade, the roe of China as a global donor has been highly visible, especially because of the increasing magnitude of its contributions and the differentiated manner in which the country donates for the foreign aid purposes. This report is prepared with the aim of discussing the role of China as a donor in the global development assistance domain and also to appraise the ways in which China has brought in new dimensions in the global aid and development programs in this century. In the present era, the donations for global development governance are characterized by equal impacts and contributions from both the DAC and non DAC donors (Zimmermann and Smith, 2011). The new geographical areas like Middle East and Asia pacific have started developing as significant donors in this domain. The donors operating for the development of the global governance can be categorized in two main sections. The first section is the traditional section of donors which include the members of the OECD countries which are commonly called the DAC countries and operate under the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) which has been established within the OEC exclusively for the purpose of assistance. The other section of donors encompasses the emerging donor economies in the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern regions of the world (Woods, 2008).

Alternatives to the Erection of Additional Transmission Lines Assignment

Alternatives to the Erection of Additional Transmission Lines - Assignment Example These poles are made of either wood or metal. Introduction The erection of transmission lines is usually a very disadvantageous affair. It is very essential for an alternative means to be sort after. Most power generation sites are usually put up in places far away from the points of consumption of electricity. These are places like riverbanks, sea shores, lake side and waterfalls. This makes it necessary for the transmission lines to be very long. In this regard, it becomes a very expensive activity to carry out. Considering that the lines also carry high voltages, they are themselves a hub of danger cutting across community land. The lines also hamper transportation in certain areas. In addition, a lot of the generated power is lost in the long transmission lines as heat energy leading to unnecessary loss to the society. It is therefore important where possible to avoid additional transmission lines and employ the use of alternative means. Discussion One of the major ways of avoidi ng the erection of additional transmission lines is effective management of the mode of consumption of electric energy. This should be aimed at reducing the dependence on electric energy. It should also be aimed at reducing the wastage of electric energy. By so doing, the magnitude of electric power consumed by the community is reduced. In turn, the need to transmit more electric power or install additional transmission lines is alleviated. ... There are new Light Emitting Diode bulbs that have been developed which consume only 15 Watts each. If a mechanism can be put in place to ensure that every house hold installs these new bulbs, the energy consumption shall be tremendously reduced. It shall with no doubt follow that there will be absolutely no need to erect additional transmission lines. Another mechanism that can be used to reduce the amount of electric energy that is consumed by the community is radical sensitization. A sensitization and awareness program can be held that educates the community on the importance of conserving electric power. Most consumers of electricity usually put electric power into waste simply because they are ignorant of the implications of their actions. They simply use electric power haphazardly without much care. Electricity is wasted out of ignorance in numerous ways. These include leaving electrically powered lights on in rooms that are not used; leaving electrically powered appliances suc h as radios and televisions running while one is out on a journey or at work; plugging in and powering electric irons while one is still engaged in other activities such as showering or choosing the items of clothing to wear before finally embarking on ironing; reheating food several times using an electric source of heat before finally deciding to eat. These ignorant and avoidable ways of life can be eliminated. They are practiced out of ignorance and shear irresponsibility. They lead to huge wastage of electric power consumption in overall. Upon raising of awareness, these behaviors can be completely done away with. There are several ways in which awareness can be enhanced. Public rallies can be held where high profiled and popular personalities are