Lewis Mumfords Technics and Civilization free essay sample

In the section The Monastery and the Clock, in Lewis Mumford’s Technics and Civilization, the clock is regarded as the key-machine of the modern industrial age. How such a machine managed to change the way we live out our existence is phenomenal. First used in seventh century monastery’s to keep a rule of order over the monks and to ensure that events take place regularly. Now the clock is an integral part of civilization. Since its creation it has prepared mankind to be compatible with future machines. But what is a clock and what does it do? A clock is something that measures time and time in my definition is the duration of a day and the events within the day. Time is something we humans created, an artifact, to measure and keep track of the events in our day. With it we hold more value in our day and the time we have. We will write a custom essay sample on Lewis Mumfords Technics and Civilization or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The clock, over centuries, indeed has changed the way we view our days, our lives. The emergence of Western Civilization has been marked by the clocks abilities. It was the modeled machine that set the foundation for future machines. Machines nowadays require frequent maintenance and the ability to run alongside other machines. This is made possible by the clock, which allowed people to interact with the machines regularly and at appropriate times. Mumford states that the clock â€Å"marks a perfection toward which other machines aspire. Without it the technology we have to today may have never been around. The clock has such significant value because it has influenced many aspects of mankind’s life. Without it, the things we value, for example, the time we get to spend with our family, would be different because we would have no idea how long or short that period was so we may not value it as much. Time is something I believe we value more than ever before because our time is limited in a day and in a broader sense our life span. There’s so much to do and for some there may be not much time left. Also, some people who hold money and wealth as something valuable will view time as something just as valuable. As the old saying goes, â€Å"time is money†. The cultural effects of the clock are also present in our lives. The clock and time has become such regularity that to us it is â€Å"second nature†. Everything we do, especially in American culture, has to do with the clock or time. The amount of time we sleep to when our alarm clock wakes us up to the amount of time we work. Our generation has shifted to one that relies heavily on the clock. In a way the clock has made us somewhat mechanical in that we rise in the morning, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time everyday. We follow the hours, minutes, and seconds of the clock with such familiarity, yet we have our own natural biological clock that sometimes seems to be ignored. For instance, when I’m up doing homework at night, my biological clock will tell me its time to sleep but when I look at the digital clock I see that its still early in time and tell myself that its not bedtime yet. Ultimately, the clock has help build our society into what it is today. This ever-present machine today has shaped the values and actions of mankind. Without it our civilization now would not be able to function and it would be the â€Å"collapse of our entire society†. To appreciate the clock, one would just need to imagine if it were gone.

Canadian Constitutional Rights And Freedoms

Canadian Constitutional Rights And Freedoms Question #4: List and Discuss the rights and freedoms Canadians enjoy. What protections are missing our constitution and how could these omissions affect you as an individual? What inclusions would make the ideal constitution.Canadian Rights and Freedoms: - Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms - Fundamental Freedoms - Democratic Rights - Mobility Rights - Legal Rights - Equality Rights - Official languages of Canada - Minority language education rights - Enforcement - General - Application of Charter Canada's Charter of rights and freedoms is for the most part a thorough document which spesfically outlines the rights and freedoms that citizens of Canada enjoy. Although there are a couple of areas of the Charter which could use some sections which secure the ones which have wholes in them. Section 1 of the Charter is one of these area's because on the surface it is some what misleading in such that it is simply rights are guaranteed in the Constitution but, it is possible for parliament a nd provincial legislatures.The interior of the House of Commons of Canada, in...

Student Loan Debt Crisis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Student Loan Debt Crisis - Research Paper Example In such a situation the rise in cost of essential items such as gasoline, electricity negatively impacts the quality of their studies. For the greater majority of students, borrowing money from banks has become a necessity to fund for their college and university education. On average, students now graduate with at least $21,000 in debt and in fact in some extreme circumstances students graduate with $100,000 in debt or more. Tuition fees at private colleges and universities have gone up tremendously - far ahead of inflation. Parents are losing jobs or their salaries are reduced as a result of the economic crisis. Thus the amount that parents can contribute towards their children's education is decreasing. This means that a greater number of students are dependent on loans for their college and university education. Every student who is currently attending or applying to college currently is horrified by what is going on in the financial markets. Things such as bonds for student loans are affected as a result. The economic crisis that has affected USA and the rest of the world has left many the going tough for many. Whether people have lost homes, investments, or confidence in the government the crisis has had an effect on everyone, including students. (Daly, 2010) The various literature highlighting the impact of the rising cost of living and on factors such as the obtainment of student loans and gasoline prices in particular provide a strong enticement for the need to study the effects of these things on the college and university students. There will be a direct impact on student borrowings that will most likely be affected by the current financial crisis. Private student loans are likely to be the most affected as the economic crisis will most likely have an impact on loans that are not guaranteed and subsidized. Private nonguaranteed lending may drop by half or more as previously available sources of capital will dry up and disappear. This drop-off will have a tremendous impact on students in higher-priced private institutions and for-profit trade schools, were in recent times a large number of parents and students have come to depend on private loans to make up for the discrepancy in federal loan limits and higher prices charged at these institutions. The average fee per year at private nonprofit institutions is about $25,000 per year. The total cost of attendance inclusive of charges for accommodation and meals come to about $35,000.As a result of the economic crisis most firms are cutting back on full-time employe es and interns to save money. So a job is hard to come by after completing their education. As a result repayment of the loan is difficult. The student loan system is governed by a process called securitization. For example if a certain bank loans money to thousand students, the lender takes these thousand loans, puts them together in a trust, and sells shares of that trust to investors. The investment is encouraged by the promise of income received when the students repay their loans. The investors are pretty certain that this income will be steady and the lender is benefitted because it gets back the principle balance on the student loans

The Rocking-Horse Winner VS. Janus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Rocking-Horse Winner VS. Janus - Essay Example The lady portrayed in the story by Lawrence is Paul’s mother â€Å"Hester,† who finds her marriage to be unlucky as she is unable to cope up with the poor financial situation of her married life. She even feels that her children are a burden for her. The story opens with the line â€Å"woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck† (Lawrence). Hester is blessed with three children and her son Paul is shown as a strange character who after receiving the rocking horse gets a strange power, which helps him to predict the horse race winners correctly. He makes a good amount of money out of this and tries to help his mother so that she can pay off the debts. Instead of clearing the debts, she squanders the money for their stylish living. This shows that the lady has a sick desire for money. The story ends with the tragic death of Paul after falling from the horse. In Ann Beatties’s â€Å"Janus,† the protagonist’ s name is Andrea, and she is a successful real estate agent who believes in her lucky bowl. When she gets a buyer for the house, â€Å"she places the bowl in the house that was up for sale† (Beattie 595). This indicates that she was a blind believer of her luck, which she thought relied on the bowl. She credits her achievement to the bowl that is often also admired by the buyers. The story starts with the introduction of bowl – â€Å"The Bowl was perfect,† as the author puts it.

Comment 3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Comment 3 - Assignment Example The work gives much attention to concepts that govern appropriate data collection. It can also be noticed that the author has indicated the two main types of research as either qualitative or quantitative. The supportive facts used to strengthen the viewpoint of the author in respect of using effective communication in data collection are convincing. This is in respect of the common knowledge that oral interview or questionnaires tend to be successful on sound communication skills and proper structure. Observation as a method of data collection has also been given significant focus in regard to the need for total involvement by the researcher (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson, 2012). Adoption of a particular methodology on choice of method for data collection and analysis serves to estimate sample population and match the objective of the study. The flow of ideas from introduction on data collection, methodology and conclusion that tackles hypothesis sheds much light on research methods to a layman. This makes this work stand out is representative of the widely used research study

Sports And Active Lifestyles Children And Young People Essay

Sports And Active Lifestyles Children And Young People Essay Unfortunately, youth sport has for a long time, and still is, being organised, run and taught by persons who draw on their personal philosophies in their approaches. i)Discuss the dangers of this. ii)Which are the main areas within youth sport which need to be considered to shape such philosophical standpoints of people working with youth in sport? Introduction In many aspects of our life we find people who, either directly or indirectly, influence the path we follow to achieve growth towards reaching our future goals. Such influencing people could be parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, nursery leaders, policy makers and any other role model position we may encounter. They do so in line with their philosophy on that particular aspect of life, for which they are responsible to guide us through the path of success. Their philosophy is built from the theoretical knowledge they acquired in their own educational phase of life as well as through their practical experience in the area they are assigned to lead. This applies in particular to people who are trusted to work with our children in various sports disciplines. Parents still insist that their children should engage in organized sport for several reasons. Since six decades ago, there has been a growing belief that leaving child activities under the informal control of children themselves may lead to antisocial behaviour when they grow up. (Coakley, 2009) argues that many adults believe that this lack of control is eliminated by organised sports through which they constructively control their childrens activities. However it is of utmost importance that those who work in youth sport and policymakers adopt the right philosophy that encourages sport participation of youths in the long term. Individuals who are involved into such youth programmes ought to be aware about researched material that may be used to adjust the programmes to better serve the child interest, even when this goes against their philosophy. Negative Outcomes Participation is unlikely to persist when stubbornly sticking to the point of view of the adult whose way of thinking may be in conflict with that of the youth. One has to keep in mind the interest of the child; the fun aspect of the sport itself. Children tend to stray away from adult invasion into their sport. They like to create their own games, their own worlds, therefore forcing them to participate into organised activities might lead them into a path they do not want. (Gill, 2007) mentions several arguments in favour of exposing our children to environments where a degree of risks is involved, as opposed to institutionalised sports. We actually do children a disservice by trying to eliminate risks from their lives as they grow up (Gill, 2012). When children are allowed to experience risky situations, they learn practical skills, such as swimming, cycling and road safety, that help them manage similar situations and protect themselves in the outside world. In addition, if not allowed to experience risks, children tend to seek out situations that may potentially be too dangerous. In other words, children like the challenges present in risky situations. Parents usually fear the fact that the environment outside of home has become such a dangerous place for children. They feel more security by trusting their children to coaching methods that are sometimes found to be counterproductive. This ideology may sometimes expose our children to occasional high injury rates from organised youth sport such as stress fractures and other injuries caused by overuse. (Micheli, 1990) suggests certification of coaches as a part of the solution. In a study on US youth sports, (Seefeldt Ewing, 1992) found that there was a drop from 25% to 3% in sport participation from the ages of 10 to 18 respectively. This huge withdrawal was attributed to the competitive nature of sports in males. (Biddle, et al., 2005) drew similar conclusions for females. (Cotà ¨ Wall, 2007) postulate that children who do not experience fun in sport at their early ages, tend to drop out from the activity because they lack the intrinsic motivation to keep on participating. This hinders the higher level skills they would have obtained later on in their sports career. (Abbott Collins, 2002) propose that if youths do not engage successfully into sport activities at the participative phase (up to eight years of age) they will most likely lack self-efficacy beliefs which are necessary to persist in being physically active through life. (Coakley, 2009) mentions ample literature from critics of adult-organised sports that argues on many shortcomings of this approach. The presence of parents watching their child playing an organised, competitive game that is customised for adults is counterproductive both mentally and physically to the child. Some children make it clear that they feel most parents come to see them playing just to criticise them both during and after a game, making them feel embarrassed. Even worse, this sends the wrong message to children that physical activity and sport is there only for the young, given that their parents are always sitting there as spectators. Children are not to be treated as miniature adults; some youth sports organisations expose children to too little practice and too many competitions when studies show it should be the other way round. Equipment and rules are sometimes not suitable to the age and ability levels of children. Main Areas to be Considered Up to the young age of two years, children look for pleasure from discovering and mastering attempts. Up to around six years of age children exhibit an egocentric character. Starting from the age of five youngsters enter the social comparison phase in which they start to compare what they have and what they do with their peers. This is usually interpreted as a sign of the childs interest in competition. This phase continues to strengthen until the age of twelve. Children younger than twelve may find it difficult to get the full understanding of their role in a competition. To encourage participation the rules of the game must be modified to suit their developmental capabilities (Richardson, 2007). It is also suggested that children in this age range are  exposed to a variety of sports as well as different positional variations in each sport. To be ready for competitive sports, young individuals need to fully develop their physical, cognitive and social abilities. Several studies suggest that children start to develop their cognitive and social abilities at around the age of eight and these abilities are expected to reach their required levels at the age of twelve (Coakley, 2009). In fact literature shows that the ideal age of introducing competitive strategies is at the ages of twelve to fifteen, also known as the transitional phase, and children under eight years of age should not be put into competitive roles. Research consistently shows the attraction of children to freedom in whatever they do (Gill, 2007). The traditional sports organised by adults tend to focus more on rules as opposed to informal sports that emphasise action, an approach that shows more positive outcomes (Coakley, 2009). One of the benefits of rules is to allow for safety. However, (Mullarkey) maintains that We must try to make life as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible. Rules from organised games should be modified in such a way to allow for more action and personal involvement and to keep the difference in scores as low as possible. On the other hand, action must meet the requirements to strengthen personal involvement, excitement, decision making and interpersonal relationships between participants. When working with children one should not assume that the social and cognitive abilities are already fully developed in sports. (Bandura, 1997) stresses the importance of both perceived and actual competence in an individuals decision to both engage in and maintain involvement in an activity. Actual competence widens the choice of sport for the individual while perceived competence provides the drive to persist in the sport even when difficulties are met. Therefore, if a broad range of psychomotor skills have been successfully developed from a young age, the literature suggests these will act as a basis for subsequent involvement as well as equipping individuals with the ability to make appropriate participation choices. In informal sports, one must be careful not to allow any form of bullying, patronising of girls when playing with boys and exclusion. The role of the adults should be that of a guide who ensures safety, encourages participation, mediates disputes and not to impose organised sports rules. Sometimes informal games may require more play space, but this can be overcome by creativity from the coach. Creativity is also a quality that is strengthened on the child when exposed to an informal setup. Children get the message that in life they have make decisions and not always follow repetitive rules. Conclusion The above review suggests that in todays society, coaches, organisations and parents should be well aware of questions and issues which need to be addressed when involving themselves into organised youth sport programmes. People who work in youth sports must keep their mind open to new ideas and they should educate themselves to keep their knowledge up to date on the current studies in the field. To the contrary of adult sports, when dealing with youths, in particular at the participative level coaches need to emphasise less on structure and more on variety to keep motivation at high levels. Rather than early specialisation the ultimate goal is to make the child physically literate.

The Debt Crisis of the Eighties and Nineties Essay -- Economy Economic

The Debt Crisis of the Eighties and Nineties The debt crisis of the 1980s and 1990s has been one of the largest economic disasters of the 20th Century. It has caused widespread poverty, famine and starvation across many of the third world countries it has touched. The Crisis did not go by unnoticed however. Since the mid 1990s world governments have awoken to the horrible reality that such debt causes with attempts to lighten the devastating affects with such programs as the Brady plan, HIPC and eventually HIPC 2. While these plans have had only limited success the question of weather the debt crisis can be solved in the long run is still to be answered. The debt crisis as it is now called did not occur in one single event; instead it developed as a slow moving â€Å"chronic syndrome†[1]. The primary crisis, which occurred in Mexico in 1982, was centred on middle-income nations[2], while the second strain occurred in poorer African nations, with the effects from it still being well and truly felt today[3]. For these countries the need for industrialisation meant the need for large-scale borrowing. Since many of the African nations were excluded from being aloud to borrow until the early 1960s, the need to borrow a lot, quickly, was a common trend throughout the developing nations[4]. The reasons for the colossal amounts of debt cannot be simply explained for they vary from country to country. Some nations had corrupt militaristic governments who cared more for themselves than for their people[5]. While others struggled with failed projects and damaging economic decisions[6]. By the early 70’s the debt had begun to accumulate. The impoverished and debt stricken countries began to shift commodities meant for the sustenance of the people to the export sector to try and make enough money to pay off their debts. Suddenly all the indebted countries were simultaneously selling their primary commodities on the world market. The flow of coffee, coca, copper, steel, ect, had the devastating effect of lowering the commodity prices causing the developing nations to make much less than they had previously. Countries now had to sell two or three times what the used too to make the same money[7]. Combined with the rising and falling of the dollar, and the rises of interest rates in the 80s, the third world debt was now even larger than ... ...continue in the long run many of HIPC goals will be achieved. Success of HIPC and the debt cancellation plans of the 90’s are indeed difficult to judge. If success were to be measured by how much has been paid out from the forecasted amount then HIPC could be viewed as a failure. However if success were judged on the increase of social service spending then yes HIPC would be seen as a successful initiative. The one clear success of the debt cancellation plans has been public awareness. Though the cancellation process is moving slowly and only achieving a fraction of its goals[18] the general public of the world has now awoken to the horrors that debt can lead to. With public support behind the debt cancellation process the debt crisis will eventually be overcome. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] La Trobe, Assignment Manual, p.130 [2] Ibid [3] Ibid, pp.130, 131 [4] Ibid, p.133 [5] Ibid, p.131 [6] Ibid [7] Ibid, p.137 [8] Ibid [9] lecture [10] Ibid, p.144, 145 [11] Ibid [12] Ibid [13] Ibid, p.149 [14] Ibid, p.152 [15] Ibid, p.156 [16] Ibid [17] Ibid [18] Ibid, pp. 150-153