The Machine Stops Essay Example for Free

The Machine Stops Essay We all look in to the future and hope to see our world different and filled with news things. The problem is we can’t see what will become of us and what is in store. In â€Å"The Machine Stops†, by E. M. Foster, a world never imagined is played out in to a short story, wrote in 1909. Paul Rajilich, who brought the story to light, states that Foster’s story has several notions of invention that have come true throughout history, after 1909. Foster’s ideas of inventions have become relevant in today’s society, from when it was wrote in 1909. Along with the relevance in today’s life, this short story acts as a teaching tool to all that read it. As the times are changing, and the world is evolving, we are inventing new ideas and new machines. â€Å"The machine stops†, has underlining inventions that have evolved into greater machines that Foster may have predicted. Some of the notions include, air plans, which are called air-ships, in the story they are used to carry passengers to different destinations just as they are today. Movies are a part of our day to day life but in 1909, Foster envisioned a cinematophones, which project movie like projection on a viewing screen. Some of the inventions have similar names to the names we use now like, oxygen tank, an apparatus that carry’s oxygen to a person, but in â€Å"The Machine Stops†, they call this a respirator. The biggest invention that plays into today’s life is the machine itself, we look at this as our brain it controls our movements and our thoughts day to day. In â€Å"The Machine Stops†, the machine does everything for the citizens, it controls what they do and when. Foster’s story acts like a window into the minds of the inventers who developed some of these apparatus. Technology will always be relevant to everyone’s world some way or another in our society. Specifically in â€Å"The Machine Stops†, the citizens live in honey comb like houses, and everything revolves around the machine. The residents of these houses look to the machines for everything from communication, food, entertainment, and to their health. In today’s world, the technology that’s offered gives people the opportunity to develop resources to live in their own homes for long periods of time. In the story the residents communicate through an apparatus that the machine brings to them; in today’s society we use our computer and phones so that we can see and talk to people on programs like Skype at home. Connection to the outside world is easier now that we have access to the internet, we can obtain food, a job, and have a good social connection online. Over the years, technology has changed drastically, but in Foster’s story many of the ideas are still relevant today. In our society, citizens have surrounded themselves by technology, from the way they communicate to the way they view entertainment. Rajilich’s claim of â€Å"The Machine stops† is completely true, that the story has many connections to the society today. In the story it refers people can live in a bubble like form, which can be possible in today’s world with all the technology that is offered. With the technology changing daily and new inventions developing, society will forever be changing form to adapt to new technology.

The Blaze of Life :: essays research papers

The Blaze of Life Picture this, a young beautiful girl smiling and standing by a big gum tree. On the surface you might think this is a pleasant picture. But then you take a closer look. She is standing there looking at a fire, but not just any fire, it is a fire of her house. But not only is her house burning down, her mother and sister is also burning in the fire. Even though her family and house is burning down to the ground, we just see her standing there. She is just staring intently at the fire, not doing anything and not being panicked at all. Somehow this picture does not seem right. Should she not be screaming or crying or getting help? In Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use (For Your Grandma)†, this picture of the fire, is presented to us from a story told by the girls mother. This fire, along with Characterization, setting, and dialogue, lead one to believe that the fire was the start of the mother’s loss of power. And the beginning of Dee’s, the beautiful girl, rise to power. From the very beginning the story there is a sense that Dee has a bit of an â€Å"upper hand† in the family. But why does the mother and Dee’s sister Maggie cower to Dee? Why is what Dee thinks and wants so important?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the beginning of the story, the mother describes Maggie as being not exceptionally beautiful. In fact, she is described as looking like a lame animal. She walks like she has been left on the side of the road, â€Å". . .chin on chest, eyes on the ground, feet in shuffle†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (292-3). She even cowers in the corner when asking her mother how she looks for fear she does not look beautiful. On the hand, Dee is described as being very beautiful. The mother says that, â€Å"Dee is lighter then Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure† (293). So Maggie already feels that Dee is a little â€Å"above† her in the way of looks. But why does she cower behind Dee as if she is in Dee’s shadow?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the story, the mother has a dream about reuniting with Dee. In her dream she thinks: Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.

Four Phases of Business Cycle Essay

Business Cycle (or Trade Cycle) is divided into the following four phases :- Prosperity Phase : Expansion or Boom or Upswing of economy. Recession Phase : from prosperity to recession (upper turning point). Depression Phase : Contraction or Downswing of economy. Recovery Phase : from depression to prosperity (lower turning Point). Diagram of Four Phases of Business Cycle The four phases of business cycles are shown in the following diagram :- The business cycle starts from a trough (lower point) and passes through a recovery phase followed by a period of expansion (upper turning point) and prosperity. After the peak point is reached there is a declining phase of recession followed by a depression. Again the business cycle continues similarly with ups and downs. Explanation of Four Phases of Business Cycle The four phases of a business cycle are briefly explained as follows :- 1. Prosperity Phase When there is an expansion of output, income, employment, prices and profits, there is also a rise in the standard of living. This period is termed as Prosperity phase. The features of prosperity are :- High level of output and trade. High level of effective demand. High level of income and employment. Rising interest rates. Inflation. Large expansion of bank credit. Overall business optimism. A high level of MEC (Marginal efficiency of capital) and investment. Due to full employment of resources, the level of production is Maximum and there is a rise in GNP (Gross National Product). Due to a high level ofeconomic activity, it causes a rise in prices and profits. There is an upswing in the economic activity and economy reaches its Peak. This is also called as a Boom Period. 2. Recession Phase The turning point from prosperity to depression is termed as Recession Phase. During a recession period, the economic activities slow down. When demand starts falling, the overproduction and future investment plans are also given up. There is a steady decline in the output, income, employment, prices and profits. The businessmen lose confidence and become pessimistic (Negative). It reduces investment. The banks and the people try to get greater liquidity, so credit also contracts. Expansion of business stops, stock market falls. Orders are cancelled and people start losing their jobs. The increase in unemployment causes a sharp decline in income and aggregate demand. Generally, recession lasts for a short period. 3. Depression Phase When there is a continuous decrease of output, income, employment, prices and profits, there is a fall in the standard of living and depression sets in. The features of depression are :- Fall in volume of output and trade. Fall in income and rise in unemployment. Decline in consumption and demand. Fall in interest rate. Deflation. Contraction of bank credit. Overall business pessimism. Fall in MEC (Marginal efficiency of capital) and investment. In depression, there is under-utilization of resources and fall in GNP (Gross National Product). The aggregate economic activity is at the lowest, causing a decline in prices and profits until the economy reaches its Trough (low point). 4. Recovery Phase The turning point from depression to expansion is termed as Recovery orRevival Phase. During the period of revival or recovery, there are expansions and rise in economic activities. When demand starts rising, production increases and this causes an increase in investment. There is a steady rise in output, income, employment, prices and profits. The businessmen gain confidence and become optimistic (Positive). This increases investments. The stimulation of investment brings about the revival or recovery of the economy. The banks expand credit, business expansion takes place and stock markets are activated. There is an increase in employment, production, income and aggregate demand, prices and profits start rising, and business expands. Revival slowly emerges into prosperity, and the business cycle is repeated. Thus we see that, during the expansionary or prosperity phase, there is inflation and during the contraction or depression phase, there is a deflation.

Poy Sang Long

Poy Sang Long is a rite of passage practiced in Thailand and Myanmar. It`s three days and it involves kids age 7 to 14 dressed like Buddha’s son. The children ride on an adults back for two days and on the third day they go to a monastery where they have to live for at least a week or more. I think this is a great custom for all these children because they have fun participating in the festival for two days and after that they decide if they want to stay in the monastery for more the a week so it’s their decision if they want to become monks. I also think that the custom show grown in these kids because their knowledge increases and they come back from the monastery as new people who know more about their own religion . I would definitely do this rite of passage because it would give me a clear understating of how Buddhist live and I will learn martial arts along the way. If I really had a chance to do it I would be excited and interested in changing up my daily routine. The only thing that would give me trouble would be the 6 hours of meditating daily. I think the true purpose of this rite is to show uniqueness in Buddhism because I have never even heard of any right of passage close to that one. One of the main purposes is also to respect Buddha who stated that this will be a rite of passage for all the young children. The benefits of this right of passage are that people will gather to a commune event, kids will have fun and they will learn about their religion and they will experience what is like to live with monks. I also think that this right of passage can be harmful because of the discrimination against women. In a way it’s great that children learn so many new things but it’s only for boys so the girls are not allowed. And if I was a girl and I see my male friend and my brother let’s say for example I would ask myself why. Why am I different, why can’t I have fun like them and why can’t a become a monk. All this thoughts will stay in the girls mind and later on affect her by maybe lowering her self esteem and changing her beliefs about males. The three stage process about right of passage is to change from what you are to something new, to remove yourself from the society temporarily and to be re-admitted as a new person in the society. In Poy Sang Long the children change from being goofs to being smaller goofs in way because they learn about Zen meditation and they learn to control their emotions better. They are removed from the society by going to a monastery for a period of time and they are re-admitted back after the period is done. I think that this rite of passage follows the threes stage process but it varies because some of the children may become real monks.

buy custom Cyber Crime essay

buy custom Cyber Crime essay Cyber crime, sometimes known as electronic crime, involves use of computer networks to develop special software that make it possible for one to steal identities, data or credit card numbers for use in criminal activities. A cyber criminal uses the information acquired in this way for his own advantage. For instance, he may use credit card information to pay for goods and services or even open other accounts. After benefiting from this crime, the criminal abandons all the accounts, leaving the account owner with the burden of paying huge debts. Cyber criminals, upon getting important information from internet users, often use blackmail to benefit from their acts. Victims of the crime are forced to pay huge sums of money to the criminals in order to prevent them from releasing sensitive or embarrassing information on the internet. In order to hide their identity, these criminals may instruct the victim to pay the money through an untraceable money transfer system thereby making complete use of technology to succeed in their criminal activities. Illegal access to classified information of companies, organizations and institutions is also classified as cyber crime. Some people use a companys financial information to make unauthorized purchases using this data. Additionally, the criminal may choose to withdraw funds from the companys account before transferring them into many accounts that are difficult to trace. Sometimes, cyber criminals are not interested in stealing money from the company; all they want is to obtain proprietary information of a client and then sell it to different competitors. In order to deal with cyber crime, different countries have independently passed legislation that defines all the yber activities that should be regarded as cyber crime. However, due to the international nature of information technology, notes Britz, there is need for all countries to come together and pass an international cyber crime treaty (25). Obtaining authoritative statistics on cyber crime is not as easy as it seems. Just like in all other criminal activities, many cases of cyber crime are not reported. It therefore becomes very hard for authorities to compile a comprehensive electronic crime report that gives a hint on trends within a certain period. However, many countries around the world have been trying to engage each other in compiling all incidences of cyber crime that are reported. In the U. S. the FBI documents cyber crime activities in order to investigate fraud, embezzlement, identity theft and terrorist activities. Cyber crime may manifest itself in the traditional form, whereby computers as well as networks are the main tools of perpetuating an illegal activity. Additionally, the existence of a network may constitute a cyber crime if the network contains evidence of activities relating to traditional cyber crime. Spamming and certain copyright crimes are some of the ways through which electronic or information crime manifests itself. Unauthorized access, sometimes referred to cracking, hacking or computer trespass, is perhaps the most typical manifestation of cyber crime. In more complicated terms, some criminals create malicious codes, also known as malware in order to attack critical infrastructure such as industrial control systems and telecommunications networks. Vulnerability caused by cyber crime both at the national and international level is a cause of concern all over the world today. In the contextt of international security, Nykodym observes that hackers may engage in activities that influence the course of important decisions that affect matters of policy (412). Other challenges posed include information warfare and traditional espionage on the information technology platform. Cyber crime has become a global problem due to the global reach of internet-based networks. The main challenge to the fight against this crime is the relative anonymity that internet users can maintain in the cyberspace. It is rather difficult to relate online entities with real people in the physical world unless one is found accessing a network suspected to be perpetuating cyber crimes. Presence of many third parties on the cyberspace provides cyber criminals with new opportunities for engaging criminal activities. The third parties may be telecommunication providers, internet service providers and even the victims themselves. These third parties maintain complete control of the communication infrastructure that the criminals use to perpetuate illegal activities. For this reason, unless the third parties allow investigators to access them and understand their mode of operation, the criminals may easily get away with their crimes. Cyber crimes may also take the form of cyber attacks. These crimes might be motivated by individuals, organizations or even nation states. The motive may be monetary gain, political interests, and ill-will or sheer curiosity. These attacks often involve destruction or theft of crucial information, disruption of a government services or business. These cyber crimes may be perpetuated simultaneously with physical damage and vandalism on communication infrastructure, making immediate response efforts very challenging and unproductive. Buy custom Cyber Crime essay

Project Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Project Risk Management - Essay Example They are present almost everywhere like in business, homes, and government agencies. Government agencies are using digital mediums to improve their governance style like filing of taxes, utility bill payments, pension payment etc. Through the use of e-governance the government is trying to speed up the process and reduce cost at the same time. Because of computers we can now use digital evidence to solve crime and prosecute the offenders at a much faster pace. Many a times the law enforcement agencies and judiciary can’t handle such evidences. There is an ample shortage of judges and attorneys who understand technology. Digital courtrooms refer to use of technology to run the courtrooms so that prosecution or trials can be done at a much faster pace and at considerably low cost. They use electronic evidence which can be effective at implicating the criminal. Electronic evidence refers to the information and data which of investigative value and stored in the electronic medium. With new advancement of technology digital forensic specialist will ensure that the evidence meets the standards. In such trials both the parties need not be present in the courtrooms. They can be connected via internet and use their laptops or other visual mediums to get connected to the digital courtrooms. It reduces the cost to a great extent. Risk Identification To make the judicial system digital, necessary infrastructure needs to be built upon; it means technical platforms are needed to be put in place for the data systems (software, equipment, networks and standard services). The aim should be that the same standard platforms should be able to serve the data systems which will be implemented in the coming years (Kendrick, 2009, p67). The users in the digital courtrooms will now require graphical user interfaces and easy to use systems should be installed. Else it would be difficult for all to comprehend and use the devices (Pmp and Knapp, 2010, p65). One of the most common f orms of digital devices to be used is audio devices. One needs to ask the question whether digital recording is better than human reporting or it may cause more trouble. There can be problems like botched recordings, microphone mishaps etc. can lead to a mistrial in the courtroom (Institution of Civil Engineers (Great Britain), 2005, p67). Also with the introduction of new digital courtrooms the pending cases must be first integrated to the system. It may result in few cases not making it through (Bartlett, 2004, p78). With the era of digital information comes the question of security and reliability. The reliability of the saved digital devices must be ascertained at first (Raftery, 2003, p99). It is not impossible to create a fake digital recording or fake videos to implicate someone. Again the security issue must also be looked at. Making the courtrooms digital implies that all of the data needs to be stored somewhere. With the advent of newer technologies it its becoming increas ingly important to keep the data secured from data theft (Grey,

MIH 514 - Cross Cultural Health Perspectives (Mod 4 SLP) Essay

MIH 514 - Cross Cultural Health Perspectives (Mod 4 SLP) - Essay Example He then lights a candle and places it on the floor in the center of the room, and shook his sacred rattle, commanding . The grating sound of the rattle draws all attention and he recites a ritual sometimes to the audience and sometimes whispered in the ear of the deceased. Soon he straddles the corpse and orders the gros-bon-ange to come out. When the gros-bon-ange comes out the priestess cuts tufts of hair from the head of the deceased which are sealed in a clay jar and later placed next to his body and buried with him. The spirit gros-bon-ange then roams among the family members and enters one of their bodies. This family member goes into a trance and tells everyone good bye one by one. The family member is then released from his trance and the gros-bon-ange then moves away to enter heaven (OGorman, 2008). They believe the body is then just an empty tomb that no longer holds any essence of the person who was there before. The final ritual at the end of the sequence of events is the breaking of a large clay jar. The jar is beaten into pieces and then buried. The clay jar represents the body because they believe that they body is made of clay and water and it is beaten to represent the cruelty of taking someone away from their life with their community. Finally it is buried and every single fragment is assured to be in the same place for burial. The Haitian people are encouraged not to have sorrow over the loss of this family member or friend as they believe this soul is soon born into the body of a new baby. Therefore there is reason to celebrate and not morn. However, it is of course difficult to do this and many times they will go to the celebration whaling at one minute and laughing and dancing at another. Catholicism and vodum are a necessary part of Haitian existence. God and the Saints of the Church and loas the ancestral spirits of Africa on the other. For Haitians, the