Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Why You Need To Limit Your Social Media Use

Why You Need To Limit Your Social Media Use Social media is everywhere- and a huge part of our day-to-day lives. It’s not going anywhere either. But do the benefits of all this connectivity and constant chatter actually outweigh the costs? Have you even considered what costs there might be in your life and career? Here are a handful of reasons why you should curb your constant phone use and start taking part in that old-fashioned thing we call the real world.1. You’re Down on YourselfStudies show that people who spend a significant amount of time on social media experience increased anxiety and decreased self-esteem. Watching everybody else’s milestones and achievements fly through your feed doesn’t make you happy for your pals, it makes you unhappy about your own (seeming) lack of accomplishment. Are these people even your friends? Are you spending more time thinking about their goal-slashing and not worrying enough about setting goals of your own?2. You’ve Distorted RealityAnd while we†™re at it, all that success and joy you see on your feed from your thousands of â€Å"friends† is also highly crafted and paints a pretty rosy picture of events. Nobody’s life is as glamorous or freewheeling as Instagram and Facebook make them out to be. Just think of how many times you took that selfie to make sure it looked effortless? You’re not alone by any means. Remember that image and reality don’t always match up- and that your happiness should not depend on anybody else’s.3. It’s Not Actually SocialYou may feel less lonely, or more like you are keeping in touch with all of your friends when you’re constantly all up on their social media, but it’s not actually getting you anywhere close to real, lasting and close relationships with any of your friends. It’s just empty interaction. Your real, close friends are the ones you have actual conversations with- even on the phone or Skype if not in person. If your frien ds were to deactivate their accounts, would you still speak to them?4. You’ve Become a JerkAre you that friend who can’t get through an entire dinner- or concert, or picnic, or party, or other hang-out situation- without spending most of the time checking their phone? And be honest- it’s not even for important work emails or personal calls or texts! This friend is scrolling through their Facebook and Instagram feeds while you’re trying to have a conversation. It’s incredibly rude and ruins the experience for everyone. So if you’re not that friend, make sure you don’t become that friend.5. Your Life is PublicIf you don’t set boundaries and post everything that happens to you willy nilly, you forget that your entire life is not only public, but also permanently recorded in visual images and text. Just remember that safety and reputation are both important. And dial it back a bit.6. You’re DistractedSocial media is incredib ly distracting. Maybe you find yourself doing something cool; instead of enjoying the moment and being present, you’re mostly thinking how to get the perfect photo and how to phrase the perfect post. You’re starting to see the world in virtual, filtered form, rather than experiencing it. Or worse- you’ve lost touch with your life because you feel most alive when online. Or the least bored. But every hour you spend on your phone is another hour of life you’re missing out on. Think what you could accomplish in all of that accumulated time!

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Guil Naquitz (Mexico) - Key Evidence of Maize Domestication History

Guil Naquitz (Mexico) - Key Evidence of Maize Domestication History Guil Naquitz is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Americas, recognized for its breakthrough discoveries in understanding plant domestication. The site was excavated in the 1970s by KV Flannery, using then-new methods of environmental and ecological sampling, and the results of those sampling techniques and other excavations that followed rewrote what archaeologists had previously understood of the timing of plant domestication. Guil Naquitz is a small cave  occupied at least six times between 8000 and 6500 BC, by hunters and gatherers, probably during the fall (October to December) of the year. The cave is in the Tehuacn valley of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) northwest of the town of Mitla. The mouth of the cave opens near the base of a large ignimbrite cliff rising ~300 meters (~1000 feet) above the valley floor. Chronology and Stratigraphy Five natural strata (A-E) were identified in the cave deposits, which extended to a maximum depth of 140 centimeters (55 inches). Unfortunately, only the top strata (A) can be conclusively dated, based on radiocarbon dates from its living floors and pottery which matches Monte Alban IIIB-IV, ca. 700 AD. The dates of the other strata within the cave are to an extent contradictory: but AMS radiocarbon dates on the plant parts discovered within layers B, C, and D have returned dates to nearly 10,000 years ago, well within the Archaic period and, for the time it was discovered, mind-blowingly early. Considerable and heated debate occurred in the 1970s, particularly about the radiocarbon dates from Guila Naquitzs teosinte (precursor to maize) cob fragments, concerns which largely dissipated after similarly old dates for maize were recovered from the San Marcos and Coxcatlan caves in Oaxaca and Puebla, and the Xihuatoxtla site in Guerrero. Macro and Micro Plant Evidence A wide range of plant food was recovered within the cave deposits of Guil Naquitz, including acorns, pinyon, cactus fruits, hackberries, mesquite pods, and most importantly, the wild forms of bottle gourd, squash and beans. Other plants attested at Guila Naquitz chili peppers, amaranth, chenopodium, and agave. This evidence includes plant partspeduncles, seeds, fruits, and rind fragments, but also pollen and phytoliths. Three cobs with plant elements of both  teosinte (the wild progenitor of  maize)  and maize, were found within the deposits and direct-dated by AMS radiocarbon dating to about 5400 years old; they show some signs of domestication. Squash rinds were also radiocarbon dated: they returned dates of approximately 10,000 years ago. Sources This article is a part of the About.com guide to the American Archaic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Benz BF. 2001. Archaeological evidence of teosinte domestication from Guil Naquitz, Oaxaca. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98(4):2105-2106. Crawford GW. 2015. Food Production, Origins of. In: Wright JD, editor. International Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition). Oxford: Elsevier. p 300-306. Flannery KV. 1986. Guila Naquitz: Archaic Foraging and Early Agriculture in Oaxaca, Mexico. New York: Academic Press. Marcus J, and Flannery KV. 2004. The coevolution of ritual and society: New 14C dates from ancient Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101(52):18257–18261. Piperno DR. 2003. A few kernels short of a cob: on the Staller and Thompson late entry scenario for the introduction of maize into northern South America. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(7):831-836. Schoenwetter J. 1974. Pollen Records of Guila Naquitz Cave. American Antiquity 39(2):292-303. Smith BD. 1997. The Initial Domestication of Cucurbita pepo in the Americas 10,000 Years Ago. Science 276(5314):932-934. Warinner C, Garcia NR, and Tuross N. 2013. Maize, beans and the floral isotopic diversity of highland Oaxaca, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(2):868-873.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Voice of the Customer, and Value Propositions, Southwest Airlines Essay

Voice of the Customer, and Value Propositions, Southwest Airlines - Essay Example Similarly, the airline’s prices are rated ‘good’ compared to those of its competitors whose rating is ‘very good.’ This completely locks out customers who may want to travel on a constrained budget, and creates a field day for Southwest Airline’s competitors. Southwest Airline’s parking is rated at ‘unacceptable’. This is a very sorry state of affairs for the airline, especially if it has any intentions of outdoing other players in the airline industry. By all means, this needs to be fixed urgently to save the airline from further damage. Finally, the airline’s decoration is rated at ‘acceptable’ against its competitor’s rating of ‘very good. This in essence means that customers who value decoration will travel with the competitor airline at the expense of Southwest Airlines. Other areas such as HR and Menu generally enjoy good ratings if compared with Southwest Airline’s competitors. They do not need urgent attention at the moment. In a nutshell, Southwest Airlines must employ more effort to improve the above key areas if it is to remain competitive in the airline industry. This is especially because the airline industry is such that any small thing can adversely affect the performance of an airline. For business class travelers who need to travel frequently between cities, Southwest Airlines will be very convenient. Unlike other airlines, Southwest Airlines has frequent flights between cities and is

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Apple Corporation Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Apple Corporation Marketing Strategies - Essay Example The paper tells that Apple was rated as the most admired company in the United States.As such, the market is appreciating the performance of the company, especially when focusing on the production of consumer electronics. Late in 2013, the company’s brand was considered the most valuable brand, after trouncing the Coca-Cola brand. From this information, it is evident that Apple has been making an immense improvement in the market, in concern to its performance, production and market prevalence. In the initial strategies of introduction of the company, it was dealing with computers. The most prevalent computer produced by the company is the Mac computer. While producing the Mac line of computers, the company was known as Apple computer Inc. even though the company was making immense progress in the line of computers, the company felt the need to intensify its business model. This is by introduction of better products, depending on the market demand. Since the company is indebte d to serving its customers, it made an approach of initiating a new line of products to fit the market needs. It shifted to production of consumer electronics, which were gaining prevalence in the market in the wake of 2007. Similarly, the company had to change its name, to reflect on the products and services that are offered to the market. This prompted the introduction of the name Apple Inc. The corporation has various market strategies that are optimising its performance in the market. Apparently, the company has been recording a steady improvement in its performance, especially after introduction of the consumer electronics. For example, the corporation has retail stores in over 14 countries in the world. As such, they have over 408 retail stores in the whole world. This is an initiative to ensure the market niche of the corporation is widespread in the world. With an increased market niche, the company is likely to make a better performance. As a fact, consumers in the market are attracted to products due to proximity to the stores.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Gow Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Gow Rhetorical Analysis Essay Chapter 19 of the book The Grapes of Wrath presents historical background on the development of land ownership in California, and traces the American settlement of the land taken from the Mexicans. Fundamentally, the chapter explores the conflict between farming solely as a means of profit making and farming as a way of life. Throughout this chapter, Steinbeck uses a wide variety of persuasive techniques including parallelism, diction, and metaphors to convey his attitude about the plight of migrants migrating to California. This chapter is filled with parallelism. The Californians wonder â€Å"what if [the okies] won’t scare,† (236) and â€Å"what if they stand up† (236) and â€Å"shoot back† (236). Here, Steinbeck is pointing out the natives’ fears and hinting about the migrant’s bravery. He also makes a distinct contrast between the recently arrived Okies who believe that they â€Å"ain’t foreign† (233) and the Californians. Perceiving themselves as coming from a similar background as the rest of the inhabitants of the Golden State, the Okies insist on similar rights; however, the natives believe that although the Okies â€Å"talk the same language† (236) they â€Å"ain’t the same† (236). This knowledge that they deserve the same decencies as any other American citizens gives strength and credence to their demands. Steinbeck makes the Okies appear more dangerous to the California natives and hints that they have the power and ambition to seize the land if they come together. Steinbeck uses diction to prove that the Okies are great people, and that they might be unstoppable if they come together. Steinbeck talks about a boy who dies from â€Å"black tongue† (239) as a result of â€Å"not gettin’ good things to eat† (239). When the Okies learn that the boy’s â€Å"folks can’t bury him† (239) since they have to go to the â€Å"county stone orchard† (239) to do so, their â€Å"hands [go] into† their â€Å"pockets and little coins [come] out† Although, the Okies have barely got enough food to feed their own families, they will not hesitate to help a person in need. Steinbeck is trying to prove how these â€Å"people are good people†(239) and that they are â€Å"kind† (239) no matter how poor they are. In the end of this chapter, he talks about how they constantly pray to God that someday â€Å"kind people won’t all be poor† (239) and that someday â€Å"a kid can eat† ( 239). Steinbeck points out that â€Å"someday the praying would stop† and get answered. In addition to parallelism and diction, he also uses metaphors in his writing. In this chapter he tries to show how desperate the Okies really are by comparing them to â€Å"ants† (233) that are â€Å"scurrying for work, for food,† (233) and most importantly â€Å"for land† (233). He also mentions why the natives are so terrified of the Okies. The natives are scared for their faith because they picture the Okies as armies. They fear the day that the Okies will march on their land â€Å"as the Lombards did in Italy† (236) or â€Å"as the Germans did on Gaul† (236) or as â€Å"Turks did on Byzantine† (236). By making these comparisons between these armies and the Okies, Steinbeck is trying to convey the migrants as powerful. All in all, Steinbeck uses Parallelism, diction, and metaphors to convey the migrants as powerful, caring, and desperate.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Fighting Global Warming Essay -- essays research papers

Global warming has become a major issue discussed over Medias and governments all over the world today. It is a problem that threatens the whole world because of the destructive impacts it can have on us humans and to the environment. Global warming is not a new phenomenon. It is often referred to as the gradual rise of the earths near surface temperature as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. The green house gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, ozone and water vapor, they act as a blanket that traps enough heat from the sun to warm the earth. This is the green house effect as it is essential to life, for without it the earth would be so cold and would be uninhabitable. If not enough are in the air then the earth would become cold, but if too many gases are released into the air, then we have the problem of things heating up. The releasing of green house gases by humans slowly warm the earth, potentially changing the world?s climate patt ern causing sea levels to rise and more disastrous effects. Now that the causes and effects of global warming are known, there can be strategies done to minimize its causes and effects. To achieve this countries and individuals have to work together to fight global warming, agreements made at the Kyoto Protocol is to minimize burning of fossil fuels in world leading countries of greenhouse gas emission including the United States and China. The earth?s atmosphere is made up of gases, carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and nitrogen, these gases are known as the greenhouse gases, they trap heat from the sun to warm the earth. Without them the earth would be so cold. Most scientists believe that the sharp increase of greenhouse gases released into ... ...more trees to replace the fallen trees. REFERENCE(APA Format)...not in alphabetical order Simmons (2005, September 11). 5 deadliest effects of Global Warming, Retrieved February 28 2008 from http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/5-deadliest-effects-of-global-warming/276 Staff Writers (2007, February 27). Climate Science, retrieved March 2 2008 from http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Banning_New_Coal_Power_Plants_Will_Slow_Warming_999 Forest Holocaust retrieved March 2 2008 from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/deforestation/effect Tapia, J. (2007, May). A Global Climate Change, retrieved March 4 2008, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpu7IZcdzXE&feature=related Forests: Protecting Forests that Help Mitigate Climate Change, retrieved March 4 2008, from https://secure.worldwildlife.org/climate/forests.cfm

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Cooking at Home and Eating in a Restaurant Essay

Modern life becomes more and more comfortable, but we are busier and busier with our job, with our business. We don’t have time to prepare and cook meals at home. Someone prefers to eat fast- food or eat food in a restaurant, but some one still prefer to eat at home. Eating out or eating at home has also advantages and disadvantages, so which one is better? Cooking at home is similar to eating in a restaurant in many ways. Despite of cooking at home or eating out, we have to pay money for our food or spend our time to cook or to go to the restaurant to eat. For example, instead of spending your time to cook, you have to drive to go to the restaurant or sometimes you waste of time to looking for the parking. We also can taste the dishes we like even though we eat at home or at a restaurant. That is a period of time which your family enjoy eating after a long day with hard worked. With your family’s meal, everybody can talk together, tell some funny stories, or share their jobs. However, there are several differences between eating at home and eating out. Home-cooked meals are always healthy. The food at the restaurant may contain high in fat, high calories and other ingredients which are very harmful for the health. If you cook food at home, you have more control over the ingredients, and you can select the ingredients that you like. Furthermore, eating at home saves you so much money compared to eating in restaurants. Eating out are usually more expensive than cooking at home. In restaurants, they often serve big plates of food. They are too much more food than you need to eat at one meal and the money you spend can add up. For instance, with the money for a meal in a restaurant, you can buy food for the whole week for home-cooking. You can shop at cheapest markets, and look for sale items. Eating in a restaurant is also advantage way. Many people are very busy with their jobs outside the house, so they don’t always have time to cook. They like the convenience of eating out. For many reasons such as some one is not very good at cooking, or they like international cuisines or different meals, eating out is the best thing. Cooking at home has a disadvantage that is cooking at home also requires your time. You spend your time to prepare everything like you choose and buy ingredients for cooking your meals. After that, you have to wash dishes and clean up the kitchen. However, eating at home is one of the best ways to enhance the relationship inside your family. Life is busier and people don’t have much time to share their time together, even though they are in a family. Eating at home is all members of your family sit around the table and enjoy the dishes that your mother and you prepared and cooked. In your family, when all you prepare and cook meals at home together, you feel warmer and happier. Eating at home and eating in a restaurant are different in many ways, but they have several things in common. It is difficult for us to prefer to. Both eating at restaurants and cooking at home can be satisfying. Both of them can taste good and be enjoyed with your family and friends. I prefer cooking at home because of the money and health issues, but people will make the choice that fits their lifestyle best.