Free Essays on Can Computer Think

Most people think computers will never be able to think. That is, really think. Not now or ever. To be sure, most people also agree that computers can do many things that a person would have to be thinking to do. Then how could a machine seem to think but not actually think? Well, setting aside the question of what thinking actually is, I think that most of us would answer that by saying that in these cases, what the computer is doing is merely a superficial imitation of human intelligence. It has been designed to obey certain simple commands, and then it has been provided with programs composed of those commands. Because of this, the computer has to obey those commands, but without any idea of what's happening. Indeed, when computers first appeared, most of their designers intended them for nothing only to do huge, mindless computations. That's why the things were called "computers". Yet even then, a few pioneers especially Alan Turing envisioned what's now called "Artificial Intelligence" - or "AI". They saw that computers might possibly go beyond arithmetic, and maybe imitate the processes that go on inside human brains. Today, with robots everywhere in industry and movie films, most people think Al has gone much further than it has. Yet still, "computer experts" say machines will never really think. If so, how could they be so smart, and yet so dumb? ================== CAN MACHINES BE CREATIVE? ================== We naturally admire our Einsteins and Beethovens, and wonder if computers ever could create such wondrous theories or symphonies. Most people think that creativity requires some special, magical "gift" that simply cannot be explained. If so, then no computer could create - since anything machines can do (most people think can be explained. To see what's wrong with that, we must avoid one naive trap. We mustn't only look at work... Free Essays on Can Computer Think Free Essays on Can Computer Think Most people think computers will never be able to think. That is, really think. Not now or ever. To be sure, most people also agree that computers can do many things that a person would have to be thinking to do. Then how could a machine seem to think but not actually think? Well, setting aside the question of what thinking actually is, I think that most of us would answer that by saying that in these cases, what the computer is doing is merely a superficial imitation of human intelligence. It has been designed to obey certain simple commands, and then it has been provided with programs composed of those commands. Because of this, the computer has to obey those commands, but without any idea of what's happening. Indeed, when computers first appeared, most of their designers intended them for nothing only to do huge, mindless computations. That's why the things were called "computers". Yet even then, a few pioneers especially Alan Turing envisioned what's now called "Artificial Intelligence" - or "AI". They saw that computers might possibly go beyond arithmetic, and maybe imitate the processes that go on inside human brains. Today, with robots everywhere in industry and movie films, most people think Al has gone much further than it has. Yet still, "computer experts" say machines will never really think. If so, how could they be so smart, and yet so dumb? ================== CAN MACHINES BE CREATIVE? ================== We naturally admire our Einsteins and Beethovens, and wonder if computers ever could create such wondrous theories or symphonies. Most people think that creativity requires some special, magical "gift" that simply cannot be explained. If so, then no computer could create - since anything machines can do (most people think can be explained. To see what's wrong with that, we must avoid one naive trap. We mustn't only look at work...

The Road to the American Revolution

The Road to the American Revolution In 1818, Founding Father John Adams famously recalled the American Revolution as having started as a belief â€Å"in the hearts and minds of the people† that eventually â€Å"burst out in open violence, hostility, and fury.† Since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the l6th century, England had been trying to establish a colony in the â€Å"New World† of North America. In 1607, the Virginia Company of London succeeded with the settling of Jamestown, Virginia. England’s King James I had decreed at the time that the Jamestown colonists would forever enjoy the same rights and freedoms as if they had been â€Å"abiding and born within England.† Future kings, however, would not be so accommodating. During the late 1760s, the once-strong bonds between the American colonies and Britain began to loosen. By 1775, ever-growing abuses of power exerted by British King George III would drive the American colonists to armed revolt against their native country. Indeed, the long road of America from its first exploration and settlement to organized revolt seeking independence from England was blocked by seemingly insurmountable obstacles and stained with the blood of citizen-patriots. This feature series, â€Å"The Road to the American Revolution,† traces the events, causes, and people of that unprecedented journey. A ‘New World’ Discovered America’s long, bumpy road to independence starts in August of 1492 when Queen Isabella I of Spain funded the first New World voyage of Christopher Columbus to discover a westward trading passage to the Indies. On October 12, 1492, Columbus stepped off the deck of his ship, the Pinta, onto the shores of the present-day Bahamas. On his second voyage in 1493, Columbus established the Spanish colony of La Navidad as the first European settlement in the Americas. While La Navidad was located on the Island of Hispaniola, and Columbus never actually explored North America, the period of exploration after Columbus would lead to the start of the second leg of America’s journey to independence. The Early Settlement of America To the mighty kingdoms of Europe, establishing colonies in the newly-discovered Americas seemed a natural way to grow their wealth and influence. With Spain having done so at La Navidad, its arch-rival England quickly followed suit. By 1650, England had established a growing presence along what would become the American Atlantic coast. The first English colony was founded in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Hoping to escape religious persecution, the Pilgrims signed their Mayflower Compact in 1620 and proceeded to establish the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.   The Original 13 British Colonies With the invaluable assistance of local Native Americans, English colonists not only survived but thrived in both Massachusetts and Virginia. Having been taught to grow them by the Indians, uniquely New World grains like corn fed the colonists, while tobacco provided the Virginias with a valuable cash crop.   By 1770, more than 2 million people, including a growing number of enslaved Africans, lived and worked in the three early American British colonial regions. While each of the 13 colonies that were to become the original 13 U.S. States had individual governments, it was the New England colonies that would become the breeding ground for a growing dissatisfaction with the British government that would ultimately lead to revolution. Dissent Turns to Revolution While each of the 13 now thriving American colonies was allowed a limited degree of self-government, the individual colonists’ ties to Great Britain remained strong. Colonial businesses depended on British trading companies. Prominent young colonists attended British colleges and some future signers of the American Declaration of Independence served the British government as appointed colonial officials. However, by the middle 1700s, those ties to the Crown would be strained by tensions between the British government and its American colonists that would turn into the root causes of the American Revolution. In 1754, with the French and Indian War looming, Britain ordered its 13 American colonies to organize under a single, centralized government. While the resulting Albany Plan of Union was never implemented, it planted the first seeds of independence in the minds of Americans.   Seeking to pay for the costs of the French and Indian War, the British government began imposing several taxes, like the Currency Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 on the American colonists. Having never been allowed to elect their own representatives to the British Parliament, many colonists raised the call, â€Å"No taxation without representation.† Many colonists refused to buy the heavily-taxed British goods, like tea. On  December 16, 1773, a band of colonists dressed like Native Americans dumped several crates of tea from a British ship docked in Boston Harbor into the sea as a symbol of their unhappiness with the taxes. Pulled off by members of the secretive Sons of Liberty, the Boston Tea Party stirred the anger of the colonists with British rule. Hoping to teach the colonists a lesson, Britain enacted the Intolerable Acts of 1774 to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. The laws closed Boston Harbor, allowed British soldiers to be more physically â€Å"forceful† when dealing with dissenting colonists and outlawed town meetings in Massachusetts. For many colonists, it was the last straw. The American Revolution Begins In February 1775, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams wrote to a friend: â€Å"The die is cast †¦ it seems to me the Sword is now our only, yet dreadful, alternative.† Abigail’s lament proved to be prophetic. In 1774, a number of colonies, operating under provisional governments, formed armed militias made up of â€Å"minutemen.† As British troops under General Thomas Gage seized the militia’s stores of munitions and gunpowder, Patriot spies, like Paul Revere, reported on British troop positions and movements. In December 1774, patriots seized British gunpowder and arms stored at Fort William and Mary at New Castle, New Hampshire. In February 1775, the British Parliament declared the Massachusetts colony to be in a state of rebellion and authorized General Gage to use force to restore order. On April 14, 1775, General Gage was ordered to disarm and arrest colonial rebel leaders. As British troops marched from Boston toward Concord on the night of April 18, 1775, a group of patriot spies including Paul Revere and William Dawes rode from Boston to Lexington alarming the Minutemen to assemble. The next day, the Battles of Lexington and Concord between British regulars and the New England minutemen in Lexington sparked the Revolutionary War. On April 19, 1775, thousands of American Minutemen continued to attack British troops who had retreated to Boston. Learning of this Siege of Boston, the second Continental Congress authorized the creation of the Continental Army, appointing General George Washington as its first commander. With the long-feared revolution a reality, America’s founding fathers, assembled at the American Continental Congress, drafted a formal statement of the colonists’ expectation and demands to be sent to King George III. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted those now-cherished demands as the Declaration of Independence. â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.†

Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Obesity - Essay Example It has estimated that in the United States of America two third of the population has either increased weight or is suffering from obesity. Furthermore, it has been classified that one third of the population belonging to the age group of above twenty years is suffering from obesity (Weight Control Information Network 2010). There are many underlying factors that have been leading to this problem. Increased consumption of fats and reduced burning of calories through exercise has resulted in obesity. Reduction in physical activities by children leads to increase in obesity amongst the young generation. The advancement of technology has made the person more reliable on machines for all their works and has resulted in reduction of physical activities. Video games and other forms of entertainment has made people more restricted to indoors and has led to decrease in outdoor activities and games and hence resulted in aggravating the problem of obesity (Biddle et al 2009). The epidemic of o besity needs to be tacked with different measures. Physical activity needs to be promoted and awareness should be created amongst the people regarding the problems that may result due to this condition. Children should be trained in schools and sports activities should be encouraged amongst them. The media should also play a role by promotion of activities and measures that can reduce this issue (Boyse 2008, Biddle et al 2009).

Human Factors and Workplace Safety Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Factors and Workplace Safety - Essay Example Organizations should thus, ensure a safe work environment, which protects employees from physical hazards, unhealthy situations and violence from other personal. This is important because employees are the Human Resources of an organization who contribute towards organizational success. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was passed in 1970 to assure so far as possible every working woman and man in the Nation safe and healthy working conditions and to preserve human resources. The Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the Department of labour in U.S.A. The importance of such laws can be well documented by the statistical survey of Occupational hazards. In 2000, 5.7 million injuries were reported in private sector alone. 5,915 fatalities were reported in 2000 alone due to industrial injuries. The Occupational Safety and Health Act laws cover all the employers and their employees except a few federal governments, or states or political sub-divisions of a state. However, even in such cases, each federal agency is required to establish a Safety and Health program monitored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. One of the key responsibilities of the Occupational Safety and Health administration has been the develop... These standards have been classified into four categories. 1. General Industry 2. Maritime 3. Construction and 4. Agriculture. These standards cover the workplace, machinery, material, power sources, processing, protective measures, first aid and administrative requirements. The 'Federal Register' is the main source of information on proposed, adapted, amended and deleted OSHA standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the power to set standards on its own account or on petition from other parties, namely, The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Other bodies like state and local governments, recognized standards organization, employer or labour representative can also initiate standard setting. The Secretary of labour is the person authorized by OSHA to conduct inspections of workplaces, to issue citations and impose penalties. He can enter without delay at reasonable times into any factory, plant, establishment, construction site or other places where work is performed by an employee of an employer. He has the power to investigate and inspect at reasonable times, any such work place. Violations on job safety and health can call for a penalty of $7000 to $70,000, depending on the seriousness of the violation. In case of deaths due to willful violation, a penalty upto $2,50,000 for an individual and $5,00,000 for a corporation with imprisonment upto six months can be imposed as per this law.In 2001 alone, $82 million has been imposed as penalties for violation of OSHA standards. Pennzoil products paid $1.5 million after an explosion at its Rouseville, Pennsylvania, refinery killed 5 employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also helps

Competition Freaks Essay Example for Free

Competition Freaks Essay According to Dr. Phil, Everybody likes to be a winner, but some people are competition freaks who have to be first, be the best or win at everything they do. This overly competitive nature oftentimes causes tension in their personal relationships. Love and competition are oil and water, they do not mix, Dr. Phil warns. He offers the following advice for competitive people who want to overcome their need to compete, and learn to relax and enjoy what they have. Being competitive in our academic, working and personal lives can be good for achieving success and moving into the ranks of glory and glamour. Competitive attitudes can help you to feel energized, able to take on challenging tasks and ready to achieve many things in life. However, competitive behavior that is not considerate of your well-being or well balanced in its application can take its toll, leading to self destruction and perhaps ostracizing the very people you care about the most. REFERENCE: http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/510 http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Competitive-in-a-Non-Destructive-Way 1. SELFISHNESS B. EFFECTS OF COMPETING 1. NEGATIVE EFFECT 1.1 SELF- HATRED Another risk of burying our competitive feelings is that we may turn them around and use them to feel bad about ourselves. A straightforward competitive thought like, â€Å"I hate that he is so smart and always says the right thing,† may turn into an attack toward our selves like, â€Å"You are so stupid. You never know what to say. He is so much more engaging than you.†Ã‚  When we turn against our competitive feelings, we turn against ourselves. We feel ashamed of who we are and what we want. Instead of seeking to emulate the people we admire, we simply tear ourselves down in relation to them. With so many negative manifestations of suppressing our direct competitive feelings, how can we face them more honestly and make sure to use them in healthy ways? First of all, we have to remember that feeling competitive is not about letting these emotions take over or ruminating in negative thoughts. It’s about accepting our naturally occurring competitive responses, feeling them fully and moving on. We can accept that we have these feelings a lot of the time. We can even have fun with them, letting ourselves have the nastiest thought possible, then letting that thought go. Doing this as an exercise can feel clean, healthy and even refreshing. As illustrated by the above examples, when we suppress our competitive feelings, they have a way of seeping into and influencing our behavior. Yet, each time we acknowledge that we have these thoughts, we can consciously choose how we want to act. We can be much more proactive in becoming the best version of ourselves, both accepting ourselves and evolving, as the motivated (and competitive) individuals that we inherently are. 1.2 JEALOUSY/BEING ENVY Competitive feelings can be full of jealousy. Allowing ourselves to have competitive thoughts will not leave us falling victim to unstoppable fits of envy or suspicion. When we hold back our healthy and natural competitive feelings, we strengthen the negative parts of those feelings –jealousy included. Instead of building a case against someone, we can face the reality of our feelings and adopt a healthier attitude. For example, a guy I know recently revealed to me a thought process he went through at a party with his girlfriend. He noticed that she was happily chatting with other people, including a few men throughout the night. At first he thought, â€Å"She is totally flirting with my friend. Why does she light up around him? Is she more into him than me? I should just dump her before she makes a fool out of me.† At a certain point, he realized that what he was really feeling was competitive. He wanted her to respond to him the way she was responding to other people at the party. His thinking quickly changed to, â€Å"I love when she is fun like this. I want to share that with her.† Instead of listening to  the voice in his head that told him to pull away and act cold to her, he joined her and engaged in joking around with her. By being lighthearted and fun himself, she was naturally drawn to him, and they were both able to feel closer and happier with each other. If he’d acted on his jealous insecurities, rather than admitting he felt competitive, he would have achieved just the opposite. 1.3 SELF-DENIAL One of the worst results of denying our competitive feelings is that it can cause us to reject what we really want in life. Because feelings of desire or jealousy make us uncomfortable, we may pretend that we don’t want whatever we once longed for anymore. If someone we had a crush on goes out with someone else or if a job we interviewed for falls through, we can easily turn against ourselves and become self-denying. Instead of thinking, â€Å"I really wanted that, and I’m furious that I didn’t get it,† we might think, â€Å"I don’t even care. I never really wanted that. I’m not going to put myself out there to embarrass myself again.† When we engage in this pattern, we become increasingly passive. Rather than going after what we desire, we avoid it, all in the interest of denying our â€Å"unacceptable† competitive feelings. REFERENCE: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/compassion-matters/201309/the-benefits-feeling-competitive 2. POSSITIVE EFFECT 2.1 MAKES YOU PERSEVERE When you look at someone ahead of you and you do whatever it takes to catch up to them†¦that is the essence of perseverance. You don’t give up until you are at the top. Without competition, we would have no reason to persevere. We wouldn’t know our limits and how far we can stretch them. The rewards of perseverance are priceless and to experience such rewards, you need a reason, and competition is that reason. 2.2 HELPS ASSESS YOUR STRENGHTS AND WEAKNESSES Following up from my previous point, what you do notice is what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. With competition, you have a way to measure how well or how poorly you are doing. Knowing what you are good at and what you are not is extremely important, because success is all about accentuating your strengths and hiding your weaknesses. How well you accomplish this determines how far you go. REFERENCE: http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2008/05/7-positives-of-competition/

The Stone Angel Essay -- English Literature Essays

The Stone Angel Self-Inflicted Isolation and Loneliness â€Å"I never realized until this moment how cut off I am.† (Laurence, 1988, 294) In the novel The Stone Angel, author Margaret Laurence portrays a lonely old woman by the name of Hagar. Over the course of the novel, Hagar reflects back on the memories that have created the story of her life. Hagar is a deeply lonely woman, and much of that loneliness is self-inflicted. This mental isolation is caused by her stubbornness, her pride, and the blindness that she has towards any opinion other than her own. Hagar Currie-Shipley is a very stubborn woman at the age of ninety. She is very set in her ways, and does not appreciate being told what to do. The reader is introduced to this stubbornness when Hagar is brought to Silverthreads nursing home to view the location. Upon this discovery, Hagar attempts to run away, only to find herself lost in a forest. However, this stubbornness is not a new characteristic of Hagar’s, for she has been this way since early childhood. I wouldn’t let him see me cry, I was so enraged. He used a foot ruler, and when I jerked my smarting palms back, he made me hold them out again. He looked at my dry eyes in fury, as though he’d failed unless he drew water from them. He struck and struck, and then all at once he threw the ruler down and put his arms around me†¦ â€Å"You take after me,† he said, as though that made everything clear. â€Å"You’ve got backbone, I’ll give you that.† (Laurence, 1988, 9-10) This passage shows Hagar’s ability to hide her true emotions, which is a tool that she uses a lot later on in life. She later talks of making love to her husband, Bram, stating that even when she did enjoy it, â€Å"He never knew. I never let him know. I never spoke aloud, and I made certain the trembling was all inner.† (Laurence, 1988, 81) Also, early on in life, when her brother Dan was dying of pneumonia, she could not bring herself to perform his final wish. He cried for his dead mother, and Matt had asked Hagar to wear an old shawl, to act as their mother, and hold Dan, but Hagar could not bear the thought of portraying someone as weak as her mother. Her heart seems to be made of stone, much like the stone angel that her father had imported from Italy for her mother’s grave. Hagar kept all of her emotions bottled up inside. After Bram died, she did not allow herself to cry. It w... ...d to send Arlene to Toronto. When John tells Hagar about the move Hagar pretends to know nothing about it. John informs her that she â€Å" ‘always bet on the wrong horse,’ John said gently. ‘Marv was your boy, but you never saw that, did you?’† (Laurence, 1988, 237) it really opens Hagar’s eyes. She realizes that she has been wrong in her favoritism, although she will not admit it until later on after John is dead. When she is lying in her hospital bed many years later, she lets this realization be known, telling Marvin â€Å" ‘You’ve not been cranky, Marvin. You’ve been good to me, always. A better son than John.’† (Laurence, 1988, 305) Sometimes these realizations come too late. The self-inflicted isolation that Hagar feels is a result of her stubbornness, pride, and blindness towards other views. Her past has shaped her to become the bitter, stolid, rigid old woman that she is in the novel, also greatly contributing to her mental isolation. This isolation is a result of the personal decisions and actions that she has made throughout the course of the novel. â€Å"Every last one of them has gone and left me. I never left them. It was the other way around, I swear it.† (Laurence, 1988, 164) The Stone Angel Essay -- English Literature Essays The Stone Angel Self-Inflicted Isolation and Loneliness â€Å"I never realized until this moment how cut off I am.† (Laurence, 1988, 294) In the novel The Stone Angel, author Margaret Laurence portrays a lonely old woman by the name of Hagar. Over the course of the novel, Hagar reflects back on the memories that have created the story of her life. Hagar is a deeply lonely woman, and much of that loneliness is self-inflicted. This mental isolation is caused by her stubbornness, her pride, and the blindness that she has towards any opinion other than her own. Hagar Currie-Shipley is a very stubborn woman at the age of ninety. She is very set in her ways, and does not appreciate being told what to do. The reader is introduced to this stubbornness when Hagar is brought to Silverthreads nursing home to view the location. Upon this discovery, Hagar attempts to run away, only to find herself lost in a forest. However, this stubbornness is not a new characteristic of Hagar’s, for she has been this way since early childhood. I wouldn’t let him see me cry, I was so enraged. He used a foot ruler, and when I jerked my smarting palms back, he made me hold them out again. He looked at my dry eyes in fury, as though he’d failed unless he drew water from them. He struck and struck, and then all at once he threw the ruler down and put his arms around me†¦ â€Å"You take after me,† he said, as though that made everything clear. â€Å"You’ve got backbone, I’ll give you that.† (Laurence, 1988, 9-10) This passage shows Hagar’s ability to hide her true emotions, which is a tool that she uses a lot later on in life. She later talks of making love to her husband, Bram, stating that even when she did enjoy it, â€Å"He never knew. I never let him know. I never spoke aloud, and I made certain the trembling was all inner.† (Laurence, 1988, 81) Also, early on in life, when her brother Dan was dying of pneumonia, she could not bring herself to perform his final wish. He cried for his dead mother, and Matt had asked Hagar to wear an old shawl, to act as their mother, and hold Dan, but Hagar could not bear the thought of portraying someone as weak as her mother. Her heart seems to be made of stone, much like the stone angel that her father had imported from Italy for her mother’s grave. Hagar kept all of her emotions bottled up inside. After Bram died, she did not allow herself to cry. It w... ...d to send Arlene to Toronto. When John tells Hagar about the move Hagar pretends to know nothing about it. John informs her that she â€Å" ‘always bet on the wrong horse,’ John said gently. ‘Marv was your boy, but you never saw that, did you?’† (Laurence, 1988, 237) it really opens Hagar’s eyes. She realizes that she has been wrong in her favoritism, although she will not admit it until later on after John is dead. When she is lying in her hospital bed many years later, she lets this realization be known, telling Marvin â€Å" ‘You’ve not been cranky, Marvin. You’ve been good to me, always. A better son than John.’† (Laurence, 1988, 305) Sometimes these realizations come too late. The self-inflicted isolation that Hagar feels is a result of her stubbornness, pride, and blindness towards other views. Her past has shaped her to become the bitter, stolid, rigid old woman that she is in the novel, also greatly contributing to her mental isolation. This isolation is a result of the personal decisions and actions that she has made throughout the course of the novel. â€Å"Every last one of them has gone and left me. I never left them. It was the other way around, I swear it.† (Laurence, 1988, 164)

Architect: Analyzing Southwest Airlines Essay

Company’s Strategy: Southwest’s strategy is to improve efficiency in its operations and pass cost saving to its customers by offering them low and competitive prices. Southwest Airlines is dedicated to providing the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company Spirit. Analyze each key element of the company separately based on the congruence Model Organization Structure (Formal Structure): The organization of Southwest Airlines is best described as an upside-down pyramid – an organization very much in line with the way they want to do business. The upper management is at the bottom and supports the front line employees, who are the experts. Front line employees play a major role in the yearly business planning and operational budgeting which for a great part is done bottom-up rather than top-down. This is the fruit of co-founder Herb Kelleher’s unorthodox leadership style, in which management decisions are made by everyone in the organization, not just the head executives. The company does not put much emphasis on structure instead, employees are encouraged to think freely without constraints such as titles or official mandates. Culture (Informal Structure): The development improvement and refinement of originality, individuality and identity and personality of a given people. This is how southwest airlines define its culture. Southwest Airlines was built on their unique culture, continuously tout it and have dedicated a position to constantly communicating it. Southwest executives are clear on who they are and who would be a good fit to â€Å"live the Southwest way.† Three components include having a †¢ Warrior spirit: Work hard, want to be the best, be courageous, display a sense of urgency, persevere and innovate. †¢ Servant’s heart: Follow the golden rule, put others first, demonstrate proactive customer service and embrace the Southwest family. †¢ Fun-loving attitude: Don’t take yourself too seriously, maintain perspective, celebrate successes, enjoy work and be a passionate team player. Work (Task) – Airline Operations. Requires skilled workforce and much emphasis is placed on customers relation and to providing quality service. To work for Southwest one must follow a vision that is customer service oriented and therefore, pleasant in demeanor and family friendly. Southwest has a special loyalty and commitment to its employees. Southwest had the lowest turnaround time for its aircrafts for a long period of time. To accomplish the difficult task, workers performed many tasks, including loading and unloading luggage, emptying wastes, taking packages and helping passengers, or they were trained to do a lot of multitasking. People – One of the many things good about Southwest Airlines is that the kinds of people who are heroes of the organization are people who care and go out of their way to help the customers. They’re the ones who are celebrated and held up as shining examples. Additionally, high levels of satisfaction among employees can be attributed to Southwest employee policy. Happy employees can provide high quality service and bring more customers back. To reinforce the culture of hard work, high-energy, fun, local autonomy, and creativity, the company provided continuous education program to employees. If you can help someone out or brighten someone’s day, be it a co-worker or a passenger, you’re doing your job well. Analyze how these elements interact with each other. 1. Work and People: The workers in the company are recruited through a process where the right people are chooses for the right job and emphasis is placed on attitude. Also emphasis is placed on people who can do anything to get a particular task done. Coordination and cooperation is always emphasized and people who were can multitask and go out of their way to help customers or complete a task are treated as heroes. 2. Work and Structure: The structure places emphasis on people and the work they do. Management decisions are made by taking into consideration the ideas and suggestions from the front line. The front line of the company is involved in the entire decision making done in the company. Since the worker bee is central to all decision making in Southwest, it gives the employees in the organization authority to make changes to the structure for the maximum benefit of the organization. This leads to higher congruence between work and structure. 3. Structure and People: The organization structure allows the people to work effectively and take responsibility. Job responsibilities are not strictly defined. The structure provides for people to do anything and everything to get a task done. For example, the pilots helped clean a plane when all hands were required to turnaround a flight quickly. 4. People and Culture: The culture of southwest airlines is people centric. Employees are celebrated and made heroes if employees go out of their way to help customers or co-workers. The culture supports the people and nurtures them to think of the company as an extension of themselves and care and support other member of the company. 5. Culture and Work: The culture of the company is reflected in the work performed by the employees. In one scenario where a rival airline resolves to slash pricing (to half the price of what southwest was charging) so that it can put southwest out of business, but southwest comes up with a unique idea. Instead of reducing the price they provided customers with free liquor and the customers liked it. This shows high congruence between the culture and work because unique ideas come when employees think freely and are also willing to work to make these ideas successful. 6. Structure and Culture: Yes. The formal structure the organization is divided into various departments based on functions (that work cohesively) and the informal structure provides for communication to flow freely amongst various departments. The informal structure also encourages to make changes to the formal structure if required because the decision making process flows from the bottom instead of the top. Conclusion: Southwest Airlines is effectively able to fit together the four key components of performance, tasks, people, structure, and culture. These elements worked together in unison and produced an organization-wide system that functions efficiently and effectively.

Enrich your life and improve your health Essay

Friendships can be good for you. Find out about the connection between your health and friendship, and how to promote and maintain healthy friendships. By Mayo Clinic staff Friendships can have a major impact on your health and well-being, but it’s not always easy to build or maintain friendships. Understand the importance of friendships in your life and what you can do to develop and nurture friendships. What are the benefits of friendships? Good friends are good for your health. Friends can help you celebrate good times and provide support during bad times. Friends prevent loneliness and give you a chance to offer needed companionship, too. Friends can also: †¢ Increase your sense of belonging and purpose †¢ Boost your happiness †¢ Reduce stress †¢ Improve your self-worth †¢ Help you cope with traumas, such as divorce, serious illness, job loss or the death of a loved one †¢ Encourage you to change or avoid unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as excessive drinking or lack of exercise Why is it sometimes hard to make friends or maintain friendships? Many adults find it hard to develop new friendships or keep up existing friendships. Friendships may take a back seat to other priorities, such as work or caring for children or aging parents. You and your friends may have grown apart due to changes in your lives or interests. Or maybe you’ve moved to a new community and haven’t yet found a way to meet people. Developing and maintaining good friendships takes effort. The enjoyment and comfort friendship can provide, however, makes the investment worthwhile. What’s a healthy number of friends? There’s no need to aim for a specific number of friends. Some people benefit from a large and diverse network of friends, while others prefer a smaller circle of friends and acquaintances. There are also different types of friendship. You may have a few close friends you turn to for deeply personal conversations, and more casual friends with whom you see movies, play basketball or share backyard cookouts. Consider what works for you. Overall, the quality of your relationships is more important than the specific number of friends you have. ****A friend is a trustworthy companion, who cherishes the special moments and memories of your life with another person, forming a friendship. I agree that Friendship is the most important aspect of our lives because the main ideas of friendship are trust, honesty and sharing similarities. Another important thing about friendship can offer is support and help. Friendship is the most important because of the trust, honesty and sharing similarities with a person or people as no one likes to feel alone. Having trust and honesty so you know that you have a great friendship is big and would impact your life in so many ways also having these similarities will make your friendship strong and long-lasting. Just like in Up the movie Russell and Mr Frederickson had a bond and a friendship that included all these things trust and honesty and also similarities such as the love for wilderness and Kevin and Doug at the end of the movie. Which is a great thing to have and would be the most important aspect on Mr Fredricksens and Russell as they have no one else to turn to for trust and honesty. In the film Up it shows friendship and how important it can be. Carl and Ellie give a great example of a strong friendship from the beginning of the film it shows finding each other and becoming close friends to standing by each other til the end. This friendship showed similarities of adventure, trust and loyalty. we need trust, honesty, sharing similarities to make a friendship, and this is why friendship is the most important aspect of our lives. Friendship plays an important role in our lives, to a large extent. Which a friendship could last your whole life and improve your life for the better like carl and Ellie’s friendship. †To have a friend and be a friend Is what makes life worthwhile.†

Building an Impressive Journalism Clip Portfolio

Building an Impressive Journalism Clip Portfolio If youre a journalism student youve probably already had a professor lecture you about the importance of creating a great clip portfolio in order to land a job in the news business. Heres what you need to know in order to do this.   What Are Clips? Clips are copies of your published articles. Most reporters save copies of every story theyve ever published, from high school onward. Why Do I Need Clips? To get a job in print or web journalism. Clips are often the deciding factor in whether a person is hired or not. What Is a Clip Portfolio? A collection of your best clips. You include them with your job application. Paper vs. Electronic Paper clips are simply photocopies of your stories as they appeared in print (see more below). But increasingly, editors may want to see online clip portfolios, which include a link to your articles. Many reporters now have their own websites or blogs where they include links to all their articles (see more below.) How Do I Decide Which Clips to Include in My Application? Obviously, include your strongest clips, the ones that are best-written and most thoroughly reported. Pick articles that have great ledes - editors love great ledes. Include the biggest stories youve covered, the ones that made the front page. Work in a little variety to show youre versatile and have covered both hard news stories and features. And obviously, include clips that are relevant to the job youre seeking. If youre applying for a sports writing job, include lots of sports stories. How Many Clips Should I Include in My Application? Opinions vary, but most editors say include no more than six clips in your application. If you throw in too many they simply wont get read. Remember, you want to draw attention to your best work. If you send too many clips your best ones might get lost in the shuffle. How Should I Present My Clip Portfolio? Paper: For traditional paper clips, editors generally prefer photocopies over original tearsheets. But make sure the photocopies are neat and legible. (Newspaper pages tend to photocopy on the dark side, so you may need to adjust the controls on your copier to make sure your copies are bright enough.) Once youve assembled the clips you want, put them together in a manila envelope along with your cover letter and resume. PDF files: Many newspapers, especially college papers, produce PDF versions of each issue. PDFs are a great way to save your clips. You store them on your computer and they never turn yellow or get torn. And they can be easily e-mailed as attachments. Online: Check with the editor who is going to be looking at your application. Some may accept e-mail attachments containing PDFs or screenshots of online stories or want the link to the webpage where the story appeared. As noted earlier, more and more reporters are creating online portfolios of their work. One Editor's Thoughts About Online Clips Rob Golub, local editor of the Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin, says he often asks job applicants to simply send him a list of links to their online articles. The worst thing a job applicant can send? Jpeg files. Theyre hard to read, says Golub. But Golub says finding the right person is more important than the details of how someone applies. The main thing Im looking for is an amazing reporter who wants to come and do the right thing for us, he says. The truth is, Ill push through inconvenience to find that great human being. Most important: Check with the paper or website where youre applying, see how they want things done, and then do it that way.

12 Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Already Know

12 Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Already Know 12 Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Already Know ‘Character archetypes’ are something you imagine bohemian writers talking about at length - perhaps while smoking a cigarette and stroking their pointy beards. And when they move onto the topic of Jungian theory, you can see yourself tuning out of the conversation altogether. But despite their seemingly high-minded background in psychoanalysis, understanding character archetypes can help writers of all stripes gain a better understanding of storytelling.In this post, we’ll explain to you what character archetypes are, reveal some of the most popular ones - and show you how to prevent your archetype characters from becoming clichà ©s.What is a character archetype?In storytelling, an archetype is a character who represents a specific set of universal, recognizable behaviors. Carl Jung, one of the forefathers of psychoanalysis, suggested that they are part of the human collective unconscious. He believed that these recurring figures are part of the mythmaking fabr ic that is common to all humans.If we are to believe Jung and Joseph Campbell’s theory of the Hero’s Journey, stories and myths are an intrinsic part of human development and evolution. They are a teaching tool, a way to warn each other of dangers and the simplest method of examining human behavior and better understanding one another.We’re not saying that these archetypes are embedded into human DNA: they are simply the character forms that have resonated most over the generations. What are character archetypes? And how can they help you? If myths and fireside stories were originally ways that people had to impart knowledge to society at large, then each of Jung’s archetypes might represent a different lesson: care for your children like a mother, be brave like a hero, be wary of tricksters posing as friends, and listen to your elders. The plot of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight is nearly identical to Romeo and Juliet. Edward and Bella belong to the same archetype as those star-crossed lovers of Verona. The difference lies in the specifics: the way the characters speak, the Pacific Northwest setting, the fantastical conflict between vampires and werewolves. The book follows a similar narrative arc as Romeo and Juliet, but its fans certainly wouldn’t call it a ‘predictable retread of Shakespeare’s play.For authors, character archetypes are a useful concept to understand - if only to save you from tying yourself in knots, trying to create stories and characters completely unlike anything that’s come before. Every story has already been told, so focus on what matters most to readers: creating rich, specific worlds populated by people living specific lives, whose struggles are so grounded in realistic human behavior that their stories become universal -   no matter where the reader is fr om.What other character archetypes have we missed from this list? Drop them in the comments below along with your favorite example!

Alienation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alienation - Essay Example Most significantly, the novel depicts the unexpected entrance of Peter Walsh who was an old friend and former suitor of Clarissa. Their meeting reflects a mixture of happiness and tension as Clarissa wonders why she married Richard Dalloway instead of Peter Walsh who was her suitor. The novel also revolves around the story of Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked World War I veteran who suffered from the war and later committed suicide. The novel presents the topic of alienation in many dimensions. Alienation depicts a sense of emotional isolation between individuals or groups within a given community. Indeed, we can sense a feeling of emotional isolation as Peter Walsh feels desperate over his unfulfilling life. This results from the fact that his friends and former suitors have moved on with their lives. Indeed, Peter Walsh was Clarissa’s suitor but Clarissa chose to marry Richard because of his social class. This shows that Peter Walsh suffers from social alienation. As a result, Peter Walsh cries as he regrets losing Clarissa and desperately asks her if she really loves Richard. More so, Peter Walsh’s social alienation manifests where he fails to establish and maintain any stable romantic relationship (Woolf 42-44). Indeed, despite the social world requiring one to make concrete decisions, Peter alienates himself from the social world by lacking the capacity to decide what he feels. As such, he results to talking to himself, which depicts social isolation. On the other hand, we can identify social alienation from the story of Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked World War I veteran. Indeed, Septimus alienated himself from the physical world by constantly residing in the internal world where he talks with his friend Evans who died in the war. He is emotionally numb and encounters deep madness and crazy hallucinations where he sees and hears unreal things that a normal person cannot witness. This is a deviation from the norms and reflects soc ial alienation. In fact, in the social world, people communicate in the real world and not in the internal world as Septimus does. Furthermore, Septimus' presence in the novel is alienation, as he does not relate with any of the other main characters. Ultimately, Septimus suffers the consequences of alienation as he commits suicides after a light moment of joy with his wife. Indeed, Septimus decided in his internal world that he will not go with the doctors to a mental institution and opts to die (Woolf 36-42). This depicts social alienation as people do not commit suicide in the social world but wait for their natural death. More so, we experience Lucrezia’s emotional alienation, as she miserably misses Italy and is tired of taking her husband to various soulless doctors. This depicts social isolation, as the other characters are seemingly comfortable in this place. More so, the novel depicts Clarissa’s alienation from the social world. Indeed, Clarissa’s urge to pay attention to every guest  alienates her from enjoying her evening party. We can see her wishing that she could get some time to talk to Sally and Peter but she is too busy with the other guests. Indeed, Clarissa sought to enjoy her evening party but the events happening during the party hinders her form such enjoyment. This is despite the fact that other people attending the party derive full enjoyment from the party.