Connectivity, Reading/Writing, and the Cyber Age :: Technology Technological Essays

Connectivity, Reading/Writing, and the Cyber Age I own a cell phone. And a desktop computer. And I carry this old laptop around to all the coffee shops and bars in whose noise I try to drown out the mean little voices of writerly anxiety so I can just get my fucking homework done. At work I use a touch screen ordering system to get my drinks from the bar and artichoke dip from the kitchen. I check my horoscope online (as well as those of the men I’m interested in—blushing with shameJ,) stay in touch with friends via email, and use my college’s online services to register for classes. I do a great deal of my research for class via the electronic databases Eastern Michigan maintains, I have a blog, I’ve tried to get my poetry published at online literary magazines. With the help of a very patient friend, I even filed my federal taxes online this year. The internet and wireless technology make my life easier to move through quickly. I am grateful. But somewhat ashamed. In the same way that I feel guilty every time I drive the old pollution-mobile a mile and a half to work, using all this high-speed information technology feels like being seduced away from my principles by the lure of ease. I believe in slowness. I love speed. It’s a difficulty. I am not the only person struggling with the conflict between the speed modern life demands and that at which actual life happens. Women’s magazines are full of tips on organizing the kitchen, the carpool, the craft supplies, so that more time can be found for the important things in life—hanging out with the kids, spending time with parents, maybe even having sex with partners. Advertising companies pitch scads of products as time-savers, from meals-in-a-bag to blocks of cleanser that clean the toilet with every flush. All my friends complain about not having enough time to get everything done. My girlfriend who is working on her PHD and Master’s degrees at the same time doesn’t have enough time to see her lover and spend time with her mother in the nursing home. My other dear girlfriend with two [fabulous] kids, a husband [that’s out of this world,] a house, two cars, and two jobs doesn’t have enough time for anything. Most of my men friends don’t have enough time to work their jobs, take care of their bodies, support their ladyfriends in whatever way and still know what they’re feeling from moment to moment.

The Limitations of the Freedom of Speech

Does the First Amendment mean anyone can say anything at any time? No. The Supreme Court has rejected an interpretation of speech without limits. Because the First Amendment has such strong language, we begin with the presumption that speech is protected. Over the years, the courts have decided that a few other public interests — for example, national security, justice or personal safety — override freedom of speech. There are no simple rules for determining when speech should be limited, but there are some general tests that help.Clear and Present Danger Will this act of speech create a dangerous situation? The First Amendment does not protect statements that are uttered to provoke violence or incite illegal action. Justice Holmes, speaking for the unanimous Supreme Court, stated, â€Å"The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the subs tantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. Fighting Words Was something said face-to-face that would incite immediate violence? In  Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court stated that the â€Å"English language has a number of words and expressions which by general consent [are] ‘fighting words’ when said without a disarming smile. †¦ Such words, as ordinary men know, are likely to cause a fight. The court determined that the New Hampshire statute in question â€Å"did no more than prohibit the face-to-face words plainly likely to cause a breach of the peace by the addressee, words whose speaking constitute a breach of the peace by the speaker — including ‘classical fighting words,’ words in current use less ‘classical’ but equally likely to cause violence, and other disorderly words, including profanity, obscenity and threats. † Jurisdictions may write statutes to punish verbal acts if the statutes are â⠂¬Å"carefully drawn so as not unduly to impair liberty of expression. Also see  What is the Fighting Words Doctrine? Libel and Slander Was the statement false, or put in a context that makes true statements misleading? You do not have a constitutional right to tell lies that damage or defame the reputation of a person or organization. Obscenity In June 1973 in  Miller v. California, the Supreme Court held in a 5-to-4 decision that obscene materials do not enjoy First Amendment protection. In  Miller v. California  (1973), the court refined the definition of â€Å"obscenity† established in  Roth v.United States  (1957). It also rejected the â€Å"utterly without redeeming social value† test of  Memoirs v. Massachusetts. In the three-part Miller test, three questions must receive affirmative responses for material to be considered â€Å"obscene†: 1. Would the average person, applying the contemporary community standards, viewing the work as a whole, find the work appeals to the prurient interest? 2. Does the work depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way? 3.Does the work taken as a whole lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value? One must distinguish â€Å"obscene† material, speech not protected by the First Amendment, from â€Å"indecent† material, speech protected for adults but not for children. The Supreme Court also ruled that â€Å"higher standards† may be established to protect minors from exposure to indecent material over the airwaves. In  FCC v. Pacifica Foundation  Ã‚  the court â€Å"recognized an interest in protecting minors from exposure to vulgar and offensive spoken language. Conflict with Other Legitimate Social or Governmental Interests Does the speech conflict with other compelling interests? For example, in times of war, there may be reasons to restrict First Amendment rights because of conflicts with national security. To ensure a fair tri al without disclosure of prejudicial information before or during a trial, a judge may place a â€Å"gag† order on participants in the trial, including attorneys. Placing prior restraint upon the media usually is unconstitutional. In  Nebraska Press Association v.Stuart  (1976),  the Supreme Court established three criteria that must be met before a judge can issue a gag order and restrain the media during a trial. Time, Place, and Manner These regulations of expression are content-neutral. A question to ask: Did the expression occur at a time or place, or did the speaker use a method of communicating, that interferes with a legitimate government interest? For example, distribution of information should not impede the flow of traffic or create excessive noise levels at certain times and in certain places.

Econs Tut

The policies directed at the capital account could include interest rate policy, action policy (related to Foreign Direct Investments) and complementary infrastructure and Other supply side policies such as employer CAP levels. To manipulate current account, the government by and large does not use protectionism except for domestic service sectors, such as banking, fiscal policy due to small multiplier and does not aggressively undervalue currency because of fears of imported inflation.For the capital account, since we have elected to choose exchange rates and free capital movements as our two choices, it does not use interest rate and UAPITA controls. Singapore does not want to scare away Foreign Direct Investments by implementing controls. Singapore mainly relies on supply side policies as the government tends to be more far-sighted and focuses on returns on the long run. The Balance of Payments will be analyzed as such.Even in crisis periods such as early 2009, Singapore does not react much with exchange rate changes but instead encouraging foreign and few domestic firms to remain in Singapore by offering lower wage (and subsidizing for the lowest wage) and better tax areas. The opinion is that sudden exchange rate changes are inflationary and destabilize. Therefore, the typical exchange rate policy has been one of the slow and steady appreciate of the Singapore dollar in line with gradual improvement in performance of the current account.The underlying policy behind the improved current account performance and how the exchange rate strengthened Balance of Payments come from the following. If rusty, Singapore develops current account in areas of higher value added to AP into growing world of incomes and to avoid goods where prices are volatile, such as those primary products exported by many developing countries. Also, Singapore constantly aims to raise value added to stay ahead of other countries which are building their current account.This involves increa sing expenditure on human capital and strategic alliances with firms that can make use of such labor by offering supply side support. Critic: Employer's CAP, Wage Flexibility, PR Protection, Physical infrastructure improvement, corporate tax regimes, manpower development There is not much to change because Singapore has one of the strongest current accounts in the world.

Google Case “Don’t be evil” Essay

Google in 2000 developed a Chinese language version that the Chinese could use freely. Two years later, the government blocked the search engine because this latter did not change the findings. In 2004 the government decided to release the site but users could no longer access sites such as political movements. Google has complied with its own accord to remove all sites that should be censored according to the laws imposed by the Communist Party of China. Many words have been banned also in research, such as Hypocrite, Human Rights, Democracy†¦ Google mission tells that â€Å"Google mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful†. But also â€Å"being a Googler means holding yourself to the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct.† The information is readily available for everyone who has access to Internet, without find useless information and the product must be universally accessible. While many companies have ethical codes to govern their conduct, Google claims to have made â€Å"Don’t Be Evil† a central pillar of their identity, and part of their self-proclaimed core values. In 2006, when Google declared their self-censorship move into China, their â€Å"Don’t be evil† motto was questioned. Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt explained that sometimes it might need to allow smaller evils for a greater good. However, Google has since challenged China’s censorship policies on various occasions. DO YOU THINK GOOGLE SHOULD CENSOR SEARCHES IN CHINA? WHY? Google was criticized a lot by international newspapers about ethics codes. _The Financial Times_ asked to the company if they don’t feel guilty about the situation and if they aren’t becoming evil with censoring researches within China. The same year, Google opened offices in China because from a financial perspective, this country represents for the company a dynamic, fast-growing and increasingly competitive market. The decisions of the Chinese Government may be compared to the newspapers in the United States because both decide if they would edit or hide any article wrote and thought inappropriate for the public. In fact, the Government takes decisions if Google has to censor web sites and researches; Google consequently stood on accommodating the demands of the Chinese Government. I think there is not a question of being evil or not. Google is maybe a leader in the world (it ranked in 2005 the third position behind Johnson & Johnson and Coca-Cola), but it cannot take decisions in a country which is not its. The research motor has no power in that country controlled by a Communist Government which is very strong. It is more a problem of coherence from Google, because after reading its mission statement and understanding â€Å"Don’t be Evil useless†, we don’t understand the reason why they change their culture when they operate in another country. According to that mission statement and because some governments make the mission difficult to achieve, Google added to the balance a third fundamental commitment after having penetrated Chinese market: â€Å"be responsive to local conditions.† People thought that Google will follow its mission perfectly, doesn’t matter the situation or the location, and they were very surprised when they discover that Google made some censure by its own. After the censure decision of Chinese Government in 2002, Google was not any more efficient, and every search had to pass though the â€Å"Great Firewall of China† software. That means Google News was never available, as also Google Images which worked just 50% of the time. A good point of Google is the importance of users’ privacy and it is related to users’ interests. But entering in China, Google’s decisions had to be monitored by the government; this changing of filtering all researches compromised Google’s missions. It doesn’t matter to the company to be criticized, or if it lose people trust around the world, because the only thing they believed is to try to give to users the access to Google.com from within China. But Google had to face some more problems, others than the criticism. I mean, the censoring would really have affected the company search results, because if a user tries to search an ensured term, he would be re-directed to a non-censored site or the browser would stop. But Google risks a brand value damage. To summarize, I understood that Google had no choice to become censured. It told it was its own decision because it didn’t want to argue with the Government, and it knew that it had no chance to win the fight. It is too important for the company to expand until China, that’s why the company accepted all the country restrictions and try to have a place in that market. WHY DO YOU THINK GOOGLE DIDN’T WANT TO SUPPLY INFORMATION REQUESTED BY THE US GOVERNMENT IN RELATION TO THE CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT? *  « Would be willing to reveal information pertaining to its users  » — this means that Google does not want to give any information which can harm in any way the users of Google or violate their privacy. Furthermore, Google thought that this request was to get too deep into people lives and this was unacceptable because they needed to protect their users. This is one of a reason why Google does not want to supply information. * In addition, Google does not want to lose its advantage over its competitors by revealing information which could harm them directly:  « threaten Google’s competitive advantage by exposing its proprietary secrets  ». * Last but not least, I think Google didn’t want to supply information requested by the US government in relation to the Child Online Protection Act because they know it would be a huge loss of money for them, the industry of pornography is huge, and therefore if some kids are watching it, Google cannot be too involved in it compared to the money they are making with the industry of pornography. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/don’t+be+evil http://www.duke.edu/web/kenanethics/CaseStudies/GoogleInChina.pdf

Answering Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answering Questions - Assignment Example This lead to the triangular trade by the Portuguese that involved transporting slaves to Europe and bringing back produces of their labor to Africa. Atlantic slavery then continued in Africa and America until 1888 when Brazil abolished it. This trade however enabled Europeans build their capital base and saved the slaves from starvation in famine. It however undermined the dignity and welfare of Africans. The French revolution was brought about by the increased famine and malnutrition and privileges to the first class citizens while the North American was caused by their urge to have independence (Goucher and Walton). The Spanish American had conquered Portugal and Spain and had a great opportunity to carry out changes. However, the revolution in Haiti was as a result of enlightenment of slaves who then called for their rights. The Haiti and Americas cause of revolution was therefore significant in leading to a great economic development in the countries. The transition of revolution has therefore played an important role in taking the countries to great economies and societies with freedom of every citizen. The expansion of overseas trade, availability of capital and the social and political stability in Europe countries facilitated the industrial revolution in Europe. The need for raw materials and other resources for their industries from other countries however made these countries to use their powers to obtain resources. According to Goucher and Walton (2013), this is what linked the industrial revolution to the imperialism. The main factors that could have lead to new imperialism are the cultural beliefs that the whites westerner to make the blacks modernize and the social Darwinism that purports the destruction of weak races was natural to improve species of such races. These factors were not related but they were able to bring almost similar outcomes which were the colonization of the people

Trace the complex seemingly contradictory relationship between the Essay

Trace the complex seemingly contradictory relationship between the exotic 'newness' of primitivism and the urge to explore ethnic or national roots - Essay Example The canvas included portraits, still lifes, landscape, verve, nudes of spontaneity with rich textured surfaces, bold colors and lively linear patterns. The Fauves used startling contrasts of emerald green, vermilion, vivid orange and cerulean blue in bold strokes and sweeping brush strokes. Fauves desired to use both sides of Expressionism. Outward expression was expressed in the bold release of internal thoughts in wild color, brutal and powerful brushworks and the depiction of inward expression awakened the emotion of the viewers through the designs. There was no official organization of Fauve painters. The laxity of stylistic affinities and personal connections led the Fauve movement to disintegrate as soon as the art form emerged. The artists who followed Fauve principles departed from the idea and followed their own personal styles. The short tenure of Fauvism however made remarkable contribution to the art of painting by experimenting expressive, structural and aesthetic capabi lities. Henri Matisse was a prominent figure among the Fauve group.1 German Expressionism evolved from Fauvism and moved beyond the art in compelling, dramatic portrayal of people and scenes. Three main groups of German Expressionism were Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter and Die Neue Sachlichkeit. Der Blaue Reiter  or the Blue Rider group took shape in Munich which is home of avant-garde New Artist Association. The most famous artist of Der Blaue Reiter was Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. Der Blaue Reiter was a loose association with artists like Paul Klee, August Macke and Gabriele Munter. The objective of the Blue Rider was to infuse art with spiritual values with the use of color. Blue riders mean vague. Marc instilled the idea that animal had innocence and so it is superior to human. The Blue Rider Expressions are mild forms which are seen in Cossacks by Kandinsky, Little Blue Horse and The Little Blue Horses by

Na Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Na - Essay Example Thereby, it is the very brevity, simplicity and limited scope of these photographs that highlights the enormity and complexity of urban life. In other words these photographs accentuate urban complexity, by capturing simple themes, which in this case happens to be roads, paths and stairways. It does need to be mentioned that the chosen theme is something that is recurring and ubiquitous in all urban scenarios. The idea behind this portfolio is not to showcase amazing things, but rather to present simple aspects of urban life in a way that amazes and provokes. These photographs provoke the viewers to perceive the regular and mundane aspects of their urban existence in a new way. The photographs I have selected distil a facet or quality of the urban life in a very physical and confined manner. Though all these photographs subscribe to a common theme, yet, they do capture utter diversity underlying the regular urban commutes. To achieve versatility and variety, they rely on the contrasts between the ambiance, setting and architectural style marking each specific path and road (Liggett 120). The strategy to shoot these photographs from different elevations has added a subtle third dimension to them. The amazing thing is that though people are absent from many of these shots, still they are emphatically evident, going by the fact that these allays, stairways and paths accrue relevance in relation to people only. It is their inseparable association with the urban human existence, which imbues them with a range of meanings, contexts and ideas (Liggett 120). Though these photographs do not catch people directly, yet, they speak much about them and the kind of lives they live. It is this aspect of this portfolio that adds multiple layers of meaning and appeal to each individual photograph and makes it more dynamic. The one other thing that makes this urban