Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Television Has Kids Mesmerized Essays - Bariatrics, Body Shape

Television Has Kids Mesmerized Technology is a great accessory that millions of people use regularly in everyday life. Television could be the most-used technological commodity of all. Millions of people now have at least one television in their home. Although television seems like a great thing to have, it has its drawbacks. Television can negatively effect people, particularly kids. Numerous studies and surveys have proven just how much television can be a bad influence on our youth. Many kids become violent, have severe psychological effects, and become very unhealthy. Once thought as a great invention, television has become a major problem. Violence is a major part of todays television shows and movies that are targeted towards our youth. Violence is increasing regularly in the television shows kids are watching: Fifty-seven percent of television programs contain psychologically harmful violence (Kaufman 1). Through heavy television watching, children can encounter many violent shows that are not suited for them. This can affect a child in many ways. Author John Leo explains that Children who are heavy viewers of television are more aggressive Pena 2 (Leo 29). Children, especially young, are not ready to distinguish right from wrong. When their favorite action hero is beating up a bad guy, kids think that it is all right. At a young age a kid will envy a character on television and will have a preconceived idea that whatever the character does is acceptable. Children will also take what they see on television and try to use it in their everyday life. For example, Children under the age of seven or eight are more likely to imitate the fighting moves they see on the screen than older kids (Television 1). Kids could go along life thinking it is OK with fighting to solve problems. Violence on television can be harmful in more ways than one. On the one hand, kids will imitate what they watch, but kids are also very easily brainwashed. Children may get a false impression of what the world is really like. If all the children see is violence on television, then, of course, the children will be a little apprehensive about the world. All o f the violence could also make the kids angry at the world, certain types of people, and specific groups. Most prime time shows on television have a predominately white cast. It has been noted that Of 26 pilots the networks announced for fall, none has a minority star (Poniewozik 70). The only major networks that have minorities in leading roles are the UPN and the WB. Will minorities ever have leading roles in sitcoms? As one author puts it Space aliens will have more network lead roles than Asians or Native Americans Pena 3 (Poniewozik 70). Do television executives have a legitimate reason for the lack of minorities? First of all, there is a lack of minorities in executive positions and there is hardly any minority writers, but are those good enough reasons? The executives can make an easy solution by just hiring the minorities in their sitcoms. A leading role is not necessary at first because there has to be a starting point somewhere. Young minority kids will be deeply affected by this situation. When they watch these white shows, they might wonder why nobody that looks like them is in the sitcom. All children must understand that everybody is equal and judged the same. In a sense, the thinking is that the minority will never be given a fair chance against a white person for the same job. In a way, it is sad to see that race is still playing such a major role in our present society after all that this country has gone through. The next generation of kids should not even have to worry about the skin co lor as a factor in their lives. As if racism were not enough, kids are also influenced by trying to be the perfect person. TV shows view only girls with the perfect bodies. This a big problem with little girls. Girls tend to develop eating disorders because they strive to look like the models on television. It is clear that there is a need for a more diverse group of

Saturday, November 23, 2019

30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch

30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch 30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch 30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch By Mark Nichol During much of the 1600s, the Netherlands was a world power, especially at sea, and this influence contributed to the English language in the form of borrowings from Dutch into English of various nautically and aquatically themed words. Here’s a list of many of these terms (a few of which were adopted from, or may derive from cognates in, other languages) and their definitions and their Dutch origins. 1. avast (â€Å"stop†): from hou vast, meaning â€Å"hold fast† 2. bow (â€Å"front of a ship†): from boeg (or from Old German or Old Norse) 3. brackish (â€Å"salty†): from brac (or a Low German cognate), meaning â€Å"salty† 4. buoy (â€Å"marker† or, as a verb, â€Å"mark with a buoy† or â€Å"keep afloat†): from buoy, ultimately from the Latin word boia, meaning â€Å"shackle† 5. caboose (â€Å"the last car on a freight train, used for the accommodation for the train’s crew†): from kabuis or kombuis, meaning â€Å"galley,† or â€Å"ship’s kitchen† 6. commodore (â€Å"senior captain† or â€Å"naval officer above a captain in rank†): probably from kommandeur, ultimately from the Old French word comandeor, meaning â€Å"commander† 7. cruiser (â€Å"warship larger than a destroyer but smaller than a battleship,† or â€Å"pleasure motorboat†): from kruisen (related to kruis, meaning â€Å"cross†), meaning â€Å"sail across or go through† 8. deck (â€Å"any of various floors of a ship†): from dek, meaning â€Å"covering† 9. dock (â€Å"mooring structure for vessels† or, as a verb â€Å"tie up at a dock†): from docke, meaning â€Å"pier† 10. dredge (â€Å"riverbed or seabed scoop† or, as a verb, â€Å"drag† or â€Å"scoop†): perhaps based on dregghe, meaning â€Å"dragnet† 11. freebooter (â€Å"pirate†): from vrijbuiter, meaning â€Å"robber†; the second half of the word is related to booty, also derived from Dutch 12. freight (â€Å"shipped goods† or, as a verb, â€Å"ship goods†): from a word variously spelled fraght, vracht, and vrecht and meaning â€Å"water transport†; the Dutch word is also the source of fraught, meaning â€Å"heavy† or â€Å"weighed down† 13. filibuster (â€Å"obstructive act† or, as a verb, â€Å"obstruct†): from vrijbuiter by way of the Spanish word filibuster (see freebooter above), which in turn comes from the French word flibustier 14. hoist (â€Å"lift† as a noun or a verb): from hijsen 15. jib (â€Å"spar†): from gijben, meaning â€Å"boom† 16. keel (â€Å"spine or structure projecting from a hull†): from kiel 17. keelhaul (â€Å"punish by dragging over the keel†): from kielhalen, meaning â€Å"keel hauling† 18. kill (â€Å"riverbed†): from kil 19. maelstrom (â€Å"whirlpool† or, by extension, â€Å"confused situation†): from maalstroom, meaning â€Å"grinding current† or â€Å"strong current† (the second element of the word is cognate with stream); possibly based on an Old Norse word 20. morass (â€Å"boggy or muddy ground† or, by extension, â€Å"complicated or confused situation†): from marasch, meaning â€Å"swamp,† partly based on the Old French word marais, meaning â€Å"marsh† 21. plug (â€Å"stopper† or, as a verb, â€Å"stop (a hole)†): from plugge, meaning â€Å"stopper† 22. school (â€Å"large group of fish,† unrelated to the term for an educational institution): from schole 23. scow (â€Å"small, wide sailboat† or â€Å"flat-bottomed boat†): from schouw 24. shoal (â€Å"large group of fish†; unrelated to the same word meaning â€Å"area of shallow water†): cognate with schole 25. skipper (â€Å"captain of a ship†): from schipper, meaning â€Å"someone who ships† 26. sloop (â€Å"sailboat,† either a small modern boat or a specific type of warship): from sloep, either ultimately from slupen, meaning â€Å"to glide,† or from the Old French term chalupe 27. smack (â€Å"small sailboat†): possibly from smak, meaning â€Å"sailboat,† perhaps from the sound made by flapping sails 28. smuggler (â€Å"illegal trader†): smokkelen or the Low German word smukkelen, meaning â€Å"transport (goods) illegally†) 29. stockfish (â€Å"cod or similar fish prepared by drying†): from stokvis, meaning â€Å"stick fish† 30. yacht (â€Å"small, light pirate-hunting naval vessel† or â€Å"pleasure motorboat or sailboat†): from jacht, meaning â€Å"hunt† and short for jachtschip Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Words with More Than One SpellingItalicizing Foreign WordsForming the Comparative of One-syllable Adjectives

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Sexual politics in Iran Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sexual politics in Iran - Research Paper Example Even as modernity continues to encroach into various parts of the Arab world, Iran has stood firm on some of the sexual issues regarding her citizens, forging a unique style of politics in the sexual context that attaches some key Islamic laws into it. Initially, Iran was dominated with pre-modern practices that included, slave and concubine marriage, a phenomenon that indicated power in the male gender (Shahidian 146). At later stages during the infringement of the western cultures in Iran, certain aspects of the Iranian sexual politics were abolished due to their oppressive nature and this paved the way to reforms in the marriage sector and the redefinition of sexual purity (Afary 345). Fundamentally, Iran is an Islamic nation led by an Islamic president and therefore all the laws regarding marriage and sexual roles have to be viewed from the Islamic context (Vakil 51). With this in mind, it is worthy to note that gender disparity and sexual oppression are one of the most significa nt challenges affecting the Islamic nation especially in the wake of modernity where the world operates as a global unit (Rieffer-Flanagan 121). ... In this regard, it is important to note that Iran has been a stringent follower of the Islamic laws (Afary 345). In a country dominated by neo-colonialism, religious, and patriarchal views, sexual policies have been kept at the back for many years to maintain the status quo (I?lkkaracan 28). For many Iranians including the womenfolk, the existing laws and policies regarding the sexual context are not only draconian but also punitive (Afary 382). This means that the sexual laws are meant to instill heavy penalties on the defaulters to the extent of bordering on massive human rights violations. Although the west has always agitated for reforms in the sexual laws of the Arabic country, it is evident that several key forces have strongly opposed the move claiming it is a recipe for the dilution of their ideals (Vakil 84). Perhaps it is crucial to highlight the major tenets of the Arabic sexual laws, particularly those pertaining to Iran as a state, and the political influence on the sexu al laws (Rieffer-Flanagan 111). Essentially, the sexual politics of Iran is marred with pre-modern practices that encompass the ancient marriages whereby the bride has to be identified after birth. This actually means that a man could book his bride right from childbirth and therefore sexual purity was a matter of great significance (Shahidian 133). Once a woman has been booked for a particular man, she is bound to marry the man in her maturity no matter the circumstances. In the modern world, this appears as a significant affront to the female gender that deserves reviewing (Afary 355). Pre-modern practices Another aspect of the Iranian sexual laws that perhaps does not resonate well with a vast majority of the