The Convergence of Physical and Information Security Research Paper

The Convergence of Physical and Information Security - Research Paper Example There before, organizations and enterprises used to protect their assets primarily with the use of physical efforts such as guns and gates. However, this has become an obsolete idea today since people today are now using passwords and effortless systems to protect their assets. ISSA, ISACA, and ASIS are examples of the three main security organizations that endorse security convergence. A few years ago, the three organizations came up with the Enterprise Security Risk Management with the intention of enhancing effortless security. Using the example of Smart Cards, we see a very good example of the convergence between the buildings (physical), the PCS and the networks (information). Before we go deep into the topic, it would be important we understand the point of convergence between the two concepts as this will help us learn why the discussion is so important today. When we talk about the physical security, we mean the traditional form of protection that focused primarily on the use of effort to protect the assets owned by an organization (Conference Board of Canada, 2011). During this time, organizations, mainly used guns, electric fences, security fences and guns to guard their territory. Physical security officers will in that case be made up of law enforcement officers. These officers had specific departments who will in return report to risk management offices and departments. The use of such systems and tools was predominant a few decades ago. Today, things have widely changed and people are no longer using effort to protect their assets. This has been defined as information security. With the use of information security, firms are widely using passwords and software gadgets to protect their assets from unauthorized access and use (Contos, 2007). Staffs under information security have well established technical backgrounds as their intention is to use as a minimum effort as possible in protecting the assets an

Why Did Lloyd Gearge Fall From Power Essay Example for Free

Why Did Lloyd Gearge Fall From Power Essay How important were Lloyd Georges Attitudes and Antics in his fall from Power? After the First World War many countries faced major problems. These were extremely difficult economical problems, high levels of unemployment and most people were depressed as they would have lost someone they knew and loved in the war. Any prime minister that ruled Britain would have found it very difficult to lead the country in such post-war problems. A liberal named Lloyd George was the man to do so. He was head of a coalition which the conservatives were the majority. Lloyd George came into power in 1918 and lasted four incredibly difficult years until 1922. This was a massive achievement in itself as Britain was in such a vulnerable position in post war circumstances. Lloyd George was a very popular political leader as he appealed to many types of people especially the working class as he was the war time leader that guided Britain to victory and that he stated he wanted a fit country for heroes to live in and to make Germany pay the whole cost of the war; this is one reason why the conservatives allowed him to head the coalition. Another reason why the conservatives wanted him to head the coalition was that he would be the person that would take the blame if anything went wrong in such problematic times for Britain. Lloyd George responded to the needs of the people of Britain in a charming manor as he tried to do as much as he could for them. He demobilised troops by releasing holders of key civilian jobs first and ordinary rank officers last, this created some alarming protest. The Government then ingeniously changed its tactics by adopting a policy which was first in, first out. This worked very well as families that had not seen their relatives for a long period of time would get to see them before a troop that had been dispatched later for war and by the autumn of 1919 more than four million troops were back in the country. Most of them found jobs thanks to the post war boom. This was very encouraging for the new government Although Britain was on the rise, unemployment was the highest it had been for a very long time. This was in a sense due to the continuation of the slow decline of the British economy which had begun in the 1870s. Countries that wanted British goods had reverted to other means of receiving this as during was times it was hard to get them from Britain. After the war they did not come back to Britain to get the goods but kept on receiving them from other sources. Lloyd George then extended unemployment insurance which pleased many people as they were in financial difficulty after the war. He offered unemployment payments for no more than fifteen weeks in any one year and only to workers earning less than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½250 a year. This enabled many families to eat as Britain was on the brink of starvation during the war. This added to Lloyd Georges popularity. In addition Lloyd George passed The Sex Disqualification Removal Act in 1919; this allowed women to stand in parliament. This added to his popularity with women, which was a very large percentage of the country as many men had been killed in the war. The Lloyd George government pledged to build `homes fit for heroes for the troops returning from the war and the 1919 Housing Act was passed to fulfil this pledge; under the Act government grants were available, subject to compliance with strict conditions, for houses for the working classes. On 12th June 1919 Dr. Addison, President of the Local Government Board and the minister responsible for implementing the government housing policy, cut the first sod at Stourton. This added to Lloyd Georges popularity even more as troop returning from war got new houses fit for heroes. Another problem that Lloyd George avoided was that the miners wanted to work a six hour day for a 30% increase in wages, the miners also wanted the government to keep control of the mines but the mine owners wanted the mines back. Lloyd George offered them a 7hour day and continued government control for the time being and in order to solve this issue a commission called the Sankey commission was set up. This commission was set up to try and negotiate a possible agreement between the miners and the mine owners. The miners accepted this offer. In 1921 the Sankey commission was unable to negotiate an agreement between the miners and the mine owners. This enabled Lloyd George to avoid permanent nationalisation of the mines and he gave control back to the mine owners on the 1st April. The mine owners told the miners that they would have to work more hours for less pay due to the slump in exports. This outraged the miners who formed a triple alliance between the railway, transport and general workers and themselves the miners. They threatened a General Strike but on the 15th April the miners allies abandoned the idea, the miners were furious and regarded this as betrayal. The miners continued their strike, which lasted three months, but without support they could not win on any of their fronts. They returned to work and soon afterwards workers in other trades faced wage reductions. Lloyd George had just solved the problem of a general strike but he was losing support rapidly from the workers. A reduction in government revenue due to the expense of unemployment benefits and a dip in business profits lead to a committee lead by Sir Eric Geddes, which recommended drastic cuts in government spending, was set up. The government took this advice and saved à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½64 million. This policy became known as the Geddes act. The government saved money by reducing expenditure on the army, navy, education, health services and council house buildings. Many believed that Lloyd George was doing the Conservatives dirty work for them as it was not really affecting the rich but was very damaging for the poor as they had many necessities damaged. On the other hand Lloyd George did make errors which led to his downfall as prime minister; one of these errors was when he sent in British troops into to help the anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian civil war. The Bolsheviks won the civil war and the British troops had achieved nothing from going into war, they were pulled out of the war soon after the Bolsheviks won. Many people resented Lloyd Georges intervention including the Russian Bolsheviks, and many among the working class who admired the Russians. Lloyd George was nervous and consequently an Anglo-Russian trade treaty was signed in March 1921. Another mistake Lloyd George made was at the Genoa Conference, which took place on Lloyd Georges initiative. The Germans were complaining that they would not be able to make the next reparations payments to France, and Lloyd George decided that he would hold a meeting to try and negotiate an agreement between the two. Other problems were also discussed there including the diplomatic relations between Russia and Europe war debts to USA. The conference fail horribly as France did not compromise at all and wanted the whole cost of the reparations payments from the Germans, the Americans refused to even attend the meeting and the new Russian government were insulted that they would have to repay debts from the previous Tsarist government. The Germans and the Russians withdrew from the meeting and signed their own treaty which consisted of the Germans officially recognizing the Russian government and both mutual debts being wiped off. This worried many nations as the two suspect states were now reconsolidated. The finger was pointed towards Lloyd George as he set up the conference. A major rift between English and Irish relations brewed immediately after the election, this called for Lloyd George to solve. This occurred when the 73 Sinn Fein MPs, who wanted Ireland as a separate country from Britain, organised their own parliament in Dublin, called the Dail. Sinn Fein proclaimed the Republic of Ireland. The IRA began a terrorist campaign against the police and the government retaliated by using the Blacks and Tans. Although Lloyd George found a temporary solution to the problem by partitioning Ireland he enraged many people as the conservatives were furious that the union between Ireland and Britain was destroyed, this was very problematic for Lloyd Georges coalition as he depended hugely on the conservatives support. The event that lost decided Lloyd Georges fate as prime minister was the Chanak incident. The Turks threatened to break the treaty of Sevres which had handed most of Turkeys European land over to the Greeks. The Turkish nationalists overthrew the Sultan for signing the treaty and were determined to overturn the treaty. The Greek army went in to overthrow the new nationalist government but were defeated by the Turks; the Turks then threatened the British forces occupying parts of Turkey. Lloyd George did not allow Britain to be bullied by the Turks as the Greeks had, he stated that if Turkey broke into the neutral zone then they would not only face war with Britain but the whole British Empire. Britain avoided warfare by agreeing that a new treaty should be signed called the treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Lloyd George made the fatal error of not consulting the other prime ministers of the commonwealth before promising them into a possible war. This outraged the conservative and was the last straw for them as they saw his unforgivable rashness as uncontrollable. From then on he had few days in charge. Lloyd Georges antics had been to blame for his fall in popularity as he had a reputation for sleeping around with other MPs wives, as u can imagine this enraged many MPs. Before his election as leader of the coalition he didnt have his whole liberal party supporting him as they deemed him untrustworthy. He used to sell Honours for his own personal fortune which was deemed unreasonable by many. He used to use his position to his advantage as he used to play the stock market to his advantage as he had inside knowledge because of his high position, this lead to him acquiring a small personal fortune due of his seedy antics and by abusing his position as leader of the country. The conservatives had used him to get Britain through the toughest few years after the war and now had no more use for him as they could replace him with Bonar Law becoming the leader and the conservatives taking full control. In conclusion I believe that Lloyd Georges attitudes and Antics were important but not very significant as the conservatives knew what they wanted to get out of him, and from day one his days were numbered as prime minister. If he averted some negative incidents then maybe he could have had another term in power but not much after that. I believe that the main incident that caused Lloyd George to fall from power was the Chanak crisis as it put the cherry on top for the conservatives. This was because Lloyd George lost much respect of many people.

A Social Worker Personal Statement Personal Development Essay

A Social Worker Personal Statement Personal Development Essay My reasons for applying to the social work program offered by your University are many and varied and can be summarised as a yearning to work within public services across the United Kingdom and making a difference to the lives of the unfortunate members of our society who will at some point access social services. My desire is to be able to focus on social services and being able to link theory and practice together in the process being able to provide quality essential services for the general public at large that I will be working with. With many different inspirations, I believe I will be able to bring a very well rounded experience, thoughts and ideas to other fellow student in the program. I am interested in sharing my experiences as well as learning from the experiences of other minds alike on the social work programme. I believe with my wealth of work experience, I will be able to offer an added dimension to your student composition while gaining instruction from competent fa culty and staff. My goal in applying for the Bachelor in Social Work is not wholly vocational rather my interest focuses explicitly on the development of methodical and critical thinking skills so necessary to a commitment to a career within public services. I believe that the highly academic and interdisciplinary social work degree course very much appeal to me. I am interested not only in an in-depth study of social work but also in participation and follow-up discussion with my other fellow students thus boosting my knowledge. Based on my background of having worked within a mental health hospital as a Healthcare Assistant I believe I have the necessary foundation and clinical knowledge that will make it easy for me to adjust to the demands of the course. In order to be an effective social worker I recognise the importance of the theoretical aspects of the programme and to date believe that I have gained a lot of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“real worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  experience, but I need more training in the fundamentals of how social work can improve the world of unfortunate members within our society. Even more importantly I believe that the social work programme offered by different universities that I have applied too bridges the gap between theoretical principles and practical reality. This multidisciplinary approach is essential for responding to todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s social problems faced within the community I live in. I am excited by the likelihood of combining what I have already learnt to date from my time as a Healthcare Assistant as that would also give me a clear better understanding of social work needs of people that I have looked after in the hospital. Ever since my childhood and as a little girl I have detected in myself a certain compassion and innate desire to help others on most occasions when presented with a situation. I was the little girl that wanted to be a leader, one emulated the way community figures such doctors, nurses and social workers managed the services available to the general public. I was also the little girl who was disgruntled when my friends either dropped out of school to look after their ailing parent or parents. I longed to make changes when the own personal friend had to be taken into foster care when there was no relative close by to look after her. At the time my understanding was very limited I however have come to realise the importance of social workers and the part they play when I finally bumped into my friend years later. As such my career within the healthcare and social services sector was shaped from an early age and I hope to continue turning that dream into a reality by becoming a social wo rker myself as soon as I graduate from this program. When I look back to my childhood, I can see and reflect that I always knew that I wanted to work in a sector where I would be able to influence and offer services that benefit the unfortunate members of our society. I also knew my parents would be pleased. My mother being a veteran educationist in a country that lacked transparency and accountability had been frustrated when trying to improve the accessibility of education to deaf children within my district. She was frustrated when budget cuts tore apart the essential things to the development of an important education system and the same funds used for things that she perceived as useless to the public at large. My motherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s background in public service, working with deaf and dumb children has reaffirmed my position that I love working and making a difference within society at large and my ideal life is to help create social welfare systems that will make a difference to the clients who will use our services, and wh om will want to work with a Social Worker at some point in their life. In my current and previous roles within the healthcare sector I continue to gain great experience I however still feel that in order for me to think strategically and manage the services better than they are currently being done thus providing excellent care to our service users I feel that the social work degree will be able to equip me with the necessary platform, skills, expertise that will make me a good social worker for the good of the people. I want to be able to be a diversified knowledgeable social worker who is able to work in diversified roles within the healthcare or local government institutions. A professional individual who is able to resolve problems for example a health care crisis involving a mental health patient who has relapsed and needs to be placed in a protective care environment or placing an old patient being discharged from hospital in an environment where they could be looked after as they cannot physically do that whilst at the same time respecting that i t is not an easy decision to take on their behalf but a decision that will benefit them in the long run. Again I realise that in order to make a serious impact and become a diversified player with a voice within the social services an individual who is able to work across different areas of health and social policy I need the social work qualification behind my name. From my experiences as a Healthcare Assistant I have learnt how I want to shape my future, my career goals are clearer to me than ever:

Interpreting American Small Talk :: Essays Papers

Interpreting American Small Talk I believe that every international student will experience different kinds of culture shock as soon as he sets foot on the soil of the United States. One problem is interpreting American small talk. As I come from an Oriental country, China, I often find it confusing. When I first came to the United States. I was amazed to hear and felt that it was a task for me to use the words, "Thank you!" or "Thanks a lot!" In the grocery store, the clerks would say these words to me after I finished paying for what I had bought. At the loan desk of a library, the librarians would say them to me, as soon as they passed me the books. On these occasions, I sometimes would be a little embarrassed, for I did not know that people used these words more to show their politeness than really to thank you. Even when I understood these words, I still felt uncomfortable when I tried to use them. When I was ready to get off a bus, I would say to the driver,"Thank you!" Whenever I uttered these words, I would have such an uncomfortable feeling. In China, we do not use these words very often. We usually give a smile to the people who have offered us some favor. Normally we say, "Thank you!" only when we really and sincerely appreciate the people who help us a lot. Otherwise, a smile is enough. In the first few weeks after I arrived here, I could not fully get the meaning of "How are you?" and "I am fine." These words may be the most frequently used words by Americans as a conversational greeting. When you run into an acquaintance somewhere, he would greet you by saying, "How are you?" In response you would say, "I am fine." But actually you might not be fine. You probably wanted to say something else from the heart. Even if you were possibly afflicted with some illness, or you were going to die, you still said, "I am fine." You would not tell people about your sadness or your trouble. Why? I guess that people do not want to know about you. These are just greeting words. In this way, these are quite similar to our greeting words in China. In the morning, on the street or in the hallway, we say, "Have you had breakfast?

Is Technology Really Making Life Easier?

Is Technology Really Making Life Easier MRT Abstract In this research paper I have posed the question; is technology really making life easier? I took the stance that advancement in technology has led to major sociological issues that are currently being felt and will be felt for generations to come. I highlighted the creation of such devices and services such as cell phones, computers, the internet, and social media. My research has only shown more support to what I had believed prior to starting this process.My conclusion based off the information to follow is that technology may have made our lives more convenient, however it has not made our lives easier or less stressful. Do you think modern technology has made life easier and safer? Or do you think that modern technology has made life more difficult and more dangerous? Today, we can’t imagine ourselves without technical advances such as cars, microwaves, cell phones, computers, and televisions. However, technology wonâ⠂¬â„¢t stop there, but it will grow bigger and bigger. As technology grows, there are not only advantages, but disadvantages from them.A list of the benefits of technology would be very long indeed. However, as with almost everything we human beings have created, technology has a downside. There is, we might say, a dark side to technology. For openers, technology does not necessarily make life simpler; rather, it tends to make life more complicated. Nowadays, for example, nearly every discussion of the â€Å"wonderful power of technology to enrich our lives† mentions the cell phone. Certainly, the instant communication brought about by the telephone has been a major advancement.It was originally a rather simple device that anyone could learn to use in a matter of minutes, and we soon began using phones to make and receive phone calls, usually about matters of some importance. Recently, however, we have created these devices to perform a ridiculous number of irrelevant tasks. One needs a thirty-page booklet to learn how to use them. Anyone who enters a phone store today seeking a phone that simply sends and receives phone calls is likely to be looked upon as a refugee from the Dark Ages.Cellphones have become the number one thing in most people’s lives. It is the quickest way to keep contact with the outside world. It has made life easier for humans and it has become one of the things that we cannot live without. Cellphones can help us solve a lot of problems, but can also cause a lot of stress related problems because people are too dependent on technology nowadays. It has weakened our social ability, without it, people find it hard to express themselves. Cellphones have dominated our lives with the advanced technology and applications they offer.Friends from miles away are only a text message away from you, and it can avoid awkward and silent moments because you do not have to talk to someone face to face anymore. Although it can help us in many different aspects, we are starting to rely on it and abuse it. A lot of teenagers cannot be separated from their cell phones for too long, they are always on their phones and they find it hard to not look at their phone before long. Most of their phones allow them to watch movies, read books, listen to music and talk to people, which make them a lot less interactive and productive in real life.They provide us different sorts of interesting entertainment and useful information, which is easily accessible to people. People who live in the city are always rushed and in a hurry, to them, time is money and one of their most valuable assets, and cellphones are exactly what they need and cannot live without in their daily lives. People who are often on their phones believe that texting and interacting with people on their phone makes up for not seeing them face to face in real person. As they are always depending on their phones, they become lazier.They do not have urge to go out and meet new people and become more socially awkward as they do not know how to talk to people face to face anymore in their daily lives. A recent study from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business finds that even though cellphones are generally thought to connect people together, they are making the users less social minded. The school’s marketing professor Rosellina Ferraro said: â€Å"We would expect a similar pattern of effects with people from other age groups.Given the increasing pervasiveness of cell phones, it does have the potential to have broad social implications. † There is a problem with texting. Did you know that one of the main causes of car crashes are that people are texting while they are driving? That is a huge problem. Several studies show cell phones are a leading cause of car crashes. It is estimated that cell phone distracted drivers are four times more likely to be in a car wreck. Cell phones cause over 200 deaths and hal f a million injuries each year. When you are texting while driving, you are more focused on your phone than on the road.As a result your speed can change very quickly. You could be at a speed of 20, then 40, then 50, then 60, or 70 miles per hour and sometimes even faster. This cycle will not end if a person is surrounded by a group of people who are always depending on their cellphones even when all of them are spending time together. To people who do not usually use their cellphones this can be disrespectful and impolite as it seems like they are not enjoying the time spent with each other. There are no doubts that cellphones are very important to us, as they can help us in numerous aspects.It is the best thing to have when you are bored, and to communicate with people from far away even when you are busy. People can contact you any time of the day and it is very convenient and user friendly. They are made for people in the world to easily connect with each other, instead of makin g long distance phone calls, sending emails and writing letters like the old days; which require more effort and are more time consuming. It is important to have a cell phone with you because it can make communication easier, provide many applications in it and most importantly safety to their users.Another example of the complexity of modern technology is the computer. Again, nobody can deny that computers have enabled us to share information, process data, and perform numerous other tasks with speed and ease that, as recently as a generation ago, we would have thought impossible. Computer technology has been advancing so rapidly that new applications are discovered faster than anyone can keep pace – and that's a problem. Even the computer experts understand only a fraction of what these machines do (just ask an expert for help when a computer crashes).Although most users can and do master some of the basic operations, most computer owners cannot use many of the functions th at are built into computer programs. Much has been written about how the younger generations who have been brought up in the computer age know intuitively how to use these machines. However, evidence suggests that they learn only what amuses or entertains them. I for one grew up in the computer age, however I can say that if you do not keep up with technology is will pass you and leave you in its’ dust. Most haven't the patience or the desire to go through the complicated process of learning more functional programs.Furthermore, they tend to use computers rather than their own brains for many tasks that they should be able to perform without mechanical assistance. It is possible to argue that the invention of the calculator is largely responsible for the inability of many people to do simple math; it is likewise possible to prove that electronic spell-checking (which is, and may always be, imperfect) has created at least one generation of individuals who cannot spell and know nothing about the logic of language. Complexity is not the only downside of computers.They have created an even greater gap between the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated. To use these devices, one needs both experience and education. Lacking computers at home (even if they can access them at school), poorer people do not have the opportunity to gain much experience with them. Even as the computer becomes a commodity (something to which virtually everyone has access), the pace of technology is so rapid that these individuals are light years behind the more fortunate people. Furthermore, since computer skills must be learned, less educated individuals have a vast disadvantage.Educated individuals can use computers to expand their knowledge; uneducated or less educated people are stuck where they are. The gap widens. Finally, with respect to computers, many of the advantages have spawned a nightmarish array of problems. I recently interviewed several Lewiston Police Offic ers and asked them what they felt was the most significant change they have witnessed in their field. Technology was their first answer. One officer explained how when he started on the force some fifteen plus years ago he was given a car and a radio.When he would need information he would have to contact his dispatcher, which would then relay what little, and often outdated, information they had over the radio to him. He explained that now every officer has a laptop computer right in their car tied into some of the most sophisticated databases in the world. The software allows him to run license plates in a matter of seconds which will tell him who owns the vehicle, if it is registered, if the owner has any warrants or such. He said that while yes this technology is amazing and in today’s world he probably could not do without, he longs for the simpler times.He stated that there is a disconnect with society due to the technology. Officers will travel around in their vehicles like robots verses interacting with people on the streets as they did in the past. He feels that this societal disconnect has led to a lack of respect that police officers once had. While technology has now given us the ability to shop from home, it has opened a whole new area in which con artists can conduct scams, a complex area that authorities admit is impossible to police. While it has enabled us to bank by internet, it has brought on a wave of identity theft such as we have never before seen.This negative consequence of technology has affected hundreds of thousands of people which have their identities stolen each year. Identity theft is when these criminals get and use consumer’s personal information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, insurance information, and social security numbers to buy goods or services wrongly. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes out there. When the identity thief uses a credit card, bank account, Social Security number or cell phone in your name and doesn’t pay the bill, it is all reported on your credit account.People don’t know that their identity has been stolen until damage has been done which can cause a problem. While it enables banks and other organizations to process data with lightning speed, electronic processing creates greater opportunity for error. One incorrect keystroke can set in motion an automated series of mistakes that are not easily detected or corrected. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the invention of the Internet is one of man’s greatest and most spectacular endeavors. For, it has truly revolutionized the world in regards to how we engage in business, recreate, socialize, educate ourselves and communicate with each other.The Internet eliminated all impediments of conventional methods of operations. Through its construction, the world economies have flourished. Therefore, it can be said in a nut shell, that the Internet has made life on earth easy to say the least; but to what expense? The amount of people that have used the internet has grown 572% from 2000 to 2010. What would the world be without internet? It has only been 20 years since its creation but yet it has affected society immensely. Internet has had both a positive and a negative influence on society.Due to the significance of both influences, internet cannot be seen entirely as good or bad, people can only have strong opinions on the matter. Before explaining all of the benefits to society the internet has had, let me start with showing that there is a good argument that the internet has had a negative impact on society. Skeptics argue that the internet is not beneficial to society because it limits face-to-face interactions, society’s most important type of interaction. The limiting factors include, but are not limited to, email based sites, like Yahoo. om, Gmail. com, and Hotmail. com, and social networking sites, like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. They limit face-to-face interactions because it is more convenient then meeting up with everyone that a person would like to talk with. According to the National School Boards Association (NSBA), who published a report on research and guidelines on online social, educational, and networking, the average teen will spend more than 9 hours a week on just a social internet site (Creating & Connecting).It is not terribly surprising that skeptics will say that spending close to two hours a day in a desk chair, on a computer, searching the web, downloading music, chatting with friends or playing internet games is a complete waste of time. They believe it should be used for studying, playing sports, being outdoors, the list goes on and on. Sadly, skeptics are completely right when they say these things are not productive, in fact, the way which most people use the internet is not productive. The NSBA’s report shows statistical figures that support the skeptic’s thoughts.Teens repor ted that they are on social sites, like Facebook, about 41% of the time that they are on the internet and downloading or listening to music 30% of the time they are on the internet (Creating & Connecting). Clearly not the best use of time and it only leaves 29% for the rest of the endless list of the possible things to do on the internet. They could be using the time they are on internet for more productive means. Nevertheless, it seems too hard for people to use it for something productive, or beneficial to society, like reading the daily news.However, some of the available internet sites to read and learn from leads to the next negative aspect of the internet, unreliable and falsified information. The internet has very few regulations and almost no one policing it. With the addition of anyone having the ability and access to make a website, it presents a problem. The problem, it allows them to publish whatever they would like, not matter if it is true or not. This causes unreliabi lity, especially for students such as myself researching information and it can be very difficult to find out if the source is credible or not.For instance, according Lucy Rector, a professor at Harford Community College who published a comparison of Wikipedia and other encyclopedias for accuracy, breadth, and depth in historical articles, Wikipedia is only 80% accurate (Rector, Comparison of Wikipedia). This means that one out of every five times a person visits Wikipedia they could being reading something that is not credible, this presents an outstanding credibility problem. This has had an effect on society, as now people must always determine whether or not the information they are presented with is credible.The creation of the internet has opened a new market in society for scammers. The National Consumers League produced a study in 2001 that showed internet fraud had generated 7 million in profit, nearly doubling from the year before (2001 Internet Fraud Statistics). These da ys it is hard to escape scams because they seem to be lurking around every corner. Online shopping fraud is no joke and has steadily increasing by millions over the years. In Europe, the amount of money lost per year due to online shopping fraud is 21. million, according to an article about how â€Å"Online Fraud Rises by 185%† written in the Sunday Times (O’Connor, Online Fraud Rises by 185 per Cent). The article goes on to say that today’s scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and convincing. Oddly enough, one of the main reasons for this is because it used to be that sites with the goal of fraud used to be terribly published. Often having spelling and grammatical errors that were easy to spot and then avoid. Skeptics say would argue that because of the internet, people have been seduced into scams costing people millions.The internet is full of graphic content and no one checking ID’s. Due to the internet, pornography has become more common and has had a negative effect on society. According to an article on â€Å"the Effects of Internet Pornography†, internet porn is viewed by 66% of men from 18 to 34 at least once a month (Wang, The Effects of Internet Pornography). In the article Richard Berry, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers states that, â€Å"Pornography had an almost nonexistent role in divorce just seven or eight years ago†; its significant role now is â€Å"clearly due to the Internet† (Wang, The Effects of Internet Pornography).In the same branch of the internet but a more disturbing reason the internet has had a negative impact on society is child pornography. The internet has led to a global outburst in child pornography, conventionally thought to be too morally wrong and unthinkable of a behavior it can leave victims with emotional and physical damage for the rest of their lives. Society could do without their children being emotionally damaged for the rest of t heir lives. Although skeptics will say that the internet has affected society negatively, their argument is minute compared to the agreement that internet has had positive effects on society.Skeptics can argue that the time spent on the internet could be used for something else more productive, that the internet has created a numerous amount of unreliable and incorrect information that is published, and that it has helped scammers steal money and much more from society but it is nothing compared to what the internet has contributed to society. Internet has given society a new form of communication, a new way to acquire information, and a new and improved way to shop. From the birth of the internet came the birth of social network sites, such as Facebook and Myspace.Now a day, a person can communicate with anyone across the globe with the touch of a button. Although the time a person spends on social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Skype, Yahoo Mail, and Match. com can be completely useless, the sites, themselves are often beneficial to society. Facebook and Skype is a great and easy way to stay in touch with friends and family. Yahoo Mail and every other email account website cut down on paper pollution and put up a good fight against the inconvenience of the mailing system. Even Match. om has its benefits to society, now people do not even have to leave their seats to meet new people or ask them out, this is apparent in Facebook and Myspace as well. The point still being that, the internet has given us a new form of communication that is overall much more efficient, but possible less effective, than the ways people used to communicate with each other before the internet. Rick Nauert would agree with this. Rick Naurt has a PHD and is the senior news editor for the University of Southern California, in 2006 he said â€Å"More than a decade after the portals of the Worldwide Web opened to he public, we are now witnessing the true emergence of the Internet as t he powerful personal and social phenomenon we knew it would become (Nauert, The Internet as Agent of Social Change). † When asked if the internet increased regular contact with others, he answered, â€Å"42. 8 percent of Internet users agree that going online has increased the number of people they regularly stay in contact with (Nauert, The Internet as Agent of Social Change)†. Clearly, the creation of the internet and social networks has helped our society stay in touch and meet new people.The internet has led to a massive increase of easily accessible information and a lot of it very credible. The internet is enormously vast, with information on virtually every topic. A person can pretty much type anything into Google, even a question, and get what they are looking for. When talking about how the availability of information has changed society for the better, think of how hard it was to acquire information for papers for students before the internet. It was accomplis hed by moderate amount of time spent in a library. However, this led to teaching students good work ethic and did not allow time for procrastination.Not only can a person just learn anything over the internet, according to Karen Farkas, who wrote an article about â€Å"Online education growing as colleges offer more classes to meet student demand†, found that 29% of students have taken one or more online classes (Farkas, Online Education Growing). Although it is not surprising that in today’s day and age it is possible to get a college degree by taking exclusively online classes. Connection to the internet is not the only negative aspect of technology that computers provide. Consider automated answering systems and the disconnect of speaking to a human being.The only individuals who see any benefit in these systems are executives who, with their eyes on the bottom-line, look upon them as a cheap way to reduce or eliminate customer service personnel. These systems creat e the illusion of offering customer service when, in fact, they have practically eliminated customer service altogether and shipped what is left overseas. Automated answering systems constitute an area of technology that symbolizes what happens when tasks that only a human being can perform effectively are left to machines. Customers universally hate these systems because they provide little or no ervice, waste time, and often put the customer into an electronic loop that leads nowhere. The worst of these systems are those that provide voice messages in which a machine pretends to be a real human being. Verizon Wireless is a great example of this nightmare of a system. The creators of the Verizon System actually programmed the computer to recognize profanity, which usually is caused by frustration, and automatically connect you to a â€Å"real† human. While we may find definite advantages to almost any technological advancement, it is very difficult to find anything good to s ay about automated phone systems.In contrast, few of us question the value of technological advances in transportation – notably motor vehicles and airplanes. Because of these developments, we can travel further and faster than anyone a century ago would have imagined possible. However, even here technology has its downside. We live in a more dangerous world, not only because cars, trucks, and airplanes can kill but also because the ease and speed with which we can get from one place to another has made national borders more porous.The same technology that can deliver us to Grandma's house halfway across the world can also deliver an explosive device that can obliterate Grandma and a few thousand of her neighbors. The recent discussions with North Korea are just an example. In addition, we have been seriously depleting the Earth's natural resources to run these machines and have appreciably hastened global warming because of the gasses that they emit. On a simpler level, too, we may perhaps question whether it is necessarily desirable to go further and faster. Is it always better? Do we enjoy the trip more, or has the process of getting there become a hassle?For what are we saving all this precious time? Is it to have more time to watch commercials on TV, many of them promoting technology that we don't need? Entertainment is probably the one area in which technology has had positive effects with very little negative impact. If the content of television is mediocre, we can't really blame that on technology. If the music that people listen to on their various gadgets is trash, we can't blame the gadgets. If we are spending more time being entertained because we have, thanks to technology, a wide variety of entertainments to choose from, that is not necessarily a bad thing.We can complain about the intrusion of too much marketing in the entertainment media, but that is not the fault of technology. Indeed, with television, there's a quiet little war going o n between the technology that subtly tries to sell us products and the technology that enables us to bleep out the advertisements. To be objective about it, the so-called downside of technology – real as it is – represents more what's wrong with us than what's wrong with our creations. We are making them complicated, often more than they need to be, because we arrogantly believe that man will always be the master of the machine.We turn the cell phone into a public nuisance and a safety hazard instead of a useful tool because we are too foolish to use it wisely. We cause sporadic outbreaks of massive â€Å"computer errors† because we are stupid and careless; what we call computer errors are, in fact, idiotic blunders made by human beings. We are the self-destructive species who turn machines for transportation into weapons of mass destruction. The real issue regarding technology is not whether it is good or bad but whether we are grown-up and mature enough to use wisely what we have created.The evidence suggests that, on the whole, we are not and technology may just be our demise. Works Cited â€Å"2001 Internet Fraud Statistics. † Welcome to Fraud. org, Online Home of NCL's Fraud Center. National Consumers League, 2002. Web. 23 May 2011. . â€Å"Creating & Connecting// Research and Guidlines on Online Social and Educational Networking. † Creating & Connecting// Research and Guidlines on Online Social and Educational Networking. National School Boards Association, July 2007. Web. 22 May 2011. . Farkas, Karen. â€Å"Online Education Growing as Colleges Offer More Classes to Meet Student Demand. Online Education Growing as Colleges Offer More Classes to Meet Student Demand. Cleveland. com, 07 May 2011. Web. 22 May 2011. . Heltz, Braxton. â€Å"National Business Association – How The Internet Has Changed The World†¦ † NBA – Membership Association Serving the Self-Employed and Small Business Community. N ational Business Association, 2007. Web. 23 May 2011. . Kraut, Robert, Vicki Lundmark, Sara Kiesler, and William Scherlis. â€Å"Why People Use the Internet. † The HomeNet Project. Carnegie Mellon University. Web. 23 May 2011. . Nauert, Rick. â€Å"The Internet as Agent of Social Change | Psych Central News. Psych Central – Trusted Mental Health, Depression, Bipolar, ADHD and Psychology Information. Ed. John M. Grohol. Psych Central, 29 Nov. 2006. Web. 23 May 2011. . O'Connor, Rebecca. â€Å"Online Fraud Rises by 185 per Cent – Times Online. † The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion. The Sunday Times, 1 Oct. 2008. Web. 23 May 2011. . Rector, Lucy H. â€Å"Reference Services Review | Comparison of Wikipedia and Other Encyclopedias for Accuracy, Breadth, and Depth in Historical Articles. † Emerald. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2008. Web. 23 May 2011. . Wang, Laurie. â€Å"The Effects of Internet Pornography  « Power to Change. Power to C hange. Power to Change Ministries. Web. 23 May 2011. . Williams, Chris. â€Å"Online News and Advantages. † IdeaMarketers – Free Content Directory. IdeaMarketers. com. Web. 23 May 2011. . ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY â€Å"2001 Internet Fraud Statistics. † Welcome to Fraud. org, Online Home of NCL's Fraud Center. National Consumers League, 2002. Web. 23 May 2011. . â€Å"Creating & Connecting// Research and Guidlines on Online Social and Educational Networking. † Creating & Connecting// Research and Guidlines on Online Social and Educational Networking. National School Boards Association, July 2007.Web. 22 May 2011. . Farkas, Karen. â€Å"Online Education Growing as Colleges Offer More Classes to Meet Student Demand. † Online Education Growing as Colleges Offer More Classes to Meet Student Demand. Cleveland. com, 07 May 2011. Web. 22 May 2011. . Heltz, Braxton. â€Å"National Business Association – How The Internet Has Changed The World†¦ â €  NBA – Membership Association Serving the Self-Employed and Small Business Community. National Business Association, 2007. Web. 23 May 2011. . Kraut, Robert, Vicki Lundmark, Sara Kiesler, and William Scherlis. â€Å"Why People Use the Internet. † The HomeNet Project.Carnegie Mellon University. Web. 23 May 2011. . Nauert, Rick. â€Å"The Internet as Agent of Social Change | Psych Central News. † Psych Central – Trusted Mental Health, Depression, Bipolar, ADHD and Psychology Information. Ed. John M. Grohol. Psych Central, 29 Nov. 2006. Web. 23 May 2011. . O'Connor, Rebecca. â€Å"Online Fraud Rises by 185 per Cent – Times Online. † The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion. The Sunday Times, 1 Oct. 2008. Web. 23 May 2011. . Rector, Lucy H. â€Å"Reference Services Review | Comparison of Wikipedia and Other Encyclopedias for Accuracy, Breadth, and Depth in Historical Articles. † Emerald.Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2008. Web. 23 May 2011. . Wang, Laurie. â€Å"The Effects of Internet Pornography  « Power to Change. † Power to Change. Power to Change Ministries. 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Published 2010

Mexican Fiesta Information Essay

Mexico has several kinds of festivals, each celebrated for religious, national or local reasons. †¢ There is always some kind of party after the initial celebration, accompanied by traditional Mexican music and food. Elements of a fiesta: †¢ Fiestas include parades, beauty pageants, various contests, competitive sports such as football, singing, dancing, music and traditional food. Mexicans celebrate all major national and religious holidays with elaborate fiestas. Colourful decorations are essential, including lanterns, lights and streamers. †¢ One of the biggest features of a Mexican fiesta is the pinata, which is made of paper mache and filled with candy & gifts, then hung up and hit repeatedly until the inside goods fall out. †¢ Traditional Mexican food includes tortillas, tacos, nachos, Menudo (classic soup) & burritos. Ingredients used in these dishes can include pork, beef, corn, potatoes, chilli and various other spices. Food issues/Nutritional information: Food allergies to consider when planning any function can include peanuts, tree nuts, legumes, seafood/shellfish, soy and egg. †¢ Dietary requirements can include catering for vegetarians, vegans, religious reasons and lactose or dairy intolerance. †¢ One of the main foods used in Mexican foods are avocados. These fruits are packed with monounsaturated fat, which helps lower cholesterol. Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in chilli peppers, and can relieve congestion & fight inflammation. Mexican food is beneficial to health and often contains many antioxidants