Bok-What? Farming Gets a Face-Lift :: Essays Papers

Bok-What? Farming Gets a Face-Lift 1. New Jersey: home of the indelible and intelligent Jersey cow, whose milk is less forthcoming than her sister Holsteins around the country, but richer and creamier, nonetheless. Then there are the fields: acres and acres of Jersey corn stretching up towards the hot summer sun, basking in its glory, waiting patiently for the day when man will enter with his massive harvesting machines, collecting ear upon ear in a dizzying display of mechanized efficiency. And who could forget Farmer Hom, with his tiny plot of bok choy, growing sprightly on his tiny farm alongside small mustard greens and bitter melon (Taipei Times, 17 Nov. 2002)? Wait a minute. That doesn't seem right. What are mustard greens, bitter melon, and bok choy doing in the middle of New Jersey? 2. The answer lies in the current popularity of the vegetable itself: "an attractive vegetable with a mild, meaty heart and tender, darker green leaves . . . bok choy has become the vegetable of the moment" (Fabricant, 22 October 2001). Restaurants combining Asian seasoning to their dishes or employing fusion concepts have created a sudden demand for strange and exotic produce. Regular consumers, too, increasingly interested in more healthful foods, have begun to show interest in this Brassica vegetable's alleged cancer-fighting properties. There are some, like Farmer Hom in New Jersey, who have taken notice. Thus, they are abandoning traditional base commodity crops like corn or soybeans, and focusing, instead, on these newly emerging "niche" markets, growing or creating a specific product for specific people. 3. Niche farming is just one of many trends in agriculture that seeks to add value to a product by catering to the specific needs of the consumer directly -- such as restaurants or individuals, rather than large transnational corporations. It is a concept that is benefiting small farmers directly, those struggling to compete with large, highly capitalized agribusiness because it allows them to produce products the big guys can't: "the most successful farmers have turned away from traditional farming that produces what people need to niche markets based instead on what people want" (Quimby, 17 Nov. 2002). 4. Traditional farming practices follow an industrial model of production -- one based on specialization, mechanization, routinization, and economies of scale or size.

Imperialism Essay -- essays research papers

Imperialism was reborn in the West with the emergence of the modern nation-state and the age of exploration and discovery. It is to this modern type of empire building that the term imperialism is quite often restricted. Colonies were established not only in more or less sparsely inhabited places where there were few or no highly integrated native states (e.g., North America and Africa) but also in lands where ancient civilizations and states existed (e.g., India, Malaya, Indonesia, and the Inca lands of South America). The emigration of European settlers to people the Western Hemisphere and Africa, known as colonization , was marked by the same attitude of assumed superiority on the part of the newcomers toward the native populations that prevailed where the Europeans merely took over control without large-scale settlements. For centuries, numerous European powers have plundered & terrorised the non-European world treating with contempt the people of different skin colour, cultures, philosophies, religions, languages, way of life. The conquered nations had to give up their own culture, their religions, even their languages, and convert to our set of beliefs and values that we defined as â€Å"civilized†. Where they didn’t settle, the imperialists carved out colonies across the globe and plundered their natural resources using cheap native labour. Resource rich or strategically located areas were singled out for special attention. Along with this, strict segregation was enforced between the races by living conditions, wages and public services. No country or remotest island was left to develop to its own accord. The Colonial powers of Europe ruled with an iron fist as they slowly consumed the nations of the world. From the 15th to the 17th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch built â€Å"trading empires† in Africa and the East for the exploitation of the resources and commerce with lands already developed. The Spanish and Portuguese established important colonies in the New World in the 16th and 17th cents., hoping to exploit the mineral wealth of the lands they conquered. The British and French imperialists became the foremost exemplars of colonial settlement in Africa and the East. Acting on mercantilist principles (see mercantilism ), the European nations in the 18th cent. attempted to regulate the trade of their colonies in the interests of the mother count... ...der to lead them to a higher level of civilization and culture. Among the leading critics of imperialism at that time were the Marxists, who saw imperialism as the ultimate stage of capitalism and made much of the connection between imperialist rivalries and war. After World War I, anti-imperialist feeling grew rapidly throughout the world, sparked by the development of movements for national liberation within subject countries. Nevertheless the major colonialist powers, Great Britain, France, and others, held on to their colonies, while Fascist governments in Italy and Germany, as well as militarist opinion in Japan, fostered even more extreme imperialist aims. In the years since World War II, most of the countries once subject to Western control have achieved independence. Much of the contemporary debate centers on the issue of neo-imperialism. Many of the less developed countries contend that their economic development is largely controlled and seriously retarded by the developed countries, both through unfair trading practices and by a lack of controls over international business corporations. So to this day there is still a struggle of power between the strong and the weak.

Body Image in Society

Destiney McCraney Ms. Wills English 100 19 September 2012 Go Against the Grain Remodel your nose, show your chest, and bend over for the camera. This is basically the message society is sending to women today. If you conform to the world’s idea of what a woman should look like then you will be accepted. In the two articles â€Å"The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery† by Camille Paglia and â€Å"The Beauty Myth† by Naomi Wolf, the way women have responded to the message from society is discussed from both perspectives.Wolf is clearly against women's confinement to societal pressures. She reveals that there is a â€Å"secret underlie poisoning our freedom,† referring to the way women focus on appearance and fitting in (Wolf 10). Paglia's argument focuses on the extent of women using plastic surgery to become what they believe society wants them to be. She writes about the way women have made themselves their own â€Å"works of art,† taking plastic surgery t o higher levels in the industry. Wolf emphasizes the way women have changed their values over the years.She makes an emotional appeal by concluding that the â€Å"contemporary ravages† are â€Å"destroying women physically and depleting us psychologically†(Wolf 19). Over time, society has influenced women to confine themselves to what the world believes is beauty instead of embracing the power of being a woman and focusing on their place in the economy. The first image portrays a woman who is perfectly proportioned yet still uncomfortable with her body. The woman in the ad has her hands behind her back as if she’s nervous about people seeing her in the bikini she’s wearing.The light blue color of the background symbolizes renewal instead of the sadness that would be portrayed from a darker blue; losing weight creates a brighter future. The bend in her leg reveals her shyness as she looks towards the weight loss product, feeling like she has to use it in o rder to be confident. The fact that she isn’t comfortable after she has lost 25 pounds and is wearing a black bikini reveals the extremes that our society force us to go to in order to be accepted.If it isn’t one part of the body, it’s another. The phrase â€Å"jealous exes† is used to draw attention to the product giving a perspective on what women feel is important these days. Just by looking at this ad it is implied that most women want to make all their exes jealous, not become a CEO of a company. The ad as a whole, pin points how the world thinks women should want to look. Why 25 pounds and not 5? Why is she still uncomfortable? The pressure from society creates this never ending cycle of conformity to the ideal woman.It seems as though women today have shifted their attention to issues that shouldn’t matter. Many women are concerned with â€Å"physical appearance, bodies, faces, hair, clothes,† bringing attention to the relationship be tween â€Å"female liberation and female beauty. â€Å"(Wolf 9) The pressures of society have influenced women to believe they all need to resemble one another. The media always tends to focus on skinny models, light-skinned women, long-haired women, and tall women when they refer to the word â€Å"beauty. These are the types of women that are scarce in our society because everyone obviously isn’t born that way. Most of our society is filled with women who have curves, like the plus sized models of today, or who have darker skin compared to the famous models with fair complexions. The spotlight on the preferred image of women in society causes them to think they have to be just like that vision in order to be accepted. In the image I have chosen, there are two different women who both won a beauty contest in different areas of the world.One woman is skinny with long, blonde hair in her face, while the other has curves and dark, shorter hair out of her face. The woman with curves is more conservative with her outfit and her make-up. She is wearing a bikini, but covering her bottom with a wrap and her make-up is more natural. The skinny woman on the other hand is showing off her body in a bikini and her make-up is on heavier than the other woman’s. The women in our society today feel like they can’t achieve certain goals in life without being the world’s ideal women, but according to this image, it is possible.The plus sized woman in this image is a great example of an empowering figure for women in our society because she is confident with her body and makes the statement that it is okay to love you the way you were born. Who is to blame for women thinking they constantly need to change themselves to fit in? Why aren’t women comfortable with their bodies? When people like the media are repeatedly beating you up for being yourself you tend to change if you are not confident. The media exploits women through ads, magazines, a nd â€Å"pornography† and the women of today are allowing it to happen (Wolf 10).There are only a hand full of women who aren’t ashamed to go against the grain and be proud of who they are. In the photo of J-woww, the magazine is criticizing her for moving her leg a certain way causing her cellulite to show. She is wearing a pink bikini that shows off her tattoo and tanned skin. The magazine points out that she can’t cover up every flaw with tattoos and tanning oils implying that she is full of imperfections. In the eyes of many other people she has a nice body, but according to the media she needs work done. As long as she is comfortable with her body their opinion doesn’t matter right?Wrong. Many people look at this in a magazine and agree because society has taught us to judge one other the same way they judge us. In the words of Wolf, these obsessions are â€Å"poisoning our freedom,† women in earlier days worked hard and sacrificed for women t oday to have the power and money they have, but the way women today feel about themselves leaves them â€Å"worse off than our unliberated grandmothers† (Wolf 10). Society has conned women into focusing on beauty and acceptance instead of being empowered and useful in the economy.Women are usually projected as sex symbols that should always look a certain way. It is rare to see a woman in a movie or magazine with a professional outfit on that isn’t showing too much skin. A woman wearing a nice skirt with a blazer and a shirt buttoned all the way up is a great icon to other women because it shows how you don’t have to have your chest out and be exploited to be important. The image portraying a professional woman flexing her arms like a man would shows how women can have power without conforming to society’s expectations.The way her mouth is open gives the impression that she is excited to be in the position she is in, and comfortable with herself as a woma n. The workplace has more women in it now than it did years ago, and more women need to start taking advantage of this new opportunity. Over the years women have been influenced to confine themselves to the ideals of society. Women are constantly judged and criticized forcing them to change themselves when there was no need to. There are not many women who will stand up and go against what the world thinks, embrace the power of being as woman, and take heir rightful place in the economy. If there is going to be a change it has to start with the women not the men, the media, friends, or society as a whole. â€Å"If we are to free ourselves from the dead weight that has once been made out of femaleness, it is not ballots or lobbyists or placards that women will need first; it is a new way to see. (Wolf 19). Works Cited Paglia, Camille. â€Å"The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery. † Harper’s Bazaar (May 2005). Print Rpt in Convergences. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 20 09 Print Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. New York: Harper Collins, 2002. Print

Capitalism and United States Essay

There are many aspects of FDR’s New Deal that must be analyzed in order to determine if this collection of economic programs helped or hurt America’s effort in ending the Great Depression. The Great Depression caused both a decline in national moral and economic productivity unprecedented in United States history. The previously prestigious capitalistic economy was brought to its knees on Black Thursday in October of 1929. Roosevelt had taken office with the intent to quickly relieve a nation from Hoover’s â€Å"do-nothing approach† within his first 100 days as president. He knew he had to act fast in order to fulfill the demands of the people that could be, in part, credited because of their investments in the stock market with unstable funds. There was a rebellion in full swing. As recorded in A People’s History of the United States, â€Å"Desperate people were not waiting for the government to help them; they were helping themselves.†After the stock market crashed, the flaws in the capitalist system were more predominantly brought to surface. The system had been given a bad name among a growing socialist nation in times of desperation. To a socialist critic, the system could be depicted as unsound by nature; neglecting human needs in the pursuit of large corporate benefits. The New Deal was set in place to save capitalism from itself. In order to do this Roosevelt felt that passing a number of social programs would keep the market economy from, once again, self destructing. Through his efforts, Roosevelt had consequently formed class warfare. The faces of business leaders had become the faces of bloodthirsty, evil men which appealed largely to an American public looking for someone, something, or anything to blame for the pain they were going through. Finding that happy-medium between relieving the economic crisis of the American people and not giving the public something they could view as a government fall-back was something that the country had never had to deal with before on this large of a scale. Throughout Roosevelt’s implementation of his social programs concerns surfaced from conservative Americans. Roosevelt did not want welfare to be seen as â€Å"a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.† FDR’s New Deal, under a growingly socialist system, in ways got the country back on its feet and may have been the fix that America was looking for at the time. At the same time; however, it could have been the spark to the gradual lazy, entitled attitude that we experience today in the United States.

Compensation: Methods and Policies

CHAPTER 11- COMPENSATION: Methods and Policies Determination of Individual Pay: Manage must address to two questions in order to determine how employees are paid. First, how one employee is paid relative to another employee within the same company and performing the same job junction. Second, if the pay is different, then on what basis was this distinction determined-experience, skills, performance, seniority, higher performance, merit or some other basis. Organizations apply pay differentials to recognize employees’ different contribution to the organization, to communicate a changed emphasis on important job roles, skills, and knowledge, to emphasize the norms of the organization without having employees change jobs, that is promotion, to avoid violating the internal equity norms and to recognize market changes between jobs (page 328). Methods of Payments: 1)Flat Pay: Unionized firms normally implement the single flat rate of pay method by collective bargaining rather than differential rates of pay. These firms still recognize the differences between employees’ seniority and experience but choose not to recognize these variations when setting wage rates. 2) Payment for Time Worked: This is the most common way employees are paid in the form of wages (nonexempt and hourly paid) or salary (exempt and annually or monthly paid). Pays can be adjusted upward in 4 ways namely; general increase across the board, individual merit increase based on performance, cost of living adjustment (COLA) and seniority. 3) Variable Pay: Incentive Compensation. Based on international and global competitive, American businesses have now increasingly turned to variable pay plans as an attempt to link pay to performance and productivity to be competitive internationally. Pay methods can be flexible and can be built into the variable compensation plan by taking a total compensation approach which include the following three elements namely; base pay (serves as platform for variable pay), variable pay ( gainsharing, winsharing, lumpsum bonuses, individual flexible pay, etc) (page 330). Incentive compensation is a method of paying employees on the basis of their output either individually, to the work group or on an enterprisewide basis. 1) Merit Incentive is pay related to the individual performance. Traditional merit is pay from a higher base salary after the annual performance evaluation. 2) Individual Incentive: This is the oldest form of incentive plan where individuals are paid for units produced. The following forms are included under this method; piecework, production bonus and commission. Piece work can be straight piece work (sawing mill) or standard-hour plan (mechanic shop). Production bonus refers to employee hourly rate plus a bonus when the employee exceeds the standards (page332). Commission is based on the percentage of sales in units or dollars. 3) Team Incentive: This includes the entire groups’ incentive used to build the team culture. 4) Organizational Incentive: Reward based from shared profits generated by the employees’ efforts or money saved from the employees efforts to reduce cost (page 346). 5) Garnishing Incentive: These are â€Å"companywide group incentive plans that unite employees to improve organizational effectiveness through a financial formula for distributing organizationwide gains† (page 356. )

Labrouste and Ledoux

Henri Labrouste and Claude Ledoux were French architects during the 18th and 19th centuries and are pioneers of modern architecture. Henri Labrouste was born in 1801 and was the product of the renowned Ecole des Beaux Arts School of Architecture. He believed that architecture should reflect society, and his work reflects the rationalism and technical aspects of industrial society. His work also embodies the ideals of writer Victor Hugo, who believed that architecture is a form of communication, like literature, and that in the beginning phases of construction it expressed the generalization of society and social commonalities. Claude Ledoux was born in 1736 and was one of the earliest exponents of neoclassical architecture. He gained architectural relevance after marrying the daughter of someone who worked for the royal court and was offered a job for the courts Water and Forestry Department. He was considered a utopian architect and had some very modern ideas about industrial production, urban planning, and territorial intelligence. Henri Labrouste was one of the first architects to master using iron structure in an aesthetically pleasing way. Iron had already been used in structures like train stations, but never in a formal interior environment, as in a library. One example of his skillful use of iron is in the library, Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve, where he incorporated past masonry construction practices with iron. He kept the huge arches of past churches, but instead of using heavy stones he used iron trusses for support. With this new design, the exterior walls no longer had to hold all of the forces from the arches, and the iron supports could simply rest on top of the walls. The walls were also modified with the use of iron by essentially applying reinforcement bars encased with plaster to make thinner walls, that had just as much strength as previous thicker walls. Since the new iron arches are so strong, Labrouste was able to take pieces out to create a design and pattern out of the support itself. Even the connections between the arch and columns or walls were made to look decorative and light while keeping a strong connection, which he also did in Bibliotheque Imperiale, but with domes rather than barrel vaults. In another one of his libraries, he Bibliotheque Nationale de France, he once again used massive arches and domes of antiquity, but manages to make the dome look very light by inserting oculi and supporting it by thin, reinforced columns. The dome is made from plaster, but has a web of steel to allow for it to be thinner and to support the massive openings that are covered in glass. Unlike Bibliotheque Ste. Genevieve, he hides almost all of t he steel structure so that it looks like a feat of engineering and design to have such a large dome that is so thin and supported by such thin columns. Labrouste was on the forefront of integrating new technology with past materials and design concepts. Rather than using new materials like Labrouste, Claude Ledoux used new ideas to establish a new architectural language. He designed many tollhouses around the walls of Paris through his connection to the royal court. Many of them resembled Greek and Roman temples but had new elements that gave them a modern look. He travelled to England in 1769 and became very familiar with Palladio and since then usually used a cubic style with a broken portico that allowed any structure to look important. He built several homes during his time in England, including the King’s mistress, who became a good connection for Ledoux in later years. In his work, Barriere des Bons-Hommes, he simplifies architecture down to its purest form by essentially placing a large cube on stilts, much like later architect Le Corbusier did in his Villa Savoye. One of Ledoux’s most notable works was the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans where he explored the concept of an ideal community. He located the community near a forest, rather than a source of salt water because it would be more efficient to transport water than wood for the furnaces. It was constructed in 1775 and was intended to be a multi-phase project, but after 1778 construction stopped with only the first phase complete. The design still functioned as intended with a central building for the controllers that was between the two furnaces and had a view of all of the housing. All of the buildings would act independent from one another but were still placed in a logical order to allow for maximum efficiency, such as the placement of the blacksmiths near the furnaces. The perfectly circular design was also intended to evoke the harmony of the ideal city. Ledoux was one of the first architects to design such thought out communities and maximize efficiency through the use of architecture and explore the concept of a self-sustaining utopian society. As he put, â€Å"unfortunate is the one who fails to see in reality what he is being made to see, who is unable to imagine,† showing how ahead of his time he was with his concept of designing ideal societies. Claude Ledoux and Henri Labrouste were two of the most important neoclassical architects because of their innovative thoughts and designs. Labrouste successfully experimented with the use of iron to innovate his designs and change the way buildings were built forever. Through the simplification of design and studying of geometries, Ledoux pioneered the concept of utopian communities and maximizing resources and efficiency. Ledoux and Labrouste were at the forefront of modernity and their concept of design are still used and perfected to this day.

NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTIONAL RATIFICATION CONVENTION DEBATE Essay

NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTIONAL RATIFICATION CONVENTION DEBATE - Essay Example I also believe that we, as proud citizens, must take pride in our inheritance of forging unity in diversity and ratification of the constitution would facilitate the platform where all American would be treated with equality. The colonial rulers exploited the local people and the local resources for their own and their country’s interests. Oppression and total disregard for the welfare of the locals were the dominant features of the colonial rulers. The freedom from the colonial rulers is therefore, a vital consideration to promote a united front so that no external power can ever exploit our people or its resources. Law, as we know is an important part of social construction and provides its people with the security from within and outside harm of any kind. The ratification of the constitution is therefore essential for the security of our people. I must also assert that the constitution encourages the people’s desire to restore their dignity through creation of channels for development and establishment of a government that would work for the cause of common man. Hence, ratification of the constitution must become the key factor in looking at the welfare of the people at large. The constitution would empower the citizens of America, with the legal rights to live with dignity and ensure every citizen with the security umbrella from the external threat. The ratification of the constitutions would help establish uniform democratic process. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, racial discrimination was rampant and the whites maintained a racial divide within the society through deliberate use of powerful lobby of the whites and financial advantages that they enjoyed over their less privileged counterparts. Slavery was abolished by Abraham Lincoln when he issued ‘Emancipation Proclamation’ of slaves that