Eastenders. How does your chosen text attract its audience? Essay

Soap operas attract its audiences in many different ways and use a lot of tactics to keep their viewing going up. Audiences are so important to media because without them, there would be no media. So this is why many different types of media use specialist ways to keep their audiences engaged to help media progress. One of the soaps that has being focused on is Eastenders. Eastenders Is a soap that is shown four times a week on bbc1. It is based in London’s east end. It included a wide range of characters and storylines. One of the soaps intentions is to deal with controversial social issues and Eastenders likes to see itself and as pursuing ‘documentary realism’. It does not have a naturalistic mode and can shift from melodramatic or to sitcom. Eastenders uses a lot of realism within its story lines so that the audience can relate back to the story lines. But it is misleading to see Eastenders as ‘representing real life’ as it does include unrealistic things i.e. characters coming back to life from death. This piece will look at the different way Eastenders attracts it audience on a regular basis. Eastenders doesn’t have just one target audience it has a mass audience which means any gender, race , age, religion and class can watch it as it has many diverse characters with in the soap and different types of target story lines. These story lines can be seen as some audiences maybe relate to the story line and others can be educated by them. Audiences can identify with Eastenders characters in a self image as they include many different image groups such as Goths, suited characters, casual etc†¦ It also includes different ages and storylines to go along with these ages groups like starting school, going to university, retiring so audience that match these storylines can relate to this. Different classes are also used as characters, from grade A (upper class) to grade E ( lowest class) as within the soap its has doctors, lawyers etc†¦ and among that it has unemployed people, students. So it isn’t specifically for one class grade. Families are used as well as usually in soap operas they have 3 or 4 families and in Eastenders most of the characters are part of a family and the family live on the square. Families are a good way to attract as they seem relatively real life as the storylines include arguments, death, wills, new born’s, divorce etc.. and can relate to these storylines and/or help them come to terms with there own family issues. Different classes are also used as characters, from grade A (upper classes) to grade E ( lowest class) as with in the soap its has doctors, lawyers etc†¦ And among that it has unemployed people, students. So it isn’t specifically for one class grade. Many cultures and nationalist are included within the characters so it isn’t just aimed at one certain group of people. The codes and conventions of Eastenders is very important and it keeps the audiences hocked. It is a serialised drama that is on four times a week and runs week-in, week-out, all year round. It features continuous narratives dealing with domestic themes and personal or family relationships and will have Three, four or even five storylines and they will progress during any one episode, with the action switching between them. As one narrative is resolved, another completely different one with different characters will already be underway.. Eastenders also has a well-known theme tune and intro sequence which rarely changes throughout the history of the soap which over the years audiences become more familiar with ( it has been rumoured that pets are even familiar with it!). There is a limit to the number of characters available at any one time on screen but this allows the soap to focus on a smaller number of characters which then allows more time to be spent on each character, so that the audience knows them better and the storylines can be more detailed and involved, as well as being more numerous over time. The plots are open-ended and usually has a multiplicity of which interlinked in an episode ( metanarrative). The storylines in these cases run parallel. But episode will undoubtedly end with a ‘cliff-hanger’, which is a tense and suspenseful, un concluded piece of dialogue or action when But with the ending, it will come to some kind of conclusion as well as a cliff-hanger such as ‘ Billy’s dead’ which concludes that the character is dead but still raises up questions of’ why, when, where etc..’. The location of Eastenders is set around a small, central area ‘Trafalgar square’. And somehow the characters are all connected through either, relationships, arguments or history such as Phill Mitchell used to bully Ian Beal as school over 20 years ago and now you still see his subliminal control over Ian. Eastenders often have special episodes for events in the real world such as Christmas or the Millennium and even just an round up to a storyline such as ‘ who killed Archie (( an hour long special)). Such episodes are often referred to as ‘soap bubbles’. Eastenders and largely British soaps most often feature common, ordinary, working class characters, in contrast to American soaps, which tend to deal with richer, flashier, more fantasy-inspired characters, reflecting the preferences of their respective target audiences. As Eastenders has such a broad range of characters, it has a broad range of representations.

Communication Exersise Formal Report Essay

By Business Consultant Executive summary: Mirror Image needs an overhaul in communication between management and workers. After collecting information collected through the CEO and a resent staff survey, it is apparent that certain things are restricting good communication. With the help of great pre-existing research this report identifies several major issues. Distrust of management has led to limited communication, as the workers feel this protects them. I suggest this course of action: 1. Create a transparent workplace and reassure staff about future redundancies. 2. Invest in communication courses for managers that deal with open conversation. 3. Actively encourage ‘two way’ communication between managers and workers. 4. Promote team leaders (foremen) that communicate well. This report was commissioned by the CEO and will help identify the communication problems at Mirror Image, particularly between factory workers and managers. Firstly the report will bring together relevant information on the subject, secondly identify the problems with provided information and lastly it will suggest some causes of action to help improve communications at IM. 2.0 Analysis of communication: 2.1 Literature review: Communication Managers need more than technical skills, communication is a leaders main channel for inspiration and engagement, whilst helping avoid serious problems. Communication classes for management have been proven effective by large pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, large amounts of evidence suggest educating managers about communication is very beneficial (Walters & Norton 2007). Communication classes for management can be tailored to address concerns. It’s usually hard to identifying issues resulting in poor communication. Luckily there is a wealth of information on the subject. Newberry & Conrad (2010) delivered a journal dedicated to improving communication skills in the workplace. Relevance established, the authors list twenty four key communication guidelines to aim for. Relevant key ideas: * Initiate open Discussion(Organizational communication) * Create information networks â€Å" * Provide feedback â€Å" * Building trust(Interpersonal, involve positive verbal/non-verbal communication) Trust is gained by a manager, when subordinates have certainty about events. Certainty gained from open discussion, where both parties have a say. Trust leads to increased productivity (Bach, 2006). â€Å"The best disinfectant is sunshine (Allen, 2012)† Power Bases Gupta and Sharma (2008) believe Power bases play a pivotal role in worker compliance. They make a distinction between harsh power bases (HPB) and soft power bases (SPB). They conclude that SPB are more effective in conjunction with quality communication then HPB. The SPB categories are expert, referent, information and dependence legitimacy. The HPB categories are coercion, reward, position legitimacy (French & Raven 1959). Silence The theory ‘the spiral of silence’ by Noelle-Neumann (1974) talks about how in groups, individuals will not raise comments or arguments, when they feel their views aren’t shared by the other members. The idea is important when considering employee involvement in the decision making process. Silence also occurs when there are trust issues. If someone believes what they say will be used against them, they will remain silent. Comment made by UK charity ‘Public Concerns at Work’, in a UK newspaper: â€Å"The knowledge that there is a culture of silence in the workplace both encourages and shields the corrupt and dishonest (stern, 2008).† In this instance the negligence of management was extreme. However silence can still facilitate negligence in management, no matter the severity. Therefore, silence in its adolescence is bad, if left untreated it could turn into something much worse. When participants in an organization discuss issues at meetings, certain points should be taken into account. Levasseur (1995) provides ten points, the relevant ones are: 2. Agree on a shared purpose. 4. Record ideas, issues and agreements. 6. Manage tasks and teamwork simultaneously. 7. Answer 4 key questions about every agenda topic. 8. Decide on next steps as a group. This list highlights the fact that communication is a ‘two way street’. Silence occurs in Organisations when these recommendations are not met. 2.2 Staff survey: (full results can be found in the appendix) The staff survey highlighted serious problems, with MI’s factory workers. The majority of workers gave a negative response to nearly every question. The workers seem to be more aware of the issues then the managers. The survey provided an anonymous outlet for factory workers where there previously wasn’t one. The survey should therefore be regarded as an accurate representation of worker/manager views. However some questions contain results that suggest ‘attribution errors’. Attribution errors effect perceptions of positive or negative situations, and whether it’s internalised or externalised (Philip, 1985), evidence will not be taken from these afflicted questions. Figure [ 1 ]~ 60% of workers believe they are insufficiently educated on their job role. Workers don’t receive enough instruction about their specific role in the company. This leads to enormous inefficiencies, as workers are left to pick up the pieces. Figure 2 ~60% of workers do not have confidence in management. The lanes of communication needed are not there. A workplace without trust is inefficient. Figure [ 3 ] ~80% of workers are prevented from voicing their concerns. Workers are scared that what they say will be viewed favourably. They are also worried about getting fired. They are already inherently disadvantaged, because their only form of vertical communication is ‘logical persuasion’. Figure 4 A lot of managers don’t involve workers. Decisions are probably made without them knowing. The workers probable feel helpless. Figure 5 All managers consider themselves approachable. Question three was the most unanimous result from the entire survey. This suggests managers don’t openly discourage communication. They most discourage communication other ways. They are in positions of power, making them more accountable then individual workers. 2.3 Case Study: Mirror Image shows a general lack of communication between management and their respective subordinates, brought about by distrust and fear. Management is distrusted because the workers fear clear communication will ultimately leave them jobless. Fear keeps what little interpersonal communication they have focused on safe subjects, like the ‘Rugby world cup’. Fear is a powerful tool used by harsher power bases. Managers at MI resort to harsh power bases because they come with the job (legitimate and coercive bases). Softer more progressive bases require reform and effort. The need for softer bases is evident in the formation of several factory leaders. One mentioned was ‘Rick’ who became a ‘go between’ for workers. Workers like Rick display reverent power that managers and the foreman lack. This is an obvious inefficiency. Effectively doubling the time spent communicating. The ‘spiral of silence’ impacts employees, because their ideas are not considered my management. Previously efforts in communication where hampered by an uninterested CEO. Relying on memo boards is extremely impersonal and should only be used for functional information. This lack of effective communication set a low standard for workers and managers, this caused the distrust between them. Managers didn’t involve workers and don’t ask for their opinions, while workers used inefficient mediums of exchange. The loss in productivity isn’t easy to quantify, however managers being disinterested in workers activities may further decrease productivity (Mayo, 1930). 3.0 Conclusion: MI has significant issues between factory workers and management. Brought about by lacklustre communication, the issues were mostly caused by distrust. When analysing the workers survey it was obvious that they sore serious problems with the way MI was run. NOT FINISHED 4.0 Recommendation: These recommendations will help managers and workers communicate more efficiently, remembering as CEO you should lead by example. Transparency should be deployed in every facet of the organisation, to tackle the large trust issues hampering communication. Start by reassuring staff that jobs will not be going under your leadership, making shore you don’t promise something you can’t keep. Try having reviewable performance evaluation  systems. If transparency is achieved certainty will result, certainty in time will bring a trusting workforce. Use communication classes to teach the basics, from subtle nonverbal communication to lifting the level of communication entirely (extensive list provided in index). Include shifting manager’s power bases from harsh to soft. Only bother teaching the managers as it will cost less, while achieving more. Managers should be encouraged to show an interest in the workers and the work they are doing. Managers should encourage ‘two way’ communication, make them answer employee questions fully. If they are not receiving questions have them rhetorically answer some of their own. Enforce these measures by increasing the transparency down the chain of command. Ask for updates on progress regularly. Removing the memo board is a good idea, in favour of orders being communicated down the chain of command, to ensure ‘two way’ communication. Only process information should be distributed through other mediums. Goals should be produced by both the workers and managers. This should reduce some of the ‘spiral of silence’ effects. Finally the team leaders (foremen) have proven to be a bottle neck in communication. Seek to promote workers who display natural ability to communicate. For example ‘Rick’ the employee mentioned by you would be a fine candidate. These leaders will hopefully bridge the gap between workers and management. 5.0 List of references: 1. Allen, Christopher J,D.V.M., J.D. 2012, â€Å"4 Ways to Provide Transparency in the Workplace†, DVM, vol. 43, no. 10, pp. 54-55. 2. Bach, P. 2006, Workplace trust hard to gain, but consistency, transparency key, Washington, United States, Washington.(ProQuestID- 463161676) 3. Daniel A. Wren, Arthur G. Bedeian, John D. Breeze, (2002) â€Å"The foundations of Henri Fayol’s administrative theory†, Management Decision, Vol. 40 Iss: 9, pp.906 – 918 state: It was not until the Storr’s translation that Fayol’s (1949) 4. French, J. R. and B. Raven (1959). â€Å"The bases of social power.† Studies in social power 150: 167 5. Gupta, B. & Sharma, N.K. 2008, â€Å"Compliance with Bases of Power and Subordinates’ Perception of Superiors: Moderating Effect of Quality of Interaction†, Singapore Management Review, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 1-24. (ProQuestID-226850816) 6. Levasseur, R.E. 1995, â€Å"Breaking the silence†, Successful Meetings, vol. 44, no. 13, pp. 61-61.(ProQuestID-206037363) 7. Mayo, Elton (1930). Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company. The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilisation. Routledge. 8. Newberry, R. & Conrad, D. 2010, â€Å"Identification of Outcome Based Business Communication Skills†, Allied Academies International Conference.Academy of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict.Proceedings, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 28-32.(ProQuestID- 807539416) 9. Noelle-Neumann, E.(1974) â€Å"The spiral of silence†: A theory of public opinion. Journal of Communication, 24, 43-3 10. Philip E. Tetlock. Sept 1985, â€Å"Accountability: A Social Check on the Fundamental Attribution Error†, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 227-236 11. Stern, S. Sept 9 2008, Pssst . . . get smart and wipe out whistleblowing, The Financial Times, United Kingdom 12. Walters, D. & Norton, D. 2007, â€Å"Leadership communication – the AstraZeneca way†, Strategic Communication Management, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 16-19. (ProQuestID-203573719) | | 6.0 Appendix: 6.1 Question from Survey: Factory Worker Questions 1. I have a clear idea about my job role. 2. I am satisfied with the performance evaluation system. 3. Sometime I’m given tasks without the required resources (including time and knowledge) to complete them. (possible attribution error) 4. I have confidence in the intentions of the top management team 5. I feel comfortable voicing my concerns to senior managers. 6. I have a voice in the organizational decision making process. 7. I trust the people with which I work 8. I am treated fairly at work 9. I am satisfied with my work. 10. I feel committed to this organisation Management Questions 1. I try to seek employees’ input when making decisions. 2. I tend to closely supervise my subordinates. 3. I consider myself an approachable manager(possible attribution error) 4. I tend to customize my communication with employees to fit specific situations 5. I consider my workplace as rather political 6. I am satisfied with my work. 7. I feel committed to this organisation 6.2 Results from Survey: | Workers n=100| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | q1| q2| q3| q4| q5| q6| q7| q8| q9| q10| Completely Disagree| 20| 15| 10| 35| 60| 72| 36| 23| 0| 5| Mostly Disagree| 40| 45| 15| 25| 20| 24| 25| 32| 19| 55| Neither| 20| 20| 10| 25| 10| 4| 30| 28| 52| 25| Mostly Agree| 10| 20| 40| 15| 10| 0| 9| 7| 23| 10| Completely Agree| 10| 0| 25| 0| 0| 0| 0| 10| 6| 5| | | | Managers n=20| | | | | | | | | q1| q2| q3| q4| q5| q6| q7| | Completely Disagree| 2| 0| 0| 3| 1| 0| 0| | Mostly Disagree| 7| 2| 0| 5| 2| 2| 3| | Neither| 10| 3| 0| 4| 3| 3| 3| | Mostly Agree| 1| 4| 0| 3| 5| 5| 5| | Completly Agree| 0| 11| 20| 5| 9| 10| 9| | 6.3Newberry & Conrad (2010) extensive list of valuable communication skills â€Å"Organizational Communication Skills 1. Initiating open discussion – the ability to create the act of discussion and dialogue exploring opposition by individuals who advocate their positions and convince others to adopt those positions through logic, argument, or debate 2. Resolving conflict – the ability to employ a range of processes aimed at alleviating or eliminating sources of conflict through processes including negotiation, mediation, and diplomacy 3. Creating information networks – the ability to design and institute formal or informal systems for managing the flow of information and providing person-to-person relationships through which information flows 4. Teaching important skills – the ability to provide skill remediation to employees in areas such as job performance, technical competency, interpersonal  communication, and problem solving 5. Using information technology – the ability to employ equipment (usually computers) that enables managers and staff to access ongoing and relevant company information including reports, planning data, and employee and customer feedback 6. Providing performance feedback – the ability to assess employee performance and provide performance feedback as a review of the performance of employees, which helps to set targets for future performance targets 7. Negotiating – the ability to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, or to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. 8. Writing business correspondence – the ability to produce written communication used in business including letters, memos, bulletins, and reports 9. Making convincing presentations – the ability to provide informal or formal talks delivered to decision making groups to convey information or make a point Leadership Communication Skills 1. Arousing enthusiasm – the ability to inspire a whole-hearted devotion to an ideal cause, study or pursuit, or merely being visibly excited about what one’s doing 2. Being a change catalyst – the ability to initiate change through provision of information to employees that will convince them of why a change is necessary and will compel them to embrace it 3. Creating group synergy – the ability to compel organizational members to interact and produce a joint effect that is greater than the sum of the members acting alone 4. Building team bonds – the ability to establish team cohesiveness, which is the extent to which members stick together and remain united in the pursuit of a common goal 5. Expressing encouragement – the ability to provide support and confidence raising or increasing one’s self-esteem and confidence to make choices and decisions 6. Providing motivation – the ability to move a person or group toward desired goals by increasing their willingness to exert effort and energy to achieve the goals 7. Being persuasive – the ability to guide people toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational, and logical means relying on appeals rather than coercion 8. Building optimism – the ability to create a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome despite obstacles and setbacks Interpersonal Communication Skills 1. Active listening – the ability to employ an intrapersonal and interactive process to actively focus on, interpret, and respond verbally and nonverbally to messages 2. Building rapport – the ability to create a harmonious relationship, bond, or kinship based on mutual respect, friendship, camaraderie, or emotional ties making someone feel comfortable and accepted 3. Demonstrating emotion self control – the ability to display balanced moods through retaining, mastering, and dominating one’s reactions provoked by pleasant or unpleasant emotion 4. Building trust – the ability to construct the reciprocal faith in others’ intentions and behavior through a shared belief that you can depend on each other to achieve a common purpose 5. Relating to people of diverse backgrounds – the ability to recognize and respect differences in people and communicate appropriately in verbal and nonverbal exchanges 6. Demonstrating respect – the abil ity to show esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability 7. Building relationships – the ability to establish a relatively long-term association between two or more people based on liking, trust, and respect creating regular business interactions, interdependence, or some other type of social commitment (Newberry & Conrad 2010)†

Signora Da Vinci

Catering is the Signora dad Vinci. She is Leonardo mother. She is the daughter off well-educated man, Ernest, Vine's apothecary. He had an alchemical laboratory, a medicinal garden and an apothecary shop where Catering normally helped. Catering's mom died when she was a baby. Catering was raised by her dad and by her aunt. At the age of eight, his dad decided she was ready to start her education. Ernest told Catering that eight was the greatest of numbers because it was the number of Infinity: It had no beginning and no end.He said: â€Å"Eight is the number of endless possibility. † (p. 8) That day Ernest took Catering to the third floor, a place where she was not allowed to go before. There she found two rooms. Catering explained what she felt when she entered into the rooms. (p. 9) â€Å"When we entered I found myself in a bright, airy, but unadorned room. It was filled with tables, and the surface of every one of them was covered in books† There were dozens of hand- copied books, one manuscript, for example, was one thousand years old.Her father to to have those books and manuscripts because he worked for the Florentine historian and scholar: Pogo Bracingly who also worked for Cosmic De Medici. Cosmic wanted his people to know the ancient Greek and Roman writers and documents that were destroyed with the great library in Alexandria (Egypt. Many of these were hidden from the Christian church fathers, who thought them heretical. Ernest told her daughter that â€Å"What lied within the pages of those books were truths that they couldn't allow to be lost to the World. Truths that had to be learned by her. † And Catering did learn.

Management paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Management paper - Essay Example The book is a collection of various case stories that are divided into two parts labeled Opportunity and Legacy. From these stories Malcolm Gladwell draws his conclusions. The book has attracted both strong support and strong criticism, but many of the author’s ideas are extremely interesting and thought provoking. 1) The Introduction to the book deals with small town of Roseto in Pennsylvania that had a far lower incidence of heart disease than neighboring towns. The better health of the population was unrelated to diet or other lifestyle reasons or genetics. The reason was identified as the strong family ties amongst the people represented by several generations living together. These ties were ingrained in the people from the practice in the Italian region from where they immigrated. 2) The first chapter of the book is titled â€Å"The Mathew Effect† from a biblical quotation that says that those that have shall be given even more while those that do not have will have even the little that they have taken away from them (Gladwell, 2008, p15). Gladwell quotes a study in the mid-1980s of Canadian hockey players which found that in any team, the majority of the players were born in January, February or March compared to the later months of the year. The reason for this was found to be the system from the school age where age group teams were formed with a cutoff date of January 1. The children born in the first quarter of a year are on average bigger and more developed than children born six months later. The older children get selected into teams and given coaching in preference to younger children. 3) Chapter two of this section is titled â€Å"The 10,000- Hour Rule† and makes two separate points. Software pioneers like Bill Joy and Bill Gates had the opportunity to work on software programming for over 10,000 hours. The then expensive computer access time was made possible due to

What are the strategies of Apple Incorporated Essay

What are the strategies of Apple Incorporated - Essay Example Center of discussion in this paper is Apple as a very unique company because it dominated a market segment which is not its core business. Apple was launched in 1976 in a garage with Steve Wozniak and was able to revolutionize the computing industry with the introduction of its product line Macintosh (Mac) that â€Å"dramatically changed personal computing through its user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI), which allowed users to interact with screen images rather than merely typing text commands†. Apple’s success is not solely attributed to the creativity and functionality of its product line but also to its pricing strategy which has been a big change from the 1990s when consumers regarded Apple as a producer of overpriced tech baubles that cannot effectively compete against the far cheaper Windows PCs. This change was a result of a succesful implementation of its value chain activities that has significantly lowered its price. It became very pronounced with the launching of Ipad which price was far lower than what they expected. Its introductory price last year of $499 stunned everyone, which led John Gallaugher, an associate professor of information systems at Boston College to comment â€Å"It was a very competitively priced device†. The same is true in the notebook product line. When Macbook Air was introduced in 2008, it was priced at an exorbitant $1,799. This became possible by the briliant management of Apple’s supply chain due to capitalizing its organizational capability of having huge cash reserves. It made its supply chain a strategic weapon to lower price in order to capture the market. It tapped into its huge war chest of $82 billion in cash and marketable securities to lock up supplies of parts for years to enable it push down cost by the scale of its purchase (Wingfield, 2011). It also bought manufacturing capacity ahead of its time and made its components scarce that, in turn, made its competitors scrambling for any parts that are left and drove the cost of its products up while Apple had lowered its own (Wingfield, 2011). To date, Apple has been recorded as the biggest buyer of flash memory chips in the world according to the research firm iSuppli (Wingfield, 2011). The effect of using value chain management as a strategic weapon proved to be a nemesis among its competitors. When this effective value chain management was reflected in retail prices, competitors had to slash their prices where Motorola’s Xoom tablet was pushed to lower its price at $379 at Best Buy (for a limited time) and virtually won the competition with Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad line of tablets which were pushed to be sold at $99 to clean the inventories. III. What is the core of Apple from a product point of view? The core product of Apple was its desktop computer Macintosh. Its main revenue source however comes from its other product line such as Ipad, Iphone and Ipod. IV. Are all products and servic es equal to Apple? If not what are the key pieces? Use your entire toolkit, especially the financials, to support your decision.   Apple Incorporated made itself distinct by making its hardware and software work in synergy that enabled its products and services unequalled by its competitors. The best example that we can show for this is the synergy that its operating system iOS5 that provide synergy among the different product lines of Apple. It powers the iPad, iPod and iPod touch which allows the three products to interact and complement each other. Its new computer operating system Lion also has an Air-drop feature that has made sharing of information between Mac computers very convenient. Air-drops peer

Legalizing Marijuana Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Legalizing Marijuana - Research Paper Example Although there are many voices and opinions about this topic, the legalization of the drug could support a more stable criminal justice system and prevent the consequences of arrest on citizens that far outweigh the nature of the crime. In understanding the argument for the legalization of marijuana, one must first understand what aspects of the drug is relevant to legalization. The cannabis plant is one of the oldest cultivated varieties of plants in the history of the world. There is evidence that shows that the plant was used for both clothing manufacture and for its intoxicating effects, but there is also some evidence to show that it was grown for its food potential as well (Green, 2002, p. 10). The plant has an Asian origin, although scientists have been unable to determine a specific origin as the long history of the plant defies the ability of research to trace it back to an origin. ` The cannabis plant has many uses that go beyond just the use of the leaves as an intoxicant. Henry Ford made a prototype of a vehicle using hemp (the fiber derived from the plant) based plastics for the body which turned out to be stronger than steel. He was also working on a hemp based oil product for fuel (Green, 2002, 17). Hemp fibers can be used to create natural The drug has an infamous quality as there have been tales and myths reported from the results of usage of the intoxicant. From the 13th century there are writings from Marco Polo about a Persian ruler who had disciples who committed religiously motivated murder who were inspired by the use of cannabis. There is a similar contemporary tale of Shiites who recruit assassins who are users of the drug. In a similar vein, there are stories of African white land owners addicting the Bushmen of the area to marijuana as a means of controlling them (Roffman, 2006, p. 6). All these tales describe the worst imaginable horrors that can be

Outline the processes of evolution and explain how either theory of Essay

Outline the processes of evolution and explain how either theory of mind or altruism is an adaptation resulting from the selective forces that have operated dur - Essay Example This is also the rationale behind the arrival of variations in the species of organisms through time. The genius of evolution lies in the fact that although organisms have obviously changed though time, a lot of their features remain strikingly comparable to something from a different age. (The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California, 2008) Simply put, evolution is one of the major factors that cause different life forms to continue to exist in the universe. Evolution is a complex process that makes use of several mechanisms or sub-processes. These evolutionary mechanisms are responsible for affecting change in population.. (The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California, 2008) The basic mechanisms of evolution that affect change include natural selection, genetic drift, migration or gene flow and mutation. (The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California, 2008) Natural selection is the course of action by which inherited characteristics that are pertinent to continued existence and reproduction become more prominent. In natural selection, the traits that are detrimental to one’s survival become less prominent in the next generations. (DOBZHANSKY, 1955) According to the ‘Understanding Evolution’ website, genetic drift can be simply described as an â€Å"evolutionary equivalent of a sampling error†. Another way to describe genetic drift is that the genetic material from one generation does not go on in the same proportions in the next generations for due to a lot of indiscriminate reasons. Genetic drift can be likened to a lottery where a â€Å"winner† is determined by sheer luck or in this case, chance. Genetic drift affects the process of evolution in three ways. First, genetic drift causes a reduction in variations. This causes a population to be