In this paper, I will discuss many factors affecting women and girls who want to play and create video games. Gender Discrimination in the Video Gaming World They spend hours hunched over a keyboard for that special set of armor. They spend large amounts of money on enviable televisions and will argue with anyone about which console is the best. They’ll ignore cable television, homework, and the people around them for hours. They whip out their hand-held system to play while waiting for the doctor or the grocery line. These are the women of the gaming world. The term gamer used to bring up images of teen boys playing sports or fantasy games, ignoring their own hygiene, and wearing dirty hooded sweatshirts while in their parent’s basement. Today, although the largest portion of gamers is still young men, gamers of all ages and both genders play a variety of different types of games for entertainment or stress-relieving. Unfortunately, in many ways, it seems the gaming industry still has yet to catch up with the times. There are many examples of strong women in gaming and games but most of the time, we're relegated to the part of love interest, healer, or second lieutenant. Sometimes, the women playing the games don’t receive any respect either. Online gaming forums are filled with many horror stories about women who play online games being harassed and made fun of simply because they’re female.
Girl Gamers: Get ‘Em While They’re Young Many games are now coming out for younger girls but they are the same kind of material (Barbie Horse Farm, etc) offered on the shelves of toy stores and don’t promote a better female image than most 1950s textbooks. They often are instructional rather than for enjoyment and even the ones that are for enjoyment don’t always have very female-empowering messages. Microsoft holds a camp for younger girls called Digigirlz that introduces girls to technology and careers in technology. For some reason (must find this reason out), technology has been considered a boy’s club. Girls are often pushed towards more passive media, like books or movies. Although creating games for young girls is a great step, it can’t be the only one the gaming industry makes. As Jame Pinckard said, "Women aren't just this monolithic block of 'gamers', they all want different types of games. Just because a Barbie video is made for a twelve year old girl, doesn't mean a 26 year woman has to play it. (Kelly)" You’ve Been Schooled: Education Available for Gamers It used to be that a background in graphic design or computer science was good enough to be involved in the business but some schools are now offering degrees specifically geared towards video game creating. These game-development degrees will benefit the industry as there will be more people who see all sides of development (graphics, story, programming) rather than just seeing their specialty as their only concern. As education such as this becomes more readily available and stressed, it will occur to more women that this is an industry they would enjoy. The need for such education, for men and women, was recognized for Henry Jenkins, the director of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jenkins stated, " The Spielbergs and Lucases, what was different about them coming through film school rather than the ranks ... is they understood every part of the film production process. They weren't technical skill people but they had a conceptual framework that allowed them to bring all the pieces together. In the same way film schools changed Hollywood, game studies will change the games industry." (Want to design video games? Go to college and hit the books) Three Women for Every Twenty-Two Men: Working in the Gaming Industry Currently in the industry, women make up 11.5% of the workforce and many of those are in art or administrative positions. While those are important roles, more women need to get into more development and design roles. This will give games a female touch that will allow them to appeal to a wider range of people. That's not to say that women have never been in the development role before. Two very famous examples are Roberta Williams and Jade Raymond. Roberta Williams is best known for creating the King's Quest series and creating Sierra On-Line games. She wanted to use games to tell stories and didn't stop at just animated adventure games. She appeared as Mother Goose on the cover of Mixed Up Mother Goose for children and Phantasmagoria during the interactive movie craze of the 1990s. Roberta's contribution to gaming is especially important as it proves games that games can be created that attract men and women equally. A game does not have to be tailored or marketed exclusively to either gender to be successful. Jade Raymond has recently gained fame as the producer for one of the fall's most anticipated games, Assassin's Creed. She received a degree for computer science and began programming games at Sony before moving back to her hometown of Montreal to work for Ubisoft. She's been especially positive for the image of women gamers as they tend to, incorrectly, be seen as too pretty to be smart or too smart to be pretty. The Women in the Games: R-E-S-P-E-C-T? Most men will never stop enjoying seeing scantily clad women but many women, while not offended, would prefer to see women with a full set of clothing or at least get some eye candy of their own. A good example of this is the armor available in World of Warcraft. If a male and female character of the same class buy and wear the same armor, the women’s are often missing large chunks of armor. These are called “armor bikinis” because of how little skin they cover. While the game isn’t 100% realistic, this discrepancy is incredibly conspicuous and unrealistic. It’s a fan service to the males but a disservice to the female gamers. Another example is the upcoming Polish game, the Witcher. In the Witcher, the main character is a warrior named Geralt who, among many other side quests, can chose to try to bed the women in the game. One example given is a milkmaid. If Geralt brings her flowers, she is wooed and they go off the screen to have their fun. As if showing a woman as so easy to get wasn't bad enough, the player than receives a card with the milkmaid pouring milk over her naked breasts as a reward. While this is only an optional side quest, it shows an obvious lack of respect for women. Even the women who manage to hold on to their clothing tend to be relegated to secondary positions for game play. The women tend to be magic users or healers and are not generally used for primary combat. This has begun to slowly change with women taking more action roles in games. A good example is Fran from the adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy XII. Unlike most women in the Final Fantasy world, she was a weapons expert. Another example of a strong woman character that both genders could play was Lara Croft, the British heiress gone bad of the Tomb Raider series. She and attitude without being rude or anguished and her ability to use a wide range of weapons while solving many different type of puzzles made her a fascinating character to play. The only sexist thing about her was her double D measurement but since they were covered by a t-shirt the whole time, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Roberta Williams created several games that had female leads but not simply to have females in the lead. “The choice of a female protagonist was not a deliberate ploy to garner female computer game players. Rather, the story we wished to tell felt better with a female protagonist.” (Bellatti) Hard-Core Gamers vs Casual Gamers: Are You a “Real” Gamer? The gaming industry has begun to recognize that the term gamer can cover a wide range of people. Studies have shown that most hard-core gamers are men while casual gamers, those who don’t devote time to gaming (in large chunks or mini-sessions), tend to be women. Games marketed for young girls are often games that appeal to casual gamers. These games have the potential to create casual women gamers but there are a limited amount of games that are designed for young girls that could create avid gamers. Although there is a benefit to having a large range of casual gamers, it is the avid gamers that made gaming a $7.1 billion industry in 2005. Casual games are the kind like Soduku or many of the Brain Teasers games created for the Ninetendo DS. They incorporate puzzles and word games that generally be completed quickly and are not part of a larger overall storyline. Conclusion The term ‘gamer’ is gender neutral. There is no such word as gameress nor should there be. In order to take advantage of women's disposable income the way it does men's, the gaming industry must learn to appeal to both genders without pandering to either.
As humans continually exploit the earth for their own conveniences, they become increasingly aware of the damage they cause. In the last 30 years, the population has begun to notice just how serious the problem is and as a result, great efforts have been put into amending the environment from our technological follies. One of the main reasons that fossil fuels are extracted from the earth is to provide oil for the propulsion of transportation vehicles. Scientist and researchers realized that oil is unnecessary to power ground transportation vehicles such as cars and trucks. In fact, electricity is just as effective for propelling vehicles as gasoline is. Electric vehicles are now becoming the future of the transportation because they secure a long-term answer to the problem of fueling and they greatly reduce the earth's air pollution. The most viable options to replacing gas-powered vehicles are the three different forms of electric powered automobiles; hybrid, solar and fuel cell. Although electric vehicles were not recently invented, most of their development has occurred in the last 15 years and with the application of modern technologies, developers have enabled electric vehicles to be powerful and cost efficient, without causing harm to the environment. Electric vehicles have had a relatively long history compared to most transportation devices. The first known electric automobile was a small model built by Professor Strtingh in 1835 in the Duct City of Groningen. The first practical electric vehicle to be built was a small automobile that was produced in the United States by Thomas Davenport. Thomas made great improvements to his electric automobile, reducing its cost, and implicating a battery with a longer life span and greater power. Even with these improvements, Davenport's electric automobile was not popular because he was forced to use non-rechargeable batteries in his vehicle. It seemed that the public would never use electric vehicles because of their batteries, but Frenchmen Gaston Plante change this notion by inventing the rechargeable storage battery in 1865. In the early 1980's research teams were developed, sponsored by major automobile companies, to reinvent the electric vehicle by taking advantage of new technological advancements in batteries, system integration and aerodynamics. Around 1990 several California cities began to use electricity to power buses, streetcars and mass transit vehicles to help lower their high level of air pollution. In 1992, Congress approved and President Bush signed the National Emergency Policy Act, which stated that the consumption of petroleum in the U.S. will be reduced by ten percent by the year 2000 and thirty percent by the year 2030. One of the main reasons why electric vehicles are being developed is to help maintain a clean and safe environment. Since transportation, because of the massive amounts of oil used, is the single biggest air polluting industry in the world, there is a great need to create a vehicle that does not rely on oil. Electric vehicles seem to be the best answer to this problem. Electric vehicles, on average, are 98% cleaner than combustion vehicles as far as air pollution goes. That means that if electric vehicles were to replace traditional automobiles, air pollution could be reducing by up to 35% each year. The usage of oil can also bring great harm to the world economic system and replacing gasoline-fueled cars with electric vehicles would greatly reduce the horrible economic impact that oil will eventually bring to the globe. In as little as 5 years oil shortages could cause a major oil shock where the price oil per barrel could triple. To most people this evidence is hard to believe. The average consumer thinks that because the price of oil is so low now it will stay that way and the depletion of our oil supply is light years away. The operation of an electric vehicle is very similar to that of a traditional combustion automobile. The ignition system that starts the vehicle works in the same way. A key is turned, or a code is entered into a numeric pad and the engine responsively begins to run. A gearshift box allows a person to put the vehicle in reverse or drive and with one's foot off the brake the car will begin to move in a slow fashion, as does an internal combustion car. As pressure is applied to the "gas" pedal, an electronic signal is sent to the electronic control module. An electric vehicle is charged by having a charging station convert a constant flow of voltage into a type of current compatible with the electric vehicle battery pack. The on board computer in the electric vehicle communicates with the charging station to see how much electricity is needed to charge the battery and to monitor the electricity's flow. This prevents battery damage due to over charging. Passing an electrical current through the battery to reform its active materials to their high-energy state completes the charge. This process is exactly the reverse of the discharge process, forcing the chemical reaction to go backwards. Fuel cell electric vehicles have a great potential for being the future of the electric car. This type of electric vehicle does not rely on charging stations to generate its electricity. Instead, it gains energy from a chemical reaction that is created when hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a process similar to cold fusion. Water vapor is the only byproduct. As of now, these cells are used only in space shuttles, for they are far too bulky and costly to be practically used in automobiles. Electric vehicles have proven to be a powerful, reliable and cost efficient mode of transportation. They require little or no liquid fuel, such as gasoline, to operate and most do not project emissions that are harmful to the earth's atmosphere. In addition, electric vehicles would provide an answer to the global economic problem of oil depletion. Considering these facts and all the global problems occurring as a result of dependence on oil, electric vehicles are far superior for mass transit purposes than internal combustion vehicles.
The future of the video game industry is a promising but also an uncertain one, with the marketing expanding, prices rising, and an abundance of new gamers. The console race of the current generation can change the way gaming is perceived forever. Many people perceived gaming as a hobby that once categorized for children, slackers and people with too much time on their hands. Gaming has risen from something for a few to something for all in some form or fashion. AnimationArena.com states that, “This industry is taking in over $7 billion dollars in revenue yearly.” (Animation, p.1) 7 billion dollars year is a lot of money generated from a so-called hobby, and the revenue is expected to keep rising. The general public use to think that video games were for children, but the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) states, “Ninety-three percent of people who make the actual purchase of computer games and 83% of people who make the actual purchase of video games are 18 years of age or older. The average age of the game buyer is 40 years old.” (ESA, p.1) The ESA also states that the, “The average game player age is 33” (ESA, p.1). The facts buy the ESA shows the video gaming is a business reflected by grown people with a lot of buying power. The buying power of gamers is prominent and something the mainstream media cannot deny, that is why companies and developers are initiating in game advertising to harness some of that buying power. Since grown people are the ones that are purchasing the product the most companies must cater to them with more mature merchandise. The more mature merchandise the greater the concern, since video games are misperceived as children’s toy. As a failsafe video games have ratings just like any other form of media to protect certain material that is unsuitable for some ages. Microsoft and Sony are also trying to implement new ways to expand the market through their own strategic planning, by implementing parental controls on their current consoles the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 games can be blocked from playing by the rating of the video game. A control system like this should help parents feeling safer in purchasing video game consoles, hence expanding the market. The market climate of the video game industry is now changing, due to the tremendous buying power and revenue generated by them. A very old focus of gaming has been to expand the market to the general everyday public. The more people within your media market the more money to be made by your media. The initiation of cell phone games plus more portable mini-games have helped to broaden the market base. Powerhouse companies like Nintendo have made market expansion their main focus in the current generation of gaming. Analysts believe that the game industry has nowhere to go but up. The money generated from gaming in the fiscal year of 2007 is set to break all previous records. Financial analyst Anita Frazier states, “The industry is up by nearly 50 percent," she told GameSpot.com "The back part of the year would have to fall apart to not have a record-breaking year. I think we'll end in the range of $16 to $18 billion in the US” (Tor, p.1) That is a major increase from just over 7 billion dollars of revenue, most analyst believe this is due to the ever expanding casual market. The introduction of the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS are believed by most analysts to be the cause of the huge revenue increase. Anita Frazier tells Gamestop.com, “She predicts no real relief from the ongoing shortage of Wii consoles until next year.”Very simply, demand is still meeting or exceeding supply," she said. "I think we'll see this situation continue through the holidays, and we may see some balancing starting February 2008." (Tor, p.1) The ever expanding video game market is not only seeing increases in hardware sales but also in the main catalyst for the market software sales. So far this year hardware and software sales are way up states Anita Frazier, “Year to date, combined US non-PC sales for 2007 totaled $8.02 billion, up $2.42 billion from $5.6 billion during the same period in 2006. The year's first eight months saw consumers in the 50 states buy $3.1 billion in hardware, $3.8 billion in software, and $1.1 billion in accessories.” (Frazier, p1) Console gaming has already eclipsed the overall revenue generated last year within only 8 months. This high generation of revenue is signs of great growth headed towards the gaming industry. The overall new growth is great for all the hardware and software developers, with new growth means new jobs and higher paychecks. It is more likely that programmers from the video game industry will stay in their in area of expertise, instead of moving out of the video game field to program elsewhere due to lack of employment. More and more developers need to fill more positions, so in turn the future of gaming looks very bright. Today more colleges than ever before are offer degrees in video game design, this shows how much of an impact video games have on the economy. It used to be just a person would go to school for computer programming and then hone their own personal skills towards video game design. The current markets suggest that universities’ make a shift in their curriculums to adjust for the coming video game market influx. Development companies are more likely to grow due to the new trend of video game degrees, because no longer do the developers have to do all the video game training to an entry level employee. With video game design programs entry level employees are ready to design and work on games right out of college, which helps for the producing of hardware and software quicker. The quicker the video game products can be produced the quicker the products can be sold for revenue. Although video games were once perceived as a child’s toy, high revenue sales, growing market, and degrees catered to video game programming tell otherwise. The future of gaming is on the cusp of becoming one of the most dominating media industries around today. There is no denying that video games will be a major part in the lives of generations to come. With new innovations and expanding on proven concepts it is probably one the best times since the media was formed to be a gamer. Just think from a toy from a small hobby to an economy within itself, with a very vivid outlook ahead of it.
Works Cited
Animation Arena. Video Game Salary Survey. 12 September 2007. AnimationArena.com 12 September 2007 http://www.animationarena.com/video-game-salary.html
ESA. Game Player Data. Entertainment Software Association. 12 September 2007 TheEsa.com 14 September 2007 http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php
Thorsen, Tor. NPD: US game industry could hit $18B in '07. 14 September 2007. Gamespot.com. 15 September 2007 http://www.gamespot.com/news/6178789.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6178789
This research paper will analyze the impact of a museum’s choice to go into the tombs of the ancient Egyptians and excavate them, to “preserve history.” I will compare how this is no different than people robbing graves here in the twentieth century. I will also explore their everyday rituals, and beliefs of the underworld. I intend on consulting a variety of web resources to conduct my research. No matter the reason for unearthing a grave, I believe it is wrong. There is no difference between grave robbers of today, and the ones representing the museums in Egypt. I plan on visiting various sites related to archaeology and grave robber’s, both grave robbers of today, and past. The art of mummification is present in many cultures, although it is usually associated with ancient Egypt. In this paper, however, I will explain why I am against the museums choice to unearth what has been resting for so long. I plan on using the deductive argument style in preparing my research article. I will view a broad spectrum of legal, social, and news sources to conduct my research. Ancient civilizations believed in life after death, in no other civilization have such elaborate preparations for the afterlife been made in the preservation of the dead, yet they are the ones that are being violated. Many great achievements were made by these magical Egyptians. Their discoveries and contributions changed the course of human history. They were the first to make a colander based on the suns movement, developed the hieroglyphic alphabet. The Egyptians created the first system to bring water to dry lands, and also created the first written study on surgery. These great people of the ancient times, dug canals to bring water form the Nile, and devised a simple water hoist, called a shaduf . Regulating the annual floods gave the ancient Egyptians the ability to cultivate mass amounts of farmland to feed the growing village populations. After the unifying of Upper and Lower Egypt, society stayed much the same from 3100 B.C. (when the founding of a united Egypt was enacted), to the last Pharaoh of the thirteenth Dynasty. Early off order and stability was brought to the Egyptian society. The pharaoh was thought to be a God who would return to heaven after death. Not only a legal obligation, following his laws, but it was also a religious obligation as well. All the land and all the people were his, the Egyptians all were considered his servants. You could look at the Egyptian society as if it was shaped like a pyramid. The pharaoh being at the top, beneath him would be the upper class or aristocracy. This would include the priests and nobles of the pharaoh's court. The merchants and crafts people made up the next level, middle class. The largest of all levels was made up of peasants, laborers, and slaves. It was this lower class that built the tombs of the great pharaoh. "During the Old Kingdom, Egyptians believed that life after death was reserved for the pharaoh, his family, and the nobility…the dead king had the same influence over events as the new living king… the dead king's ka, …would live on in his corpse…(Smith, 21). These underground burials protected there pharaoh from the weather and from thieves as well as keep them safe for their trip to the underworld. At first the Egyptian dead were buried in the sand because the sand would beat the decomposition state. Because the hot sand dried out the bodies before decomposition took place, the bodies of the dead would naturally be preserved this way. Different methods came arise when more elaborate tombs were gradually being built. The first method of mummification would wrap the body with resin-coated bandages. On top of these bandages elaborate portraits were then painted on the outer wrappings. To mummify priest would cover them with natron. It would take forty days of soaking in this mixture to dry the bodies out. Washing the body before packing with resin-coated bandages and sweet-smelling spices would deep the body intact and in form. The organs-hearts, brains, livers, and so on- were removed so these voids were then filled with bandages. The outer body was then also bandaged and covered with jewels. Beautiful painted masks were then placed over the bodies face and wrapped once more. Many of the dead were placed inside one large outer coffin holding three coffins of different sizes inside. All fitting into the next. The ancient Egyptians believed that each ordinary citizen would live eternally in the Land of the Dead. After many political changes, stemming from invasions from- Persians, Libyans, and Babylonians. The daily life of most Egyptians did not change much. It was important for the people to maintain the nation's irrigation system, because of the comings and goings of the floods. Today the annual floods do not occur. The Egyptian government built the Aswan dam in 1968, allowing the waters of the Nile to be controlled mechanically. This may seem good but the once rich soil that rested along the Niles banks, was so rich because the floods would wash away salt deposits, in that soil. Now this rich soil will one day all be desert. The Egypt of today has changed so much since the days of the pharaohs. Not only the disrespect of the pharaohs resting place, but the invasion of Muslim Arab's. These governors representing the Eastern Roman Empire, were driven out by the Muslim Arabs. Due to this most of the remaining Egyptians belong to the Islamic faith. Mosques are now a main feature of the Egyptian landscape. There is even a mosque built within the walls of the ancient temple at Luxor. It’s a shame that this precious empire that once ruled for so-long, the longest of any other civilization on this globe, has been trampled on and disrespected in so many ways. The Egyptian traditions, the Egyptian language all vanished from time. Until now all these hieroglyphics remained intact but no one could read them. They laid at rest with these remarkable people in their sleep. Rudely awakened by the curious in 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt with two-hundred scholars accompanying his army. Soon all of Egyptians treasures became popular with Europeans. Totally disrespecting all that they believed in, all that they cherished, and all that they worked so long to perfect. With a double-edged sword overzealous explorers would cut right through the hearts of these astonishing people, the Egyptians. Egyptian treasures became popular with Europeans, but not for what they could teach about the Egyptian civilization; but because they were erotic and beautiful. With no sense of Karma , or sense of respect, the resting place of these magical people was forever to be awoken with hate, greed, jealousy, and PAIN.
Jeremy LaRocque Dr. Hofheimer ENG120 19 September 2007 Background Steroids have played a big part in sports for the last couple of decades. Therer have been many scandals concerning steroids, and many are still ongoing. “Steroids are hormones that help the body retain dietary protein, which aids in the development of muscles.”(Anabolic Steroids par. 3) Many athlets use steroids to gain a competitive edge against their counterparts, and some have succeeded in doing so. I believe that steroids d omake athletes much stronger and faster, and it is much more exciting to watch a home run compared to a measly fly ball. Many yojng adults look up to major league baseball players as role models and heroes, and when they find out that their hero wasn’t pure, and had to “cheat” to get ahead, this news can be very devastating and also be unmotivating. Steroids, though, have helped professional sports become more enticing due to the way they enhance athletic ability. However, steroids have a negative effect on the general public’s opinion, and steroids will ultimately hurt professional sport leagues. Physical Effects of Steroids I’m sure some people have thought, “The only way I will be able to become powerful or fast is by using steroids.” Sometimes they overlook the repercussions of this decision. It is commony believed that steroids can be destructive to the body, and this is grounded in fact. The truth is that they can be destructive to a human being’s body. For example, in men, the side effects can be and are not limited to the following: reduced sperm count, impotence, development of breasts,shrinking of testicles, and difficulty or pain while urinating. Many of the side effects that both sexes experience are acne, bloated appearance, rapid weight gain, clotting disorders,liver damage,premature heart attacks and strokes, elevated cholesterol levels, and weakened tendons it’ss also known that long-time steroid users that quit have many withdrawal symptoms, such as physical pain, that will only go away if they were to start using steroids again. For the most part, these are all undesirable traits. On the other hand, there are many reason why a person would start to use steroids, even though that person knows and understands the side effect of steroids. Some of those reasons are to gain a competitive edge in sports, to build muscle mass for bodybuilding, to impress the opposite sex, to make more money, and to become a better athlete in a certain sport. For instance, Jose Canseco, a well known power hitter who played in the 1980’s and 1990’s wrote a book about how he used steroids, and how he was the godfather of steroids in relation to major league baseball. His book was called “Juiced: Wild times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got big”, and was published in 2005. In his book, Canseco discussed how he single-handedly brought steroids in the game of baseball. He mentioned that he was the guy to go to if a player had questions about steroids, if that person needed help injecting steroids, and if they wondered if they were doing it correctly. His opinion was that steroids are the future of all sports, and that if taken correctly, steroids can be extremely beneficial with few side effects. He mentioned that steroids add years to one’s youth. He also went on to mention that only fully developed adults can benefit from using steroids, since teenager’s bodies aren’t finished maturing, and that steroids can actually stump growth. This book is highly controversial because he accuses past and present major league baseball players of steroid use. Sports that are affected most By Steroids Major League Baseball is a sport of statistics and records, and it’s obvious that many of these baseball players used and still use steroids to become better players and eventually break prior records. The major league home run record was known to be the most highly regared record in all of major league sports, and we were able to see it happen this year, of 2007, but it wasn’t done without controversy. Barry Bonds, who plays for the San Fransisco Giants, has not been convicted osf steroid use, but he has faced much scrutiny for suspected steroid use based on the fact that his home run total had a dramatic increase in the later part of his career, and how his physical appearance had a dramatic increase in size during that same time period. He is still being federally investigated concerning his alleged steroid use, and one of his former trainers is serving a jail sentence for withholding information that he may know about Bond’s alleged steroid use from the federal government. Barry Bonds is known as one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball of all time, but his image, and moany other’s images, have been tainted by their alleged steroid use. In 1998, a slugger named Mark Mcgure broke the single-season record record for home runs when he hit a total of 70 home runs, defeating the old single-season record held by Roger Maris with 61 home runs. During the 1990’s, I was able to tell that McGuire had gotten much bigger, and eventually became an unbelievable hitter. In 2003, he was called in to stand in front of Congress concerning steroid use, and he was asked if he had ever knowingly used steroids. His reply was that he wasn’t there to discuss the past. Then, it was made clear to most that he used steroids, and now he is being kept from the baseball Hall of Fame because of his decision to not be more forthcoming with the question he was asked, although he has much better statistics than most of the former baseball players that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Another sport that is affected greatly by steroids is professional wrestling. Many wrestlers have admitted to using steroids and pain medication to help them get through the sport and achieve their personal goals. Many professional wrestlers, have died at young ages due to heavy steroid use that led to heart conditions such as an enlarged heart. The most well-known wrestler of all time, Hulk Hogan, has admitted to using anabnolic steroids. A former wrestler named Chris Benoit, murdered his wife, son, and eventually committed suicide recently, and doctors said there were steroids and pain medication found in his systemupon completion of the autopsy. Most of the audience of WWE, or any other major professional wrestling companies are young adults and since steroid use has come to light as of late, the WWE is finally discussing how to adjust its policy to make professional wrestling a bit safer.
Everything has a reason to live in this world; first the earth. Then trees, rivers, sees, lakes, and rocks. We need them because we could not live with out them. The tools of our lives, such as all the machines, we need them because with out them, we would not know how we could live the life. Everything has a reason, every single thing that this world gets, but what we need on the top of everything is to believe in something that could explain all those things. Some people are working in jobs where they give them those reasons, for example in jobs where the sciences are the center of everything. But, for those people who need to believe in something else because those explanations are not enough, we, the human being, have created the Religion. What the Religion means, or how you can believe in something that you do not even know if it is true are the question that people ask everyday but there is no answer. For some people, the Religion is used to be hidden for the real world, and in that world, the religion is the owner of everything, and your life is leading by something that you can not see, but you can feel. Religion has many ways to define it, but I am going to write just the definition of the dictionary, so religion is “a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law”. That means that the religion was born because of the people. It is said that the people lived for the religion but everybody knows that any religion could not “live” if there is not people who believe in that religion, so in many cases where the religion is the beginning of one war or one attack, it is just the own people who want to begin that war, or they want to do that attack. There are many religions in this world, some of them are known for everybody, and some people do not know more than the most important. I will just talk about the most common religions in the world, starting with the religion that has more adherents around the world. Christianity is the most followed religion in the world. This religion has 2.1 billion adherents, or approximately 33% of the world’s population in 2007. This religion was born because of Jesus. Jesus was a man who lived at the time of Rome Empire. When he was condemned to be crucified, nobody knew what they did but, after that, the people started to believe in what he said. The point is that this religion is the largest one because it is the one that is closest to the real life. It was proved that Jesus was a real man who lived long time ago, and this proof is the savannah in which he was covered once he was dead. The thing is that before Christianity began, there was another religion that was the most important, Judaism. It began with the Talmud and the Bible, in which is explained that the first man who lived was Abraham, and he is the father of Judaism. He became the father of Judaism because he was the first person to have contact with God, when he told him that he needed to prove the faith of Abraham and he ordered him to kill his own son, Isaac. Nowadays, this religion has lost “power” in this society because they are waiting for the one who save them. That was Jesus, but they did not believe in him and they killed him. Now, in 2007, Judaism has many problems because of the holy places. That is one of the multiple reasons of their adherents and their faith.
Islamism is the second religion with more adherents in the world. Its characteristics are not hard to explain, either to understand, but there are little groups which misunderstand this religion and they act and they do some things that their religion does not say anything about that, but they try to confuse people and telling them that Allah wanted that because he is always talking. In the history of this religion, the name of Muhammad is important. He was as important as Jesus. He started to teach everything about his God, and what he wants, and those explanations, with the holly book, Koran, is so good explanations and, in some cases, they are so real that you could think that the meaning of the life is those reasons. This religion has been grown up since the beginning of the 90´s because of some reasons, but the most important could be the poverty in the cities in which this religion is the most known. Hinduism is the third religion with most adherents in the world, close to 900 million adherents, and it is said that this religion is the one which explains the meaning of the life, and it is closed to the truth about the life and some theories about life, the human being… This religion is polytheism; it means that they believe in more than one God. They have the God of the life, of the death, fortune, health…it is like the old Rome Empire or in Greece in which they have a god for everything. This religion has not a creator, or some one who started first; it is the oldest religion and all its rules and thoughts were given for the people of India or Nepal. There is one more religion that is one of the most important and it has so many adherents because of its doctrine. Buddhism is the religion that it came from the Hinduism. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama around the 5th century BCE, it has not gods. It has just one important person, the Buddha, or that person who got the Nirvana. That person was Siddhartha, and since that day, he started to teach everybody how to get the Nirvana, and he gave to them some guidance to follow him. Buddhism is so close to Hinduism that they have the same rules and they live for the same rules, but the only different is, while Hinduism has Gods, Buddhism has not God, and its adherents do not follow any god, they just try to concentrate to get the “internal peace”.
7 comments:
In this paper, I will discuss many factors affecting women and girls who want to play and create video games.
Gender Discrimination in the Video Gaming World
They spend hours hunched over a keyboard for that special set of armor. They spend large amounts of money on enviable televisions and will argue with anyone about which console is the best. They’ll ignore cable television, homework, and the people around them for hours. They whip out their hand-held system to play while waiting for the doctor or the grocery line. These are the women of the gaming world.
The term gamer used to bring up images of teen boys playing sports or fantasy games, ignoring their own hygiene, and wearing dirty hooded sweatshirts while in their parent’s basement. Today, although the largest portion of gamers is still young men, gamers of all ages and both genders play a variety of different types of games for entertainment or stress-relieving.
Unfortunately, in many ways, it seems the gaming industry still has yet to catch up with the times. There are many examples of strong women in gaming and games but most of the time, we're relegated to the part of love interest, healer, or second lieutenant. Sometimes, the women playing the games don’t receive any respect either. Online gaming forums are filled with many horror stories about women who play online games being harassed and made fun of simply because they’re female.
Girl Gamers: Get ‘Em While They’re Young
Many games are now coming out for younger girls but they are the same kind of material (Barbie Horse Farm, etc) offered on the shelves of toy stores and don’t promote a better female image than most 1950s textbooks. They often are instructional rather than for enjoyment and even the ones that are for enjoyment don’t always have very female-empowering messages.
Microsoft holds a camp for younger girls called Digigirlz that introduces girls to technology and careers in technology. For some reason (must find this reason out), technology has been considered a boy’s club. Girls are often pushed towards more passive media, like books or movies.
Although creating games for young girls is a great step, it can’t be the only one the gaming industry makes. As Jame Pinckard said, "Women aren't just this monolithic block of 'gamers', they all want different types of games. Just because a Barbie video is made for a twelve year old girl, doesn't mean a 26 year woman has to play it. (Kelly)"
You’ve Been Schooled: Education Available for Gamers
It used to be that a background in graphic design or computer science was good enough to be involved in the business but some schools are now offering degrees specifically geared towards video game creating. These game-development degrees will benefit the industry as there will be more people who see all sides of development (graphics, story, programming) rather than just seeing their specialty as their only concern. As education such as this becomes more readily available and stressed, it will occur to more women that this is an industry they would enjoy.
The need for such education, for men and women, was recognized for Henry Jenkins, the director of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jenkins stated, " The Spielbergs and Lucases, what was different about them coming through film school rather than the ranks ... is they understood every part of the film production process. They weren't technical skill people but they had a conceptual framework that allowed them to bring all the pieces together. In the same way film schools changed Hollywood, game studies will change the games industry." (Want to design video games? Go to college and hit the books)
Three Women for Every Twenty-Two Men: Working in the Gaming Industry
Currently in the industry, women make up 11.5% of the workforce and many of those are in art or administrative positions. While those are important roles, more women need to get into more development and design roles. This will give games a female touch that will allow them to appeal to a wider range of people.
That's not to say that women have never been in the development role before. Two very famous examples are Roberta Williams and Jade Raymond. Roberta Williams is best known for creating the King's Quest series and creating Sierra On-Line games. She wanted to use games to tell stories and didn't stop at just animated adventure games. She appeared as Mother Goose on the cover of Mixed Up Mother Goose for children and Phantasmagoria during the interactive movie craze of the 1990s. Roberta's contribution to gaming is especially important as it proves games that games can be created that attract men and women equally. A game does not have to be tailored or marketed exclusively to either gender to be successful.
Jade Raymond has recently gained fame as the producer for one of the fall's most anticipated games, Assassin's Creed. She received a degree for computer science and began programming games at Sony before moving back to her hometown of Montreal to work for Ubisoft. She's been especially positive for the image of women gamers as they tend to, incorrectly, be seen as too pretty to be smart or too smart to be pretty.
The Women in the Games: R-E-S-P-E-C-T?
Most men will never stop enjoying seeing scantily clad women but many women, while not offended, would prefer to see women with a full set of clothing or at least get some eye candy of their own. A good example of this is the armor available in World of Warcraft. If a male and female character of the same class buy and wear the same armor, the women’s are often missing large chunks of armor. These are called “armor bikinis” because of how little skin they cover. While the game isn’t 100% realistic, this discrepancy is incredibly conspicuous and unrealistic. It’s a fan service to the males but a disservice to the female gamers.
Another example is the upcoming Polish game, the Witcher. In the Witcher, the main character is a warrior named Geralt who, among many other side quests, can chose to try to bed the women in the game. One example given is a milkmaid. If Geralt brings her flowers, she is wooed and they go off the screen to have their fun. As if showing a woman as so easy to get wasn't bad enough, the player than receives a card with the milkmaid pouring milk over her naked breasts as a reward. While this is only an optional side quest, it shows an obvious lack of respect for women.
Even the women who manage to hold on to their clothing tend to be relegated to secondary positions for game play. The women tend to be magic users or healers and are not generally used for primary combat. This has begun to slowly change with women taking more action roles in games. A good example is Fran from the adventure role-playing game Final Fantasy XII. Unlike most women in the Final Fantasy world, she was a weapons expert.
Another example of a strong woman character that both genders could play was Lara Croft, the British heiress gone bad of the Tomb Raider series. She and attitude without being rude or anguished and her ability to use a wide range of weapons while solving many different type of puzzles made her a fascinating character to play. The only sexist thing about her was her double D measurement but since they were covered by a t-shirt the whole time, it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Roberta Williams created several games that had female leads but not simply to have females in the lead. “The choice of a female protagonist was not a deliberate ploy to garner female computer game players. Rather, the story we wished to tell felt better with a female protagonist.” (Bellatti)
Hard-Core Gamers vs Casual Gamers: Are You a “Real” Gamer?
The gaming industry has begun to recognize that the term gamer can cover a wide range of people. Studies have shown that most hard-core gamers are men while casual gamers, those who don’t devote time to gaming (in large chunks or mini-sessions), tend to be women. Games marketed for young girls are often games that appeal to casual gamers. These games have the potential to create casual women gamers but there are a limited amount of games that are designed for young girls that could create avid gamers. Although there is a benefit to having a large range of casual gamers, it is the avid gamers that made gaming a $7.1 billion industry in 2005.
Casual games are the kind like Soduku or many of the Brain Teasers games created for the Ninetendo DS. They incorporate puzzles and word games that generally be completed quickly and are not part of a larger overall storyline.
Conclusion
The term ‘gamer’ is gender neutral. There is no such word as gameress nor should there be. In order to take advantage of women's disposable income the way it does men's, the gaming industry must learn to appeal to both genders without pandering to either.
As humans continually exploit the earth for their own conveniences, they become increasingly aware of the damage they cause. In the last 30 years, the population has begun to notice just how serious the problem is and as a result, great efforts have been put into amending the environment from our technological follies. One of the main reasons that fossil fuels are extracted from the earth is to provide oil for the propulsion of transportation vehicles. Scientist and researchers realized that oil is unnecessary to power ground transportation vehicles such as cars and trucks. In fact, electricity is just as effective for propelling vehicles as gasoline is. Electric vehicles are now becoming the future of the transportation because they secure a long-term answer to the problem of fueling and they greatly reduce the earth's air pollution.
The most viable options to replacing gas-powered vehicles are the three different forms of electric powered automobiles; hybrid, solar and fuel cell. Although electric vehicles were not recently invented, most of their development has occurred in the last 15 years and with the application of modern technologies, developers have enabled electric vehicles to be powerful and cost efficient, without causing harm to the environment.
Electric vehicles have had a relatively long history compared to most transportation devices. The first known electric automobile was a small model built by Professor Strtingh in 1835 in the Duct City of Groningen. The first practical electric vehicle to be built was a small automobile that was produced in the United States by Thomas Davenport. Thomas made great improvements to his electric automobile, reducing its cost, and implicating a battery with a longer life span and greater power. Even with these improvements, Davenport's electric automobile was not popular because he was forced to use non-rechargeable batteries in his vehicle. It seemed that the public would never use electric vehicles because of their batteries, but Frenchmen Gaston Plante change this notion by inventing the rechargeable storage battery in 1865.
In the early 1980's research teams were developed, sponsored by major automobile companies, to reinvent the electric vehicle by taking advantage of new technological advancements in batteries, system integration and aerodynamics. Around 1990 several California cities began to use electricity to power buses, streetcars and mass transit vehicles to help lower their high level of air pollution. In 1992, Congress approved and President Bush signed the National Emergency Policy Act, which stated that the consumption of petroleum in the U.S. will be reduced by ten percent by the year 2000 and thirty percent by the year 2030.
One of the main reasons why electric vehicles are being developed is to help maintain a clean and safe environment. Since transportation, because of the massive amounts of oil used, is the single biggest air polluting industry in the world, there is a great need to create a vehicle that does not rely on oil. Electric vehicles seem to be the best answer to this problem. Electric vehicles, on average, are 98% cleaner than combustion vehicles as far as air pollution goes. That means that if electric vehicles were to replace traditional automobiles, air pollution could be reducing by up to 35% each year. The usage of oil can also bring great harm to the world economic system and replacing gasoline-fueled cars with electric vehicles would greatly reduce the horrible economic impact that oil will eventually bring to the globe. In as little as 5 years oil shortages could cause a major oil shock where the price oil per barrel could triple. To most people this evidence is hard to believe. The average consumer thinks that because the price of oil is so low now it will stay that way and the depletion of our oil supply is light years away.
The operation of an electric vehicle is very similar to that of a traditional combustion automobile. The ignition system that starts the vehicle works in the same way. A key is turned, or a code is entered into a numeric pad and the engine responsively begins to run. A gearshift box allows a person to put the vehicle in reverse or drive and with one's foot off the brake the car will begin to move in a slow fashion, as does an internal combustion car. As pressure is applied to the "gas" pedal, an electronic signal is sent to the electronic control module.
An electric vehicle is charged by having a charging station convert a constant flow of voltage into a type of current compatible with the electric vehicle battery pack. The on board computer in the electric vehicle communicates with the charging station to see how much electricity is needed to charge the battery and to monitor the electricity's flow. This prevents battery damage due to over charging. Passing an electrical current through the battery to reform its active materials to their high-energy state completes the charge. This process is exactly the reverse of the discharge process, forcing the chemical reaction to go backwards.
Fuel cell electric vehicles have a great potential for being the future of the electric car. This type of electric vehicle does not rely on charging stations to generate its electricity. Instead, it gains energy from a chemical reaction that is created when hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a process similar to cold fusion. Water vapor is the only byproduct. As of now, these cells are used only in space shuttles, for they are far too bulky and costly to be practically used in automobiles.
Electric vehicles have proven to be a powerful, reliable and cost efficient mode of transportation. They require little or no liquid fuel, such as gasoline, to operate and most do not project emissions that are harmful to the earth's atmosphere. In addition, electric vehicles would provide an answer to the global economic problem of oil depletion. Considering these facts and all the global problems occurring as a result of dependence on oil, electric vehicles are far superior for mass transit purposes than internal combustion vehicles.
The future of the video game industry is a promising but also an uncertain one, with the marketing expanding, prices rising, and an abundance of new gamers. The console race of the current generation can change the way gaming is perceived forever. Many people perceived gaming as a hobby that once categorized for children, slackers and people with too much time on their hands. Gaming has risen from something for a few to something for all in some form or fashion. AnimationArena.com states that, “This industry is taking in over $7 billion dollars in revenue yearly.” (Animation, p.1) 7 billion dollars year is a lot of money generated from a so-called hobby, and the revenue is expected to keep rising.
The general public use to think that video games were for children, but the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) states, “Ninety-three percent of people who make the actual purchase of computer games and 83% of people who make the actual purchase of video games are 18 years of age or older. The average age of the game buyer is 40 years old.” (ESA, p.1) The ESA also states that the, “The average game player age is 33” (ESA, p.1). The facts buy the ESA shows the video gaming is a business reflected by grown people with a lot of buying power. The buying power of gamers is prominent and something the mainstream media cannot deny, that is why companies and developers are initiating in game advertising to harness some of that buying power. Since grown people are the ones that are purchasing the product the most companies must cater to them with more mature merchandise. The more mature merchandise the greater the concern, since video games are misperceived as children’s toy. As a failsafe video games have ratings just like any other form of media to protect certain material that is unsuitable for some ages. Microsoft and Sony are also trying to implement new ways to expand the market through their own strategic planning, by implementing parental controls on their current consoles the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 games can be blocked from playing by the rating of the video game. A control system like this should help parents feeling safer in purchasing video game consoles, hence expanding the market.
The market climate of the video game industry is now changing, due to the tremendous buying power and revenue generated by them. A very old focus of gaming has been to expand the market to the general everyday public. The more people within your media market the more money to be made by your media. The initiation of cell phone games plus more portable mini-games have helped to broaden the market base. Powerhouse companies like Nintendo have made market expansion their main focus in the current generation of gaming.
Analysts believe that the game industry has nowhere to go but up. The money generated from gaming in the fiscal year of 2007 is set to break all previous records. Financial analyst Anita Frazier states, “The industry is up by nearly 50 percent," she told GameSpot.com "The back part of the year would have to fall apart to not have a record-breaking year. I think we'll end in the range of $16 to $18 billion in the US” (Tor, p.1) That is a major increase from just over 7 billion dollars of revenue, most analyst believe this is due to the ever expanding casual market. The introduction of the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS are believed by most analysts to be the cause of the huge revenue increase. Anita Frazier tells Gamestop.com, “She predicts no real relief from the ongoing shortage of Wii consoles until next year.”Very simply, demand is still meeting or exceeding supply," she said. "I think we'll see this situation continue through the holidays, and we may see some balancing starting February 2008." (Tor, p.1)
The ever expanding video game market is not only seeing increases in hardware sales but also in the main catalyst for the market software sales. So far this year hardware and software sales are way up states Anita Frazier, “Year to date, combined US non-PC sales for 2007 totaled $8.02 billion, up $2.42 billion from $5.6 billion during the same period in 2006. The year's first eight months saw consumers in the 50 states buy $3.1 billion in hardware, $3.8 billion in software, and $1.1 billion in accessories.” (Frazier, p1) Console gaming has already eclipsed the overall revenue generated last year within only 8 months. This high generation of revenue is signs of great growth headed towards the gaming industry.
The overall new growth is great for all the hardware and software developers, with new growth means new jobs and higher paychecks. It is more likely that programmers from the video game industry will stay in their in area of expertise, instead of moving out of the video game field to program elsewhere due to lack of employment. More and more developers need to fill more positions, so in turn the future of gaming looks very bright. Today more colleges than ever before are offer degrees in video game design, this shows how much of an impact video games have on the economy. It used to be just a person would go to school for computer programming and then hone their own personal skills towards video game design. The current markets suggest that universities’ make a shift in their curriculums to adjust for the coming video game market influx. Development companies are more likely to grow due to the new trend of video game degrees, because no longer do the developers have to do all the video game training to an entry level employee. With video game design programs entry level employees are ready to design and work on games right out of college, which helps for the producing of hardware and software quicker. The quicker the video game products can be produced the quicker the products can be sold for revenue.
Although video games were once perceived as a child’s toy, high revenue sales, growing market, and degrees catered to video game programming tell otherwise. The future of gaming is on the cusp of becoming one of the most dominating media industries around today. There is no denying that video games will be a major part in the lives of generations to come. With new innovations and expanding on proven concepts it is probably one the best times since the media was formed to be a gamer. Just think from a toy from a small hobby to an economy within itself, with a very vivid outlook ahead of it.
Works Cited
Animation Arena. Video Game Salary Survey. 12 September 2007. AnimationArena.com
12 September 2007 http://www.animationarena.com/video-game-salary.html
ESA. Game Player Data. Entertainment Software Association. 12 September 2007
TheEsa.com 14 September 2007 http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php
Thorsen, Tor. NPD: US game industry could hit $18B in '07. 14 September 2007.
Gamespot.com. 15 September 2007 http://www.gamespot.com/news/6178789.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6178789
This research paper will analyze the impact of a museum’s choice to go into the tombs of the ancient Egyptians and excavate them, to “preserve history.” I will compare how this is no different than people robbing graves here in the twentieth century. I will also explore their everyday rituals, and beliefs of the underworld. I intend on consulting a variety of web resources to conduct my research. No matter the reason for unearthing a grave, I believe it is wrong. There is no difference between grave robbers of today, and the ones representing the museums in Egypt. I plan on visiting various sites related to archaeology and grave robber’s, both grave robbers of today, and past. The art of mummification is present in many cultures, although it is usually associated with ancient Egypt.
In this paper, however, I will explain why I am against the museums choice to unearth what has been resting for so long. I plan on using the deductive argument style in preparing my research article. I will view a broad spectrum of legal, social, and news sources to conduct my research. Ancient civilizations believed in life after death, in no other civilization have such elaborate preparations for the afterlife been made in the preservation of the dead, yet they are the ones that are being violated.
Many great achievements were made by these magical Egyptians. Their discoveries and contributions changed the course of human history. They were the first to make a colander based on the suns movement, developed the hieroglyphic alphabet. The Egyptians created the first system to bring water to dry lands, and also created the first written study on surgery. These great people of the ancient times, dug canals to bring water form the Nile, and devised a simple water hoist, called a shaduf . Regulating the annual floods gave the ancient Egyptians the ability to cultivate mass amounts of farmland to feed the growing village populations.
After the unifying of Upper and Lower Egypt, society stayed much the same from 3100 B.C. (when the founding of a united Egypt was enacted), to the last Pharaoh of the thirteenth Dynasty. Early off order and stability was brought to the Egyptian society. The pharaoh was thought to be a God who would return to heaven after death. Not only a legal obligation, following his laws, but it was also a religious obligation as well. All the land and all the people were his, the Egyptians all were considered his servants. You could look at the Egyptian society as if it was shaped like a pyramid. The pharaoh being at the top, beneath him would be the upper class or aristocracy. This would include the priests and nobles of the pharaoh's court. The merchants and crafts people made up the next level, middle class. The largest of all levels was made up of peasants, laborers, and slaves. It was this lower class that built the tombs of the great pharaoh. "During the Old Kingdom, Egyptians believed that life after death was reserved for the pharaoh, his family, and the nobility…the dead king had the same influence over events as the new living king… the dead king's ka, …would live on in his corpse…(Smith, 21). These underground burials protected there pharaoh from the weather and from thieves as well as keep them safe for their trip to the underworld.
At first the Egyptian dead were buried in the sand because the sand would beat the decomposition state. Because the hot sand dried out the bodies before decomposition took place, the bodies of the dead would naturally be preserved this way. Different methods came arise when more elaborate tombs were gradually being built. The first method of mummification would wrap the body with resin-coated bandages. On top of these bandages elaborate portraits were then painted on the outer wrappings. To mummify priest would cover them with natron. It would take forty days of soaking in this mixture to dry the bodies out. Washing the body before packing with resin-coated bandages and sweet-smelling spices would deep the body intact and in form. The organs-hearts, brains, livers, and so on- were removed so these voids were then filled with bandages. The outer body was then also bandaged and covered with jewels. Beautiful painted masks were then placed over the bodies face and wrapped once more.
Many of the dead were placed inside one large outer coffin holding three coffins of different sizes inside. All fitting into the next. The ancient Egyptians believed that each ordinary citizen would live eternally in the Land of the Dead. After many political changes, stemming from invasions from- Persians, Libyans, and Babylonians. The daily life of most Egyptians did not change much. It was important for the people to maintain the nation's irrigation system, because of the comings and goings of the floods.
Today the annual floods do not occur. The Egyptian government built the Aswan dam in 1968, allowing the waters of the Nile to be controlled mechanically. This may seem good but the once rich soil that rested along the Niles banks, was so rich because the floods would wash away salt deposits, in that soil. Now this rich soil will one day all be desert. The Egypt of today has changed so much since the days of the pharaohs. Not only the disrespect of the pharaohs resting place, but the invasion of Muslim Arab's. These governors representing the Eastern Roman Empire, were driven out by the Muslim Arabs. Due to this most of the remaining Egyptians belong to the Islamic faith.
Mosques are now a main feature of the Egyptian landscape. There is even a mosque built within the walls of the ancient temple at Luxor. It’s a shame that this precious empire that once ruled for so-long, the longest of any other civilization on this globe, has been trampled on and disrespected in so many ways.
The Egyptian traditions, the Egyptian language all vanished from time. Until now all these hieroglyphics remained intact but no one could read them. They laid at rest with these remarkable people in their sleep. Rudely awakened by the curious in 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt with two-hundred scholars accompanying his army. Soon all of Egyptians treasures became popular with Europeans. Totally disrespecting all that they believed in, all that they cherished, and all that they worked so long to perfect. With a double-edged sword overzealous explorers would cut right through the hearts of these astonishing people, the Egyptians.
Egyptian treasures became popular with Europeans, but not for what they could teach about the Egyptian civilization; but because they were erotic and beautiful. With no sense of Karma , or sense of respect, the resting place of these magical people was forever to be awoken with hate, greed, jealousy, and PAIN.
Jeremy LaRocque
Dr. Hofheimer
ENG120
19 September 2007
Background
Steroids have played a big part in sports for the last couple of decades. Therer have been many scandals concerning steroids, and many are still ongoing. “Steroids are hormones that help the body retain dietary protein, which aids in the development of muscles.”(Anabolic Steroids par. 3) Many athlets use steroids to gain a competitive edge against their counterparts, and some have succeeded in doing so. I believe that steroids d omake athletes much stronger and faster, and it is much more exciting to watch a home run compared to a measly fly ball. Many yojng adults look up to major league baseball players as role models and heroes, and when they find out that their hero wasn’t pure, and had to “cheat” to get ahead, this news can be very devastating and also be unmotivating. Steroids, though, have helped professional sports become more enticing due to the way they enhance athletic ability. However, steroids have a negative effect on the general public’s opinion, and steroids will ultimately hurt professional sport leagues.
Physical Effects of Steroids
I’m sure some people have thought, “The only way I will be able to become powerful or fast is by using steroids.” Sometimes they overlook the repercussions of this decision. It is commony believed that steroids can be destructive to the body, and this is grounded in fact. The truth is that they can be destructive to a human being’s body. For example, in men, the side effects can be and are not limited to the following: reduced sperm count, impotence, development of breasts,shrinking of testicles, and difficulty or pain while urinating. Many of the side effects that both sexes experience are acne, bloated appearance, rapid weight gain, clotting disorders,liver damage,premature heart attacks and strokes, elevated cholesterol levels, and weakened tendons it’ss also known that long-time steroid users that quit have many withdrawal symptoms, such as physical pain, that will only go away if they were to start using steroids again. For the most part, these are all undesirable traits.
On the other hand, there are many reason why a person would start to use steroids, even though that person knows and understands the side effect of steroids. Some of those reasons are to gain a competitive edge in sports, to build muscle mass for bodybuilding, to impress the opposite sex, to make more money, and to become a better athlete in a certain sport. For instance, Jose Canseco, a well known power hitter who played in the 1980’s and 1990’s wrote a book about how he used steroids, and how he was the godfather of steroids in relation to major league baseball. His book was called “Juiced: Wild times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got big”, and was published in 2005. In his book, Canseco discussed how he single-handedly brought steroids in the game of baseball. He mentioned that he was the guy to go to if a player had questions about steroids, if that person needed help injecting steroids, and if they wondered if they were doing it correctly. His opinion was that steroids are the future of all sports, and that if taken correctly, steroids can be extremely beneficial with few side effects. He mentioned that steroids add years to one’s youth. He also went on to mention that only fully developed adults can benefit from using steroids, since teenager’s bodies aren’t finished maturing, and that steroids can actually stump growth. This book is highly controversial because he accuses past and present major league baseball players of steroid use.
Sports that are affected most By Steroids
Major League Baseball is a sport of statistics and records, and it’s obvious that many of these baseball players used and still use steroids to become better players and eventually break prior records. The major league home run record was known to be the most highly regared record in all of major league sports, and we were able to see it happen this year, of 2007, but it wasn’t done without controversy.
Barry Bonds, who plays for the San Fransisco Giants, has not been convicted osf steroid use, but he has faced much scrutiny for suspected steroid use based on the fact that his home run total had a dramatic increase in the later part of his career, and how his physical appearance had a dramatic increase in size during that same time period. He is still being federally investigated concerning his alleged steroid use, and one of his former trainers is serving a jail sentence for withholding information that he may know about Bond’s alleged steroid use from the federal government. Barry Bonds is known as one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball of all time, but his image, and moany other’s images, have been tainted by their alleged steroid use. In 1998, a slugger named Mark Mcgure broke the single-season record record for home runs when he hit a total of 70 home runs, defeating the old single-season record held by Roger Maris with 61 home runs. During the 1990’s, I was able to tell that McGuire had gotten much bigger, and eventually became an unbelievable hitter. In 2003, he was called in to stand in front of Congress concerning steroid use, and he was asked if he had ever knowingly used steroids. His reply was that he wasn’t there to discuss the past. Then, it was made clear to most that he used steroids, and now he is being kept from the baseball Hall of Fame because of his decision to not be more forthcoming with the question he was asked, although he has much better statistics than most of the former baseball players that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Another sport that is affected greatly by steroids is professional wrestling. Many wrestlers have admitted to using steroids and pain medication to help them get through the sport and achieve their personal goals. Many professional wrestlers, have died at young ages due to heavy steroid use that led to heart conditions such as an enlarged heart. The most well-known wrestler of all time, Hulk Hogan, has admitted to using anabnolic steroids. A former wrestler named Chris Benoit, murdered his wife, son, and eventually committed suicide recently, and doctors said there were steroids and pain medication found in his systemupon completion of the autopsy. Most of the audience of WWE, or any other major professional wrestling companies are young adults and since steroid use has come to light as of late, the WWE is finally discussing how to adjust its policy to make professional wrestling a bit safer.
Carlos Tejedor
ENG 120
Dr. H
Everything has a reason to live in this world; first the earth. Then trees, rivers, sees, lakes, and rocks. We need them because we could not live with out them. The tools of our lives, such as all the machines, we need them because with out them, we would not know how we could live the life. Everything has a reason, every single thing that this world gets, but what we need on the top of everything is to believe in something that could explain all those things. Some people are working in jobs where they give them those reasons, for example in jobs where the sciences are the center of everything. But, for those people who need to believe in something else because those explanations are not enough, we, the human being, have created the Religion. What the Religion means, or how you can believe in something that you do not even know if it is true are the question that people ask everyday but there is no answer. For some people, the Religion is used to be hidden for the real world, and in that world, the religion is the owner of everything, and your life is leading by something that you can not see, but you can feel.
Religion has many ways to define it, but I am going to write just the definition of the dictionary, so religion is “a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law”. That means that the religion was born because of the people. It is said that the people lived for the religion but everybody knows that any religion could not “live” if there is not people who believe in that religion, so in many cases where the religion is the beginning of one war or one attack, it is just the own people who want to begin that war, or they want to do that attack.
There are many religions in this world, some of them are known for everybody, and some people do not know more than the most important. I will just talk about the most common religions in the world, starting with the religion that has more adherents around the world. Christianity is the most followed religion in the world. This religion has 2.1 billion adherents, or approximately 33% of the world’s population in 2007. This religion was born because of Jesus. Jesus was a man who lived at the time of Rome Empire. When he was condemned to be crucified, nobody knew what they did but, after that, the people started to believe in what he said. The point is that this religion is the largest one because it is the one that is closest to the real life. It was proved that Jesus was a real man who lived long time ago, and this proof is the savannah in which he was covered once he was dead.
The thing is that before Christianity began, there was another religion that was the most important, Judaism. It began with the Talmud and the Bible, in which is explained that the first man who lived was Abraham, and he is the father of Judaism. He became the father of Judaism because he was the first person to have contact with God, when he told him that he needed to prove the faith of Abraham and he ordered him to kill his own son, Isaac. Nowadays, this religion has lost “power” in this society because they are waiting for the one who save them. That was Jesus, but they did not believe in him and they killed him. Now, in 2007, Judaism has many problems because of the holy places. That is one of the multiple reasons of their adherents and their faith.
Islamism is the second religion with more adherents in the world. Its characteristics are not hard to explain, either to understand, but there are little groups which misunderstand this religion and they act and they do some things that their religion does not say anything about that, but they try to confuse people and telling them that Allah wanted that because he is always talking. In the history of this religion, the name of Muhammad is important. He was as important as Jesus. He started to teach everything about his God, and what he wants, and those explanations, with the holly book, Koran, is so good explanations and, in some cases, they are so real that you could think that the meaning of the life is those reasons. This religion has been grown up since the beginning of the 90´s because of some reasons, but the most important could be the poverty in the cities in which this religion is the most known.
Hinduism is the third religion with most adherents in the world, close to 900 million adherents, and it is said that this religion is the one which explains the meaning of the life, and it is closed to the truth about the life and some theories about life, the human being… This religion is polytheism; it means that they believe in more than one God. They have the God of the life, of the death, fortune, health…it is like the old Rome Empire or in Greece in which they have a god for everything. This religion has not a creator, or some one who started first; it is the oldest religion and all its rules and thoughts were given for the people of India or Nepal.
There is one more religion that is one of the most important and it has so many adherents because of its doctrine. Buddhism is the religion that it came from the Hinduism. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama around the 5th century BCE, it has not gods. It has just one important person, the Buddha, or that person who got the Nirvana. That person was Siddhartha, and since that day, he started to teach everybody how to get the Nirvana, and he gave to them some guidance to follow him. Buddhism is so close to Hinduism that they have the same rules and they live for the same rules, but the only different is, while Hinduism has Gods, Buddhism has not God, and its adherents do not follow any god, they just try to concentrate to get the “internal peace”.
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