Essay example --

Palmore v. Sidoti(1984),the court ruled that it was unconstitutional to transfer custody of white children to their father solely on the fact that the mother lived with a colored (black) man. The court did acknowledge the fact it may not be in the â€Å"best interest† for the child to actually live in a transracial family but held the equal protection doctrine preventing consideration that the race of a potential parent could hinder in the making of custody decisions. Around the 60’s and 70’s, other courts prohibited legal state bans on transracial, seeing them as inconsistent with equal protection doctrine. South Africa today has a related development lifting transracial adoption bans in order to move toward abolishment of racism. â€Å"The quickest cure for racism would be to have everyone in the country adopt a child of another race. No matter what your beliefs, when you hold a four-day-old infant, love him, and care for him, you don’t see skin color, you see a little person that is very much in need of your love.†(Robert Dale Morrison). In 1972 something strange happened within the U.S; a...

Unix :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"UNIX was the first operating system designed to run on ‘dissimilar’ computers by converting most hardware specific commands in machine language into an independent programming language called ‘C ’† . UNIX was the basis of AT&T’s telephone system and the government’s wide area network system. Then it became the basis of communication between engineers and scientists, and eventually the basis of communication for everyone worldwide. It has held this remarkable spot since 1969. However, in the 1990s there are competitors in the market, namely, Microsoft Corporation with its Windows NT product. But UNIX-based software suppliers are not just turning over and letting the competitors win. UNIX remains, and will remain a major player in the marketplace. The unique advantage of the UNIX operating system when it was introduced was that it could (and still does) run on dissimilar machines, unheard of prior to 1969. UNIX also can run more than one program at a time, store complex graphics and databases, and link to other UNIX and mainframe computer systems, including DOS since the late 1980s. UNIX-based systems control various programs written by many companies to distribute information between multiple computers within the network. This minimizes user costs and eliminates system-wide hardware crashes. Some of the original UNIX programs are still evident today. UNIX was developed at AT&T in 1969, primarily for controlling the phone network and handling government communications. Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun Systems, other U.S. companies and international companies now sell versions of UNIX that work best on their computers. UNIX has enjoyed a long, exclusive history, but Microsoft is trying to establish Windows NT as the premier Web server and replace UNIX’s dominant position as the Internet’s operating system. Although the Internet was originally developed around UNIX, some companies who design software for the Internet are becoming reluctant to embrace UNIX for this purpose. A major reason for moving to NT instead of UNIX is that the UNIX operating system is expensive, whereas Microsoft Windows NT is affordable to everyday users. The other major advantage of Microsoft Windows NT is significantly easier to install and maintain. Also, UNIX requires additional utility software such as NetWare, which is already built in to Microsoft Windows NT. The cost of replacing that hardware is a strong consideration for most companies considering a switch to Microsoft Windows NT. Other users are not so quick to jump on the NT bandwagon.

Playing Hard to Get Essay

Walster, Walster, Piliavin, & Schmidt have designed a study to test the why women play hard to get when to comes to dating. This article is talks about how there are two different types of women when it comes to relationships. One type is the easy to get and hard to get. Easy to get women are girls who are either desperate for affection, who might have to many demands for their significant other, may want to get serious right away and possibly may have a disease. Whereas, the hard to get women have something about them that every guy would want to be with, she knows she is pretty and that every guy would do anything for her. A women knows in her mind, playing hard to get will make any man go through all kinds of trouble or challenges just trying to please her and hopefully making the girl like him or even falling in love with him. If a guy, can get to be with her it’s like winning a gold prize and gaining respect from all kinds of men because they can recognize that the girl is a hard to get girl. The experimenters tested 5 different experiments to test and see if any theories can prove about these hard to get girls. Experiment I was the dissonance theory was the first experiment was to predict to see if one had to spend a lot of energy to attain one goal because he would be unappreciative of the outcome. Experiment II was the learning theory was next to see if two advantages were attainable: exclusiveness with value and frustration that will increase drive. Experiment III was the Schachtarian theory requires two components just like the learning theory to test the person for calling it love. Both Walsters & Lyons designed a field study and a laboratory experiment in to demonstrate that men prefer a date that plays hard to get. Computer matching service was conducted for women to be hired as experimenters. Precise instructions was given on how to respond when their computer match called them for a date by pausing to think for at least 3 seconds accepting the date, which would be labeled hard to get. Other times women were told to accept the date immediately, to be labeled as easy to get. The results indicated that elusiveness had no impact on the man’s liking for his computer. Experiment IV was a laboratory experiment that tested the knowledge that a woman is elusive gives one indirect evidence that she is socially desirable. This indirect evidence should have the biggest impact when a man has no way of acquiring direct evidence about a coed’s value or when he has little confidence in his own ability to assess value. When direct evidence is available, and the man possesses supreme confidence in his ability to make correct judgments, information about a woman’s elusiveness should have little impact on a man’s reaction to her. Blind dates were being tested to see if this came true. Experiment V, we had decided that perhaps the hard-to-get hypothesis must be tested in a sexual setting with prostitutes that gave the men mixed drinks that will see if the hard to get hypothesis is true. Later this experiment resulted that there is two components: How hard or easy she is for him to get & how hard or easy she is for other men to get. To test this, 71 male summer students at the University of Wisconsin were recruited for a dating research project. This was designed to determine whether computer matching techniques are in fact more effective than is random matching. All participants were invited to come into the dating center in order to choose a date from a set of five potential dates. When the subject arrived at the computer match office, they were handed folders containing background information on five women. Some of these women had supposedly been â€Å"randomly† matched with him and others had been â€Å"computer matched† with him but in reality, all five folders contained information about fictitious women. Experiments asked if they liked her, would you get along, first impressions and questions of that nature. All these results of their hypothesis turned out to be false but learned new information of women being hard to get. In my own opinion, the experiments did their best to test this phenomenon regardless of how old this article is because till this day, a hard to get women is described as someone who requires a lot of work in order to talk or to be seen with. Being with a women gives the man a lot of respect because start to question to figure out what does a man have to do to be such a girl with high standards. These experiments are valid even though they have failed but have demonstrated how these women work when playing hard to get. When it comes to girls, men are usually clueless because there are no set rules on how they react or how to keep them happy. Any interaction with women are general is an experiment because it involves a lot of variables, different possibilities of what the men can say leading to various reactions from the women. A follow up study can be done because this article is over 20 years old but it may just strengthen the results of this article. A study of how or why women act hard to get in the first place, their intentions or see if there are any tricks to get by these kinds of women. Experiment V was the best experiment to test by randomly selecting girls for the men and seeing what their likes and dislikes were when women were being hard to get. Men today have changed a lot when these experiments have taken place according to society at that time. I feel that these experimenters did all they could with their limited technology and how boys and girls acted in that time frame. Nowadays, women explore all options of being hard to get and easy to get by mixing it to fully get what they want and that drives men insane because we tend to get clueless of how things work. This article is valid of what has been tested and outcomes that of that women playing hard to get is still unknown till this day.

Reaction Paper- Rizal Essay

â€Å"Does Rizal deserve to be our national hero?† This article written by Renato Constantino, is all about Rizal that does he really deserves to be a hero or not? The author compared Rizal to others national heroes in different countries, who is most decisively active in the fight for their freedom and leader of that revolution. Like in US, China, Vietnam and other countries mentioned from the article. But the author said Rizal is not our Revolution leader; in fact he repudiated that revolution. He’s just silent and being martyr for our country. Also he is an American-Sponsored Hero, Rizal chose as a model over other contestants- Aguinaldo too militant, Bonifacio too radical, Mabini unregenerate. We must view Rizal as an evolving personality within historical period. Additional, author’s purpose for this article is to remind us that our history is very important to us because it will serve to demonstrate how our presence has been distorted by a faulty knowledge of our past. For me, this article was still a question to the author of â€Å"Does Rizal deserves to be our National Hero?† There are several factors that Rizal deserves it and some are not. Because Rizal had certain qualities, he was able to serve the pressing social needs of the periods, needs that arose out of general and particular historical forces. As the author said, he is a hero in the sense that he was able to see problems generated by historical forces, discern the new social needs created by the historical development of new social relationships, and take an active part in meeting these needs. But he is not a hero in the sense of he could have stopped and altered the course of events. Although Rizal was already a revered figure and became more so after his martyrdom, it cannot be denied that his pre-eminence among heroes was partly the result of American sponsorship. Also, he was the first Filipino limited Filipino, the ilustrado Filipino, who fought for national unity but feared the Revolution and loved his mother country, yes, but in his own ilustrado way. Rizal never advocated independence, nor did he advocate armed resistance to the government. He urged from within by publicity, by public education, and appeal to the public conscience. What  if Rizal is not our National hero? Maybe Bonifacio can be our National hero because he fights for our country and he is too revolutionary. When the goals of the people are finally achieved, Rizal the first Filipino will be canceled by the true Filipino by whom he will be remembered as a great catalyst in the transformation of the decolonized indios. But still, there are so many reason that Rizal deserves to be our National Hero. So, I think the author balanced this view of article. The author explained the opinion of both. Honestly, I am not really interested about this article. There are so many questions in my mind says, â€Å"it happened, he’s our national hero, what are these articles complaining or explaining† â€Å"why do we need to study about this?† But it’s required to us to read this article and make a reaction paper to this, and then I realized that it is important to us (Filipino) to understand our history. We must understand why Rizal is our national hero. It is also a reflection of our intellectual timidity, our reluctance to expose new causes unless we can find authorize, however remote, in Rizal. The exposure of his weaknesses and limitations will also mean our liberation, for he has, to a certain extent become part of the superstructure that supports present consciousness. That is why a critical evaluation of Rizal cannot but lead to a revision of our understanding of history and the role of the individual in history. I conclude that Rizal deserves to be our National Hero. If I would ask the author, what if Rizal is not our National Hero, who it will be? Why?

Frostbite Chapter 5

Five I HAD NO IDEA WHAT Dimitri was talking about, but I followed along obediently. To my surprise, he led me out of the boundaries of the campus and into the surrounding woods. The Academy owned a lot of land, not all of which was actively used for educational purposes. We were in a remote part of Montana, and at times, it seemed as though the school was just barely holding back the wilderness. We walked quietly for a while, our feet crunching through thick, unbroken snow. A few birds flitted by, singing their greetings to the rising sun, but mostly all I saw were scraggly, snow-heavy evergreen trees. I had to work to keep up with Dimitri's longer stride, particularly since the snow slowed me down a little. Soon, I discerned a large, dark shape ahead. Some kind of building. â€Å"What is that?† I asked. Before he could answer, I realized it was a small cabin, made out of logs and everything. Closer examination showed that the logs looked worn and rotten in some places. The roof sagged a little. â€Å"Old watch-post,† he said. â€Å"Guardians used to live on the edge of campus and keep watch for Strigoi.† â€Å"Why don't they anymore?† â€Å"We don't have enough guardians to staff it. Besides, Moroi have warded campus with enough protective magic that most don't think it's necessary to have actual people on guard.† Provided no humans staked the wards, I thought. For a few brief moments, I entertained the hope that Dimitri was leading me off to some romantic getaway. Then I heard voices on the opposite side of the building. A familiar hum of feeling coursed into my mind. Lissa was there. Dimitri and I rounded the corner of the building, coming up on a surprising scene. A small frozen pond lay there, and Christian and Lissa were ice skating on it. A woman I didn't know was with them, but her back was to me. All I could see was a wave of jet-black hair that arced around her when she skated to a graceful stop. Lissa grinned when she saw me. â€Å"Rose!† Christian glanced over at me as she spoke, and I got the distinct impression he felt I was intruding on their romantic moment. Lissa moved in awkward strides to the pond's edge. She wasn't so adept at skating. I could only stare in bewildermentand jealousy. â€Å"Thanks for inviting me to the party.† â€Å"I figured you were busy,† she said. â€Å"And this is secret anyway. We aren't supposed to be here.† I could have told them that. Christian skated up beside her, and the strange woman soon followed. â€Å"You bringing party crashers, Dimka?† she asked. I wondered who she was talking to, until I heard Dimitri laugh. He didn't do it that often, and my surprise increased. â€Å"It's impossible to keep Rose away from places she shouldn't be. She always finds them eventually.† The woman grinned and turned around, flipping her long hair over one shoulder, so that I suddenly saw her face full-on. It took every ounce of my already dubiously held self-control not to react. Her heart-shaped face had large eyes exactly the same shade as Christian's, a pale wintry blue. The lips that smiled at me were delicate and lovely, glossed in a shade of pink that set off the rest of her features. But across her left cheek, marring what would have otherwise been smooth, white skin were raised, purplish scars. Their shape and formation looked very much like someone had bitten into and torn out part of her cheek. Which, I realized, was exactly what had happened. I swallowed. I suddenly knew who this was. It was Christian's aunt. When his parents had turned Strigoi, they'd come back for him, hoping to hide him away and turn him Strigoi when he was older. I didn't know all the details, but I knew his aunt had fended them off. As I'd observed before, though, Strigoi were deadly. She'd provided enough of a distraction until the guardians showed up, but she hadn't walked away without damage. She extended her gloved hand to me. â€Å"Tasha Ozera,† she said. â€Å"I've heard a lot about you, Rose.† I gave Christian a dangerous look, and Tasha laughed. â€Å"Don't worry,† she said. â€Å"It was all good.† â€Å"No, it wasn't,† he countered. She shook her head in exasperation. â€Å"Honestly, I don't know where he got such horrible social skills. He didn't learn them from me.† That was obvious, I thought. â€Å"What are you guys doing out here?† I asked. â€Å"I wanted to spend some time with these two.† A small frown wrinkled her forehead. â€Å"But I don't really like hanging around the school itself. They aren't always hospitable†¦.† I didn't get that at first. School officials usually fell all over themselves when royals came to visit. Then I figured it out. â€Å"Because †¦ because of what happened †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Considering the way everyone treated Christian because of his parents, I shouldn't have been surprised to find his aunt facing the same discrimination. Tasha shrugged. â€Å"That's the way it is.† She rubbed her hands together and exhaled, her breath making a frosty cloud in the air. â€Å"But let's not stand out here, not when we can build a fire inside.† I gave a last, wistful glance at the frozen pond and then followed the others inside. The cabin was pretty bare, covered in layers of dust and dirt. It consisted of only one room. There was a narrow bed with no covers in the corner and a few shelves where food had probably once been stored. There was a fireplace, however, and we soon had a blaze going that warmed the small area. The five of us sat down, huddling around its heat, and Tasha produced a bag of marshmallows that we cooked over the flames. As we feasted on that gooey goodness, Lissa and Christian talked to each other in that easy, comfortable way they always had. To my surprise, Tasha and Dimitri also talked in a familiar and light way. They obviously knew each other from way back when. I'd actually never seen him so animated before. Even when affectionate with me, there'd always been a serious air about him. With Tasha, he bantered and laughed. The more I listened to her, the more I liked her. Finally, unable to stay out of the conversation, I asked, â€Å"So are you coming on the ski trip?† She nodded. Stifling a yawn, she stretched herself out like a cat. â€Å"I haven't been skiing in ages. No time. Been saving all my vacation for this.† â€Å"Vacation?† I gave her a curious look. â€Å"Do you have†¦a job?† â€Å"Sadly, yes,† Tasha said, though she didn't actually sound very sad about it. â€Å"I teach martial arts classes.† I stared in astonishment. I couldn't have been more surprised if she'd said she was an astronaut or a telephone psychic. A lot of royals just didn't work at all, and if they did, it was usually in some sort of investment or other moneymaking business that furthered their family fortunes. And those who did work certainly didn't do a lot of martial arts or physically demanding jobs. Moroi had a lot of great attributes: exceptional sensessmell, sight, and hearingand the power to work magic. But physically, they were tall and slender, often small-boned. They also got weak from being in sunlight. Now, those things weren't enough to prevent someone from becoming a fighter, but they did make it more challenging. An idea had built up among the Moroi over time that their best offense was a good defense, and most shied away from the thought of physical conflict. They hid in well-protected places like the Academy, always relying on stronger, hardier dhampirs to guard them. â€Å"What do you think, Rose?† Christian seemed highly amused by my surprise. â€Å"Think you could take her?† â€Å"Hard to say,† I said. Tasha crooked me a grin. â€Å"You're being modest. I've seen what you guys can do. This is just a hobby I picked up.† Dimitri chuckled. â€Å"Now you're being modest. You could teach half the classes around here.† â€Å"Not likely,† she said. â€Å"It'd be pretty embarrassing to be beaten up by a bunch of teenagers.† â€Å"I don't think that'd happen,† he said. â€Å"I seem to remember you doing some damage to Neil Szelsky.† Tasha rolled her eyes. â€Å"Throwing my drink in his face wasn't actually damageunless you consider the damage it did to his suit. And we all know how he is about his clothes.† They both laughed at some private joke the rest of us weren't in on, but I was only half-listening. I was still intrigued about her role with the Strigoi. The self-control I'd tried to maintain finally slipped. â€Å"Did you start learning to fight before or after that happened to your face?† â€Å"Rose!† hissed Lissa. But Tasha didn't seem upset. Neither did Christian, and he usually grew uncomfortable when the attack with his parents was brought up. She regarded me with a level, thoughtful look. It reminded me of the one I sometimes got from Dimitri if I did something surprising that he approved of. â€Å"After,† she said. She didn't lower her gaze or look embarrassed, though I sensed sadness in her. â€Å"How much do you know?† I glanced at Christian. â€Å"The basics.† She nodded. â€Å"I knew †¦ I knew what Lucas and Moira had become, but that still didn't prepare me. Mentally, physically, or emotionally. I think if I had to live through it again, I still wouldn't be ready. But after that night, I looked at myself figurativelyand realized how defenseless I was. I'd spent my whole life expecting guardians to protect me and take care of me. â€Å"And that's not to say the guardians aren't capable. Like I said, you could probably take me in a fight. But theyLucas and Moiracut down our two guardians before we realized what had happened. I stalled them from taking Christian but just barely. If the others hadn't shown up, I'd be dead, and he'd† She stopped, frowned, and kept going. â€Å"I decided that I didn't want to die that way, not without putting up a real fight and doing everything I could to protect myself and those I love. So I learned all sorts of self-defense. And after a while, I didn't really, uh, fit in so well with high society around here. So I moved to Minneapolis and made a living from teaching others.† I didn't doubt there were other Moroi living in Minneapolisthough God only knew whybut I could read between the lines. She'd moved there and integrated herself with humans, keeping away from other vampires like Lissa and I had for two years. I started to wonder also if there might have been something else there between the lines. She'd said she'd learned â€Å"all sorts of self-defense†apparently, more than just martial arts. Going along with their offense-defense beliefs, the Moroi didn't think magic should be used as a weapon. Long ago, it had been used that way, and some Moroi still secretly did today. Christian, I knew, was one of them. I suddenly had a good idea of where he might have picked up that kind of thing. Silence fell. It was hard to follow up a sad story like that. But Tasha, I realized, was one of those people who could always lighten a mood. It made me like her even more, and she spent the rest of the time telling us funny stories. She didn't put on airs like a lot of royals did, so she had lots of dirt on everyone. Dimitri knew a lot of the people she spoke of honestly, how did someone so antisocial seem to know everyone in Moroi and guardian societyand would occasionally add some small detail. They had us in hysterics until Tasha finally looked at her watch. â€Å"Where's the best place a girl can go shopping around here?† she asked. Lissa and I exchanged looks. â€Å"Missoula,† we said in unison. Tasha sighed. â€Å"That's a couple hours away, but if I leave soon, I can probably still get in some time before the stores close. I'm hopelessly behind in Christmas shopping.† I groaned. â€Å"I'd kill to go shopping.† â€Å"Me too,† said Lissa. â€Å"Maybe we could sneak along†¦.† I gave Dimitri a hopeful look. â€Å"No,† he said immediately. I gave a sigh of my own. Tasha yawned again. â€Å"I'll have to grab some coffee, so I don't sleep on the drive in.† â€Å"Can't one of your guardians drive for you?† She shook her head. â€Å"I don't have any.† â€Å"Don't have any †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I frowned, parsing her words. â€Å"You don't have any guardians?† â€Å"Nope.† I shot up. â€Å"But that's not possible! You're royal. You should have at least one. Two, really.† Guardians were distributed among Moroi in a cryptic, micromanaged way by the Guardian Council. It was kind of an unfair system, considering the ratio of guardians to Moroi. Non-royals tended to get them by a lottery system. Royals always got them. High-ranking royals often got more than one, but even the lowest-ranking member of royalty wouldn't have been without one. â€Å"The Ozeras aren't exactly first in line when guardians get assigned,† said Christian bitterly. â€Å"Ever since†¦my parents died†¦there's kind of been a shortage.† My anger flared up. â€Å"But that's not fair. They can't punish you for what your parents did.† â€Å"It's not punishment, Rose.† Tasha didn't seem nearly as enraged as she should have been, in my opinion. â€Å"It's just†¦a rearranging of priorities.† â€Å"They're leaving you defenseless. You can't go out there by yourself!† â€Å"I'm not defenseless, Rose. I've told you that. And if I really wanted a guardian, I could make a nuisance of myself, but it's a lot of hassle. I'm fine for now.† Dimitri glanced over at her. â€Å"You want me to go with you?† â€Å"And keep you up all night?† Tasha shook her head. â€Å"I wouldn't do that to you, Dimka.† â€Å"He doesn't mind,† I said quickly, excited about this solution. Dimitri seemed amused by me speaking for him, but he didn't contradict me. â€Å"I really don't.† She hesitated. â€Å"All right. But we should probably go soon.† Our illicit party dispersed. The Moroi went one direction; Dimitri and I went another. He and Tasha made plans to meet up in a half hour. â€Å"So what do you think of her?† he asked when we were alone. â€Å"I like her. She's cool.† I thought about her for a moment. â€Å"And I get what you mean about the marks.† â€Å"Oh?† I nodded, watching my footing as we walked along the paths. Even when salted and shoveled, they could still collect hidden patches of ice. â€Å"She didn't do what she did for glory. She did it because she had to. Just like†¦just like my mom did.† I hated to admit it, but it was true. Janine Hathaway might be the worst mother ever, but she was a great guardian. â€Å"The marks don't matter. Molnijas or scars.† â€Å"You're a fast learner,† he said with approval. I swelled under his praise. â€Å"Why does she call you Dimka?† He laughed softly. I'd heard a lot of his laughter tonight and decided I'd like to hear more of it. â€Å"It's a nickname for Dimitri.† â€Å"That doesn't make any sense. It doesn't sound anything like Dimitri. You should be called, I don't know, Dimi or something.† â€Å"That's not how it works in Russian,† he said. â€Å"Russian's weird,† In Russian, the nickname for Vasilisa was Vasya, which made no sense to me. â€Å"So is English.† I gave him a sly look. â€Å"If you'd teach me to swear in Russian, I might have a new appreciation for it.† â€Å"You swear too much already.† â€Å"I just want to express myself.† â€Å"Oh, Roza†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed, and I felt a thrill tickle me. â€Å"Roza† was my name in Russian. He rarely used it. â€Å"You express yourself more than anyone else I know.† I smiled and walked on a bit without saying anything else. My heart skipped a beat, I was so happy to be around him. There was something warm and right about us being together. Even as I floated along, my mind churned over something else that I'd been thinking about. â€Å"You know, there's something funny about Tasha's scars.† â€Å"What's that?† he asked. â€Å"The scars†¦they mess up her face,† I began slowly. I was having trouble putting my thoughts into words. â€Å"I mean, it's obvious she used to be really pretty. But even with the scars now †¦ I don't know. She's pretty in a different way. It's like†¦like they're part of her. They complete her.† It sounded silly, but it was true. Dimitri didn't say anything, but he gave me a sidelong glance. I returned it, and as our eyes met, I saw the briefest glimpse of the old attraction. It was fleeting and gone too soon, but I'd seen it. Pride and approval replaced it, and they were almost as good. When he spoke, it was to echo his earlier thoughts. â€Å"You're a fast learner, Roza.†

Cause and Effects of Texting While Driving Essay

Texting while driving is a major issue affecting today’s society. Texting has grown to be one of the biggest forms of communication among people, despite the fact that some of these messages might be sent from behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. As a result, distracted driving often occurs removing the main objective a driver should be focusing on; the road ahead. Texting-related vehicular accidents and fatalities have caused a majority of states to establish texting bans, making this act illegal while driving. With texting-related accidents increasing, new approaches and resources are being developed to eliminate this epidemic problem. It is imperative to express awareness that performing the illegal act of texting while driving is a dangerous behavior that not only causes distracted driving but also impairs the driver’s ability to lose focus on the road with the possibility of severe consequences. Text messaging is becoming the commonly used method in our connected society today. People of all ages can be seen using modern day devices such as cell phones and tablets. â€Å"Six billion SMS (short message service) messages are sent every day, while 2.2 trillion are sent a year within the United States and 8.6 trillion text messages are sent globally each year† (CNN.com). These devices allow its users the mobility and immediate accessibility to communicate with each other. With this in mind, some of these outgoing messages are sent while driving. The reasons can vary upon why a person would text and drive but, one possibility can be linked to its convenience. It is not uncommon to see a person fully indulged in their device; checking texts and emails or social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and, Twitter. With the progression of text messaging being the method of choice to communicate in this society, people have become so fixated on their devices that it is becoming a daily occurrence to incorporate it in their everyday routines, including driving. Sending a text out while driving can have numerous effects, which includes distracted driving. Distracted driving is anything that can divert the driver’s main attention that is critical to driving safely such as texting,  talking on the cell phone, eating, conversing with passengers, and so forth. Texting while driving is the worst of all driver distractions because it simultaneously uses cognitive, visual, and manual recognition. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that at least 3,000 deaths occur annually from driver distracted accidents (NHTSA 2012). Furthermore, studies have also shown that novice drivers (i.e. teenagers) tend to be at a higher risk at distracted driving than experienced drivers (i.e. adults). For the most part, texting is the worst distraction for anyone driving because both tasks require concentration which ultimately, the driving suffers due to the lack of attention fro m the driver’s ability to entirely focus on the road. The effects of texting while driving also can cause extremely hazardous driving conditions that compromise the safety of the driver and their passengers along with other drivers sharing the roads and highways. Because texting requires at least one hand on the device and the driver’s eyes away from the road, the focus of the driver is not fully devoted to controlling the vehicle. This often leads to lane deviation that could possibly result in potentially dangerous situations. â€Å"Most drivers take their eyes off the road a minimum of five seconds to perform any task and if the driver is travelling at a speed of 55 mph, it is equivalent to covering the distance of an entire football field while blindfolded† (Harmon 10). Moreover, the ability to stop quickly is also compromised in the event that the driver approaches nearby hazards. For example, a driver might inadvertently turn the wheel suddenly due to the fact that their focus was on their device. This could lead to missed opportunities to stay straight ahead on the road, swerve into another lane and/or vehicle, or possibly worse, into an innocent pedestrian walking along the road. With all things considered, texting is a dangerous behavior while driving that could impact not only their safety, but the safety of their passengers, other drivers and their passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Drivers are aware not to text while driving, but many still do despite the fact that it is illegal in many states. Currently, 45 states ban text messaging while driving (NCSL 2015). Of those states, 39 enforce laws with  primary restrictions (an officer may pull a driver over for texting) and only 5 enforce it as a secondary offense (an officer can only ticket a driver committing a primary offense [e.g. speeding] first and not just for texting). A study performed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health looked into the effects of the different texting bans on vehicular fatalities from 48 states from 2000-2010 (Harman 10). Their study found that states with primary enforced laws detected a 3% (an average of 19 deaths per year) reduction of fatalities in all age groups whereas; states that enforced secondary restrictions had no significant decline. The greatest impact shown was texting bans that affected young drivers (aged 15-21) with an 11% reduction in deaths. Given these points, hard evidence concludes that these states implementing and enforcing these texting bans are also saving the lives of many people. As a result of texting-related accidents and fatalities increasing, new approaches and resources are being developed to eliminate this problem. One of the simplest methods a person can apply while driving—one that can possibly save a life—would be to turn their cell phone off. If an incoming message is that important, the driver can simply pull on the side of the road to read and/or send an outgoing message. Furthermore, several apps such as AT&T DriveMode and Live2Txt, are now available for users to download on their cell phones to prevent any incoming calls and text messages from appearing while inside of a moving vehicle. In addition, in March 2010 AT&T—now supported by Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, as well as more than 200 other organizations—has launched their â€Å"It Can Wait† campaign with the efforts to end texting while driving (Mlot 2013). Their multi-million dollar awareness campaign includes a texting-while-driving simulator and an outreach program geared towards teens emphasizing the threat and dangers of texting behind the wheel. The DOT has also launched several distracted driving enforcement and advertising campaigns using the phrase â€Å"U Drive. U Text. U Pay.† to combat and crackdown on distracted driving. In brief, accidents related to texting while driving can easily be avoided if drivers heed the warnings of these awareness campaigns or by simply switching off their phones; which could perhaps save a life. Taking everything into consideration, texting has enhanced the lives of many people with the ease and mobility to communicate with one another however; applying this method while driving is a dangerous behavior that is not only illegal in many states, but also has serious consequences if the driver is not focused behind the main priority of driving safely. Awareness campaigns have been designed to emphasize the extreme importance on how texting and driving can and has impacted many lives. Everyone can do their part to eliminate this problematic issue by simply taking one step and make the roads a little safer by easily turning off their phones while driving. Ultimately, drivers should be aware that there is no message or text that could be of greater importance than the life of another person.

Platon's Allegory of the Cave. Reaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Platon's Allegory of the Cave. Reaction - Essay Example According to the allegory tells of a story where there are prisoners put in a cave chained together from childhood each of them facing the wall. Behind them is a huge fire that causes shadows to be formed on the wall. Therefore the prisoners only see the shadow and according to the allegory the prisoners come to accept the shadow is real since they are unable to grasp the whole picture. They basically accept what they are accustomed to seeing. The shadows represent the messages given to the society by politicians, people in business and the media who control how we perceive things. There are many chains holding people prisoners in a cave for fear of cultural acceptance for instance when a political leader wants to spread propaganda. Many people would want just to believe â€Å"the shadow† projected to them rather than see the actual objects. After a while one of the prisoners is escapes captivity and this forces him to see the bigger picture of the cave. He is also made to move out of his familiar cave into the light which he painfully does. He is able to see the object casting the shadows these represents the things that influence our perceptions and sense of judgment. They include people in politics, media, and business, religious and educational leaders. Our leaders tell us what to believe they pass on to us their own ideologies for example our political leaders. Most people do not want to formulate their own opinions and would rather depend on what is projected for them Being accustomed to living in the cave moving out into the light is not easy. He has to adjust to bright sunshine light. His eyes slowly open up to accommodated the light and in parallel to accommodate a fundamental view of the world. The prisoner has a newer view of reality and is transformed. In the light the prisoner comes to see a deeper, clearer and a truthful reality influenced by reason. The sun refers to the good that comes with the beauty and is so eager to share this