The BAd Effects Of Alcohol Essay Example for Free

The BAd Effects Of Alcohol Essay Alcohol is harmless when not drinking in mass quantities, even it helps body in some cases, for example wine protects people from heart attacks. However, if you get used to drink alcohol, you can easily abuse. Alcoholism happens when someone engages in frequent alcohol abuse. As time goes on, alcohol starts to alter chemical makeup of brain, resulting in user to depend on alcohol so as to feel good. In the end, their body starts to crave alcohol in order to function properly and alcoholism comes to person with many damages. An addiction to alcohol can have destructive and irreversible effects on a persons health which we can classify as physical, psychological and economic. The initial effects of alcoholism are the physical ones. These are the most important, because these can bring about your death. For instance, alcohol abuse affects the nervous system and then lead to permanent brain illnesses which are dementia and Alzheimer. Furthermore, an abuse of alcohol over a number of years has been linked to developing cancers such as liver, colon, throat and breast cancer. Besides, alcohol is a toxin which affects all body cells and tissues. According to the Jerry Kennard from Mens Health, uncontrollable drinking gives rise to crucial health difficulties (1996). Also Jerry Kennard stated that â€Å"Each year more than 100. 000 Americans die of alcohol-related causes. † (1996). All these physical effects make your life expectancy decrease and cause your premature death. The second results caused by alcoholism are psychological. At first alcohol makes you feel relaxed, but if you keep drinking more and more times, it increases anxiety and causes Oner, Page 2 depression. It also changes your behaviors and you may have some complications with your family and social circle. For example, a drunk man may use violence to even his wife or daughter due to have a blackout which is caused from alcohol. In short, just for pleasure which lasts for a short time, you may lose your family and your good friends forever. The last consequences of alcoholism are economic. Alcohol is not cheap and when people are drunk, they do not care about money which is paid for alcohol or another things. As a result, they do not have enough money for their major necessities. According to Shane Hall, eHow contributor, overindulgence drinking and alcoholism cost community billions each year and this includes the cure payments, prices to get rid of illegal situations and becoming unable to work which results from alcohol-related ailments and in the end untimely death. Thus, alcoholism not only causes your death, but also may result in lost all your wealth which you can leave an inheritance to new generations. In conclusion, the effects of alcoholism which are physical, psychological and economic can bring about many problems that influence your life in all aspects. Alcohol alters your brain, muscles, cardiovasculer system, sexual conditions, digestion process and other disorders that affect your health. In addition it can cause your suicide owing to the depression and other brain damages. Besides, it will leave you in pennilessness, because it costs a lot. Finally, there is no reason to drink alcohol in excess, we can drink just a glass of wine and enjoy it!

My Dream of Becoming a Web Designer :: Admissions Essays

My Dream of Becoming a Web Designer As a young child, my dream occupation was to dig up dinosaurs. As I grew older and my interests changed, my dream profession changed also. Although most of these dreams were not very long lived, one occupational dream has outlasted all others, and has finally emerged as the dream I passionately pursue. It all started when my grandparents purchased their first computer. Being as this was the first computer I had ever used, I did not know how to use it very well. I mostly used it for games, which my grandma would set up for me to play. I also drew pictures with the computer's paint program, the functionality of which, unfortunately, was very limited. The relatively new computer industry's technology could not produce enough colors to portray very realistic pictures. Despite this fact, I spent many contented hours creating images on my grandparent's computer. A few years later, my family moved. As we were no longer close enough to use my grandparent's computer, we purchased a new one for ourselves. I again used the computer for games and did some text editing, but started to utilize the paint program even more than I had before. The up-to-date colors available meant that I could create fairly high-quality pictures. However, my limited paint program again handicapped my skills, its inadequate tools requiring me to draw every pixel manually, which proved very time consuming. After using the new computer for a few years, I sent a picture I had created to my uncles who work with 3D imaging. They were impressed, and asked me if I would like a professional imaging program. For my next birthday I received the digital imaging software Photoshop LE, renowned for its professional capabilities. This tool took my imaging skills to all new heights. I was able to quickly and easily create high-quality images, and could edit and enhance existing photos for professional-like results. Photoshop became by far my favorite program, and I spent much time expanding my imaging skills and knowledge. Now, years later, I am working towards a B.S. in Professional and Technical Communication. I plan to use my imaging skills for the Web, a media that relies heavily on images for communication.

Great Gatsby Chapter Journals

Daisy says these words as she describes to Nick and Jordan her hopes for her young daughter. Daisy is not a fool herself but because of her surroundings intelligent women are not viewed as valuable. Opposite of the older generation, the younger generation enjoys the thoughtless minds of the young and vulnerable women only seeking pleasure and not those that cater to their needs. Daisy’s remark is somewhat cynical: while she addresses the social values of her era, she does not seem to mind them. Rather, she describes that she is bored with life and it seems like she implies that a girl can have more fun if she is beautiful and simplistic. Daisy often conforms to the social expectation of the American woman in order to avoid issues. â€Å"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself. As a part of Nick’s first close examination of Gatsby’s character and appearance he describes that Gatsby’s smile captures both the theatrical quality of Gatsby’s character and his personality. Additionally, it captures the manner in which Gatsby appears to everyone in the outside world. His smile seems to be both an important part of the role in the character. Here, Nick describes Gatsby’s rare focus—he has the ability to make anyone he smiles at feel as though he has chosen that person out of â€Å"the whole external world. † â€Å"With an effort I managed to restrain my incredulous laughter. This is when Gatsby is telling Nick about his life. Nick is trying to restrain himself from laughter because he knows that there is something wrong with what Gatsby is saying. As he continues, Jordan looks like she knows he is lying so when Nick looks at her he feels that it’s all bogus. From what Nick believes, what Gatsby is saying is so in the moment because there isn't a lot of detail in his story to go on and see if it’s true or not. Gatsby is saying that he lived so well after his family had all died and that he travelled a lot and that he ha d his life pretty much made for him. If that was all true why would he be living in a place like west egg? â€Å"The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end. † When Nick is describing Gatsby he uses this bold comparison between Gatsby and Jesus Christ to illuminate what Gatsby has created himself to be. Jesus is described to be â€Å"faithful to his self-created dream but scornful of the factual truth that finally crushes him and his dream†Ã¢â‚¬â€an appropriate description of Gatsby. Though the comparison between Gatsby and Jesus is not an important event in The Great Gatsby, it is nonetheless a suggestive comparison, as Gatsby transforms himself into the image that he envisioned for himself as a youngster and remains committed to that idea, despite the obstacles that society presents to the fulfillment of his dream. â€Å"’God sees everything,' repeated Wilson. These were the last words that George Wilson had said before he murdered Gatsby in the end of the chapter. It is showing the madness that came from his realization of the affair and the death of his wife, but maybe this could be indicating that he was the only sane one of all the characters in the end. With the rough life that George had, he did not experience the immorality of society in the 1920s. The abuse of money, the new crimes developed, and the other aspects of life were not able to corrupt his lifetyle in the Valley of Ashes. Being a poor man, it was his dream to be rich and make a life for himself and his wife in New York City, but living, isolated, in the Valley of Ashes kept his morals. All of the characters seemed to be blinded by the lifestyle that surrounded them. They were rich, or wanted to be in George's case, and were blinded by the corruption of society. They could not see what harm they were doing to each other and themselves and started keeping secrets, having affairs and causing unneeded destruction. God was the only one that could see their flaws and lies; he could look past their secrets and see the real people on the inside – the bad people they had become. â€Å"Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan, and I, were all Westeners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly inadaptable to Eastern life. † Gatsby had the dream of coming back with Daisy. He got money just to achieve his dream, and try to make it work, but it did not work. Gatsby tried to put the values into the wrong place. Gatsby also cared too much about people’s feelings and he made friends to easily.

The Origins of Memorial Day

Memorial Day is celebrated in the United States each May to remember and honor military men and women who died while serving in the nations armed forces. This differs from Veterans Day, which is celebrated in September to honor everyone who served in the U.S. military, whether or not they died in service. From 1868 through 1970, Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30th each year. Since then, the official national Memorial Day holiday is traditionally celebrated on the last Monday in May. Origins of Memorial Day On May 5, 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—an organization of former Union soldiers and sailors—established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The cemetery already held the remains of 20,000 Union dead and several hundred Confederate dead.  Presided over by General and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant and other Washington officials, the Memorial Day ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of General Robert E. Lee. After speeches, children from the Soldiers and Sailors Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns. Was Decoration Day Really the First Memorial Day? While General John A. Logan credited his wife, Mary Logan, with the suggestion for the Decoration Day commemoration, local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead had previously taken place. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Mississippi, on April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.Today cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day between 1864 and 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Georgia, claim the title, as well as Richmond, Virginia. The village of Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, also claims to be the first. A stone in a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, the wartime home of General Logan, carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on Ap ril 29, 1866. Approximately twenty-five places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried. Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York, the birthplace of Memorial Day. A local ceremony held on May 5, 1866, was reported to have honored local soldiers and sailors who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-mast. Supporters of Waterloos claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events. Confederate Memorial Day Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26th. North and South Carolina observe it May 10th, Louisiana on June 3rd and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19th and Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day. Learn the Stories of Your Military Ancestors Memorial Day began as a tribute to Civil War dead, and it was not until after World War I that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars.  The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nations wars: Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. What a fitting reminder to all of us to learn about and tell the stories of our military ancestors who died in service. How to Trace Your U.S. Military AncestorsAre You Descended from a Civil War Soldier?Discover Your American WWI AncestorsResearch Your Revolutionary War Patriot AncestorSymbols, Acronyms Abbreviations Found on Military Tombstones Portions of the above article courtesy of the U.S. Veterans Administration

Vinyl Ester vs Polyester Resins Pros and Cons of Each

For many applications, making the right selection between these resins can affect strength, durability, product life and, of course, cost. They have different chemical compositions and these differences express themselves in their physical properties. Before choosing between them for a particular application, it is important to have a clear idea of what performance is required from the build. Understanding the differences between these resins will help a user to compile the list of critical material performance factors required from the finished article and inform the selection. The Differences Polyester resins are formed by the reaction between polyols such as glycol or ethylene glycol with dibasic acids such as phthalic acid or maleic acid. These unsaturated resins are combined with other chemicals sometimes called hardeners or catalysts. This changes the molecular structure and the resulting compound cures, generating heat in the process. Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) is one such hardening agent. Vinyl ester resins are produced by the reaction (esterification) between an epoxy resin and an unsaturated monocarboxylic acid. Essentially they comprise a base of polyester resin strengthened with epoxy molecules in the backbone of the molecular chain. Vinyl esters also use peroxides (e.g. MEKP) for hardening. Both resins can be thinned by reaction with chemicals such as styrene. Advantages and Disadvantages On a broad scale of viscosity, vinyl esters are midway between polyesters and epoxy resins, before adding styrene. Thinning effects workability and strength - thinning reduced strength but makes it easier to brush or spray. Vinyl esters are more tolerant of stretching than polyesters. This makes them more able to absorb impact without damage. They are also less likely to show stress cracking. Vinyl ester has fewer open sites in its molecular chain. This makes it much more resistant to water penetration (hydrolysis) which can cause osmotic blistering. Vinyl esters shrink less on curing, which means that pre-release of a laminate from a mold is less significant. Vinyl esters are more tolerant of stretching than polyesters. This makes them more able to absorb impact without damage. They are also less likely to show stress cracking. The cross bonding of vinyl esters is superior to that of polyesters. This means that vinyl esters bond to core materials much more effectively than polyesters and delamination is less of an issue. Vinyl esters are less sensitive to ambient conditions (temperature and humidity) than are polyesters. Vinyl esters are more expensive than polyesters through careful calculations are required to assess the cost impact of a significant build project such as a luxury yacht. This is because the relative strengths need to be factored in - you can use less vinyl ester to achieve a given strength. Both resins are susceptible to chalking - UV breakdown at the surface - unless an additive is incorporated into the mix. Which to use? Despite the superiority of vinyl ester (apart from cost), polyester still has a large part to play in composite fabrications. Where prolonged exposure to water is likely (such as a boat hull or water tank), then by using polyester for the bulk construction with a surface barrier of vinyl ester, water penetration can be reduced considerably without a significant increase in cost. If improved durability and impact resistance is important, then vinyl esters win over polyesters - and again the build can be tailored to use the vinyl esters in those areas with higher impact probability. However, these are relative and other resins or composites may be superior (and more expensive). Common Uses Vinyl esters and polyesters are widely used  and for many similar applications. However where the physical properties of vinyl ester are more important than cost, then vinyl ester takes the lead: Transportation: parts for automobiles and other surface transportation vehiclesBuilding and Infrastructure: fascias for buildings, reinforcements for bridgesMilitary/aerospace applications Conclusion Before making a decision, consider the requirements for durability very carefully, and weigh up the cost. It may be that the extra cost of vinyl ester will be offset by its superior strength and durability. Then again, maybe both will work well in combination with the application.

Essay on Cuba - 1685 Words

Cuba In the past fifty years we have witnessed the end of the cold war, the end of communism in a vast majority of nations as well as the rise of the United States to being the sole world power. But while the world has greatly changed over the past half-a-century, there has been little change in the Cuban-American relationship. Since the rise of Fidel Castro to power in the early nineteen fifties, the United States has all but cut off all relations with the Cuban government. It has now been thirty-nine years since the United States first imposed its various sanctions on the Cuban government and even though Cuba has faced great hardship and misfortune in recent years due to these sanctions, the United States to this day is still†¦show more content†¦There were few Cubans that supported this annexation of Cuba into the United States control. The majority of the people who supported this were the rich and elite. One such person who opposed the U.S. control over Cuba was Jose Ma rti. Mr. Marti lived in exile in New York for many years until returning to Cuba in 1895. Upon his arrival in Cuba, Marti’ was declared a national hero by the Anti-American supporters. It are the beliefs and ideas of Jose Marti’ that Fidel Castro later based his own ideals upon. In 1882, Marti’ wrote that Cuban independence was a process and not a single event. He said that it would take lots of preparation and dedicated organization in order to achieve independence. (Perez 145) It was this thought process that was instrumental in the â€Å"defining of the most exalted version of Cuba Libre: independence from Spain and the United States. (Perez 146) It were these beliefs that lead to the establishment of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in April of 1892. The goal of this establishment was to liberate Cuba. 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Since America has had an embargo on Cuba since 1962 neither countries trade with each other because of many disagreements about governing techniques and Fidels unwillingness to comply with U.S. instructions. Cuba’s long history and culture has contributed toRead MoreThe Island Of Cuba1624 Words   |  7 PagesThe island of Cuba is located on the northern rim of the Caribbean Sea and was inhabited by Arawak and Ciboney Indians prior to colonization by the Spanish in 1511. This native population, due to the colonization of the Spanish, was ravaged by decease, enslavement and warfare which ultimately caused their extinction. Cuba received little attention throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries like most of Spain’s Caribbean colonies because Spain was concentrating attention on Central and SouthRead MoreCuba1197 Words   |  5 PagesCuba Country Profile International Business Cuba is an island in the Caribbean. (Discuss its culture) The island is located only 90 miles from Florida and is alligator-shaped. Its the biggest island in the Caribbean. The total population is 11,061.886. Its official language is Spanish, and 95% Cubans are Roman Catholic. The major ethnic groups include mulattos, which consist of 51% of the population. The remaining groups include 37% ofRead MoreA Summary of Cuba1975 Words   |  8 PagesItalian, Greek and Roman style. You can see the Spanish influence through the Convento de Santa Clara and the Cuban Baroque is representative through the Plaza de la Cathedral. Cuban Island: Travel Cuba has been a highly sought out place to go for its natural white sand beaches, crystal-clear waters. Cuba is known for three mountain ranges, two-long provinces of savanna. Sugar Mill, Yumurà ­, and Vià ±ales are a few areas known around the world for its abundance of produce. Five hundred species of fishRead MoreIs Cuba The Oldest Profession?991 Words   |  4 Pages Cuba is an Island found in the Caribbean. Cuba is the biggest Island in the Caribbean with an estimated population of about 11 million people. The Island of Cuba like most Islands in the Caribbean has a breath taking scenery. Cuba is and Island highly influenced by the Spaniards not only in its culture, but as well in the colonel architecture. It’s a place where anyone who visits will be able to find a lot of warm-hearted people; it’s a beautiful Island. However, the Island is overshadowed by povertyRead MoreCuba And The United States1610 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction A lot has gone on between the United States and Cuba between 1959 and 2015. In 1959, Cuba and the United States cut off diplomatic ties. On December 17, 2014, the United States and Cuba announced that they would restore diplomatic ties. 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Those who have not been completely negligent over the last half a century have probably also heard the names Fidel Castro and Ernesto â€Å"Che† Guevara. These two men were very pivotal players in the history of Cuba and its revolution. Literary and cinematic reenactments are a great method for providing historical knowledge. However, they c an be heavily biased and much of the factual evidence canRead MoreCuba And The United States1217 Words   |  5 Pageshe U.S and Cuba officially cut ties in January of 1961, meaning that there have not been any high-level diplomatic relations with Cuba for 54 years. At the time, America and Cuba considered one another as mortal enemies and mistrusted each other’s government greatly. So this raises the question; Was it the correct decision for Cuba and the United States to cut ties? This break with Cuba was a bad decision because it caused Cuba’s economy to plummet, caused Cubans to immigrate, and it caused Cuban

Merchants of Cool free essay sample

In watching the film, Merchants of Cool, which was aired in 2001, it is quite concerning how our society is turning to consuming as a means of achieving a satisfying standard of living. The film brought to light how large media companies, especially conglomerates that own all production and distribution of media from start to finish, study and sell to teen youths because of their large quantity of â€Å"guilt money†, disposable income giving to youth by parents to keep them happy. They have become the most marketed group, which in turn turns the youth into adults that continue to seek happiness in consuming. The fear in this standard of living is that we start losing touch with our true values, and instead of looking towards family, community, ethnicity and religion as the creator of cultural forms, we are now being oriented as a society by the world of commodities. And with the advancement of technology, so has marketing research advanced, where we are being specifically being catered to with ads to continue this cycle of finding meaning and happiness through the purchase of goods and services. We will write a custom essay sample on Merchants of Cool or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Advertisers know that they cannot sell meaning and happiness, but they can illicit those feelings by advertising visions of what a â€Å"good life† should be through the selling of products, known as **image-based advertising**. Sut Jhally’s article, Image-Based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture, explains how image-based advertising has been so integrated into our way of thought and consumption that it is difficult to pinpoint when our most cherished values became tied into consumer culture (p 201). Advertisements have taken up so much of our public space and discourse, and now even our private with the advancement of technology, that we are constantly being shown what the vision of happiness is, and what we must buy to achieve a satisfying standard of living. Juliet Schor’s article, The New Politics of Consumption: Why Americans Want So Much More Than They Need, breaks down the idea that Americans live in a constant state of **dis-ease**: worrying about the preoccupation with getting and spending (p 205). Not only is this disconcerting because it takes away from living in the moment, but it pushes us to live beyond our means. We aren’t happy because we do not emulate what we see as the â€Å"good life† because of the growing aspirational gap because of upscale emulation. We are never at ease where we stand economically and socially, and feel the pressures to keep up. And although this is a problem with the upper and middle class, it is a more dangerous problem for the lower class. The trickle effect of status symbol goods, such as state of the art phones, flat screen televisions, etc. , sets up those with limited resources and aspirations of living the â€Å"good life† by buying those goods for continual financial failure through consumption of expensive goods that is beyond their means. The film, The Merchants of Cool, aired in 2001, and the way that companies acquired information from the consumer was with â€Å"cool hunters†, marketing researchers who would research and interview to see what trends could be capitalized on. The analyzing was apparent, as opposed to now where consumers are being researched and targeted in ways that are more subtle, and now advertisers have the tools to more conspicuously sell us the â€Å"good life†. On the radio interview â€Å"How Companies are ‘Defining Your Worth’ Online†, Joseph Turrow discussed how marketers don’t even have to do much to gather information from us, they can now track our online movements using digital tracking like cookies. This information is gathered and sold to advertisers by data marketers, unbeknownst to us. Market research has evolved so much because of the growing digital world we live in. And advertisers are now able to subtly sell to us in a personally targeted way, instead of the blatant in your face banner ads that we would automatically close without even reading them. Although this is perfectly legal, the downfall falls on the consumer that is being researched and targeted. Our sense of consumption is insatiable when we are constantly being targeted, we lose a sense of privacy when we are constantly being watched, and, as Joseph Turrow also discussed, and we can also be targets of **digital social discrimination**. Digital social discrimination, which is the idea that companies can take digital information and make inferences of what kind of ads are suitable for the individual consumer, they target only certain ads, discounts, and such (2012). Advertisers then think of that individual only in a certain way, and may even target ads that may have negative connotations, such as getting out of debt ads, weight loss, and such. Consumers are being categorized, and because of the categories they are being targeted by certain ads, which perhaps sell a good that is not appropriate, and denied others because of assumptions being made by the online information gathered on that individual. This is why it is important to have some sort of regulatory system overseeing the structure and ownership of media. U. S. government plays only a small role in determining who owns the media, and only regulates it minimally, and the power of the U. S. media that uses the market research to produce products reaches us not just here in the United States, but also has a global impact. Because of the United States’ **cultural imperialism**, where American styles in fashion and food, as well as media far, dominate the global market, our versions of the â€Å"good life† are influenced on parts of the world, as discussed in Richard Campbell’s â€Å"Media Economics and the Global Marketplace†, (p 411). Our ‘cultural dumping’ of exporting U. S. media can influence other countries societal value systems, development of original local products, and abandon their own rituals to adopt American tastes. In reality, the power behind these large media researchers, marketers, producers, and distributors, who are often the owned by the same company, is astounding and influences not only our lives as an individual, but also has the potential to influence on a global level. They are able to gather information about individuals, sell it, and categorize as they see fit, leaving us with no sense of privacy, with the goal of selling us as many goods and services as possible until we reach the unattainable â€Å"good life†, which is a vision that they have carefully created. Until we, as consumers, are more aware of how much consumption has taken over our sense of self-worth and satisfaction and how little privacy we have in the new digital age, we will keep trying to buy the â€Å"good life†. ? Merchants of Cool free essay sample Does the restrictive structure of MTV, which limits exposure to a small percentage of artists who have significant corporate backing, mean that someone else is really making music choices for us? Is this kind of narrow control of music inevitable? Contrast the experience of a group like Limp Bizkit, which had corporate backing, to the careers of artists who have remained independent, like Ani DiFranco. (You may make a more modern comparison; just make sure to do your research! ) †¢ Is the mook (the stereotypically crude, adolescent male) real, or just a media construction? How about the midriff (the girl as sex symbol)? Do you know any mooks or midriffs? Do you think you or your friends are influenced by the MTV standard of cool? If so, how? Are there ways to be cool without copying media? How do the mook and midriff stereotypes relate to the corporate interests of the media outlets that perpetuate them (in other words, why these particular stereotypes and not some other stereotype)? †¢ Many media observers have claimed that programs like Beverly Hills 90210 or Dawsons Creek are popular because they are reflective of teen life. We will write a custom essay sample on Merchants of Cool or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In what ways are shows like 90210 and Dawsons Creek reflective of how teenagers really live and in what ways are they distortions? Do these shows mirror the way you live? (Again, you may use more contemporary shows like Jersey Shore, Gossip Girl, True Blood, etc. ) †¢ Because they do so much research, media makers think they know a lot about you. Consider whether you agree with the following assertion from The Merchants of Cool: No teenager is going to be satisfied with a PG-13 rated horror film. They want to see blood and guts. Thats what they want to do.