How to Survive Portuguese Taxi Ride :: Free Expository Process Essays

How to Survive Portuguese Taxi Ride Less than twenty-four hours after arriving in Portugal, I was introduced to my first taxi ride. I was traveling with a native Portuguese girl, Sandra Batista. Sandra called a taxi to take us to our home. I hadn't, yet, experienced a taxi ride in Portugal. I had heard how dreadful these rides can be, especially the first time. "Consider yourself forewarned," a friend had cautioned a few minutes before I boarded the plane. He was, of course, referring to the taxi drivers in Portugal. I laughed. "The taxi drivers can't be that bad," I reasoned with him. He laughed. He had the last laugh. In fact, he still laughs about my ignorance. The taxi pulled up and Sandra and I got in. She took the passenger's seat; I sat in the rear. I felt calm. After the first acceleration, that serenity transformed to sheer panic and nausea. I was praying silently as I held on for dear life. Sandra was nonchalant; she animatedly spoke in Portuguese to the driver. The spoken language was foreign to me; her body language was not. She was completely unaffected. Fifteen minutes later we arrived home. "For cars and motorcycles the speed limits are 60 kilometers per hour (37 m.p.h.) in built up areas (city streets)." (Baedeker 388) Our driver was averaging about 90 kilometers per hour (55 m.p.h.). Sandra thanked and tipped our driver. I lost my lunch in the nearest bush. It was my first "near-death experience," as I like to call it; little did I know, I would endure several more experiences similar to this one in the following year and a half, while residing in Portugal. After several months of fearing, my life, followed by vomiting, I decided to create a method for relaxation in the Portuguese taxi. First, give yourself time to prepare for the event. You will need a good amount of time to think about and prepare for your excursion. Meditation is powerful. In Lamaze classes, for example, you are told to have a calm and peaceful setting to think about when labor pains get climactic and intense; the Portuguese taxi ride qualifies as "intense." Prepare your mind by thinking of a peaceful scene; this scene could be a beach or a forest setting. Pondering a roller coaster ride would not be a good idea. Thinking through an entire calm setting can put your mind into "relax" mode.

Hunting and mindset Essay

I believe if you have a fixed mindset it’s never too late to change and adapt to a growth mindset. The growth mindset will lead you to try new things but a fixed mindset will stop you in your tracks causing you only to fail. The type of mindset you have is very important because it will influence your life in many ways. What is the difference between a growth and fixed mindset? Well a growth or positive mindset leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, and learn from criticism, and find lessons in the success of others. As a result you will reach even higher levels of achievement. A fixed or negative mindset leads to a tendency to look smart at any cost. Therefore a tendency to avoid challenges, give up easily, see effort as fruitless or worse, ignore useful negative feedback, and feel threatened by the success of others. As a result you will plateau early and achieve less than your full potential. Some of the ways a positive mind set affected my life happened early in my life. For example when I was ten years old I went to camp seven hills and took on archery. It was really hard but I learned it very quickly and never gave up. When I got home from camp I asked my dad if I could go hunting with him once I was old enough and he told me girls cant hunt we are too weak. Because I had a growth mindset I never gave up I practiced without my father every day for three years. I got my hunting license when I was thirteen and went with my friend mike and his parents to their cabin in Olean NY. It was really cold out that day I remember shaking while perched up in my tree I wanted to give up so bad but I wanted to prove my dad wrong and show him that girls can hunt. Finally a 8 point buck walks in my range I got my bow ready and breathing slowly I pull back the arrow aim for the kill spot let go WAMM right threw his lungs. I was so excited knowing I just proved to my father that I can do anything I put my mind to. After I turned fifteen I started to develop more of a fixed mindset towards school which affected my life in many ways. It all started with failing one test and my life spiraled downhill from there. It was 2003 and I thought I was on top of the world I could pass any test without studying and I thought I knew everything, but what I didn’t know is how this stuck up attitude was going to change my life in a huge way. I walked into my class head in the clouds sad down and looked at my test â€Å"spelling ha this is going to be easy† I muttered. I flew through the test handed it in and walked out. The next day I got to class and my teacher handed me my test my jaw dropped â€Å"this has to be a mistake I couldn’t of got only a 63% on my test you had to grade it wrong† I yelled to the teacher. She gave me detention for yelling at her in class but I didn’t bother going I was so mad. I started skipping school and going to parties because at this point I started not to care anymore. When I got home one day my dad grounded me because the school called him and mentioned my behavior to him. I was so mad I ran away from home and started drinking and doing drugs. This caused me to get put in a detention center when I was sixteen and when I got out I moved in with my mother because she didn’t care what I did. Now twenty-three I have started to work at getting back into a positive mindset so I can be a good role model for my daughter. In order for someone to adopt a growth mindset, they would have to care about what their mindset is, understand why they act the way they do, and understand that they can change, and the reason for change, which would be to become a better person, which they would also have to care about. Our mindset will affect us in many ways and it can also affect the people around us which are why we should try to keep a growth mindset.

Spending Money on Fashion

Spending Money on Fashion Every year, all around the world, many people spend their money for fashion to have the best look and attract others' attention to themselves. They might prefer to buy classic clothes or fads, but which one is better? To answer this question, individuals should think of different things that might affect their mind about fashion. First thing that comes to most of the people's mind is money. Everyone can be the best-looked errors, but they might need a lot of money to buy the best clothes.People cannot spend all of their money on their clothes; because fashion is not the only thing that is important, so the best logical way to solve this problem is to buy the things, which they can be sure that they will wear that more than once and it will remain for them and they did not spend their money on garbage. Many people may prefer to be up to date and wear the clothes which are trendy. This type of people used to wear fads.Fad is an intense and widely shared enthus iasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; it is a craze. These people are brave; because they are taking risk and buying something that might not be trendy in such a close time. They do not care about this, and they fearlessly buy fads. On the other hand, there is another group of individuals; this set of people use to wear clothes which they can make sure they can wear them later, whenever they want, and t is not a periodic looking.This set, used to wear classics. Classics are Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind. In my opinion, these individuals are deciding logically and they are actually thinking of their money. Because they are having a chic look by buying classics and at the same time, they are saving their money because they can wear their clothes at any time and they can be sure that their clothes passed the time exam.

Ethics and the Internet Duty

Ethics and the Internet Duty Ethics and the Internet: Duty-Based Ethical Theory Essay Ethics and the Internet Duty- based ethical theory (Deontology) Introduction Duty-based ethical theory is also called deontology. Deon means duty or obligation in Greek word. German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) wrote a critique of pure reason in 1781. He believed that there are higher principles that are good in every time, everywhere and in very situation. According to him, morality must be based on duties obligation that humans have to one another. So morality has nothing to do with promotion of happiness. He followed two distinct principles, one is we have a rational nature that distinguishes us from animals and other is human being are ends in themselves not means to end. At the time of an ethical dilemma, we should ask ourselves that, "to whom do I owe duty and what duty do I owe them". Kant deontology has often been associated with what is called the good will. He believed that if we all human being followed his categorical imperative; we would have genuinely moral people. In 1930, Ross argues that when two or more moral duties clash, we have to look at individual situation to see which duty is overriding, that also depend upon individuals circumstance. He also provides a list of prime duties such as honesty, benevolence and justice etc. In today's context, The Internet and other communication technologies have created unprecedented opportunities to share information, opening up paths for pro-democracy groups, activists, journalists and individuals around the world to organize, and hold their governments accountable. But new technological tools are vulnerable to exploitation by governments aiming to crush dissent and deny human rights. All governments struggle to balance a need to deal with serious issues such as security, hate speech, and child safety for their citizens but in repressive societies, these concerns often serve as convenient pretext to engage in censorship or surveillance of the Internet that violates the rights and privacy of users and threatens the free flow of information. humanrightsfirst.org/our-work/business-and-human-rights/internet-freedom-and-privacy/ Filtering the Internet to stop potentially harmful or illegal material from reaching the general population is a controversial subject, and one that has received considerable attention this year after the UK appeared to be edging ever closer to implementing such a scheme.Other countries have been considering filtering Internet content too, and it so happens that today, Australia has decided not to go ahead with a mandatory filter, while Egypt has done the complete opposite.We’ll start in Australia, where an all-encompassing Internet filter was put forward in 2007, but the plan stagnated for several years. Today, Australia’s Communications Minister has announced the government will no longer pursue its â€Å"mandatory filtering legislation,† but will instead use a list created by Interpol to block the worst offenders.According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the major Internet providers have agreed to this, and it will see 90-percent of Internet subscribers without access to those sites featured by Interpol. Initially, the mandatory filter would have blocked sites with illegal sexual practices, sexual viol ence, drug use and those which â€Å"advocated terrorist activity.† The communications regulator would have also populated the list with sites

Bullets as Marks of Punctuation Definition

Bullets as Marks of Punctuation Definition A mark of punctuation () commonly used in business writing and technical writing to introduce items in a list (or series) is known as a bullet point. As a general rule, when creating lists, use bullet points to identify items of equal importance; use numbers for items with different degrees of value, listing the most important one first. Examples and Observations: Bullets () mark items in a list. If a sentence follows the bullet, place a period at its end. Words and phrases that follow bullets need no ending punctuation. It is never necessary to place the conjunction and before the [last] item in a bulleted list.(M. Strumpf and A. Douglas, The Grammar Bible. Owl, 2004)The idea is simply to end by design rather than default, and any of the following practices will help:In your notes, keep track of potentially dramatic closing materials.Hold one of your best examples or anecdotes for the closing.Allow space for a developed ending.Commit to a closing worthy of the piece.Avoid the drift toward a clichà ©d ending.(Arthur Plotnik, Spunk Bite. Random House, 2005)Tips on Using BulletsWhen you dont mean to imply that one thing in a list is any more important than anotherthat is, when youre not signaling a rank orderand when there is little likelihood that the list will need to be cited, you might use bullet dots. They enhance readability by emphasizi ng salient points. . . .Here are . . . more tips on using bullets well: (1) end your introduction with a colon, which serves as an anchor; (2) keep the items grammatically parallel (see PARALLELISM).(Bryan A. Garner, Garners Modern American Usage. Oxford Univ. Press, 2003) ParallelismThe most common problem with bulleted lists is an absence of parallel construction. If the first bulleted item is a declarative sentence in the present tense, the rest should also be declarative sentences in the present tense. Each item must be a continuation of the introductory sentence . . ..(Bill Walsh, Lapsing Into a Comma. Contemporary Books, 2000)Using Bullets Effectively- The most effective communication at work is not the bulky memo, but the bullet-riddled PowerPoint presentation, which people from varied nationalities can absorb in very little time.(A. Giridharadas, Language as a Blunt Tool of the Digital Age. The New York Times, Jan. 17, 2010)- For public speakers, bullet points serve as prompts to extemporaneous speech, and are often more useful than a complete text. On the printed page, bullets break up the gray, as we say in the world of publishing. They give the eye relief.The key to making good use of bullet points is to make sure the elements on your list h ang together. If youre writing about Six Things You Should Do Before Shopping for a Good Used Car, make sure you give your readers or listeners six things they should do, not four things plus a snarky observation about used-car salesmen and a nostalgic whine about what a gem your old Mustang was. . . .If your material isnt really a collection of comparable elements, then bullets are probably not the best presentation. After all, a paragraph lets you mix things up a bit: a declarative sentence here, a rhetorical question there, maybe even a brief list. A paragraph is better than bullets for putting elements into more complex relationships.(Ruth Walker, We Speak Nowadays in a Hail of Bullets. The Christian Science Monitor, February 9, 2011)

Searle's Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Searle's Theory - Essay Example This action occurs in a perfect manner such that the people outside the room begin to believe that actually the person understands Chinese. The same experiment is performed by a computer that applies syntax program to manipulate Chinese Language despite the fact that the computer may not comprehend the language. The Theory in regard to Syntax Manipulation To begin with, Searle does not show anywhere in his theory that Syntax manipulation does not involve any form of thinking nor does he suggest anywhere that Syntax manipulation entails thinking. However, a clear conclusion that can be derived from his argument is that the fact that a computer can manipulate certain functions to produce desired results is not a reason to conclude that it can understand certain issues. Personal Opinion in relation to Searle’s Theory Taking a careful analysis of Searle’s argument, it is quite evident that his argument is correct. To begin with, any computerized technology utilized in the c ontemporary generation is made and designed and by man. This entails that any application in the computer, is designed in a manner that is satisfy specific human needs. Moreover, the manner by, which this computers satisfy or perform their functions is designed and guided by human efforts meaning all the information contained in any computer program emanates from human brain, basically human intellect. The fact that all the information contained in a computer emanates from human mind is evidence that computers are generally designed to process already existing information. However, the speed at, which they process this information is what exhibits a difference with humans. Humans have the knowledge, but their levels of information processing are relatively slower and vary from one to another. Therefore, Searle’s argument those computers are only capable of manipulating syntax information, but cannot understand certain information is correct. Another reason that may lead to a conclusion that Searle’s argument is correct is the fact that computers cannot process information without the guidance of human. Computerized gadgets i.e. calculators require human efforts to provide desired results. Human has to feed in information in the computer in order to get results. In this process, the results provided are performed by already stored programs, basically providing data that has already recorded. This is a great evidence indicating that computers do not understand information i.e. language but rather provides information in regard to already stored data that are manipulated through a syntax process. Issues that are not exhibited in Searle’s Argument Searle’s presents a very imperative argument that requires critical thinking. In his argument, he does not support it by indicating the actual difference that occurs between information processed by humans and computers. He does not recognize the fact that computers have a higher information p rocessing speed as compared to human beings. Additionally, he does not recognize the fact that information provided by computers is usually generated from already stored data that are basically manipulated through syntax processes. These are substantial arguments that he should have added to back-up his theory. Additionally, Searle should also argue that computers a

Analysis of Sustainable Development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analysis of Sustainable Development - Assignment Example With modern cities being developed on a daily basis, natural factors need to be protected. It is for this reason sustainable development was established (Dearden & Bruce, 2005). Urbanization is the development of urban areas to more advanced infrastructure to suit the existence of human life. Urbanization is mostly influenced by rural-urban migration which has been on the increases in modern years. Urbanization is characterized by huge population to both major and minor cities around the world. With the huge population, the development of these cities has become the major priority in order to make life in these cities comfortable to humans. However, different from sustainable development, urbanization is not environment cautious as technological advancement is its first priority. According to Dearden & Bruce (2005), urbanization only aim is to advance cities and suburbs to suit human existence. Urbanization comes with a lot of problems, especially environmental problems. In the moder n century, many conferences have been convened to address global warming. Global warming is a major factor that comes with urbanization. In urban cities, pollution is a common factor. Pollution from factories and vehicles cause global warming. Urbanization has also led to congestion of urban cities. In sustainable development, there are policies which ensure this type of development is successful. ... With sustainable development problems caused by urbanization can be easily solved. For instance, sustainable development is against emission of waste from factories. In sustainable development, there is the sensitization on recycling waste rather than emission. Additionally, sustainable development suburbs are developed which reduces the rural-urban migration rates. In this case, there will be less congestion in big cities and the growth rate of a whole country can be standard and effective. Lack of urban space hinders the development of a particular area. In many major cities, the development of new projects requires the destruction of already existing projects which is not appropriate. In a new advancement in terms of development, urban space is very important. This problem hinders the success of the younger generation. The future generation will have to use what was developed in the past. According to Dearden & Bruce (2005), this problem will make the future generation dependent o n already existing infrastructure. The authors further argue that the lack of urban space will be the greatest hindrance to innovation and modern technological advancements. Lack o urban space will also lead to the development of substandard buildings. With more population flocking to urban areas, there is an urgent need for shelter and housing. If these populations lack appropriate space for construction of shelter, they will find the least available location and space to put up sub-standard structures. This scenario is evident in many African nations whereby slums are being put around major cities. These slums hold urban dwellers that live below the daily minimum wage.  Ã‚