Water first Essay Example for Free

Water first Essay The film captures the inspiring story of Charles Banda, a man who has dedicated his life to providing clean and safe water to the people of Malawi. It was this dedication that saw him turn down a political office offer from none other than the country’s president. If you were to ask anyone in Africa what a political appointment means in that side of the world then you would understand the depth of his commitment to provide water to the impoverished citizens of Malawi, a poor sub-Saharan nation of 12 million people with serious water deficiency. However, back to the film, and something one gets from the film is how grave the consequences of not having water are. The film avoids going in to those morbid details that have sometimes characterized films coming out of Africa and other third world countries. The film captures the green countryside showing a large water reservoir then moves on to show girls moving in a brownish environment (a symptom of dryness) carrying heavy loads in their heads- presumably water. Another scene shows a girl drawing water from a shallow well. The water she is drawing cannot be particularly termed as clean by any standards. It may not even qualify to wash utensils in a lower class neighborhood in Harlem. There are many other scenes of interest, but in the overall, the director does present a picture of the situation as it is in a majority of the African nations and other developing countries without taking away too much of their dignity. In addition, the film also presents some crucial numbers such as the number of people lacking clean water. Relationship between water and the millennium development goals (MDGs) The millennium development goals were arrived at in 2000 by a United Nations declaration and it is envisioned that its targets are to be reached by 2015. There are 8 goals in total, and watching the film, I have a clear picture of the central role to be played by water in the attainment of each of the eight goals. There are two women in the film who give us the common diseases in their communities and among them; cholera and dysentery emerge as some of the most common. You will hardly hear of these diseases in the developed world, and even when they happen they do not come in catastrophic proportions. They are mostly isolated. Yet, for African countries such as Malawi, cholera epidemics are not uncommon. Of importance however, is how the girl child is affected by lack of water. Goal three of the millennium development goals is to promote gender equality and empower women. This goal cannot be achieved if the girls are going to continue carrying the heavy loads for long distances as we saw in the film. Unfortunately, most of the countries that are yet to achieve the MDGs are mostly composed of patriarchal societies. These societies hardly value the place of the woman and for that reason; the women are treated as second class citizens. They are mostly confined to lowly duties such as fetching water, cooking, washing utensils and taking care of small children. Men, on the other hand, get to do more valuable jobs, most of which concern taking care of property. In fact, in such societies, women do not own property-they are properties themselves. Most of the roles listed for women will need water to perform and it is therefore incumbent upon them to ensure that they have enough water supplies. Given that scenario, we can then expect that water shortages will hardly affect men because they have no urgent need for it. As we have seen from the film, it is the girl child who is always out in the wild going to fetch water and one wonders whether she has the same chance of doing well in school in comparison with the boys. Long term empowerment of women cannot be achieved if the girls do not have equal access to education like their male counterparts. Of course, much more than the mere provision of water has to be done, but it has to be the starting point. After providing the water, civic education may then be done to get the society to appreciate the role education will play in the life of the girl child. An equally important area covered by the film is goal number two. This is the area of achieving universal primary education. By this declaration, it is hoped that by the year 2015, primary education will be a universal right for every child. For the girl child however, the right to education must go beyond the promulgation of such a policy. They have more specialized needs in terms of sanitation and without water then their school attendance cannot be guaranteed especially during menstruation periods. That means that their rights to education cannot be guaranteed because of water. Has the United Nations been successful? So far, the UN has been involved in a number of initiatives aimed at easing the strain on the available water resources. It has even predicted that future wars will be fought over water resources as opposed to the current wars, most of which are based on territorial disputes. The issue of water shortage cannot be addressed wholly; it requires addressing the underlying issues that cause it. The range of factors may include global warming, desertification and rapid industrialization. Although the UN does not explicitly list water as a basic human right, it does include access to food as a basic human right. It is hard for food to exist without water and it can therefore be assumed that the UN considers water a basic human rights. It cannot however be said that the organization has been successful at addressing the issue of water accessibility in most of the developing countries. The film gives a figure of 1 billion people as being unable to access water because of their inability to afford it yet most governments are busy privatizing the provision of water. An important lesson from the film is that water provision should have a social approach. The waterman in the film has been largely successful in his efforts because his social approach has enabled him to mobilize substantial resources for use in the sinking of wells. The developing countries are clearly not prepared to commercialize the provision of water because a substantial part of its population still does not have access to it. To that end, the UN needs to do more to dissuade these countries from commercializing the provision of such a basic commodity. Would I recommend the film? The situation in Malawi is representative of how the general situation is in most of the developing countries and especially those in Africa. I would recommend the film to anyone interested in getting a feel of what the average person in a country without water is going through. Those of us in the developed countries take too many things for granted. Many cannot fathom life without the running water or electricity. Many of those in the developed world get to learn about the problems facing other citizens of the world from national geographic channels or Hollywood movies such as blood diamonds. Although they are made in Africa or whichever continent, their objectives are mainly commercial and may not therefore, have the patience or motivation to develop a wholesome picture of the situation. The film attempts to give a balanced view of the situation without having to apportion blame, either to the government or the communities. It simply calls our attention to the problems existing in these countries and leaves the rest to our own judgments. I therefore propose the film to anyone intent on understanding the development needs in these countries. Works Cited UNDP. Millennium Development Goals. 05 Apr 2010 http://www. undp. org/mdg/basics. shtml.

Artificial Intelligence Essay -- Essays Papers

Artificial Intelligence Research Paper Genesis, creation, the very beginning; from his inception, man has endeavored to control, to name, to create ultimately in his own image as he was created from God. Man forges his own destiny from the coals of his imagination and the raw iron of his will to create. His tools have changed as time has passed, but his desire, his fire to create; to change his world has not. Time and technology can temper mans creativity, but the desire burns as strong today as ever. Art, literature, and technology; be it paint, paper or steel mans creativity is manifest in everything we do. The crowning jewel for man will be to pass on that spark with which he has been entrusted, robotics, genetic engineering, and their ilk have been trying to create new life from the raw tools with which man is so proficient. It can be said that as Prometheus took fire from the heavens to give to man, so shall man give fire of another kind, and be it biological or made from the cold steel and silicon gateways through which we now travel man will at last, have his legacy. There is a caveat however, with knowledge comes change, with creation comes difference, and with difference comes fear, hatred and discrimination. People have forever shunned that which they do not understand, that which is different from the face they see in the mirror in the morning. Since initial forays into the AI field in 1950 there have been philosophical as well as technical concerns. As technology advanced and the concept of a machine that â€Å"thinks† became more and more plausible the philosophy became more apparent. The basic problem we are confronted with is: Can machines think? In his book entitled Philosophical perspectives in artificial intelligence, Martin Ringle calls for â€Å" a logical and semantic analysis of the concepts of ‘thought’, ‘intelligence’, ‘consciousness’, and ‘machine’, rather than an empirical assessment of computer behaviour† (hjhjh,999,2000). Thusly from its birthing AI has been regarded as an unknown, a concept that by its very name challenges nearly every norm and convention we have as individuals and as a society. Thusly because of its inherent alien nature artificial life will be subject to the same prejudices as race, gender and religion, once it is integrated into society and assumes roles associated with humans. As we vent... ...eality—a paradigm in which both human and computer share a real physical space within which to make hand gestures, facial displays, body movements, and real physical objects that can be passed back and forth between the real and virtual world† Scholars have long been trying to quantify the actual differences between â€Å"brain† and â€Å"mind† as well as the degree to which psychology can be converted into a physical science. Society as an entity seems unwilling to make leaps of judgment or significant paradigm shifts dealing with such concepts. The realms of the physical and the more nebulous sciences of the mind must for the time being remain separate. Once we begin to mesh technology more closely with ourselves as humans we can begin to accept it as a part of ourselves and as a part of our society. While today we do not possess the technology to achieve a truly sentient machine we cannot because of that speculate too deeply as to the results of such an achievement. The image of a cold â€Å"Terminator† style robot or perhaps HAL from 2001 is perhaps the exact opposite of the eventual reality. We cannot form opinions without the proper grounding in science, philosophy and indeed, ourselves.

“Beyond thee Influence” by K. Ketcham

The book â€Å"Beyond thee Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism† by Katherine Ketcham is devoted to the problem of alcoholism and the author ties to fill in the gaps in knowledge. The author discusses current theory of alcoholism, defines its causes and consequences and says that alcoholism is disease, not weakness of willpower. The book is divided into three sections: â€Å"The Problem†, â€Å"The Solution†, â€Å"The Future†. Evidently, the firsts section discusses the origins of alcoholism, defines the terms and describes what is going on in the body.The section provides details overview of three mechanisms involved in the metabolism of alcohol. The author involves also brain damage and dependence on alcohol, as well as three stages of alcoholism – early, middle and late. The second section is devoted to finding solutions to fight alcoholic dependency. Ketcham talks about diagnosing an alcoholic, intervention and treatment options. S pecial attention is paid to the Sundown M being a famous treatment of alcoholism that helped more than 30,000 alcoholics.Furthermore, the role of family involvement is underlined. Finally, the third section how it is possible to reduce the impact of alcohol and what changes to implement to decrease the rates. The author discusses alcohol industry, advertising, etc. According to author, alcohol’s effect can be changed through penalties for drunk driving, higher liquor taxes and more informative education programs for children, teenagers and adults. Moreover, the section involves personal stories about devastating effect of alcohol consumption on future life.It is necessary to mention that the book is well-written and well-organized. Despite the fact that discussion of metabolism and cellular interactions are rather difficult for understanding, the whole book id well suited for most teenagers and adults. The style of writing is very elementary and every person with high school education is able to comprehend it. Actually, the book is of great importance for people with drinking problems. References Ketcham, Katherine. (2000). Beyond thee Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism. New York: Bantam Books.

What Is the Plural of Virus

It is common knowledge that the plurals of many words from Latin end in -a or -i.  Data, for instance, is the plural of datum and alumni is the plural of an alumnus. Is the plural of virus viri and if not, why? Neuter and Masculine Nouns ​Latin neuters end in -a in the plural for the nominative and accusative cases: Datum DataSingular Plural The plural of virus is viruses in English—at least at the moment. The virus is a neuter noun in Latin. That means its plural, if there were an attested ancient usage of virus in the plural, would have ended in an -a, because of neuter nouns in (ancient Greek and) Latin end in an -a, in the plural nominative and accusative cases. The example of the plural of datum is a case in point. Since datum is a neuter singular, its plural is data. Since the virus is neuter, vira is a possibility for the nominative/accusative plural. It could not be viri. Second declension masculine nouns end in -i in the nominative plural Alumnus AlumniSingular Plural Viri is the plural of the masculine 2nd declension noun vir, which means man. Vir man is a masculine noun and the -i ending is appropriate for the plural nominative of masculine second declension nouns. The Flexibility of Language Although viruses are probably the best plural for the virus, while viri are currently wrong, languages change. Because of the frequency with which viruses threaten the Internet, and the resultant frequency of articles using various endings on the word virus, we may have a new standard plural for virus before we know it. The Plural of Octopus Octopus comes from the Greek, so the -us ending does not mark a Latin masculine noun of the second declension. The Greek-based plural is octopodes, but like other words taken into English, an -es ending on the singular (octopus octopuses) is acceptable. Octopi is wrong for the plural of octopus, like viri for the plural of virus.