TheZambani

Depression, Prozac Side Effects, Serotonin Neurotransmitter, Discovering Psychology

2011-07-26T13:23:00.006-05:00

Prozac

Prozac, also known as Fluoxetine is an antidepressant medication. Generally antidepressants are used to alleviate symptoms of depression such as “suicidal thoughts, dejection, hopelessness” and various other disruptions in the body’s normal functioning, like “sleep, energy and appetite” (Discovering Psychology 5th ed). According to Wikipedia, Prozac is prescribed for the treatment of “major depression (including pediatric depression), obsessive-compulsive disorder (in both adult and pediatric populations), bulimia nervosa, panic disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.”

Prozac affects the neurotransmitter serotonin, by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain. The functions of serotonin involve control of appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, mood, behavior, cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, endocrine regulation, and depression.

By keeping serotonin in the synapses longer, Prozac gives serotonin more time to exert an effect in the body. Prozac is a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI); it blocks the reuptake of serotonin into the terminals, thus leaving serotonin in the synapse for a longer time period than usual. Because the serotonin stays longer in the synapse, it will work on/ alleviate the above symptoms and importantly the symptoms associated with depression. In effect the Prozac acts as an antidepressant medication.

Agonist drugs are “drugs that promote/enhance the operation of a neurotransmitter”. From that definition of agonist drugs, Prozac can be classified as an agonist because it enhances the operation of serotonin in the body.

The text “Discovering Psychology” mentions that Prozac was “specifically designed to alleviate depressive symptoms with fewer side effects than earlier antidepressants” but I stumbled upon interest statistics on eMedTV.com which showed a (fairly) large number of side effects. The most common side effects of Prozac included: Insomnia, in up to 33 of percent of users; Nausea, up to 29 percent; Weakness, up to 21 percent; Headache, up to 21 percent; Diarrhea, up to 18 percent; Loss of appetite, up to 17 percent; Drowsiness, up to 17 percent; Anxiety, up to 15 percent; Nervousness, up to 14 percent; Dry mouth, up to 12 percent; Decreased sex drive, up to 11 percent; Indigestion, up to 10 percent; Impotence, up to 7 percent; Ejaculation problems, up to 7 percent. I think side effects, in this case, such as insomnia, anxiety and decreased sex drive are serious side effects because they themselves are causes of depression. The list of side effects goes to show that some care must be made to reading and understanding the effects of Prozac before taking it.

Despite the side effects that come with Prozac, the text “Discovering Psychology” mentions that “by the early 1990’s an estimated 1 million prescriptions per month were being made for Prozac”, indicating that Prozac remains a popular drug, and must be functioning well as an antidepressant. Depression is a silent killer because almost everyone at some point in their lives goes through some period of depression, however; when depression causes sickness and prevents the human body from function to its maximum potential, it is necessary to alleviate it.

Judging from the number of prescriptions made, I think treatments involving Prozac seem to be working successfully.

See also on Science For Today

Never Let Me Down By J. Ivy on HBO Def Poetry

2011-07-25T04:46:00.000-05:00

Google toolbar for Firefox 5 Discontinued

2011-07-24T12:10:00.003-05:00

I'm not a computer whiz, and I dont claim to be one. Im just an ordinary guy that uses my computer a lot. yesterday I was on the computer and as usual there were pop-ups on my screen reminding me to update this and that. Well sometimes I ignore these reminders, but yesterday I said what the hell and decided to update my Firefox to firefox 5. After I finished I returned to my homepage but there was something missing!! My google toolbar was gone and most importantly all my bookmarks were gone!! "no need to panic, if i jus search here and there I can restore my google toolbar"...well not quite, I read on techie-buzz.com that Google Toolbar For Firefox 5 and Future Versions Will Be Discontinued... Amit Banerjee's article went on to read

"Yesterday, Google announced that they are ending support for Labs because the company wants to focus their resources and efforts on existing products. Now Google has announced that they are ending support for Google Toolbar for Firefox 5 and future versions."

"Other Toolbar features such as Gmail notifications, page translations and auto fill options are also close to dead. Firefox users who previously enjoyed using Google Toolbar, have to use a different add-on for each of them.Being a Google Chrome user, I am a bit surprised on Google’s decision to phase out Google Toolbar for Firefox 5 and future versions. How are they going to track user behavior, site speed and other usability tests for Firefox users? Being a data driven company, why do they no longer want the data? A major portion of the Internet population still uses Firefox, I hope Google is well aware of that.

Or is it “Let’s push the market share of Chrome by killing our features on competing products”?

Read the whole article here...

African Orchestra (In My Head)

2011-07-23T03:04:00.007-05:00

African Orchestra (In My Head) by thezambani

I composed this piece last year. This is me having fun with an Acoustic Guitar and a drum, nothin else. Im still learning how to play, so this is early days... I'm experimenting with Sound Cloud too so I was in a bit of a rush to post this. I know its not the kind of sound you are used to.

KHAN ACADEMY + DNA Tutorial Review

2011-07-22T20:30:00.002-05:00

What is Khan Academy?

"The KHAN ACADEMY is a not-for-profit educational organization, created in 2006 by Harvard graduate educator Salman Khan. With the stated mission of "providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere", the website supplies a free online collection of more than 2,400 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics and computer science" -Wikipedia

How it works for students

"Students can make use of our extensive video library, practice exercises, and assessments from any computer with access to the web." (Khan Academy)

My experience with Khan Academy

Although I haven’t studied DNA in a college level class I learnt quite a lot from the DNA Tutorial video. Having someone talk you through the information and draw diagrams makes learning easier than just reading from a book and well the replay button provides certain advantages over the classroom setting. I like that the tutor took time to simplify the material so that the basic concepts were easy to grasp. The tutor explains a couple of times that the video is a “gross simplification”, but nevertheless he covers the basic principles and ideas like transcription, translation, mRNA, tRNA and ATCG and this means people taking different levels of biology can still find this video useful for either revision or for an introduction course. A lot of important terminology is missing from these videos and because of this my understanding is still at its beginning so I think the videos are okay as a supplementary or introductory source of information which is great.

A Summary/Review of a DNA video tutorial I watched on Khan Academy

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the acid that codes our genetic make-up and instructions of heredity, it has a double helix structure formed when two DNA complementary strands -helices running anti parallel to each other are joined together by hydrogen bonds. DNA is located in the cell nucleus. Both strands have a phosphate deoxyribose backbone formed by the phosphate and sugar (ribose) molecules. There are 4 different molecules called bases that make up DNA and these are Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine; Adenine pairs with Thymine (A-T) and Guanine with Cytosine (G-C). Different species have different numbers of base pairs encoding information for example the 3 billion base pairs encode the human genome.
Before encoding takes place the strands split up so that the hydrogen bonds break and the adenines detach from the thymines, and the guanines detach from the cytosines. After this, each strand attaches to messenger RNA (mRNA) and duplication of the strands has occurs at this stage. The mRNA has a uracil molecule instead of a thymine molecule, so pairing with the mRNA is such that Adenine attaches to Uracil (A-U) and Guanine to Cytosine (G-C). This process is known as transcription. The mRNA is transcribed into proteins and leaves the nucleus.

In a chain of bases on the mRNA such as UACCAUAACCAU, three bases (UAC) or (CAU) etc form codons. Different combinations of these bases (codons) can code for one of 20 specific amino acids. Transfer RNA (tRNA) attaches to the mRNA molecules by forming hydrogen bonds and the amino acids which had been coded for detach from the tRNA and join to each other forming long multiple chains with complex structures and different shapes.

These long amino acid chains are proteins, and the shape of the proteins formed is very important. The shape of insulin which is made up of 50 amino acids is different from that of immunoglobulin which is made up of 1500 amino acids. To coded for since each amino acid requires one codon (3 base pairs)- these base pairs make up genes, for example chromosome number in humans contains about 220million bases pairs which basically coil on each other to form different structures.

FAQ's about Khan Academy here...

Lyfe - Must Be Nice (LIVE)

2011-07-19T13:28:00.000-05:00

Bill Withers - Grandma's Hands

2011-07-15T02:43:00.000-05:00

"acquaintance with letters"...Pt.4

2011-06-08T04:08:00.000-05:00

You were getting over me
But now i've made a return
Enticing you with an irrisistable smile;
Delicious.
Now your heart is pouring out again
But only for so long...how long?
I didnt mean to begin this rush inside you
But i couldnt resist your burning affection
With time you will get over me, i will get over you
But right now the love is trickling...
Oh Let it flow, at least once more?

There's a God!

2011-06-02T04:00:00.001-05:00

A friend wrote a story for an english class we had together. She took time to open up some painful wounds, just so that she could pass her story onto someone else. I doubt she really cared about the grade, im sure that wasnt the ultimate prize she hoped to receive for pouring her tears onto a page in writing. She wrote about how her grandmother got Alzheimers disease. As the days went by, her grandmother began to forget her own life.... In the end my friends grandmother couldnt recognise her own family and the pain seeped into the whole family. I was touched. I knew about Alzheimer's Disease, but reading a friend's experience and learning her struggle really humbled me. I felt sympathy for my friend..but deep thoughts have nagged me ever since.

My friend brought to light a reality that i tend to overlook, we have no control of our lives. Its not my brilliance that keeps me alive. I dont weave my way around the worlds problems and conquer these problems and obstacles by myself. Im no magician tricking my way into success. And I surely wont trick my way into heaven. The cogs on the wheels of my turning life were put there by God. The very breath that God placed in my soul, he can take away faster than my eyes can blink. And how humbling it feels when that feeling of being vulnerable to the hands of the Almighty smacks you right in the face and stops you in the tracks of your foolish life...

Idols East Africa winner ERIC MOYO

2011-05-31T16:35:00.003-05:00

Take your mind back a few years....to 2008.....sometime in the month of June: Eric Moyo has just won the
M-Net Idols (East and Southern Africa) singing contest held in Nairobi, Kenya...raising the Zimbabwean flag up high in the process, and putting his name in the history books forever. The picture above shows one of his prizes. he also received a plasma tv and a one year contract with sony.

Fast forward to 2011... I was searching for some kind of feedback on Eric Moyo and I found this video...I've heard much criticism about most idols competitions that they usually fail to produce tangible continuity; how most contestants disappear, and dont really live up to the expectations of viewers etc and well that their albums (if any are produced) dont sell as much as people would have hoped and expected. So much talent is found in these competitions like "The Voice", "Britain's Got Talent", "America's Got Talent" yet the "auto-tuners" seem to find better success in the mainstream market? true or not true these are thoughts i've heard and read. If the negative criticism is accurate then what's the point of having these shows and competitions? are sponsors really after searching for talent and grooming it or the real aim is advertizing and marketing.

Arms Races -An ongoing battle against diseases...

2011-05-20T11:39:00.007-05:00

The toxic Oregon rough-skinned newt is one of the most deadly creatures on earth producing enough poison to kill a large group of humans. The oregon rough-skinned newt is very small, so how did it evolve to produce so much poison? The newt is the prey of the garter snake (predator), the only animal on earth able to withstand its poison. There is a constant battle in nature between predator and prey. As predators evolve to develop better means to improve their chances of survival, prey also evolve better mechanisms and traits of protection. As long the garter snake is able to withstand the poison, the newt will evolve stronger poison. This idea of arms races between predator and prey is applicable to all species including human beings.

An interesting explanation of the evolution of skin color in humans is a great example. Because many parts in Africa are hot and directly affected by sunlight, Africans have evolved to have a darker pigment for protect from harmful UV radiation. The MC1R gene that is responsible for pigment in fur, plumage, skin etc is more abundant in Africans who are more likely to be affected by sunlight than inhabitants in colder climates where there is less exposure to sunlight. “Melanin synthesis is induced by ultraviolet irradiation” and this melanin acts a natural sunscreen and because of its function as a natural sunscreen, “selection has maintained high levels of melanin production”.

A more important example of human’s arms race, is the arms race against germs. Human’s primary battle is against disease. As human’s try to fight disease with medicines and antibiotics, disease causing bacteria evolve to become stronger and more resistant by constantly mutating. From this knowledge it is easy to see that the fight against disease, is a fight humans are likely to never win. But humans also evolve and have mutations that help to protect against disease. Sickle cell anaemia is one good case of a valuable mutation in humans. The sickle cell is resistant to malaria causing parasite, and so people living in malaria prone areas have evolved sickle cells and indeed “high frequencies of sickle cell” are evident in highly prone malarial zones. Humans continue to try fight malaria which kills almost 2 million people every year but malaria becomes more resistant to drugs. Another disease humans are fighting is the HIV virus which mutates so fast that it is hard to find a single drug that can stop the virus from replicating. Since it is more difficult for a disease to mutate and resist several drugs at the same time, medical research is going in the direction to introduce several drugs at once to infected patients.

The arms race against cancer is one that definitely needs to be fought with multiple drugs. In the case of cancer “some combinations of mutations bestow selective advantages upon cells that enable them to proliferate unchecked”. Basically cells begin to divide and mutate in certain parts of the body forming tumors. These cells may spread to different parts of the body in which case the cancer spreads and becomes worse. Some cancer genes may become resistant to drugs and this is an example of a deadly arms race. By predicting rates of mutation in cancer cells doctors are trying to “wipe-out” cancers before resistance evolves, but only time will tell if humans will win this race.

All these different kinds of mutations are examples of evolution which still depend on chance, selection and time. Mutation will always occur in both predator and prey, hence maintaining a “battle field” and causing ongoing arms races.

(works cited: "The Making of the Fittest" by Sean B. Carroll)

A Folktale... "The Rabbit and the Crocodile"

2011-05-03T21:08:00.000-05:00

One day the rabbit and its family had gone to a party. After
the party there was heavy
rain. They came to a river and the river was infested with crocodiles.
So the wife says to the husband “we cannot stay here. How do we cross
the river? Go and talk to the crocodiles.”
So the father goes and meets the crocodile.
“Ah ! Mr. Crocodile. I see 5 of you here. Are you the only ones who are there?”
“What does it matter to you”
“Look. You can see us here a family. There are many more of us coming
out from there. I think
we are more than you are.”
“No, no, no, you cannot be more than we are.”
“Are you sure? Can you line up and see if you can reach that bank of the river.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Line up”.
So they lined up.
Then the rabbit said “Sometimes I am weak in counting, so I want each
one of us to count so that
when we reach the end we want to see if we all have the same number.
Agreed, said the crocodile.
So the father walked on the backs of the crocodiles, counting all the
way, followed by the others,
wife and children and thus they all crossed the river.
Then the crocodile said, “now you see how many we are?”
The father said, “Yes, I see how many fools you are.”

DreamWorks Animation SKG

2011-05-03T11:21:00.002-05:00

""Dreamworks is ranked 10th in best companies in 2011""

The purpose of this research is to give the reader a better understanding of the DreamWorks Animation Companies history, present opportunity, and future goals.

DreamWorks Animation SKG is a growing corporation full of job opportunity and a bright future.

Cartoons are a huge part of the American culture. No matter the age we can all recall a cartoon character that had an impact on our childhood. DreamWorks is working to create the next generation of cartoons.
DreamWorks Animation SKG is a growing corporation full of job opportunity and a bright future.

How DreamWorks came to be...

DreamWorks started in 1980 when Carl Rosendahl founded Pacific Data Images. For a good part of the '80s, PDI created mostly just animated logos and worked on some television advertisements. PDL’s first interaction with film was
contributing special effects to James Cameron's landmark Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen founded DreamWorks SKG (the first initials of their last names) in 1994 and the two companies, PDI and SKG, eventually formed a co-production deal in 1996 which led to their first big-screen animated feature the next year, the CGI comedy Antz.

In 2000, DreamWorks SKG officially split off from the DreamWorks live-action studio, forming their own business division called DreamWorks Animation.

That future was cemented in May of 2001 when they created the movie Shrek forever changed the animation game.

Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and made almost half a billion dollars worldwide.

Shrek 2 debuted in 2004, producing the highest opening weekend for an animated feature ever. In fact, Shrek 2 is the seventh most successful movie of all time overall, making $920 million worldwide. It's also the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Since Shrek was first created DreamWorks has taken off.

DreamWorks Present.

The size of the company is relatively small there are only 1,994 employees in America and 14 outside of the U.S. DreamWorks is growing. In the past year 180 new jobs have been created.Making a 10% in job growth. Pay and benefits are generous.
Most common job (salaried)Software Engineer: 112,060
Most common job (hourly) Animator:118,670
Paid Sabbaticals
Onsite fitness center and subsidized gym membership.

Equality Job opportunity:

24% minorities and 29% women
Has nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. Offers domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples.

With such great job opportunity and expansion the future looks bright.

DreamWorks Future

Helen O’Hara ( writer for Empire magazine) interviewed Jeffery Katzenberg DreamWorks (Chief executive officer and director) Helen asked, “How about the future? You’ve got a really varied slate of things in development, things like Alma and Truckers. Are you continually trying to reinvent the studio?”

Mr. Katzenberg answered, “Yeah, because we make 3 movies a year now, or 2 next year, 3 the following year. We feel a high degree of ambition to have diversity in those ideas, so we actually think a lot about making sure that these things are different enough and unique enough from one another and from other things being done, so that going to these movies is still a treat and is still an event. The world we live in today, there are 6 or 7 of these animated films’ and when I say 6 or 7, I mean the big, high end films that we do, that Pixar does, that Blue Sky does, Despicable Me, you know a year. There used to be two. So if we want people to still consider these things events, then we have to make sure they’re special.”

Five more Pandas and Two more Dragon movies.

In the interview Katzenberg said, “Yeah, there’s probably a fourth there. Kung Fu Panda actually has 6 chapters to it, and we’ve mapped that out over the years. How to Train Your Dragon is at least three: maybe more, but we know there are a least three chapters to that story. There are actually 8 books."

*By "The Anonymous Author"...*

Work Cited

O'Hara, Helen. "Jeffrey Katzenberg." Empire Magazine | Film Reviews, Movie News and Interviews. 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1130>.

"100 Best Companies to Work For 2011: DreamWorks Animation SKG - DWA - from FORTUNE." Business, Financial, Personal Finance News - CNNMoney.com. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/snapshots/10.html>.

Tallerico, Brian. "History of DreamWorks Animation | UGO.com." Movie News, TV Show Guides, New Video Games, Hero Machine, Cool Stuff - UGO.com. Web. 02 May 2011. <http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17300>.

Dissecting A Cat, Procedure, Tools, Organs

2011-04-21T22:38:00.004-05:00

I wasnt sure what to expect really...I thought I was going to "freak out", but once we got started I realised that I was actually going to enjoy the experience (no need to be afraid)...lol

Ok first things first: Got to Lab and got our latex gloves. Apron and goggles were optional.

Next the cats were handed to us wrapped in big see-through (transparent) plastic bags.
Then we placed the cats in a big metal tray.
We then got our "surgical instruments" lol dissecting scissors and scalpels.
We cut open the bags and poured out the preserving juices. then the fun began...

Placed the cat on its back and spread the legs apart.
Next we used the scalpel to remove the skin (which was hard to cut), taking care not to cut too deep.
When a considerable amount of skin had been removed we cut a little deeper so as to reveal the organs.
We then poured off excess juices and washed the cat twice.
After this the organs were ready for identification....

Not all internal organs are easy to identify, and I realized that some of the proportions I imagined were quite off. The ureter for example was much longer than I expected. Anyway Lungs, kidneys, stomach, bladder, intestines and liver were easy to identify. The pancreas and ovaries were not so easy to find- there are other organs that are not coming to mind right now but this was the general identification process...We go a little further in the next Lab.

Did I have fun? Yes Did I learn a great deal? Yes

DNA, Evolution, Fossilized Genes

2011-04-21T21:57:00.006-05:00

(Rough draft for research on Fossilized Genes)

Upto now DNA is the best most accurate piece that helps in the completion of evolutionary puzzles and helps answer questions about evolution. Just as fossils of long ago creatures and species can be found in sedimentary rocks, fossilized genes can be found in the DNA of species. Living organisms may carry fossilzed genes, when the processes of chance selection and time affect the presence of a trait, the genes of that trait may become fossilized if that trait is no longer needed for the survival of that species. In such cases “fine tuning” of genes would have taken place “leaving traces of genes whose use and function has been abandoned”

Opsin genes in a Coelacanth, for example, show evidence of fossilization. The Coelacanth is a fish that exists as the “only living member of an ancient tribe” and this fact provides more than enough evidence for gene fossilization because its DNA links it to “distant ancestors that lived 360 million years ago” (p119). Analyzing the visual system of the Coelacanth has shown that the Coelacanth’s DNA contains a non-funtional SWS opsin gene which was functional in it’s ancestors. Small changes in protein gene sequences such as from CGA to TGA can cause that gene to become non functional but still existent in the DNA sequence. In this case the Coelacanth has a fossilized opsin gene.

Nocturnal animals are a prime example. The Owl monkey, bush baby, slow loris and blind mole rat are examples that have fossilized opsin genes. The Owl Monkey which is the only nocturnal species among higher primates has “accumulated mutations” in its SWS opsin genes that have left this gene non-funtional because the owl monkey does not use this gene for night vision. These species are missing a chunk of code that enables the making of this opsin gene.

Olfactory receptor genes which enable the sense of smell have also been used to give evidence of fossil genes. Animals that rely heavily on the sense of smell have more olfactory receptor genes than animals that don’t rely as much on the sense of smell. Although mammals branched from a common ancestor, today animals such as dogs and mice have more functional olfactory receptor genes than humans.

Looking at V1r genes (which are used for the sense of smell) show that mice have 160 V1r receptors and humans have only 5 receptors with a showing a larger number of fossilized receptor genes. But fossilization doesn’t only occur in fish and mammals studies of yeast have also shown that S.kudriavzevii (a species of yeast) has fossilized genes preventing it from utilizing galactose while 6 other species of yeast can utilize galactose. The conclusion that can be drawn from this type of evidence is that “different genes responsible for different steps in a process may all experience relaxed selection and then undergo fossilization”

Fossilization is both “a cause of evolutionary change caused by natural selection” and is also a “by product of natural selection for other features”.

Fossil genes are very important because they provide the knowledge that, although evolution is not always progressive, it is a process that improves the survival of a species even if survival amounts to the loss of some genes.

(works cited: "The Making of the Fittest" by Sean B. Carroll)

McDonaldization, George Ritzer, Max Weber, 4 Principles

2011-04-14T12:39:00.006-05:00

(A brief research essay outline)

McDonaldization

George Ritzer defines McDonaldization as the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world. McDonaldization centres around four main principles namely, efficiency, predictability, calculability and control. Efficiency describes how people have a liking for speed or quick service delivery. Predictability is the factor that ensures that products are the same or are reproducible by the same formula. Calculability refers to the belief that “quantity is analogous to quality” or more is always better than less and lastly control is that which strives for reliability by attempting to minimize the role of humans with non human technology.

Ritzer’s concept of McDonaldization is very similar to Max Weber’s concept of rationalization because both concepts, in analyzing modern day society, describe the replacement of “traditional modes of thinking by an ends/means analysis concerned with efficiency and formalized social control”. Ritzer’s mcdonaldization mainly focus attention on the later part of the twentieth century whereas Weber’s rationalization focussed on the growing impact of the bureaucracy on the society. Both processes of McDonaldization and rationalization seem to favour the dominance over society by substituting human labor with computers, machines and technology.

Several examples of McDonaldization are evident in the modern world. Chain stores, like Walmart, are a good example of the predictability principle. Consumers expect the same goods found in one Walmart to be available at the same price and quality as the next Walmart. Business is run in the same way in all Walmart stores. Drive-throughs at fast food outlets represent the effiency aspect of mcdonaldization because they offer quick service and very little human interaction between the service provider and the consumer. Atm banking is another example of efficiency but can also be used to describe control since computerized service leaves far less room for error than human bank tellers. The calculability principle can as also be found in the restaurants where the BigMac is becoming more popular merely for its size-I also think of the Five dollar foot long sandwiches, or double thick/cheese pizzas. Some aspects of daily life remain somehow untouched by mcdonaldization though, such as writing exam essays, playing baseball, gardening/growing your own fruits&vegetables, “traditional farming”, campfire cooking, tanning in the sun, hand-washing clothes, taking walks/jogging (instead of using a treadmill), air conditioning Vs opening windows -or various other examples where technology has not yet completely taking over.

I think McDonaldization has its pros and cons. I think industry relies on mcdonaldization so much that modern day life depends on this process. I always like to ask myself how many days I could go without using a cellphone, or without looking for information on the internet. Most college research depends on accessibility to the internet, so in such a case mcdonaldization is a blessing. The downside of this is that the internet is affecting verbal/day-to-day interaction between people. Facebook, myspace, Hi-5 and twitter are all examples of a negative side because people are reduced to words on a screen; the joy of facial expression and laughter is reduced to phrases such as “lol” or smileys “J” which ca often be insincere or in bad case misunderstood. No matter what views anybody has on this subject at hand, escaping mcdonaldization is impossible. People are out to get their hands on the latest technology as fast as they can and there’s no stopping or turning around. Generations to come will have no use for a pen or a pencil, the “stone-age” tools of the computerized generation. The whole world depends on mcdonaldization, infact perhaps the largest/only difference between third world countries and first world countries is simply the level of mcdonaldization?

Triangular theory of Love

2011-04-05T06:15:00.001-05:00

I thought this was a good follow up article to one of my posts "love sucks". I found this article on wikipedia while doing some research for one of my psychology classes, and found it quite interesting:

"The triangular theory of love is a theory of love developed by psychologist Robert Sternberg. The theory characterizes love within the context of interpersonal relationships by three different components:

Intimacy – Which encompasses feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness.
Passion – Which encompasses drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, and sexual consummation.
Commitment – Which encompasses, in the short term, the decision to remain with another, and in the long term, the shared achievements and plans made with that other.

The “amount” of love one experiences depends on the absolute strength of these three components; the “type” of love one experiences depends on their strengths relative to each other. Different stages and types of love can be explained as different combinations of these three elements; for example, the relative emphasis of each component changes over time as an adult romantic relationship develops. A relationship based on a single element is less likely to survive than one based on two or three elements.

The three components, pictorially labeled on the vertices of a triangle, interact with each other and with the actions they produce so as to form seven different kinds of love experiences (nonlove is not represented). The size of the triangle functions to represent the "amount" of love - the bigger the triangle, the greater the love. The shape of the triangle functions to represent the "type" of love, which may vary over the course of the relationship:

Nonlove is the absence of all three of Sternberg's components of love.

Liking/friendship is not defined in a trivial sense. Rather, Sternberg says that this intimate liking characterizes true friendships, in which a person feels a bond, a warmth, and a closeness with another but not passion or long-term commitment.

Infatuated love is pure passion. Romantic relationships often start out as infatuated love and become romantic love as intimacy develops over time. Without developing intimacy or commitment, infatuated love may disappear suddenly.

Empty love is characterized by commitment without intimacy or passion. A stronger love may deteriorate into empty love. In an arranged marriage, the spouses' relationship may begin as empty love and develop into another form.

Romantic love bonds individuals emotionally through intimacy and physically through passionate arousal, but neither is sustained without commitment.

Companionate love is an intimate, non-passionate type of love that is stronger than friendship because of the element of long-term commitment. This type of love is often found in marriages in which the passion has gone out of the relationship but a deep affection and commitment remain. The love ideally shared between family members is a form of companionate love, as is the love between close friends who have a platonic but strong friendship.

Fatuous love can be exemplified by a whirlwind courtship and marriage in which a commitment is motivated largely by passion without the stabilizing influence of intimacy.

Consummate love is the complete form of love, representing an ideal relationship toward which people strive. Of the seven varieties of love, consummate love is theorized to be that love associated with the “perfect couple”. According to Sternberg, such couples will continue to have great sex fifteen years or more into the relationship, they cannot imagine themselves happy over the long-term with anyone else, they overcome their few difficulties gracefully, and each delight in the relationship with one other.^[1] However, Sternberg cautions that maintaining a consummate love may be even harder than achieving it. He stresses the importance of translating the components of love into action. "Without expression," he warns, "even the greatest of loves can die" (1987, p. 341). Thus, consummate love may not be permanent. If passion is lost over time, it may change into companionate love."

Poetic Justice!

2011-04-04T11:12:00.002-05:00

I find my roots in it.
So I write and feel free.
While others may hate it
Some will love it,
And some will say that's the price you pay!
That's what it means to be a poet.
So I write it and love it.
It's Poetry.

AT&T or Verizon?

2011-04-04T00:58:00.001-05:00

Okay so where I'm from advertsing is never this vigorous!! I remember asking my brother if verizon and AT&T were allowed to go all out on each other like that- and think his response was "whoever sells their product better wins the customer"...I believe that now! I dont know, but Im personally for AT&T. I've never tried Verizon but that's prolly because when I came to America I started with AT&T and well never got to trying Verizon. An article I read called cell phone battles did a good job of comparing and contrasting the two but I guess people are a different and the individual customer is ultimately the one left with the final decision.

Branding a product

2011-04-04T00:29:00.004-05:00

I must confess during these last months I took an interest in topics such as economics, finance and marketing- mostly because somebody said to me "the world is driven by money, and everybody wants money so if u understand money your chances of making it are so much higher". Okay I'm not really driven too much by money but I couldn't argue with her "wise words". Well I came across an interesting article on branding and some points in that discussion made me think:

"The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:

Delivers the message clearly
Confirms your credibility
Connects your target prospects emotionally
Motivates the buyer
Concretes User Loyalty

Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot."

Well I got to think about marketing myself and how important these keys are to marketing. Although we may not think about, we are constantly marketing ourselves on a day to day basis and some elements of marketing mentioned above are definitely keepers! I for one like to write and thats why I even allowed myself to step into the realm of blogging but as much as this space on the internet belongs to me, it also belongs to loyal readers like you and to anyone else that may stumble-upon this page and I think everyone deserves a quality product.

Business, Insurance, Money!

2011-04-04T00:06:00.002-05:00

A couple of nights ago while studying (and looking around me as I usual do), I realised that this college business means more than assumed. The education I'm getting right now holds so much more value than I thought it did! why do I say that? well its only been 4 years since I graduated from high school. that seems like a long time maybe but 4 years seems like nothin when I realise how much knowledge about life i've acquired in that time.

I know for sure im not the only one that feels that way-my friend worked on a research paper titled "Insurance discrimination-A History in Redlining and its Residual EffectsOn the Modern Day Insurance Industry" and I couldnt help but realise that
no matter how much I may deny it my peers are growing up and so am I-that is not a easy topic to research on and that is far from the kind of research papers we were doing yesterday in high school! I've got a friend that at some point was working for Wells Fargo, I've so many friends studyn finance, accounting, business management, engineering, insurance, actuarial science-the list goes on!

I guess what im getting at is that time is moving and waiting for no man. this time in college is the "make it" time and after that we will all be in the world making it tick, playing an important role in decision making and importantly in the "money making sector". When I think of the number of students I graduated with, who are out there in so many countries "making it happen" I can only feel inspired and excited that my generation is about to take the reins and the reigns!

A Blog of few Words...

2011-04-01T03:48:00.000-05:00

I keep opening Thulani Harvey's blog every now and again, and the experience of clicking on the link and going to the blog's homepage is humbling. Everything is as it was a few months ago. Nothing has changed. He is gone. His blog now serves, for me, as a reminder that life can be colorful and fun.....but when the time stops, everything is left behind...(r.i.p)

Life's Lessons...(but Im not bitter)!

2011-04-01T02:38:00.001-05:00

I'm really supposed to be working right now but hey I feel like talking to you guys (my followers, or whoever comes across my tiny space on this world wide web)...I might actually get in trouble for doing this at 2:15am but what the heck, it's been a while since i've talked to you and man i've got some things to say...(i really hope you actually pay attention coz sometimes i write my deep stuff but on a subliminal type level if you feel me?)

Ok so like i told some friends a while ago, u have to accept and understand your situation first before you can start trying to change it: that's "my philosphy" (my cousin LOVES to say that!). dont get me wrong it's good to dream, but i think tackling your dreams realistically is the way forward.

So these past couple of months I revisited my dreams and made a checklist of what's realistically possible in the near future and those are the dreams im working on right now. my wise words here are that God's timing is "out of this world" so dont stress too much...i remember during upper six i used to pray for a guitar i never got it and i thought damn God really isnt listenening. As soon as i finished school i just "found extra money" bought a guitar, got a job and paid for lessons. to cut a long story short everything jells when the time is right...

something else happened, I realised that sometimes friends are the people that are around when they can "use" you to get where they are going! I mean be careful who you call your friends. step back and ask-why is this person my friend? i dont mean to break friendships and all but i think it's important to understand who is standing around you. why? these so called friends are the first to leave should they realise that you are standing on shaky ground. i dont want to go on on that one coz i think you guys probably feel me already...

beyond these touchy topics i went through some stuff that got me question about success. I cant sit here and lie that i discovered 5 keys to success coz sh** im still working my butt off right now trying to achieve something. what I can simply do is put out my thoughts and then hope that y'all will give me feedback, coz no one man can run this race alone isn't?

The cost of adversity...

2011-04-01T02:08:00.000-05:00

And...Yo being a good guy like me is NOT easy! You wont believe the kind of stuff that's thrown in ur face on a daily. You know when ur patient thats when people really want to push you to your limits...I wonder why the world is like that-i guess you gotta fight through the adversity. Imma always smile though!

Independence is freedom to make your own decisions...

2011-03-31T21:28:00.001-05:00

First off- I tell you man, living alone, being out of my parents house has really changed my view of life completely...I understand what it means now to be a dependant lol! you would think I finally learned independence but I think what's been magnified is how I relied on mum and dad for everything! I'm glad I've grown up-I know the real world is not easy at all!

At this point I think I owe my parents a big shout out cause I know it wasnt easy to raise a good dude like me lol. I have great respect for them, more than I ever did when I was living under their roof! Im not even talking about how hard it is to make money (which most people think independence is about)...I'm talking about
making decisions. Ah I remember people used to ask me stuff when i was back home and I'd basically say hold on I gotta hear what my parents have to say... now I've got to make life changing decisions on my own and thats big for me.

I'm really accountable for my own life now and that's a good-bad feeling you know. I still have that voice ringing in my head that says "what would mum and dad tell you to do in this situation?" and I dont know if that's a bad thing or not?