Thursday, January 30, 2020

Fat Tax Essay Example for Free

Fat Tax Essay This report proposes that these costs and problems need to be addressed, and one avenue through which they can be is a junk food tax. This report proposes that there be a federal tax placed on junk food purchases, similar to the taxes placed on gasoline and tobacco products. This tax would dissuade people from purchasing unhealthy food items. At the same time it would help the nation offset some of the financial costs that obesity has generated. The proposition is not a fix-all, but it is a good start. Taxation of Junk Food, A Proposition to Battle the Obesity Epidemic in America Obesity is a condition that can be found in nearly every social class, geographic location, and age group in our society today. Every year there are more people who fit this profile; more people who are obese. While many view this condition as merely a cosmetic one, the truth is that there are serious consequences to being overweight. Some of these consequences include: the health risks such as diabetes and heart disease, early death because of those conditions, economic impacts due to lower productivity, astronomical health care costs, and numerous social problems that arise due to the lethargy and early mortality of obese parents and the inactivity of overweight children. These issues are significant, and need to be addressed in order to solve the problem. First, the causes of obesity must be understood, so that adequate solutions can be generated. Then solutions need to be created and put into effect such that the causes of the epidemic will be addressed at a minimal social cost. The information in this report shows that a large portion of those who suffer from obesity can attribute a large portion of their weight to junk food. This food is high in calories and low in nutritional value. This report also shows that many of these people choose to consume these products due to its convenience and relative low cost. I propose that in order to address this cause, and decrease consumption of junk food due to convenience and low cost, a federal tax should be levied against all foods that fit the profile of a junk food. I propose that this action would decrease economy purchases of less nutritious foods, and encourage consumers to consume more healthy diet options based on economic feasibility. Â  The Obesity Epidemic The issue of obesity is one that is complex and widespread. In order to understand the scope and implications of this condition, one must first understand what it is, and who it affects. Not everyone who is overweight is obese. Scott Ingram describes the difference between obesity and overweight as overweight being anyone who weighs more than the someone in the normal range for how old and tall they are, while in order for a person to be labeled obese, they must have enough body fat to put them 20 percent higher or more than their ideal weight (Ingram, 2005, p. 23). In other words, if a person’s ideal weight for their height and age is 140 pounds, and they weigh 150 pounds, they are overweight; but if they weigh over 168 pounds they are obese. This difference is important, as it indicates exactly how much overweight obese people are. They are all more than 20 percent over their target weight, which is significant enough to cause the problems that are being discussed in this report. The health and social issues caused by the state rest of the population that have not reached the 20 percent mark, but are still overweight are not even considered in this report. However, these issues will be positively affected by this proposal as well. It is also important to note that this problem is not isolated to a specific group of individuals, although there are groups that are higher risk than others.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis Essays -- Lewis Abolition of Man Es

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Abolition of Man is perhaps the best defense of natural law to be   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   published in the twentieth century. The book is outstanding not because   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   its ideas are original, but because it presents so clearly the common   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   sense of the subject, brilliantly encapsulating the Western natural law   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   tradition in all its Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian glory. Interestingly,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lewis' defense of objective morality here resonates not only with ideas   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   from the giants of Western thought (including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   and Aquinas), but also draws on the wisdom of the East, including Confucius and the sages of Hinduism.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In "The Abolition of Man" C.S. Lewis developed three lectures entitled   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "Men without Chests'', "The Way", and "The Abolition of Man". In them he   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   set out to attack and confute what he saw as the errors of his age.   He   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   started by quoting some fashionable lunacy from an educationalists'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   textbook, from which he developed a general attack on moral subjectivism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In his second lecture he argued against various contemporary isms, which   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   purported to replace traditional objective morality. His final lecture,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "The Abolition of Man", which also provided the title of the book   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   published the following year, was a sustained attack on hard-line      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  scientific anti-humanism.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first essay, "Men without Chests," indicted the modern attempt to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   debunk objective virtues and sentiments. According to Lewis, traditional   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   moral theorists believed that virtues such as ... ...world, by   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the dictates of conscience and by the constituted order of things in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   nature. That is why, all that being so, "we have cause to be uneasy",   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   because faced with this Law (Tao) of God, with Absolute Goodness, and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   demands therein, we see we that we have "all sinned and come short of the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   glory of God" (Romans 3:23).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When we take some time to ponder the meanings of The Abolition of Man and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   its writings, we see that Lewis' essays were not new ideas at all.   In the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   contrary, they were reminders of what man has intrinsically known since   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the beginning of time.   As Samuel Johnson once said, 'Man is in need more   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   frequently of being reminded than informed.' Works Cited: Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man. Ontario: The MacMillan Company, 1947.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

IT Management Essay

Database management is an important aspect of any modern organization given the massive growth of data volumes as a result of regulations on data storage as well as the increase in transactions and communication channels. This paper presents issues arising form the task of managing information through its lifecycle; specifically for companies based on PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel, CRM, Oracle E-business suite, supplier relationship management (SRM) or ERP applications which are increasingly being affected by expanding data volumes within them. The article brings into perspective, ILM; which seeks to optimize on data by employing processes, policies tools and practices essential in linking the information’s business value with the most cost effective and appropriate IT systems from its conception to the time its disposed. While the current processes of defining, managing and storing data lack emphasis on its management, ILM provides a solution for effectively managing organization data applications. It is imperative to emphasize on the now prevalent decline in business agility as a result of problems with data volumes so as to keep data management cost down by taking an enterprise approach in managing data as records. ILM supports this. The findings that 56 percent lack interest in implementing ILM strategies or that they do not know of any ILM efforts within their organizations is biased considering that the enterprise approach is a relatively new approach to organizational information management. It is the current data systems that have failed as they only allow firms to handle problems as they occur and not that firms are reactive or else undisciplined about their data challenges. The finding that most firms either do not know or allocate minimal ILM strategy budgets ought to have outlined a parallel study of efforts made in alternative data management approaches. ILM introduces a cohesive strategy for the management of information across the organization which is exactly what is needed in modern business environments. Although ILM is promising, the author ought to have compared the findings with firms’ preference for alternative systems or even priorities as well as its fit with the current technology levels. The study also does not highlight the relative costs of implementing ILM with respect to the firms’ profit margins while outlining the implementation levels for ILM. However, ILM is an important strategy for data that need to meet certain legal storage mandates although it does not assess relative cost maintaining such information as opposed to frequency of events requiring this information. While the author addresses the issues of difficulties in determining information’s life cycle, he does not address the limitations of legal determinants which could jeopardize the gains from ILM. Nolan, R. & McFarlan, W. (2005). Information Technology and the Board of Directors: Building an IT Governance Committee. Harvard Business Review, 83 (10),  In such a digital age as this, it is imperative that any organization invest in a strong governance committee on IT that can oversee the formulation and integration of IT policies into the company’s competitive advantage strategy. Warren McFarlan and Richard Nolan detail the basics of establishing and maintaining an IT governance committee. An IT governance committee is paramount in developing a custom framework on which an organization’s IT policies are founded thus enabling a firm to avoid applying other companies’ best strategies which may not fit into the modern nature business strategy. The authors elaborate on the three key approaches that are essential in guiding any company in building an effective IT governance committee: appointing the suitable personnel as well as their chairman; assessing how the committee would link to the audit committee; and the preparation of the committee’s charter. The first two are particularly more important. Independence is vital for any modern-day committee effectiveness just as the authors recommend the independence of the IT committee. Noting the importance of the importance of mentorship and expertise, McFarlan and Nolan emphasize on a chairman who’s either an IT professional (for strategic mode firms) or has past experience (for factory, turn around and support mode firms) in a successful IT-strategy based firm. In all cases, being IT-savvy, understanding an organization and its business needs as well as the systems architecture is paramount in addressing the bigger picture; technology’s potential to change the outlook of the business economy and this supports the characterization of the modern-day business leaders. In this regard, the authors emphasize on selecting a chairman or at least an IT professional who can successfully balance the short-term needs of the firm with its long-term IT investments. Since distraction by difficulties stifle IT integration, the importance of the committee and especially IT experts is addressed as they understand the important dynamics governing technological advancement both at the board and senior management level and thus can appropriately criticize all in-house entrenched thinking. The current scarcity of such experts explains the reason for the increase in number of IT consultants. The article addresses the current issues relating to accountability to the regulatory and economic objectives through alignment with the audit department. However, drastic changes characterizing the advancement in IT would necessitate a considerable number of the committee be composed of IT professionals rather the one or a few suggested by McFarlan and Nolan. Gary, S. , Alice, G. & Alexis, F. Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems. Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-30. Gaithersburg, MD. Risk management has become an important aspect of the information technology management system. Gary, Alice and Alexis emphasize on the role of IT-risk management amidst the increasingly growing use of automated information systems aimed at protecting organization’s information assets from IT based risks. IT risk management is largely a management function as this IT guides confirms through focus on the companies mission rather than the IT experts only as the firm’s capacity to perform its mission is affected by these risks. The guide outlines the practical guidelines and the available cost-effective security systems essential in protecting the mission information which is an imperative in the modern world. This guide is literary applicable in every angle of every firm as it can be easily expanded or abbreviated to tailor it to fit specific organizational situations. Apart from enabling firms’ IT departments to be accountable for IT budgets, the guide is also helpful in guiding the accreditation of the IT systems. This guide is an important resource for a wide rage of IT users: the non-technical and technical staff as well as the experienced and the non-experienced ones. Therefore this guide does not only provide an overview of IT risk management but also evaluates how such a process would rhyme with the all the phases of the system development lifecycle (SLDC) as well as detailing the obligations of individuals who usually support and apply this process. In this regard, the guide provides a clear methodology for IT risk management as well as its relation to the system accreditation. This is made simpler by the provision of system-based information essential in defining the IT system as well as its operating environment. For such a process, it is important that supporting material such as the samples for the documentation of the results for risk assessment, as well as samples of a security implementation plan be addressed more keenly as they are essential in improving the effectiveness of the guide. It also focuses on modern-day needs such as enabling IT individuals to customize their IT systems to fit into effective control systems. The authors address the importance of assessing the knowledge gap within the organization as relates to process of implementing information technology management systems. Although not related to the topic at hand, the example on electric power and railroads does address the key idea of being aware of the knowledge gap in the appropriate way so as to make the most out of IT systems’ opportunities. While it may be true that IT technologies’ cost performance had changed to the magnitude of about 107 in at the time of this study, it is no guarantee that it is going to evolve at this same as the author suggests given the tremendous growth in technology and educational advancement. The authors focus on cost effectiveness and the ability to do things differently through the transformational opportunities offered by IT integration as with the examples of American Hospital Supply’s and American Airlines SABRE. In this regard, they emphasize on the knowledge about IT’s associated economics. Strategic implementation and management of IT networks in organizations has made organizations capable of extending their scope globally to take strategic advantage of IT integration. This is because the authors address specifically the fast changing pace of business operations with regards to assumptions and rules of business competition and this an important resource for modern-day senior management and CEOs who are charged with the responsibility of diversifying into intangible services that are information based. While its clear that technology is increasingly growing, it implies that the opportunities due to IT integration are bound to increase; it also implies that companies venturing into IT management can differentiate their services and cost and product features not only for sometime to come as the author puts it but for an indefinite time provided there is follow up. However, the author provides a two lenses approach that provides a holistic approach towards IT integration. However, the authors do not note the likely challenges that the highly dynamic and drastically changing IT infrastructure as driven by competition may cost. In this regard, the article emphasize on roles of CIO and CTO.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Bertrand Russells Theory of Perception Essay - 1755 Words

0801372 Philosophy 2K Bertrand Russell’s Theory of Perception, put forth in his book The Problems of Philosophy is focused around the theory of sense-data. This essay will outline Russell’s theory and present some of the arguments that support his view, such as the argument from hallucination. I will outline an attack on Russell’s theory and then move to present an alternative argument accounting for the relevant phenomena: the adverbial theory and show how Russell’s theory does more to convince one of the nature of our perception. Russell’s theory of perception is rooted in his faith in sense-data. This is the notion that whatever we perceive are mind dependent objects whose existence and properties are known directly to us and†¦show more content†¦With regard to hallucinations, we consider instances whereby we actually consider certain qualities that could be attributed to some kind of physical object when there is no physical object present at all, for example, seeing a pink elephant. In both cases, we are presented with sensory experiences of qualities that the object in question does not posess, and so, these experiences must be distinct of the object, thus, reiterating the sense-data theory. The argument from illusion has been attacked by the likes of John Austin in his Sense and Sensibilia when he suggests that the argument ‘trades in confusion’ between an illusion and a delusion and gives an example of a church being camoflauged to look like a barn. He wonders whether any sort of serious question can be asked about what we see when we look at it. He tries to put forth that we don’t see anything immaterial and that we can’t say anything about it concerning out sensory experience of it. However, I think that one must take this example from a personal point of view and think about what you would have an experience of if you were to look at the church/barn. You, having no idea that the building has been camouflaged, would have the sense-datum of a barn because you don’t have any evidence to suggest that it is something else. It wouldShow MoreRelatedThe Biases Of The Unconscious Mind1681 Words   |  7 PagesIn this philosophical study, an analysis of the biases of the unconscious mind in relation to the mind of â€Å"others† will be analyzed in the context of a peer-reviewed article on the misuse of anti-depression drugs. 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