The Evolution of Whales Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Evolution of Whales Image sitting on the beach one July morning. The sun is beaming down and decide to go for a swim. As you approach the water, you see a whale unusually close. You begin to get nervous as it continues to approach the shore. However, you aren’t worried because you know that they are confined to the sea. As the whale comes near you can see it clearly. Just as you think that it will turn around, the whale walks out of the ocean! If you were to live during the tertiary period, this would be one of the things you would often see. All of the mammals that existed during that time period were terrestrial. They all were land dwelling mammals. Before J. G. M. Thewissen and colleagues’ discovery in Pakistan, many scientists believed, since the constant new discoveries twenty years ago, in what the numerous fossils from North America, Pakistan, and Egypt have revealed, â€Å"†¦these early cetaceans had mobile elbows and external hind limbs with articulated knees. However, they were fully aquatic, except for Ambulocetus, which was amphibious-much like sea lions† (Walking with Whales). Scientists had some idea to the evolutionary process of whales. â€Å"It has always been clear that aquatic cetaceans must have evolved from terrestrial mammals and returned to the water, and the forelimbs of recent cetaceans still have the same general pattern as that of land mammals.† (Walking with Whales) It was known fact that land mammals and whales were related. However, the change from ancient whales to modern whales is drastic. Today, we see much less of an obvious relationship of the cetaceans to the terrestrial mammals. â€Å"†¦Modern cetaceans are highly specialized, with numerous adaptations that allow them t... ...ls. J. G. M. Thewissen and his colleagues changed the way in which scientists thought about the early lifestyles of whales. The evolution of the ancient artiodactyls was discovered to be joined with the well-known group of cetaceans. The tertiary period was a time of terrestrial life forms. Every mammal walked the earth. It wasn’t uncommon to see a whale running through the grasslands or shark sleeping on the coast of a land mass. It was a time when mammals roamed freely and unconfined by the limits of the ocean. Now that scientists have this newly found knowledge, it is time the scientists further investigate â€Å"why?† Works Cited Muizon, Christian De. Walking With Whales. Nature 413, 259-260. September 2001. www.nature.com/nature/journal/v413/n6853 Thewessen, J. G. M., Williams, E. M., Roe, L. J. & Hussain, S. T. Nature 413, 277-281. 2001.

Media and Language Essay

The article discusses about how Facebook is really affecting one’s feeling of being lonely. It also states the different sources or causes for a person to be like one. Facebook is said to be an instrument to increase a person’s social life and interaction with others but for most researchers, it is also a source of loneliness. Yvette Vicker’s death was connected to a heart attack which was reportedly caused by loneliness. She called distant fans before her death rather than her family and friends. Loneliness and being alone is not the same thing. Being lonely is a psychological state while being alone is an external condition. Loneliness can be measured through the UCLA Scale. Researchers found out that as time goes by, the number of people who feel lonely increases. Professional carers is widely needed because of the alarming number of lonely beings which are then had become a public health issue. It can lead to certain illness like dementia, insomnia, obesity, hormonal imbalance, etc. Many like to be alone or independent because they get some satisfaction over that kind of system but what they don’t know is that their exposing themselves into a world of pure loneliness. Family traits are changing because of the changing world. Some engage into social networking because of the urge to belong to a social group. This may be because of a poor household interaction between families. Scanning through others posts may lead to loneliness because people would tend to realize why other people have this and that while they do not. Why people experience this and that and they do not. Facebook draws a person into a world of illusion instead of being able to realize reality. It can be helpful if one can use it as a tool to engage social gatherings or interactions and not a substitute to one. Technology may be helpful or not to improving one’s life but it is for the user to limit its usage, maybe for better or for worse. The author concluded that connection is not the same as bond. People let themselves be drawn into a connection which is not forever connected and a form of disintegration from this connection may lead to a worse scenario. So the text talks about the relation of loneliness to Facebook. I am a vivid Facebook user and yes, I felt lonely at some times. When I do not know what else to do, I try to scan through my wall and see some posts there about other people’s lives and how they feel and even what is currently happening to them. Some of those posts appeal to my senses. I feel envy of what other people have, in the material and social aspect. I am not into social interaction with those who I do not really know and from what I have observed, those people who talk to others via social networking sites are one those who are popular in reality and I also think that they are sometimes being plastic to others. Many admire their popularity and because of that, admirers always make a way to interact with them and also, the ones who are being admired are feeling good about it. That is only my opinion but I do not mind them. Also, I do not use social networking just to seek importance from other person like others do. I use it for communication and entertainment purposes only. I just want some communication with my friends and family and that is all I need to live a not so noticeable yet a full life. So I agree at some points of this article. It is the people who should control technology and not the technology who should control the person.

The Social Construction Of Gender - 1000 Words

Introduction Imagine a piece of matter that continually changes its shape. This piece of matter goes unnoticed by everyone, even though it is constantly present. Now imagine this piece of matter as the definition of gender and gender norms. Judith Lorber wrote an essay called, The Social Construction of Gender. The essay was included in the textbook, Women s Lives. A textbook written by Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okinawa Rey. â€Å"Women’s Lives† is a Feminist focused compilation of essays. As well as, cultural analysis of women globally. Lorber is one of many authors who wrote essays regarding gender for â€Å"Women’s Lives. Lorber argues gender constantly changes due to social interaction. A society will define gender norms for functionality. As†¦show more content†¦The use of logical reason is effective in giving readers a believable argument. Lorber illustrates her conclusion point by point. Lorber introduces a specific subject, in relation to gender construction. The n uses step by step reasoning to rationalize her main point. Each point—as one part of a series of other points—directly leads the reader to Lorber’s conclusion. This allows Lorber to show the reader her ideas are based in reality. Each assertion is explained by the point before it. The reader is able to see the reasoning behind Lorber’s point of view and understand exactly how she arrived at her conclusion. Lorber’s ideas then become believable. Lorber introduces her main idea. She stated why the issue is significant and/ or interesting. Then, explains her rationale behind the solutions for the issue, threading one idea to the one after it. If no solution is warranted, Lorber describes the most likely outcome of concurrent events. She then explains how these concurrent event cause and affect one another. Lorber shows her rationale in the connection of stated points to make her work believable to readers. She also includes quotes and statements from other authors. These quotes and statements add to the reader’s believability and creditability of her work. Technique 3: Citing Other Authors Lastly, the third technique use is appeals to authority. Lorber cites statements and ideas in her work from other published authors.Show MoreRelatedGender And Social Construction Of Gender1230 Words   |  5 Pages‘Gender’ is a category used by all human beings to describe the state of being either male or female. Gender is often described as socially constructed which implies that it is something individuals may not be aware of. Through the social construction of a concept, meanings are created. These meanings and understandings are developed in coordination with other individuals rather than within individuals themselves. Because all societies are different, the social construction and therefore definitionsRead MoreThe Social Construction Of Gender1220 Words   |  5 PagesQuestion 3 In the reading â€Å"The social Construction of Gender† by Judith Lorber she describes how gender is socially constructed. Sex is the biological difference while gender is the social and cultural meanings attached to femininity and masculinity (lecture). From the time that a child is born the doctor assigns it a gender, girl or boy, depending on its genitalia. In the reading â€Å"Naming All the Parts† it focused on how when doctors view genitalia to decide the gender they say there is a penis orRead MoreSocial Construction of Gender1183 Words   |  5 Pagesexactly is â€Å"Gender† and what a â€Å"Social Construct† means. GENDER In a layman’s language, Gender is simply the distinction between male and female. However, if we look deeper in well, we will notice the gender construction starts with the association of sex category at the time of birth. Sex is the biological distinction between a man and a woman and gender is based on sex. A sex category becomes a gender status through naming, dress and the use of other gender marksRead MoreThe Social Construction Of Gender978 Words   |  4 PagesSociologist Peter Berger wrote in his â€Å"Invitation to Sociology† book that â€Å"social reality has layers of meaning, and the discovery of each new layer changes the perception of the whole.† (Berger 1963). Berger, as a sociologist responsible for helping create the social constructionism theory, is not just extending an invitation to sociology. He is already explaining how the world can be viewed by people who already are actively participating in society. This consciousness allows the layer of how peopleRead MoreGender Is A Social Construction?849 Words   |  4 Pages First, what is gender? What does it mean to say that gender is a social construction? Gender refers to the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male. (Macionis 2015:308) The society in which we live produces our views of what women and men are and what they are supposed to b e. However, many people say that gender is â€Å"socially constructed†. Basically meaning it is constructed by society. For many decades, it has been what gender should representRead MoreThe Social Construction Of Gender Essay1297 Words   |  6 Pagesownership of their bodies. The first article is â€Å"The Social Construction of Gender† by Judith Lorber. In this essay she states that sex and gender is constructed through the society in which we live and that, â€Å"Gender is so pervasive that in our society we assume it is bred into our genes† (Lorber, 64). Lorber’s article takes the standpoint that physical gender expression is such an important topic to individuals because when the conventions of gender are shifted, â€Å"we feel socially dislocated† (65). AnRead MoreThe Social Construction Of Gender989 Words   |  4 PagesRace is a system of categories put in place by society in order to make each individual fit into a certain social group. It is due to societies implementation of such a system that individuals in these racial categories do not always look at each other as equals, causing a race to not always identify themselves as a homogenous front. This essay will delve into the poetry of a popular Def Jam spoken word artist Black Ice, whose piece Bigger Than Mine looks into the dualism within Black society inRead MoreThe Social Construction Of Gender832 Words   |  4 PagesSex, as we have learned, refers to the physical and anatomical differences between males and females. These differences are biological and unambiguous. Gender on the other hand, refers to the aspects that influence each sex and make them distinct from a social standpoint, and each of us does gender constantly. The social construction of gender has caused controversy throughout the years, and has ultimately conceived one of the most contended topics in our society of late: feminism. Feminism refersRead MoreThe Social Construction Of Gender957 Words   |  4 Pagesregulations in which people have to obey making social life be structured. Society has expectations for people to live by. People tend to live up to the norms in order to feel part of the world. Individuals do not want to be judged and labeled, so unconsciously live by the roles that they believe their gender has to follow. Gender is socially constructed concept in which society acts upon. The family is the first to influence individuals to this idea. Gender has roles in which boys and girls are supposedRead MoreGender Is A Social Construction1213 Words   |  5 PagesS One cannot talk about social interactions in society without talking about gender. Gender is part of According to Macionis (2015), gender is â€Å"the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to being female or male†. Most societies only view gender as being either male or female. An individual must portray their gender correctly in order to be normal in society. Meaning a woman must act feminine and a man must act masculine. However, what happens when an individual chooses