Microsoft Xbox :: essays research papers

In the console-gaming world people know Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft may be the largest and richest software company in the world, but it’s unknown when it comes to console gaming. Microsoft is counting on the Xbox to change that perception. Gamers may not be willing to take a chance with the Microsoft Xbox, even if it is far superior to any console ever made. Nintendo Gamecube is nothing if charismatic. Nintendo’s new machine is half the size of any other console and looks like a toy with its brightly colored plastic shell and handle. It’s destined to be home of such popular games as Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and Kirby. Nintendo Gamecube seems mismatched as it goes up against the Microsoft Xbox and the Sony Playstation 2 (a multimedia mayhem that Sony says it’s supposed to be â€Å"The Future Of Entertainment†). All this makes you think; what makes Nintendo believe it can possibly go up against the ultra-sophisticated Xbox. The Microsoft Xbox has powerful components within that overpower any other console, including its CPU or it’s Central Processing Unit. The Xbox runs an Intel Pentium III 733-megahertz (MHz) processor. This is a lot more powerful than Nintendo Gamecube’s IBM Power PC 485-megahertz Gekko chip processor and even lower the Sony Playstation 2’s 128 bit â€Å"Emotion Engine† which is clocked around 294-megahertz. A few more components that make this console far superior to any other is its graphics processor, or GPU, which stands for Graphic Processing Unit. Microsoft had teamed up with Nvidia to create a chip that was made especially for the Xbox. The computer-based company ‘s 250-megahertz chip gives the console an amazing resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and 125 Million Polygons per Second. Sixty four- (64) megabytes (Mb) of DDRam back all this up, for great non-glitch games and smooth running. Nintendo also has a computer-based company teaming up with th em to create the 162-megahertz ATI Flipper GPU Chip. This chip can only handle around 6-12 Million polygons a second and is only backed up by 43-megabytes of DDRam. Another feature that is a first in the console industry is Xbox’s internal 8-Gigabyte (Gb) Hard-Drive or Hard Disk Drive (Hdd). This contributes too much of Xbox’s weight, but gives many features. With this you don’t have a need for a memory card to save your game files, you save them right to the hard-drive. This is a very nice feature on the Xbox, because it saves you money.

Breaking Social Norms

Before proceeding to a detailed discussion of my experience in breaking a social norm, there is a need to define and elaborate some of the types of social norms. Generally, social norms are accepted ways of thinking, feeling, behaving that people in a group agree on and endorse as right and proper. These social norms often take various forms. They can be institutionalized, thus becoming the standard rules of behavior in a society (e. g. law). They can also be manifest rules â€Å"that silently tells someone of the approved forms of behavior† (Light et al. , 1989).Hence, it can be said that social norms comprised most of the conventional behaviors perceived in a given society (it is generally noted that social norms differ across societies – spatially and periodically). Nonetheless, social norms are enforced differently. There are social norms considered to be rigid in application; that is, all members of the society need to follow such rules. These social norms are call ed mores. Frequently, mores are transformed into laws, expected to be followed by all members of the society (violation is considered to be a threat to social organization).There are also norms that are laxly enforced by members of the society. These are called folkways. Generally, folkways are the society’s web of cultural or spiritual rituals, traditions, and routines. Deviance (breaking a social norm is synonymous to deviance) is not considered a threat to social organization. Sanction for violating folkways or traditions is less severe than moral deviance. Breaking a Social Norm As part of the requirements in our sociology course, the professor asked us to break a social norm (without contributing physical or mental danger to other people).A paper will be submitted detailing the specifics of the experience. Initially, I had this fear of social retribution for violating a social norm. Rather than thinking of the form of action I will take in breaking a social norm, I focus ed more on the consequences. However, since the professor assured us that we were only required to break a â€Å"soft† social norm, that is, a norm laxly enforced by the society, I felt relieved. I began enumerating the possible â€Å"soft† social norms I could remember. I remembered that wearing pajamas in movie theaters usually embarrasses many people.Usually, you will hear people talking of your â€Å"fashion style. † Other people usually gossip of the â€Å"strangeness† of the â€Å"person at his/her front† (a person wearing pajamas). However, as a student of sociology, I would never accept such assertions unless validated by experience or empirical research. Thus, for the first time, I became enthusiastic of my forthcoming experience. There were two things I considered before breaking a social norm: the color of the pajama I would be using and of course, the relative number of people in the theater. Usually, people going to movie theaters are embarrassed to see persons wearing yellow pajamas.I really do not know the reason behind this observation. What I really cared is that it is possible that the people are reacting not on the appropriateness of wearing pajamas in movie theaters but on the color of the pajamas. Hence, I used a white pajama to eliminate this possibility. The relative number of people going to theater also poses another problem. If I chose a theater which is seldom visited by people, then I will not be able to fully substantiate my deviance. Because deviance is partially measure by the degree of disagreement by the deviant and the society (this is really hard to measure), number is a factor.Hence, choosing the â€Å"right† movie theater (which is observed to be a frequent visiting place for many people) is a factor in executing the experience. I wore a white pajama that day. The movie theater was four blocks away from my residence. I decided to walk. It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. In the streets, I noticed that some people were staring at my pajamas. Some of them laughed; some threw a smile on me (most of the persons who laughed were men). It was clear to me that my pajama was causing the â€Å"disturbance† (or more appropriate, the social labeling of a deviant).Then I entered the entrance door of the theater. I noticed that the guard was somehow reluctant to allow me to enter the movie theater. Because I bought a ticket, he had no choice but to allow me to enter the place. Upon entrance to the theater, I saw some persons staring at me. Definitely, they were thinking that my dress is not an appropriate one when going to movie theaters. After a few seconds, they fixed their eyes on the movie screen. Then, I began to walk in the stairs of the movie theater just to take note of the reactions of the people I passed by.Some people were annoyed at the â€Å"inappropriateness† of my dress. I could trace it on the movements of their eyes. I knew that t hey were directing their view to my dress. Then, I settled on a seat located on the right side of the movie screen. I noticed that the person at my back was directing a laugh to his date. I guessed my dress was the cause. I felt a little distressed on the reactions of the people on my dress. Added to that, because I was the only one â€Å"wearing a strange dress†, I felt that I was the focus of attention (disregarding the fact that most of the people in the movie theater focused on the movie).Then, I noticed that almost all people in the theater were back in their usual â€Å"business. † The person at my back stopped from laughing. Most of the people fixed their eyes on the big screen. During the climax of the movie, I felt that everything was back in the normal. It seemed that that movie altered the focus of the people. Instead of fixing their eyes on my dress, they directed it to the movie screen. The movie screen (and the movie, of course) was a big help. When the m ovie was about to end, I noticed that some people were again fixing their eyes to my dress.Some people passing by my seat just ignored me. I felt a little relieved having observed that many people were ignoring me. I felt a little surprise when one of the movie-goers asked me the reason for wearing a white pajama in the movie theater. I said that it was my custom in when going to movie theaters. The person threw a smile at me. I know the thing running in his mind. He was really struck to see a person wearing a white pajama in the movie theater. Breaking the social norm I chose was not really easy. I knew that people would perceive me as a deviant once I start breaking a norm.Although it was a â€Å"soft† social norm, the propensity of a general reaction from people would surely be manifested in their covert behavior; that is, their â€Å"silent† disagreement over the inappropriateness of my dress would surely result to gossip and laughter. These general reactions thoug h were proven (through my experience) to be momentarily. These reactions were the result of initial discomfort or uneasiness to some people going in the movie theater. Gender difference with regard to the intensity of reaction was significant. Most of the people who laughed at my dress were men.Since the norm I broke was a â€Å"soft† one, I did not experience any harsh moral sanction. The reason lies on the nature of the norm itself. The norm is part of the routine activities of the people (that going to movie theaters with pajamas is not appropriate), hence does not constitute any moral evaluation. Thus, the sanctions (gossip and laughter) that were directed to me by some of the movie goers were correlated to the type of social norm I broke. Personally, I would really like to repeat this experience (not for experience’s sake) for empirical validation.Empirical validation is usually effective when multiple points of experiences are examined. In this case, repetition s erves as factual and theoretical validation of some elements of social deviance. References Light, Donald. (1989). Sociology. NY: McGraw-Hill Companies. Social Norms. (2007). Retrieved on October 27, 2007 from http://72. 14. 253. 104/search? q=cache:eMCHZe0mVroJ:www. buec. udel. edu/kimt/Leading%2520People/10. 11%2520Social%2520Norm%2520%26%2520Communication. ppt+definition+of+a+social+norm&hl=tl&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ph&client=firefox-a.

Criminal Justice Systems And Its Effect On Parole Board

Victoria criminal justice systems , are designed to regulate members’ attitudes in the society, implement law and order, and to bring those offenders who commit crimes before the court of justice. In the assessment paper, observation was conducted through a range of scholarly research/ newspaper reports, articles, The age, Herald Sun, Victorian General news wires. Critical analysis , was also conducted to different issues, thus; Victorian government tougher sentencing on crimes to implement â€Å"law and order†, overcrowding prison, PSOs, mandatory sentencing, statistics approach, Meagher rape case and impact on parole board. Johnston Ainsworth( 2014) article, observation on the debate at parliament house, Victoria Premier Dr†¦show more content†¦Consequently, overcrowding prison is the outcome. Critically, the study didn’t provide alternative way of how to govern, and how to control society! In fact, tougher sentencing, and social classes divisions, are critical factors, would contribute in one way or another to increasing crime rates factor, and subsequently overcrowding prison. In his approach to overcrowding, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Simon Whelan, stated that, introducing new sentencing policy, this would in fact , increases the mass number of inmates / overcrowding prison, and potentially increases the rate of recidivism, far more faster impact . Furthermore, overcrowding condition, increased prison population this in fact, would lead to â€Å"riot†, inadequate rehab, and government financial burden/ build more prisons impact. Baidawi et al (2011) in their observation to overcrowding, as given shorter sentencing, that includes minimum sentencing option for an early release to older prisoners, to give rooms for new inmates accommodation. Alternately, Baidawi, didn’t state in their approach, how to deal with criminality of older people and how to handle them, if not incarcerated them? What alternative should be applied to those older criminals who committed gross and how to protect community from risk of reoffending after released? Baradaran Mcintyre (2012),