Thursday, February 20, 2020
Ecological footprint Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Ecological footprint - Essay Example 2. Very briefly, what were the results of the two different tests and what did you find surprising or noteworthy? In the first test that I took, with me answering it honestly, I actually found out that when everyone on the planet lived like me, it needs 3.9 earths to support humanityââ¬â¢s lifestyle; in addition, I need 17.3 global acres for me to be able to support my lifestyle (myfootprint.org, 2011). However, when I took the test the second time, wherein I assumed that I was the richest man on earth having a very extravagant lifestyle, I actually found out that when everybody else on earth lived like I do, it actually needs 12.4 earths to support humanityââ¬â¢s lifestyle, and I actually need 55.4 global acres in order for me to support my personal lifestyle (myfootprint.org, 2011). What I found in the tests that I took is the fact that as oneââ¬â¢s lifestyle becomes more extravagant, wherein one consumes more meat and more commercial food than others, or when one owns a l arger home and has lots of cars or even a private plane, it takes much of the worldââ¬â¢s resources to support that lifestyle. ... d natural foods, recycling my trash more often, living in a green, sustainable shelter, using less non-renewable sources and going more for renewable energy, and most of all, having a simpler lifestyle. In this case, I must be able to be more aware of my environment, and that I must be able to consume only what I need. By having a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle, I can significantly reduce my ecological footprint. 4. If everyone lived like you, how many earths would we need to sustain this population and what does that mean? (Why can't we continue consuming resources at the current rate? What would happen if nothing was done?) As I have indicated, if everyone lived like me, it would actually take 3.9 earths to sustain this population (myfootprint.org, 2011); it actually means that the current wordââ¬â¢s population actually needs 3x the earthââ¬â¢s current resources. Personally, I think that we cannot continue consuming the earthââ¬â¢s resources at the current rate bec ause time will come when the earth cannot support humanityââ¬â¢s needs anymore. If nothing is done about this matter, the earthââ¬â¢s resources would be depleted fast, and humanity may suffer from famines and natural disasters, or even extinction. 5. What would you suggest, if anything, that should be done to reduce the footprint of everyone else? Given such kind of scenario, I personally think that there must be a renewed awareness campaign regarding the importance of having a sustainable lifestyle, in order for the rest of the world to appreciate and understand why it is important to change our lifestyles. I think that it is important for everyone else to know that the earth has only limited resources and that it can only support so much, and by spreading awareness, I think people will follow and change
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Freedom and Social Political Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words
Freedom and Social Political Philosophy - Essay Example Social-political philosophy, therefore, refers to discipline infrastructure that aims to solve and discover problems that are deeply rooted in the society and affects human beings either directly or indirectly. It seeks to create a relationship between the society and man. Social-political philosophy is considered universal, prescriptive or largely theoretical in context (Simon, 2002). Social-political philosophy concerns the existence of man in the society. It helps identify the nature of human beings and evaluates how they are able to relate to the society. It deals with manââ¬â¢s relationship and conducts with the society at large. The questions posed by social-political philosopherââ¬â¢s targets issues such as democracy, rules and the purpose of the state. The personââ¬â¢s metaphysical orientation is one of the element s that determines political philosophy various questions that a social-political philosopher asks are vital in the creation of rules and laws associated with man and aimed at establishing the re3lationships that coexist with the society. The culture and experience of a philosopher determine how they are able to respond to the many questions raised and targeting man and society (Russell, 2000). A philosopher relates their ideas to those who came before them and the current issues affecting the society as a manââ¬â¢s dwelling place. Soc ial-political philosophy and political science functions together through political science are associated with answers that are descriptive (it says, ââ¬Ëwhat is not and what isââ¬â¢). Political philosophy, on the other hand, utilizes the evaluative and analytical method in dealing with most of its issues. The paper seeks to discuss a social-political philosophy theme in the society. Freedom and justice are some of the themes in the social-political philosophy. The idea of freedom is recognized as ambiguous, indefinite and open to a lot of misconception.Ã
Monday, January 27, 2020
The Limitations Of RDBMS Systems
The Limitations Of RDBMS Systems To combat the limitations of RDBMS and meet the challenge of the increasing rise of the Internet and the Web, programmers developed object-oriented databases in the 1980s. The main objective of Object-Oriented Database Management Systems, commonly known as OODBMS, is to provide consistent, data independent, secure, controlled and extensible data management services to support the object-oriented model. They were created to handle big and complex data that relational databases could not. There are important characteristics involved with object-oriented databases. The most important characteristic is the joining of object-oriented programming with database technology, which provides an integrated application development system. Object-oriented programming results in 4 main characteristics: inheritances, data encapsulation, object identity, and polymorphism. Inheritance allows one to develop solutions to complex problems incrementally by defining new objects in terms of previously defined objects. Data encapsulation or simply encapsulation allows the hiding of the internal state of the objects. Encapsulated objects are those objects that can only be assessed by their methods instead of their internal states. There are three types of encapsulated objects users and developers should recognize. The first is full encapsulation, in which all the operations on objects are done through message sending and method execution. The second is write encapsulation, which is where the internal state of the object is visible only for reading operations. The third is partial encapsulation, which involves allowing direct access for reading and writing for only a part of the internal state. Object identity allows objects of the database to be independent of each other. Polymorphism and dynamic binding allow one to define operations for one object and then to share the specification of the operation with other objects. This allows users and/or programmers to compose objects to provide solutions without having to write code that is specific to each object. The language important to OODBMS is data definition and manipulation language (DDML). The use of this language allows persistent data to be created, updated, deleted, or retrieved. An OODBMS needs a computational versus a relational language because it can be used to avoid impedance mismatch. DDML allows users to define a database, including creating, altering, and dropping tables and establishing constraints. DDMLs are used to maintain and query a database, including updating, inserting, modifying, and querying data. The OODBMS has many advantages and benefits. First, object-oriented is a more natural way of thinking. Second, the defined operations of these types of systems are not dependent on the particular database application running at a given moment. Third, the data types of object-oriented databases can be extended to support complex data such as images, digital and audio/video, along with other multi-media operations. Different benefits of OODBMS are its reusability, stability, and reliability. Another benefit of OODBMS is that relationships are represented explicitly, often supporting both navigational and associative access to information. This translates to improvement in data access performance versus the relational model. Another important benefit is that users are allowed to define their own methods of access to data and how it will be represented or manipulated. The most significant benefit of the OODBMS is that these databases have extended into areas not known by the RDBMS. Medicine, multimedia, and high-energy physics are just a few of the new industries relying on object-oriented databases. As with the relational database method, object-oriented databases also have disadvantages or limitations. One disadvantage of OODBMS is that it lacks a common data model. There is also no current standard, since it is still considered to be in the development stages. Who is currently using an OODBMS to handle mission critical data? The following information was gleaned from the ODBMS Facts website. The Chicago Stock Exchange manages stock trades via a Versant ODBMS. Radio Computing Services is the worlds largest radio software company. Its product, Selector, automates the needs of the entire radio station from the music library, to the newsroom, to the sales department. RCS uses the POET ODBMS because it enabled RCS to integrate and organize various elements, regardless of data types, in a single program environment. The Objectivity/DB ODBMS is used as a data repository for system component naming, satellite mission planning data, and orbital management data deployed by Motorola in The Iridium System. The Object Store ODBMS is used in Southwest Airlines Home Gate to provide self service to travellers through the Internet. Ajou University Medical Center in South Korea uses Intersystems Cachà ¨ ODBMS to support all hospital functions including mission-critical departments such as pathology, laboratory, blood bank, pharmacy, and X-ray. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland uses an Objectivity DB. The database is currently being tested in the hundreds of terabytes at data rates up to 35 MB/second. As of November, 2000, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) stored 169 terabytes of production data using Objectivity/DB. The production data is distributed across several hundred processing nodes and over 30 on-line servers. Below is a list of advantages and disadvantages of using an OODBMS over an RDBMS with an object oriented programming language. Advantages Composite Objects and Relationships: Objects in an OODBMS can store an arbitrary number of atomic types as well as other objects. It is thus possible to have a large class which holds many medium sized classes which themselves hold many smaller classes, ad infinitum. In a relational database this has to be done either by having one huge table with lots of null fields or via a number of smaller, normalized tables which are linked via foreign keys. Having lots of smaller tables is still a problem since a join has to be performed every time one wants to query data based on the Has-a relationship between the entities. Also an object is a better model of the real world entity than the relational tuples (attributes) with regards to complex objects. The fact that an OODBMS is better suited to handling complex, interrelated data than an RDBMS means that an OODBMS can outperform an RDBMS by ten to a thousand times depending on the complexity of the data being handled. Class Hierarchy: Data in the real world is usually having hierarchical characteristics. The ever popular Employee example used in most RDBMS texts is easier to describe in an OODBMS than in an RDBMS. An Employee can be a Manager or not, this is usually done in an RDBMS by having a type identifier field or creating another table which uses foreign keys to indicate the relationship between Managers and Employees. In an OODBMS, the Employee class is simply a parent class of the Manager class. Circumventing the Need for a Query Language: A query language is not necessary for accessing data from an OODBMS unlike an RDBMS since interaction with the database is done by transparently accessing objects. It is still possible to use queries in an OODBMS however. No Impedence Mismatch: In a typical application that uses an object oriented programming language and an RDBMS, a signifcant amount of time is usually spent mapping tables to objects and back. There are also various problems that can occur when the atomic types in the database do not map cleanly to the atomic types in the programming language and vice versa. This impedance mismatch is completely avoided when using an OODBMS. No Primary Keys: The user of an RDBMS has to worry about uniquely identifying tuples by their values and making sure that no two tuples have the same primary key values to avoid error conditions. In an OODBMS, the unique identification of objects is done behind the scenes via OIDs and is completely invisible to the user. Thus there is no limitation on the values that can be stored in an object. One Data Model: A data model typically should model entities and their relationships, constraints and operations that change the states of the data in the system. With an RDBMS it is not possible to model the dynamic operations or rules that change the state of the data in the system because this is beyond the scope of the database. Thus applications that use RDBMS systems usually have an Entity Relationship diagram to model the static parts of the system and a separate model for the operations and behaviours of entities in the application. With an OODBMS there is no disconnect between the database model and the application model because the entities are just other objects in the system. An entire application can thus be comprehensively modelled in one UML diagram.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
God-forsaken areas Essay
What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field ââ¬â such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities ââ¬â and what you have gained from your involvement I am an international student and I have been exposed to a variety of cultures. I am from Hong Kong but I came to study in the United States. My other dealings exposed me to other unique cultures. The US also has a diverse set of students which further gave me exposure to different cultural backgrounds. This exposure to unique cultures developed my interest in global studies. This is also one of the main reasons why I have chosen to pursue global studies as my intended major. Since I am an international student, I have realized that globalization is important as it would make the entire world seem like a single country. I believe globalization will benefit everyone. When I was rendering community service with the AGS, I realized that with globalization, we could reach out to more people in God-forsaken areas. Poor countries that do not have an abundant supply of necessary resources will have greater access to the international market. Poor countries in Africa and Asia can be aided by prosperous countries in other parts of the world. This is possible with globalization. Globalization would also help to improve relationships between countries and therefore improve the global economy. I want to study the effects of globalization as it has different social, industrial, economic, political, financial, as well as cultural implications. I believe those who oppose globalization are afraid of change. Much of the world is afraid of change but change is not always bad. Usually, it is for the better. Let us say, a poor African country is in need of food while another more prosperous European country is in need of raw materials. With free trade because of globalization, these two countries can open their markets to each other without having to pay additional taxes. This is better for their people. The African country can trade food for raw materials. In this kind of setting, there is mutual relationship between the two countries, thus, this is good globalization. Globalization would also lead to better flow of information and this is already manifested in the Internet, which is considered as a tool for globalization. The Internet creates a singular cyber world that is overflowing with information. I strongly believe that globalization will pave the way for the world to be more successful. I want to further understand the implications of globalization. Globalization may be good in my own view but there are still some things about it that I do not understand. Pursuing global studies will allow me to understand this in a brighter concept. It would also allow me to identify the negative effects of globalization. I know that globalization has negative sides since a lot since a lot of people are against it. I would like to possess the knowledge to help identify and even eliminate the negative effects of globalization. I believe I can greatly aid the society this way. Prompt #2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud, and how does it relate to the person you are? As a student, I experiences some hard times because of several personal circumstances. But what I am very proud of is that I always made progress after such trying times. I was just 18 when I came to Los Angeles to study and because I had to make certain adjustments, particularly because the language used as a medium instruction was different since I am from Hong Kong. On my first semester, I received a D on my Economics class. I was not satisfied so I worked harder. I retook the subject the following semester and my hard work paid off as I received an A for my grade. All this I did because of careful planning. In my Anthropology class, I received a W mark as I was unable to religiously follow my schedule as I was diagnosed with kidney infection. I had to make regular visits to the doctor and the pain sometimes made me unable to attend class. Now that I am better, I plan to retake this subject in the winter. And with nothing else in my way, I can handle it to the best of my abilities and I am confident that I will get an excellent mark because I am determined. Also, even as I have experiences some hard times, I still maintain a very good GPA of 3. 75. I always tend to excel in my studies and even as I experience some trying times, I have always made an effort to recuperate. My undying resolve coupled with careful planning is an aspect that I believe contributes greatly to my success. I believe that this same aspect will allow me to be successful in any path that I take. When I fail a task, I always try again and I always do my best to achieve the best results. This has not failed me yet. Whenever, I put my mind to it, I always achieve great things. Of course, this does not only mean that one needs to be determined to be successful. One needs to carefully plan everything to pave the way for success. Planning is critical. It is important to develop this skill even as a student as one can surely make use of this very effective skill in his/her professional career. Planning allowed me to balance between my studies and my other dealings. Academics are important but one must remember that studying is not just about academics. I have always been involved in extra-curricular activities. This way, I can enjoy student life and not treat it as a burden like many students do. Also, one must carefully plan and develop study habits since this is important for a student. For me, this is important so that I will have enough time to attend to other matters aside from academics. I always try to sneak in some form of leisure like going out with friends or just relaxing. When faced with a problem, I analyze everything carefully in order that I could make an informed decision. Every decision that I make is an informed decision. This is the person that I am; I never let anything get out of hand through careful planning. And with my undying resolve, there is nothing that I could not accomplish.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Godfather Goodfellas Essay
The Godfather and Goodfellas are both considered ââ¬Å"mafia movies. â⬠Both of these films portray some form of organized crime committed by Italians. They mutually romanticize the mob lifestyle and depict it with pure clarity. Although both of these movies portray the lives of the same kind of people, they are more than just a simple characterization. Violence plays a major role in each of these films. The Godfather and Goodfellas are obviously very similar. However, they also have several aspects that differ from one another. In both The Godfather and Goodfellas, violence penetrates the daily lives of both Henry Hill and Michael Corleone.Although violence is a key factor of each of the movies, Goodfellas is more brutal in comparison to The Godfather. In the film Goodfellas, Henry Hill was exposed to the gangster lifestyle since he was very young. In the film Henry says, ââ¬Å"As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a gangster. â⬠His out-of-control partner, Tommy is one of the most violent characters in the film. Blood shed is frequently joked about in this movie. In one of the scenes, Tommy was telling a story in a restaurant. After the story Henry laughs and tells Tommy that he is funny.Upon hearing this, Tommy gets defensive and loses his temper. For a moment Henry is nervous because he knows Tommyââ¬â¢s violent personality. However, he realizes that hw is joking and they all laugh about it. Tommy proceeds to wave his gun around and joke about killing Henry. This scene proves that murder is taken lightly in this movie. Another violent act is when Tommy brutally beats a mobster named Billy Batts to death. He kills Billy for insulting him about his younger years as a shoe shine boy. In this scene even Henry looks appalled. Tommy shows no remorse as they hide the evidence of Battsââ¬â¢ body.He continues to surprise the characters with his short temperedness and violence. Another shocking vicious act is when he kills Spider because he was disrespecting him. This scene leaves both the viewers the characters in the film appalled. There are many scenes in Goodfellas with a great deal of blood shed. Many of these murders happen spontaneously and are not organized. Some of these scenes are shocking, primeval, and appalling. These moments leave the viewers stunned and disoriented. Unlike Goodfellas, the violence in The Godfather occurs mysteriously and almost magically.The organized crimes and murders simply occur without any mistake in this film. One of the bloody scenes that portray this is the one where Woltzââ¬â¢ bed is covered in blood. This scene was very slick the way Tom Hagen slipped away without being noticed by anyone. Hagenââ¬â¢s visit was to intimidate Woltz by proving that if he had to kill him, he would be able to. Another very violent act was Sonnyââ¬â¢s death. This plan was organized carefully by Don Emilio Varzini with the help of Carlo Rizzi, his brother-in-law. Earlier in the film Sonny had beaten Carlo after he heard Carlo was abusing his sister Connie.To get back at him, Carlo viciously beats Connie using his belt. When Sonny hears of this he speeds to Connieââ¬â¢s apartment. As he approaches, Barziniââ¬â¢s men surround Sonny and viciously shoot him to death. This act was also thought out very cautiously by masterminds. Towards the end of the movie, the planned killing of the five other mob leaders is revealed. Michael orders all of the head of the families to be killed so he can be the top Don. Although this scene is violent, it is masked by the ceremony of Michael becoming Connieââ¬â¢s sonââ¬â¢s godfather.The mass murder was perfectly planned to take place at the right time and place. Every slaughter and violent act in The Godfather is carefully intentional and prearranged by their specific mastermind. Unlike The Godfather which portrays Mafia dons, Goodfellas shows the lives of the criminals who exist on a lower level. Both Henry Hill and Michael Corl eone face murders and beatings every day. Goodfellas is more upfront and brutal towards violence in comparison to The Godfather. The violent acts in Goodfellas are appalling and unpredictable.It perfectly portrays the ferociousness of the characters, specifically Tommy. Unlike Goodfellasââ¬â¢ obviously violent and vicious blood scenes, The Godfather is more sneaky and slick. The violence in this movie, while prevalent, is well masked and planned. Each murder was clearly thought out and intentional. Violence is one of the key components in a mobsterââ¬â¢s life. The characters in both The Godfather and Goodfellas face murder in their mob lifestyles frequently. Although violence is dominant in both of these films, each film has a different way of portraying these bloody scenes.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Essay about The Media And Violence - 979 Words
The debate regarding the medias relationship to violence in society has been a hot issue for most of the past century. From the beginning of the wide use of mass media, from films to radio to television, researchers have tried to explain any association or correlation between media effects and violence. Of particular interest and concern has been the issue of violence in the media and the impact that this has on children. Although important research efforts have increased our understanding of the topic there is still a great that needs to be done in terms of the application and implementation of the findings to policies and television programming. It has become generally acknowledged by many communications studies that exposure toâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦This study laid a strong foundation from which future studies drew. The Surgeon Generals Report on Television and Social Behavior (1971) was a highly criticized study because of the vagueness of its implications but progress in the field of study were still made. The studies were based on content analysis of TV violence with particular attention to modeling and observational learning as evident in the subjects. The conclusions that were drawn from the five volumes of research were that television programming is heavily saturated with violence, there has been increased exposure to this violence by both adults and children, and that viewing of violence in the media increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior. This project is of particular interest due to the large size of the study and extent of federal funding that was used to support it. The research performed by Alert Bandura resulted in strong evidence for short-term effects of exposure to violence in the media. In his studies children watched models perform aggressive acts against a doll. These acts of aggression were presented under three circumstances, 1. The children saw the model rewarded for aggressive behavior, 2. The children saw the model receive no consequences for their aggressive behavior, and 3. The children saw the model punished. All three groups were able to imitate the aggressiveShow MoreRelatedMedia Violence And The Media Essay864 Words à |à 4 PagesExposure to the media violence may be especially problematic in late adolescence. Television and other media play a major role in adolescent socialization and identity development by providing perspectives, values, ideologies, and behavior models (Arnett G., Roberts D. et al.). The socializing role of television in particular may be ampliï ¬ ed by the large amount of time young people spend with t his medium. Speciï ¬ cally, 18- to 24-year-olds spend more time watching television and movies than youngerRead MoreMedia, Violence, And Violence Essay1892 Words à |à 8 Pageswould be the media. Media and violence are both very wide and broad concepts that have massive impacts in our society, and it is important to distinguish their relationship with each other. The types of media are things such as violent video games, films, newspapers, magazines and television. One particular type of media that is often very problematized is violent video games. Different studies have shown convincing and unconvincing correlational in regards to the media and violence, but to whomRead MoreMedia, Violence, And Violence Essay1949 Words à |à 8 Pageswould be the media. Media and violence are both very wide and broad concepts that have massive impacts in our society, and it is important to distinguish their relationship with each other. The types of media are things such as violent video game s, films, newspapers, magazines and television. One particular type of media that is often very problematized is violent video games. 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At first glance, the debate is dominated by one question. Whether or not media violence causes real life violence and whether or not it has a negative effect of the modern day Canadian family. Closer examination reveals a political battle. On one hand, there are those who blame media violence for societal violence and want to censor violent content to protect our childrenRead MoreThe Violence Of The Media2018 Words à |à 9 Pagesit was intended. With so many media outlets present in everyday life, it is not hard to imagine there being many concerns regarding violence in the media. This essay looks to explore why there is concerns regarding violence in the media, focusing on the glorification of violence. The essay will also look at the different types of media outlets, i.e. the music industry, film, television, internet and gaming, and how each of them may present a glorification of violence. The essay will look at the caseRead MoreMedia Violence And Crime Violence1168 Words à |à 5 PagesMedia Violence and Crimes There are few debates that have been contentious for so long as the debate of whether violent medias contribute meaningfully to crimes. Because of the majority of shooting events committed by younger shooters, many politicians regard cultural effects as a potential contributing factor, while others dismiss media as a contributing factor. Within the social science community, a similar division exists (Ferguson, 2015). For example, some professional supporting groups, like
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Dominican Baseball - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1483 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/04/02 Category Sports Essay Level High school Tags: Baseball Essay Did you like this example? Globalization has been instrumental in the growth of sports. As everyone knows sports are global and are a part of many different cultures. This can be seen more with baseball than any other sport, especially Latin and American countries. The major league baseball (MLB) pulls many different players from around those countries but also all over the world ranging from Japan to Ireland. While many countries are represented in the MLB there is one place that is known as a talent pipeline for baseball players. That place is called the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean country beside Haiti. Alan Klein discusses the changes and relationship between the MLB and the Dominican Republic throughout his book Dominican Baseball: New Pride, Old Prejudice. Throughout the book, Klein discusses the differences and battles of the MLB and the Dominican baseball players. There is a power struggle between the power that the MLB holds and the poor Dominican baseball players. Klein does research on the MLB and Dominican players through personal knowledge, interviews and research on mass media. This book review will examine how the book portrays the MLB within the Dominican and how this is only one way to understand the relationship between the two. Donââ¬â¢t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Dominican Baseball" essay for you Create order Old Prejudice Klein uses a process called the global commodity chain (GCC), which exploits resources and produces them to consumers. He uses the process to show how the MLB exploits the Dominican players because they have nothing else on the Island. The MLB is exploiting these players because they can get them for cheap and get a higher rate of return on their investment. In the Dominican, guys either play baseball and get a way out or they start working in the cannery. Since the MLB knows this they can offer baseball as a way out and let them take the chance for themselves without being help responsible. The league can say that they are doing the country good by bringing in jobs and good to the community. Klein (2014) states the player is both the goal and means of production (p. 30), which again shows that baseball is their only way out. Each MLB team offers an academy for prospects to define their baseball skills and give them educational needs. Academies Throughout the book, Klein discusses the baseball academies and has proficient knowledge on the matter. He discusses not only the academies themselves but how they search for talent, how they benefit both the player and the team and how they are structured. Because of this, Klein has a strong argument on his understanding of the academies making it a strength of the book. The academies are there for the MLB to scout for new and rising players in the Dominican. They offer many resources to the adolescents that they would not have otherwise. The academies allow the players to continue playing baseball while still furthering their education. Klein goes into depth about the players and how the academies help their baseball future while also helping with their personal lives. These Dominican players see baseball as a way out and are willing to sacrifice everything to get there. The MLB sees these academies as a way to enhance their odds with the best talent out there (Klein, 2014, p. 38). One can see that through this book and through a documentary, Baseball: Pelotero. The players go through tremendous tryouts to make it onto an academy team. The relationship between the MLB and Dominican players is all about money and Klein starts to show a bias throughout the book. He shows a bias against the MLB and the corruption they are a part of. The Dominican players are using the MLB as labor migration, which gives the players economic factors and the desire and search for professional opportunities. Americans and the MLB see the academies and themselves as a good thing because it gives the players an opportunity to leave and capitalize on their talent. Klein sees it as exploitation because while being there and researching he saw the things that went on and difficulties these young players go through. The Buscones The buscones play a major role in the Dominican baseball players worlds. Klein discusses the relationship between the MLB and buscones right after he discusses the academies because they go hand in hand. One would think that since the buscones and MLB work closely together that they would like one another. That is completely not the case and is made clear in the book. In the book, Klein interviews many buscones to show the importance of them but still shows a bias towards the MLB. He states that the buscones are responsible for the players and how they play to the day they try out and sign professionally. The reason behind it all, of course money. Klein (2014) states that buscones had evolved into the multifaceted institution that finds players, contracts with them, develops them, houses and feeds them, secures tryouts, and plays a role in negotiations with teams (p. 73). Buscones pour more time and energy into these adolescents than anyone else. Baseball is usually the adolescents full time job and they are with the buscones for over forty hours a week. Klein discusses how the work that the buscones do should make them loved but that America sees them as evil and exploiters. He tries to state that the exploiters are in reality the MLB. The MLB uses the academies to exploit their adolescent players and offer them many things such as a potential offer and a further education. The odds are against the players making it professionally and if they do not sign with a team on July 2 by the time they are 16 and a half then their worth drops drastically. Also, if they do not sign with a team the academy can drop them and with that the player stops playing baseball and loses their education. With the buscones, they are responsible financially for the adolescent and in the book, looks like they have their best interests. Klein tries to make a point that buscones do make a profit off a player but only if they get a signing bonus or what the player and buscone had in agreement. Money The MLB, buscones and Dominican players are all after one thing, the biggest profit. The MLB uses the talent pipeline of baseball players in the Dominican Republic for their benefit. In the end, the MLB is a corporation and the job of a corporation is to make money. They see those adolescents as an investment with a high return on their money. The players are a vast majority in the MLB as the Latin country. Buscones are in it for the money as well. They take care of the prospect by coaching them, housing, feeding, and making sure they receive the attention they deserve. They do this as a benefit for the player but also themselves. They get a percentage of the signing bonus or some sort of cut that the player gets. They do it for a return on their investment as well. If a player does not make it then the buscone just does not make money. The player is in it for money as well. Making it professionally is the players way out of the Dominican Republic and with that comes money. They are able to be financially well off and usually in return help their family and give them what they deserve. Conclusion Throughout the book Klein discusses the relationship between the MLB and the Dominican Republic. With his knowledge, research and interviews he makes strong arguments that discuss how the MLB exploits the Dominican players. There is an overall bias tone towards the MLB which after reading the book and watching the documentary I understand. So many adolescents are putting their future into many hands and have no control over the outcomes. Seeing how the MLB acts makes me realize that the company does seem to exploit those adolescents. Watching the documentary was shocking and made me re-evaluate how things are handled just because they are a large company. I had always known that companies such as the MLB, NFL and NBA are all about money but I did not realize to what extent. I also never really paid attention to the amount of Dominican Republic players the MLB has. I do not pay that much attention to baseball other than going to games with friends for the entertainment part. It amazes me that people can feel good about themselves while still exploiting adolescents just because they are from a third-world country. Overall, I enjoyed this book because it brought attention to my eyes about corruption that happens. These large companies are backed by so many people and legal ways that they can get away with. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the MLB and all that goes into it.
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