Android

Android is a robot that resembles humans. The word is originally Greek, and means "Human like". The term was first introduced in 1270, and was used in the US patents starting in 1836, describing the humanlike toys.
Among all the android projects conducted all around the world, the most successful thus far is EveR-1 by Korea Institute for Industrial Technology, which is capable of imitating human facial expressions, and has vocabulary of about 400 words.

Brain-Computer Interface

BCI is an acronym that stands for Brain-Computer Interface, also called as direct neural interface. The BCI can provide an alternative communication and control option for persons with severe handicaps and thus improve the quality of life of paralyzed people. It is composed of a series of electrodes surgically implanted to the patient’s scalp that are connected to a computer. The computer translates the brain’s electrical output and controls a number of operations, permitting the immobilized people to send e-mails, operate TV sets and maybe in the future even control robotic arms.
There are two types of brain-computer interfaces. The one-way BCIs computer can accept commands from the brain or send signals to it, but not both. Two-way BCIs would allow brains and external devices to exchange information in both directions but have yet to be successfully implanted in animals or humans.

Sony

A Japanese corporation, Sony is one of the largest electronic companies in the world. It manufactures a wide assortment of electronic goods like televisions, video games, communication devices, and other technology products. It also is involved in the entertainment industry, having music and movie arms. Sony was founded in 1946 in Tokyo by Masura Ibuka, an electronics designer. It initially began as a radio repair shop, but soon it expanded out into a larger range of industries. Some of Sony's more famous products are its transistor radio (introduced in the '60s), video camcorder (introduced in the '80s), and PlayStation video game consoles (introduced in 1994).

Mr. Data

Mr. Data is a character in Star Trek, acted out by actor Brent Spiner. Although being an android, Data serves important positions as the second officer on starship USS Enterprise-D and the chief operation officer on USS Enterprise-E. Data is equipped with positronic brain that allows him to process information at an impressively high speed, while he output through high physical strength and agility. However, he is not equipped with the understanding of different aspects of human behavior, nor the feeling of emotions. Thoughout the show, Data earnestly desires to become more human in all forms.

Didacticism

Didacticism is the philosophy that emphasizes the conveyance of educational messages. There is always moral or theme. The instruction is more important than entertainment. Thus, artistic quality of the text is usually inversely proportional to the intensity of didacticism. The example of didacticism includes the literary form of much European and American eighteenth- century, Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, and the poem Georgics, by Virgil.

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon is an American actor. Bacon first came to the general public's eye in Barry Levinson's movie, Diner. Some of his other famous works include Footloose and Animal House. He has also tried his hand at music, in a band called The Bacon Brothers with his brother. He is married to Kyra Sedgwick, a Golden Globe Award-winning actress.

Rogerian Therapy

Developed by Carl Rogers, Rogerian Therapy refers to the type of therapy that is client-centered. In other words, during Rogerian Therapy, the therapist mirrors whatever the client says without disagreeing or presenting his own opinion. This technique reflects back Rogers’ claim that the self-centered therapy can have a tremendous effect in that just by listing his problem to an impartial therapist, the client can “improve without being taught anything specific by the therapist.” This approach of therapy enforces the importance of individual personality and may be effective in minor psychopathology but may not for more severe ones. Nevertheless, this is one of the most efficient way of psychotherapy.

Global Positioning System Chips

On page 2 of Bill Gates’ Article ‘A Robot in Every Home,’ he talks about robots builders using ‘Global Positioning System Chips’ in their designs. Global Positioning System is also called GPS. GPS is a device that enables objects to be tracked via satellite. This is now a worldwide phenomenon but it was originally designed for, and is still controlled by the U.S. military. A GPS chip in an object sends out signals to a satellite which then transmits the signals to a receiver. These signals give the receiver information to calculate the exact position and speed of the object. This technology is also available to all, and has served people a lot over the years. It is used to track stolen objects, and for navigation purposes; for these reasons it is gaining more popularity world-wide by the second. This gives people reason to speculate that GPS chips will soon be “as basic as the telephone.”

Veritas

Veritas is the latin word for truth and honesty. The word also has roots in several other cultures. Veritas is a the Roman goddess for truth. Many people use the word veritas for different subjects to relate them to truth or honesty. One such case is the Veritas political party in the UK.

Uncanny Valley

This is a hypothesis on why sometimes we are scared by human-like robots. It is first devised by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori. Essentially he said that we are repulsed by the blurred line between a machine and a human. If the machine is nothing like human, we accept it as a wonderful scientific invention. We also feel positive towards it if it looks and acts extremely like a human. However, if it is resembles a human but have some machine-like actions, it incurs a repulsive feeling in us. Just imagine a human looking robot that has a unnatural smile, it scares people.

Reminder

From the original blog instructions:

You must be very careful not to plagiarize. Refer to several sources (preferably avoiding Wikipedia altogether because it is not a reliable source) and compose a summary. Double check that your term has not been defined before beginning your summary by visiting the blog itself at http://definitionsofculture01.blogspot.com or choosing View Blog from the menu above the posting box. Summaries should be between 100-200 words. It is also very important to check for accuracy and use reliable sources. You can be required at any time to provide your definition sources, so you may want to make note of them or preferably link to them in the comments section of your post.

Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch is an American brand that sells apparel and related products under five lifestyle brands: Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie, Hollister, Ruehl No. 925, Gilly Hicks. Under different brands, Abercrombie has different customer targets. This company is a specialty retailer. It sells everything from casual apparel to personal care and other accessories for men, women and kids. A&F is popular and has relationships with the sellers in 37 countries.

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abercrombie_&_Fitch
http://moneycentral.msn.com/companyreport?symbol=ANF&pkw=PI&vendor=Paid+Inclusion

Willy Wonka

Willy Wonka is the founder of the Wonka Candy Company. He is a character in the classic children's book called Charlie and the chocolate factory. He keeps his factory so private and legendary; however, he shocks the world by giving 5 lucky children a tour of his factory. The 5 golden tickets are hidden just under ordinary Wonka chocolate bars, which are sent around the world.

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Wonka
http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/charlie/flashsite/index.html

Assignment 3B

“A Robot in Every Home” - http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleId=9312A198-E7F2-99DF-31DA639D6C4BA567

“Could Robots Become Your Toddler’s New Best Friend?” -
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=263EBB28-E7F2-99DF-385C6CEB41D9C8E4&ref=rss

“Robot-Assisted Rescuers Seek Answers in Wake of Utah Mine Collapse” -
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleId=DB306EAE-E7F2-99DF-391FE3B80A4AECF0

“Thoughts, Not Arms and Hands, Can Operate Machines: New Devices May Soon Improve the Lives of Physically Handicapped People”
(press release from Society for Neuroscience linked by SA) - http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=news_110607d

“Teaching Robot Dogs New Tricks” -
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleId=0005510C-EABD-1CD6-B4A8809EC588EEDF

“Robots Prepare for the Battlefield by First Fighting City Traffic” –
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleid=01C38F95-E7F2-99DF-3C6192B9EF2D3F1B

“My Date with a Robot” -
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000A29D4-2635-1477-9D3383414B7F0000&modsrc=related_links

Model T

Henry Ford’s Ford Motor Company revolutionized the car production by introducing the first affordable automobile, Model T. Model T was the first model made by assembly line in which interchangeable part of the car was made in a sequential manner to create a finished product. Such an efficient production greatly reduced the time to produce each car as well as the cost of the car. He was able to produce an automobile that was within the economic reach of the average American. The first production Model T was built on Septmber 27, 1908, at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan. However, customers started to count styling and excitement and the Model T sales plummeted. Ford finally replaced his beloved model, Model T, by Model A. Despite this change, the Ford Model T is still considered as the most influential car of the twentieth century.

Queer Eye

Queer Eye is a television series premiered by Bravo cable TV network. In each episode of this reality show, five gay men, known as the Fab Five, set out to improve a straight man’s life by teaching him how to dress and furnish his place. Based on the claim that gay men are superior in their sense of fashion and style, queer men in this show, perform a makeover in someone’s life.
The show started with David Collins as its executive producer who is openly gay. Upon its premier in 2003, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy received very mixed reviews from various fans and opponents, both gay and straight.

The Real World

On page 325 of Next Text, it is mentioned how the ‘Real world’ influences young girls to wear thongs. The Real world is a reality TV show that has been aired since 1992. MTV owns and produces the show. Thousands of people audition to be on the show each year, but only seven are chosen. These seven people are then put in one house for several weeks and the cameras follow their every move from there. The viewers of the show get to see what happens when you put strangers in a house all by themselves; at first everyone starts out polite but after a while everyone starts to get ‘real’ and the audience gets to see friendships and fights unravel as well as observe the other realities that people face when living in a new community.

Selectric typewriter

The Selectric typewriter was introduced by IBM in 1961 and immediately became popular to the American public. Selectric had a pivoting type element called a "typeball” that could be changed to display different fonts in the same document. The Selectric was so popular it claimed 75% of the market at the time it was introduced. It was even believed to be revolutionary at the time, with its capacity to display different fonts in the same document. Also, the Selectric is revolutionary in that it replaced the traditional typewriter’s moving carriage with a paper roller. The paper roller was able to stay unmoving while the typeball and ribbon mechanism moved from side to side. The Selectric also provided a very clean and neat appearance of the typed page, which increased the popularity of this renovation at the time.

Freudian

Sigmund Freud is a well known physiologist and medical doctor for his pioneering theory of the unconscious and his use of psychoanalysis as a form of therapy. Freud believes that the mind has two parts, one is the conscious mind. This is the smaller and less important part. The larger part by far is the unconscious mind. This is what supplies most of the drives or instincts, the source and cause of many mental disorders. To treat such disorders requires that one knows what the unconscious mind is doing. That is the fundamentals of his psychoanalysis as a form of therapy.

Generation X

Generation X encompasses those who were born between 1965 and 1976, after the baby boom during the World War II. This classification has a negative connotation; X refers to the namelessness of a generation characterized by the instabilities of most families endured during that time. Due to witnessing their parents face job insecurity, Generation X generally held a pessimistic, cynical, and skeptical view for the future. During the 1990s, the media portrayed this generation as a rejects of the societies, the low-lives. But at the same time, they are characterized to have the traits of independence and resilience.

EMI

EMI is a music publisher that publishes songs for popular modern bands. EMI stands for Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. The company publishes music for famous bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Joss Stone, Nat King Cole, etc.

Boho chic

Boho-chic is a style blending Bohemian culture and hippie look. Boho is an abbreviation of bohemian, while chic is a word borrowed from French, meaning being trendy or elegant. element of Boho-chic include Boho-chic includes long white skirts, long necklaces, furry boots, and embroidered tunics. This type of fashion reached its peak in 2004 and 2005 and is now still widely followed.

Behemoth

Behemoth (Hebrew behemot; Arabic bahīmūth, or bahamūt) is a creature mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24.The word is most likely a plural form of bəhēmāh, meaning beast or large animal. It may be an example of pluralis excellentiae, a Hebrew method of expressing greatness by pluralizing a noun; it thus indicates that Behemoth is the largest and most powerful animal. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.
The passage from the Book of Job describes Behemoth in this way: it was created along with man (40:15a), it is herbivorous (40:15b), it has strong muscles and bones, and it lives in the swamp (40:21).
Some have interpreted Behemoth as a mythical animal. However, some have attempted to identify it with real animals. In the book of Job, Behemoth is mentioned along with some mundane animals, such as goats, eagles, and hawks, making many Christian scholars to conclude that Behemoth may also be a mundane creature. Suggested animals include the water buffalo, rhinoceros and the elephant, but the most common suggestion is the hippopotamus. Many Young Earth Creationists propose that the Behemoth is a dinosaur.

The Matrix

The Matrix was a groundbreaking science fiction film released in 1999. It starred Keanu Reeves as Neo, a human being fighting against the computer-controlled world in the future, called the Matrix. This movie was highly applauded for its special effects (the fight scenes and the detailed graphics) and its deeply intrinsic and well-developed philosophy. In particular, The Matrix was remembered for introducing "bullet time" scenes to the movie industry, in which scenes occur in slow motion as action increases. Overall, the movie was not only a commercial success, but also was well-applauded by critics. As a result, The Matrix later spawned two sequels.

References:
http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/phi.html

MUD

MUD is an acronym for "Multi-User Dungeon", "Multi-User Domain" and "Multi-User Dimensions". It is a multi-player game played via the internet or some local network. Such games are usually textual in nature. Players interact with each other by typing commands into their computers. As such, these social interactions are not personal and often, users take to anonymity. Often, MUDs have fantastic or magical settings as their themes. Aardwolf is an example of a popular MUD.

Compare: MMORPG

Glocalization

The term was invented from two other words, Global and Localization to emphasize the globalization of localities in different economic and social relationships. For example, in business and global trade, the products that adapt the special needs of local units, are more successful in becoming global.
Japanese economists in the Harvard Business Review were the first to use the term. According to Roland Robertson, who advertised the use of the word glocalization "means the simultaneity --- the co-presence --- of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies."
McDonalds restaurants all around the world are great examples of glocalization. Although still the same restaurants, the menus vary from country to country.



REFERENCES:

http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci826478,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glocalisation
http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/ideas/glocalization.html

Freelancer

The word “freelancer” is a medieval term, originally used to describe an self-perserving soldier who can be hired at all time to perform a specific task. Today, freelancer or freelance worker refers to a person who does not hold long-term professional commitment to any one employer. The benefits of being a freelancer are obviously the flexible hours and the opportunity to be exposed to and be skilled at different kinds of assignments; this could be an ultimate way to build a strong portfolio if one is looking for a permanent job. Though it may allow a person to exercise freedom while working, freelancing also has disadvantages. One, freelancers do not receive all the benefits that full employer may receive (i.e. medical insurance). Two, freelancing is not a secure job; freelancers always live in an anxiety, not knowing where they would be “hired” to do work.

To quote, “freelancing is not for everyone.”

AMZN

AMZN is an abbreviation for Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com, Incorporation is an online company founded in Seattle, Washington. This company has been ranked as one of the top-selling companies over the internet. All different kinds of goods such as clothes, toys, food to computer software, furniture, and electronics are available for sale even to other countries outside the U.S. Since the foundation of the company in 1994, it has popularized the idea of online shopping, leading much other incorporation to explore the field of internet all over the world.

Dark Age of Camelot

Dark Age of Camelot is a MMORPG that is available to most people around the world. The game gives people a chance to role play as different medieval characters ranging from knights to sorcerers. Players may travel through a digital world and attain higher levels by killing creatures found in this digital world.

Wiki

A Wiki is a piece of software that allows users to create, edit and link the pages of a website. Thus, one user could make changes that are seen by the rest of the users. Such software distributes the responsibility of managing the website, therefore decreasing the workload per person. However, it could also cause concerns related to the authenticity of content due to erroneous or malicious edits. Wikis are used to create community websites and their use by web businesses is increasing, especially in fields that involve knowledge management. Wikipedia is an example of a free, online encyclopaedia that runs on Wiki software.

CMC

Broadly, Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC)  refers to human communication via computers--including computer network communication on the Internet and the World Wide Web. But the term can be narrowed to include only those communications that occur via computer-mediated formats (i.e., instant messages, e-mails, chat rooms). CMC systems can help a lot for supporting group learning. It allows groups to interact over time as well as over geographical location.

Reference
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication
2. http://www.ibiblio.org/cmc/center.html
3. http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/projects/jtap/reports/teaching/chapter3.html

Kinesiology

Kinesiology (also known as the science of movement) is the scientific study of anatomy, physiology, and mechanics of body movement, especially in humans. The word kinesiology is derived from the Greek “kinesis” (motion) and the suffix “logy” (meaning a field of study). Kinesiology is divided into branches, such as Applied Kinesiology, Specialized/Energy Kinesiology, Kinesiology Medicine and Academic Kinesiology (biomechanics, exercise physiology). The differences between Specialized/Energy Kinesiology and Applied Kinesiology/Kinesiologic Medicine are major: the first uses a “straight arm muscle test” and ask verbal “yes and no questions”, while the second does not work with verbal questions and uses hundreds of muscle tests in the body. While the applied Kinesiology puts focus on the structural and nutritional aspects, the Energy Kinesiology focuses on the mental and energy aspects.
Kinesiology is a rapidly developing science, becoming a part of many colleges’ curriculum.

Photobucket

Photobucket is a photosharing website that hosts images, videos, and slideshows. It was found by Alex Welch and Darren Crystal, supported economically by Trinity Ventures. It is a highly successful websites that allows users to create personal photo albums and videos. Photobucket offers 1 GB of free storage. In 2005, it was named the fastest growing site by Nielsen/Netratings. By 2007, Photobucket has 36 million registered users, and it is continuing to add approximately 85,000 new users every day. Photobucket also allows users to direct the pictures they upload on photobucket onto websites such as popular networking or blog sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Ebo, Xanga, Livejournal, and Blogger.

Facebook.com

Facebook.com is one of the many social networks today. And in this age where networking is one of the biggest online activities, facebook is definitely a big attraction. Its founder Mark Zuckerberg started the website as a hobby while he was a Harvard student and it in no time exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. Most students have facebook.com accounts, and most account holders log in daily to keep track of their friends’ activities, and pretty much just stay in touch. What makes facebook amazing is that although it is not accessible to everyone, it has made its way to second place in the list largest social networks in about three years. Facebook is one networking site with a lot of prospects as it expands by the second.

Tween

Tween is an age group overlapping preteens, namely between 9-14. Tween can be a derogatory term when it refers to youths who blindly follow Hollywood teenage stars, listen to exclusively pop music, and accept any fashion trend set for them. They are also considered easy to market to by corporate firms. Tweens often think they are in the phase of seeking themselves, but it is questionable if they are doing it just because everybody in the same age seems to be doing it, too.

MMORPG

A MMORPG stands for the expression "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game." As the name indicates, MMORPGs are online games in which users from all over the world interact in a closed online environment through a particular avatar to complete particular tasks. Because a large number of people participate in MMORPGs, a virtual "world" is derived from the interactions of the users, which usually occur through chatting on the screen and . As a result, in most MMORPGs, users not only have tasks to complete, but also can participate in virtual socializing and business-dealing. Some popular MMORPGs include RuneScape and World of Warcraft, which draw millions of users daily. Some researchers have criticized the addictive nature of such games, as they cause users to be detached from the real world.

References:
1. http://wow.stratics.com/content/features/guides/ultimate/
2. http://www.driftreality.com/london/mmorpg.1.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG

Brave New World

In the book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley describes a so called utopia of high technology state. People do not have to worry about getting sick or die. The goods produced are enough for everyone. However, humanity is at peril in such world. Babies are “manufactured” in factories. Furthermore, the government provides a drug called ‘soma’ which essentially is like contemporary drugs but do not have any draw-back effect. It eliminates people’s worries and therefore, acts as a tool of the government’s ruling. Religion, family and culture no longer exist. This book is a warning from the author that the advancement in technology, especially in biotechnology, is a mixed blessing. We have to jealously guard our intellectual independence and think critically about the world around us.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) oversees TANF program since July 1, 1997 after Welfare Reform Law of 1996. Precious welfare such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Job Opportunities and Basic Skill Training (JOBS) programs were replaced. TANF’s main purpose is to assist needy families with either pregnant women or one or more dependent children by providing basic needs such as food, shelter, and expenses other than medical. Grant of federal funds to states by TANF supports the development of states’ own welfare programs. However, there are basic rules that apply to each state’s program. Those who are eligible for help have to be either U.S. citizens or legal immigrants and attempt to find work in maximum 60 months.

Vaquero

The term means cowboy, and has been directly borrowed from Spanish. It is mainly used in southwest and central Texas. The Californian version of vaquero is buckaroo. Although both terms refer to the cattleman in the two states, there are historical differences in the usage of the terms. Vaqueros were people who were hired on the field wearing different attires, while buckaroos were cattlemen who were born on the same ranch that they worked on.

Bourgeoisie

First constructed by Karl Marx, the term bourgeoisie comes from a word bourgeois, which refers to a socioeconomic position between the peasants and landlords during medieval France. Since then, various classes emerged, and the term bourgeoisie is now used to denote the middle class of France and extensively of other nations. Marx in his popular speech used the term bourgeoisie to reflect materialism, narrowness, and philistinism.

Schrafft’s (From page 156 of Next Text)

Schrafft’s shops make up an empire that was once a force to be reckoned with and has definitely left an imprint in the world of candy, exotic ice creams, and remarkable cookies. They are pretty much shops that older generations find appealing, but the up and coming generations have little or no idea about. Schrafft’s shops were founded in Boston in the 19th Century and over time spread out to New York City. Schrafft’s empire actually started off as one of the biggest candy producers, and eventually expended into the areas of ice cream and restaurants. They left the restaurant business later on though.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 to 1975. The war had the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (NLF) fighting against the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army. Prior to this war, Vietnam had just gained independence from France and was divided into two parts: North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Americans intitially came in to support the South Vietnamese, who were fighting against the communist North Vietnamese. Communism was also against America's ideals at the time, and so, it sought to establish a democratic republic. Eventually, Vietnam was reunified in '75 as a communist state and in '76, it officially became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This war is the longest in U.S. history. It claims the lives of millions of Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodians. About 58,000 Americans were also killed. It was a great human loss.

"No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now." --Richard M. Nixon

Rocawear

Rocawear is a brand of clothing that was founded in 1999. The clothing is meant to be a type of urban clothing for those living in urban areas. There are various founders from the hip-hop industry— one such founder is Jay-Z. The company generates a revenue of about a little less than 1 billion dollars a year, so it is pretty big.

Individual Development Accounts(IDAs)

Individual Development Accounts(IDAs) are saving accounts for working-poor families who are trying to build towards purchasing an asset such as their first home, paying for college education, or starting a small business. These accounts are matched savings accounts in which the money saved will be matched with donations from government agencies, non-profit organizations and private companies. IDAs are especially made for the low-income American population who are trying to build their American Dreams. IDAs often help the poor to save or acquire assets. They can be used as checking and savings accounts, and also as a means to accumulate wealth. IDAs are similar to 401(k) plans and other matched savings accounts but it can serve a wide range of purposes for low-income families.

http://www.cfed.org/focus.m?parentid=31&siteid=374&id=374

National Council on Family Relations (NCFR)

The National Council on Family Relations is a non-partisan professional organization established in 1938 with the focus on family research, practice and education. Its mission is to provide information for family researchers, educators and practitioners and assure opportunities for them to work together and promote family well-being.
Family Relations is the official NCFR journal that publishes articles dealing with applied research, educational philosophies or practices, program evaluations and professional interpretation of their results. The articles contain empirical studies, literature reviews and conceptual analyses and have as target audience family life educators, practitioners and therapists.

Gringa

(from Pg 169 in NextText)

Gringa (the feminine form of the word gringo) is a term often used by those in Latin American countries to describe someone who is a foreigner or white. There has been some debate amongst English speakers whether or not the term is offensive: gringa can be used in a derogatory way, but also may be used in a matter-of-fact tone to describe that someone is a foreigner. Because the word gringa is connotative of outsider, it is used negatively amongst Hispanic immigrants into the U.S. in describing whether a fellow Hispanic is "acting white." Despite the controversy regarding this word, it remains a standard part of the Spanish language.

References:
1. http://www.answers.com/topic/gringo
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gringo

Bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie is a French word but commonly used in English context. It refers to a group of people whose social status, wealth, and education come from employment instead of birth like those of aristocracy. It is namely middle class. Often, Bourgeoisie has an disparaging overtone indicating superficial view on life, and a relentless striving for materials and respectability; it is very rare that people will identify themselves as members of Bourgeoisie.

Yoruba

Yoruba is a huge group of people, who occupied the southwestern corner of Nigeria along the Dahomey. "Yoruba" was originally the Hausa name for the Oyo kingdom, meaning "the people of the state of Oyo." Indeed Ife was the first city of Yoruba. Oyo and Benin came later. Ife doesn't developed to be a true kingdom but it remained important as a Yoruba's as the original sacred city. To the east and north the Yoruba culture reaches its approximate limits in the region of the Niger River. However ancestral cultures directly related to the Yoruba once flourished well north of the Niger.The Yoruba cities and kingdoms were discovered by Portuguese explorers in the fifteenth century but the cities had existed for at least five hundred years before the European arrival. The proto-Yoruba were at north of the Niger in the first millennium B.C. Yorubaland has a variety of the cultures, which makes it unique. Thhe urbanized social structure is evident in their ceremonies-naming, wedding, chieftaincy itles, celebration of life in death, etc. These occasions show the richness of the culture. Moreover, Yoruba culture also emphasised onTraditional music, which implied to the aesthetic sense of the high average of Yoruba culture


http://www.molli.org.uk/yoruba/1_about_yoruba/index.htm
http://www.yorubanation.org/yoruba/Culture.htm
http://www.cultural-expressions.com/ifa/ifahistory.htm

Ross Perot’s famous “big sucking sound”

In 1992, Ross Perot used the phrase “big sucking sound “to describe how much the Americans’ jobs would be lost as a result of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in a presidential debate. NAFTA was signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada. It essentially removed all the tariffs for imports from the partner countries. Ross Perot’s prediction was based on the theory that a lot of Americans’ jobs would be allocated to Mexico where labor price is lower. However, NAFTA has helped the America’s total manufacture output to increase steadily over the years based on empirical evidence.

Social Engineering

Social Engineering is the use of skillful scientific and technological techniques to manipulate individuals to act in a certain way. Social engineering pertains to political arena and security.
In the political scenes, governments or small private groups strive to influence the public behavior.
Social Engineering is also greatly used to break security measures. Popular practices include pretexting and phishing. Pretexting is sending of a text to trick someone to release some confidential information. Phishing is sending an email that appears to be sent by a legitimate organization or corporation. These emails usually ask for some kind of account information.

References:

http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1527
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1860
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci531120,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_%28security%29

Smithsonian Institution/Smithsonian Magazine

Smithsonian Magazine is a monthly magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.. that covers history, science, nature, the arts, travel, world culture and technology. The magazine’s audience are“well-rounded individuals who have diverse and general interests” because the magazine covers a wide range of knowledge.

The Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum complex with research organization. The museum covers a broad spectrum of academia such as art, science, technology, and culture. There are nineteen museums and nine research centers in the Smithsonian Museum complex. The nineteen museums each have their coverage of a part of the academia. The complex is funded by the US government. It is also a very popular tourist site.

Oedipal fantasy

Also known as "Oedipus complex." Oedipus the King is an ancient story/play of Greek origin. The story depicts Oedipus' tragic life where he kills his own father without knowing it and takes over his father's kingdom, Thebes, by accident. After he is enthroned, Oedipus marries the queen of Thebes, absolutely unaware of her true identity. After several incidents of coincidence, King Oedipus and his queen discover the unbearable truth, and the queen hangs herself; Seeing such a immorality, Oedipus finally choose to blind himself with a pair of brooches from the queen's dress.
Nowadays, Oedipus complex refers to the exclusive love and desire a boy has for his mother. This attachment is so strong that sometimes the boy even gets jealous of his father and creates the thought of killing him.

John Keats

John Keats was born in 1795 with no advantages of birth, wealth or education. However grief and hardship never destroyed his passion for poetry. He is one of the leader for English Romantic movement. Sadly, he died at the age of 25 and achieved his fame only after his early death in 1821. Even though his works were not wide accepted when he's alive, they immensely influenced on many poets such as Alfred Tennyson later on. Keat's poetry with elaborate word choice and sensual imagery remain among the most popular poems in English literature. John Keats shown his powerful love in poetry to his brother George in 1819, 'The great beauty of Poetry is, that it makes every thing every place interesting - '

Reference
1.http://englishhistory.net/keats/contents.html
2.http://www.john-keats.com/
3.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats

YMCA

YMCA is the abbreviation of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Even though the title has only “young men” this organization is open for any person motivated to participate in promoting social developments. Although American seaman founded the organization YMCA, “Christian” in the title does not seem to hold close connection to depiction of the organization since it is more about individual and community’s development than about religious movement. Following YMCA’s mission is to “build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all,” the promotion of spiritual growth enabled the group to serves soldiers during wartime in the past. YMCA organization is not confined within the U.S., but spread throughout diverse countries and embraces different kinds of races and families in the world.
Reference:http://www.answers.com/ymca&r=67

Apple II

The Apple II was one of the first computers mass produced by Apple in 1977. This computer is apparently the reason why Apple was able to survive and compete with Windows for OS dominance. The computer also was known for having serious problems. It barely worked at times, and other times would randomly crash. Despite this, millions of people worldwide purchased the computer in a craze to become part of the computer age.

Source: Apple II History. 1991. 15 Oct. 2007 <http://apple2history.org/>

Leave it to Beave

Created by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, and starred by Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow, and Jerry Mathers, Leave it to Beaver houses a library of 234 episodes about the life of an idealized American family of the 1950s. The popularity of the show is attributed to the riveting content, the innocence of each family memebers, and the effectiveness of narration in the point of view of a young boy. The forerunner of television situation comedy, this show invoked the rise of sitcom in place of the waning radio comedy.

Reference:
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/leaveittob/leaveittob.htm
http://www.tv.com/leave-it-to-beaver/show/1422/summary.html

GEDCOM

GEDCOM is the acronym that stands for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, a method for exchanging information between software used to find information related to the family tree. This model was developed by The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as LSD Church or the Mormon Church) in order to facilitate the genealogical research, a subject that became the second most popular subject on the Internet. It uses a plain text file with information about individuals and families that can later be easily read and converted by any of the genealogy software programs that exist (like Legacy Family Tree 6.0 and Family Tree Builder).
The current version of the GEDCOM specification is 5.5 (as of November 1, 2000) but the LDS Church will soon be releasing version 6.0XML.
References:
http://www.cyndislist.com
http://www.about.com
http://www.familysearch.org
http://www.wikipedia.org

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is a daily newspaper published in New York City. It is often known as America's premier financial newspaper, but it also covers the daily U.S. and world news. It is the second-largest U.S. newspaper in terms of daily circulation (the first is the USA Today). The newspaper has tended to support conservative fiscal policies in the past, such as supply-side economics under the Reagan Administration. Recently, in May 2007, the Journal (as it is commonly known) has been acquired the News Corp, leading to fears that the Journal would be controlled unfairly by Rupert Murdoch, a media tycoon. However, an agreement was later made between publishers and corporate staff that gave the Journal editorial independence.

Pulitzer Prize (Page 87 of Next Text)

The Pulitzer Prize is named after Joseph Pulitzer, a man who greatly impacted journalism. In his will he made provisions for the creation of this prize. And its original awards categories have changed somewhat since its inception in 1917. A couple of areas in which this is evident are in the recognition of online journalism, and in the expansion of the music category from strictly classical music composers to a broader range of American music.

A purpose of the Pulitzer Prize is to give recognition to those to whom it is due. But the underlying reason behind Joseph’s Pulitzer’s founding of this award was to motivate people to strive for excellence in journalism, literature, music and drama. And as more people strive for these awards, they tend to put their best into all their works. Clearly, Joseph Pulitzer was a visionary in creating an incentive for literature and the other arts- The Pulitzer Prize.

References:

http://www.pulitzer.org/
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9061873/Pulitzer-Prize

The Jayson Blair Scandal

Jayson Blair served as a reporter in The New York Times from 1998 to May 2003. He is notorious for plagiarizing many of the stories he wrote during that period. In fact, an internal investigation by Times found that possibly 36 of the 73 national news stories Blair had written for the Times were either plagiarized or fabricated. Blair had, arguably, a remarkably successful career prior to the scandal. In spite of some allegations that his reporting for his student newspaper was erroneous, the College of Journalism gave Blair a positive recommendation. Following his appointment at Times, Blair made a flurry of reporting errors before being promoted to the national desk in 2002. Doubts first rose about the credibility of his articles when one of his summer interns contacted the Times about the similarities of one of Blair’s articles to one of her’s. Blair resigned on May 2, 2003.

G.I. Bill

According to the The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, the G. I. bill is “a law passed in 1944 that provided educational and other benefits for people who had served in the armed forces in World War II. Benefits are still available to persons honorably discharged from the armed forces.” It is signed by President Franklin Roosevelt as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944. It is commonly perceived as the most active government participation in education by providing tuition, etc, for the veterans. It is the foundation of many “American dreams” to come true by offering low interest loans for purchasing houses and starting businesses. Therefore, more people can have the opportunities to climb up the social ladder as the result of this Act.

Entrepreneurialism

Entrepreneurialism:

Entrepreneurialism is the way to make the sustainable business successful especially by great motivation and desire. Entrepreneurialism always seek the ways to improve as conditions change. Being an entrepreneur is challenging as Peter Jones said, " I' ve always liked the idea of creating a nation of entrepreneurs." The successful entrepreneurs of these days are likely to combine chiecf executive everydaylife surroundings, such as, some TV appearances, or radio interviews.

Reference
1. www.advancecoloradocenter.com/documents/CTEK.pdf
2. Entrepreneurialism: the new rock 'n' roll http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4542280.stm

Neuromancer (from page 46 of Next Text)

Neuromancer is William Gibson’s first book, and the book which left his name embedded in the history of Science Fiction. It was the first of its kind; it dealt with cyberspace, computer technology, and the growing punk subculture. It was fittingly dubbed “Cyberpunk”.
It was the almost the regular adventure story, but by its depiction of the, then growing, use of computers and computer technology, it was seen as the first and best of its kind.
It tells the story of Case, a proficient computer hacker who offered his services for fees, and eventually messed with the wrong people. They wiped his talents out of his brain and banished him from cyberspace. With his physical body as his only tool he is practically left for dead. But he gets another shot at his old life and a cure from a “shadowy conspiracy”. And this comes with a price.

References:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html
http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/books/neuromancer.asp

Proquest

ProQuest is the database through which people can research work of others and legally use the work as a reference. The field of database covers higher Ed/academic, government, corporate, public, K-12 education, hospital, and historical newspapers with their complete, original work. This database is useful for not only students, but also people in general because it gets rid of their need to go to libraries and spend time to find the exact book that they want. When people look for rare books, this resource becomes especially helpful. However, since such information is important, not all services are free to public. Many schools pay money for the website and make use of valuable resources.
http://blog.hsl.washington.edu/hsl-news/archives/000853.html
http://www.proquest.com/products_pq/descriptions/wall_street_journal.shtml
http://www.il.proquest.com/

Bean counter

A bean counter is in short a slang for an account, commonly of a company. This term however is usually associated with derogatory description of an accountant who is overly fixated with accurate calculations and ignorant of other matters. This term was coined in the mid-1970s in the United States. The initial meaning was simply an account. The first time it appeared on print was in a 1975 Forbes magazine that wrote about "a smart, tightfisted and austere 'bean counter' accountant from rural Kentucky." Since then the word has been a degrading term. The slang emphasizes the uptightness of accountants with accuracy as though they need to count everything including trivial and insignificant items like beans. People often associate negative ideas with accountants because they are in charge of money affairs which tend to not always benefit the common people. Furthermore, bean counters tend to be portrayed as so endorsed in their work they fail to "see the "big picture"" of life. Now the word is a derogatory slang used to usually speak negatively of accounts . For example, they are often blamed for being responsible for cuts in the financial state or federal budget.

References:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-bean-counter.htm
http://www.word-detective.com/081100.html

White-collar Crimes

White-collar crime is a nonviolent crime usually committed for financial gain. The phrase was first used by Edwin Sutherland in 1939, who defined it to be “crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation." The term has been redefined many times, but most definitions suggest that the motivation for committing such crimes is profit. White-collar crimes comprise a wide range of offenses such as identity theft, bribery, embezzlement, forgery, and frauds.
Although more commonly charged with white-collar crimes, individuals are not the only ones subject to charges. Criminal charges have been brought against corporations and businesses. Due to the potential large-scale losses caused by white-collar crimes, many penalties are defined for the offenders. Some of the punishments include fines, sanctions, imprisonment, detention, and forfeitures.
Due to their sophisticated nature, white-collar crimes are hard to investigate. Many government agencies as well as nonprofit organizations are assigned to investigate fraud cases. National White-collar crime center is one such organization that strives to support the investigation of white-collar crimes. Investigations tend to be costly for the state. Federal Bureau of Investigation has estimated that investigations and prosecutions cost more than 300 million dollars annually (Cornell University, Law School, White-Collar Crime). White-collar crimes can cause enormous economic loss, and are significant threats to our society.

References:

http://www.whitecollarcrimefyi.com/index.html
http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/wcolcrim.html
http://www.fbi.gov/whitecollarcrime.htm
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/White-collar_crime
http://www.nw3c.org/

White-collar crime

The term first proposed by criminologist Edwin Sutherland in 1939, “white-collar crime” refers to the type of offense where one utilizes his superior knowledge for financial gain in business setting. Though it may be nonviolent, “white-collar crime” disrupts the well-being of the society by breaching the ideals of ethics. On top of that, the detection and identifying “white-collar crime” are extremely limited due to lack of resources and expertise in the area. For those reasons, and more, both federal and state government punish “white-collar crime” severely: the punishment ranges from fines to imprisonment, which is often on the same level of severity imposed upon violent crimes.

Reference:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/study/understanding/pdf/WhiteCollarCh1.pdf

TurnItIn.com

TurnItIn.com is an internet website that is originally started as Plagiarism.org. This original name implies the website’s ultimate focus on anti-plagiarism technology. The customers upload the papers on the website and the system scans the papers to compare them with resources on the internet and find any matching phrases. This scrupulous investigation is useful for teachers to examine whether the students created their own work or abused plagiarism. This website’s validity, however, is questioned these days. When the papers contain the same sentences of any cites or quotes directly from other papers, the system tends to make the wrong judgment and concludes the distinctive papers as unoriginal. Still, this website is commonly accepted as an educational tool to prevent growing problems of cheating.

Reference:
http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/techtiparchive/ttip060501.htm
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/24/1334257&from=rss
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i36/36a03701.htm
http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/techtiparchive/ttip060501.htm

Bon Mot

"Bon Mot" is a French-originated word meaning a witty remark. Bon, an adjetive, stands for "good;" mot is the word for "word."

Reference:
1. Cambridge Dictionary: "Definition." Cambridge Dictionary. 2007. Cambridge. 9 Oct 2007 http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=8722&dict=CALD.

2. My French roommate.

Beat Writing

Beat writing was a form of expression that came from the Beat generation. The writing was mostly composed by Beatniks of the late 1950's and 1960's. The writing was a very broad range of artistic forms centralized on individuality. Beatnik writing was more rebellious since their generation fell in a post war era. This is due to the fact that their writing was focused on the individual when everyone in the U.S.A. tended to focus on unity after the war. This Beat writing has been found to be too individualistic to be classified as one certain group. We only know that Beat writing was written by a very small percentage of people and most of its ideas were against the status-quo.

Hope I didn't accidently copy off my source:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/working_with_english/special_issues/literary_fads_and_fashions/Nash_31_07_06.pdf

Web Crawlers

A web crawler is a program (or a script) that browses the World Wide Web in order to index the pages and facilitate information retrieval. The web crawlers, also called as spiders, worms, ants, robots or wanderers, use the graph structure of the Internet to move from page to page. Usually, they start with a list of URLs to visit (called seeds) and then use all the external links found in those pages in order to spread throughout the Web. The primary use of web crawlers is to create and maintain indexes, to ease the work of search engines and specialized web portals. Other uses of spiders include checking links, validating HTML code or gathering information such as e-mail addresses used for spamming.
The outstanding expansion of the Internet and the increasing necessity for retrieving information in a fast and easy way has encouraged the appearance of numerous types of web crawlers, specialized in different domains in order to get a better performance. Some examples of spiders are: RBSE (Eichmann, 1994) - the first published web crawler, CORA , Letizia, Mapuccino, Sherlock Holmes, Google Crawler and Labrador.
References:
Kobayashi, M. and Takeda, K. (2000). "Information Retrieval on the Web"
Gautam Pant, Padmini Srinivasan, Filippo Menczer (2004) “Crawling the Web”
Wikipedia, The Free Enciclopedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler

think tank

A think tank is a research organization for suggesting new public policies and influencing current government policies to possible alternatives. It is usually financed by outside monetary aid. Another name for a think tank is think factory. The basis for such institutions is to use collective minds of professional people to make the society function better. Examples of current major think tanks are: Brookings Institution,a non-profit organization that concentrates on economics and governance, and Hudson Institute, which promotes world safety and economic growth and freedom. According to Lawrence Reed, Thomas Clarkson’s Society for the Abolition of The African Slave Trade is the first think tank. It described the slave trade in detail and their findings became powerful weapons in promoting abolition of slavery. Compared to universities, think tanks’ research is more closely guided by its specific purpose. Therefore, they can provide objective policies in an effective manner.

References:

think tank." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 06 Oct. 2007.

NCPA: http://www.ncpa.org/pub/special/20051220-sp.html

What Is A Think Tank by John C. Goodman(2005) http://www.ncpa.org/pub/special/20051220-sp.html

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton is a company that is known for its luxury goods in the areas of fashion. Founded in the mid 1800's by the Frenchman Louis Vuitton, the company has now blossomed into one of the most iconic of the fashion industry. It is primarily involved in the production of luxury leather goods, clothing, and jewelry. Because of the esteemed reputation of the company's products, owning and displaying a Louis Vuitton product is often seen as a status symbol. The prices of the company's products have thus become extraordinarily expensive. As a result, the brand is known as being remarkably counterfeited, with knockoffs being sold sold for cheaper prices through the Internet and various stores.

Generation Y

'Generation Y’ is a term coined in 1993, intended to refer to children born between 1984 and 1994. This meaning has gradually evolved over time to refer to people born between 1978 and 2000. Gen-Y followed from Gen-X (or the Baby Boomers), which referred to people born between 1960 and 1980. Gen-Y was conceived as a pejorative term, and thus, its use is controversial. Echo Boomers, The Millenials and The Internet Generation are all synonyms for Gen-Y. Often, the synonyms are preferred for public usage to avoid offending anyone. Gen-Y members are incorrectly associated with a lack of respect for authority. However, they are known to speak their opinions openly.

(Reference(s): Wikipedia)

The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project is a horror film that was released in 1999. It was considered groundbreaking for its use of an amateur documentary style and the raw acting that contributed to its scare factor. The film tells the story of a crew of student filmmakers who spend a night in the Maryland woods in order to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch, a ghost feared for her possible involvement in the disappearance of local children. The documentarians get lost and eventually disappear, leaving only their film equipment behind. Footage of the characters' last moments makes up the climax of the movie. Before the film opened, its advertising campaign was geared to trick viewers into believing the fake documentary was actually a chronicle of real events.