Friday, January 31, 2020

Traditional versus Online Shopping Essay Example for Free

Traditional versus Online Shopping Essay Through the innovations of technology, human activities changed. Technology has indeed influenced the daily lives of men. Impossible things were made possible. Complicated and tiresome jobs were made easy through technological gadgets and internet. Convenience and efficiency are indeed the end purpose of these technological innovations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One aspect of life that is significantly influenced by internet is shopping or purchasing. In shopping people can now choose between traditional and online shopping. Traditional shopping is the usual way people buy their items which is in supermarket or stores, while online shopping is done through internet. Meanwhile, traditional shopping is also referred as brick-and-mortar store (Olsen, 228) Both serves a purpose of catering the needs of buyers and at the same time profit from the transaction. In addition, both kinds of shopping offers advantage and disadvantage to the buyers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are some similarities of the brick-and-mortal and online stores. As to availability, buyers can buy at any time of the day and night. Due to competition some stores open and serves 24/7, even during holidays. Shopping online can also be done at any time by simply browsing through the website.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, they differ in many ways. As to physical location, a space, store or warehouse is very important for traditional shopping, while online store do not need such space (Olsen, 235). For the buyers convenience, online shopping offers more than traditional shopping. In traditional shopping, the buyer need to go to supermarkets or stores, while in online shopping, the buyer just need to go to the URL or marketing site of the seller. Moreover, as to availability, some stores are open only within opening hours, while online shopping is available at anytime and anywhere (Olsen, 235). Besides online shopping do not require transportation to the advantage of the customer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In traditional shopping, the buyer can see, hold, try, and test the items while online shopping only offers the buyer to see and read the description of the product (Olsen, 235). The products will directly be presented to brick-and-mortar store while it is done indirectly in online shopping. In addition to online shopping, customers are able to easily browse the types of the products, compare the features and prize to others, and check its availability (Grewal, 5). Thus, searching is made easier, convenient, and effective. Moreover, time and effort of the customer is saved in online shopping.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As to product information, the buyer needs the service of a staff to answer his queries. However, in online shopping, any additional information or inquiries is available on page or by hypertext links (Olsen, 235). Payment method also differs. In traditional shopping, payment is done manually and can the products are paid in cash, check, credit card or store card (Olsen, 235). In online shopping, the transaction is done automatically and is paid through a credit card (Olsen, 235).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In delivering the product, the buyer in traditional shopping usually gets the product at the time he purchases it. In online shopping, the customer has to wait for days before he would really enjoy the product he bought. For impatient people, online shopping is not suited for them (Olsen, 235). Sometimes, in online shopping, the customer receives a copy or similar to the description he required. Furthermore, online shopping can be stressful because the customer pays additional fees such as shipping and bank charges.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In a customer and seller relationship, traditional shopping is more beneficial. In online shopping, the merchants cannot be seen by the merchants (Philosophe.com, n. pag.). Customers cannot wander in stores, and they only have access to the presentations in the website (Philosophe.com, n. pag.). On the other hand, in traditional shopping, the customers can build relationship with the staff of the store and trust that the products they choose are quality guaranteed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In ascertaining the type of shopping needs, it is important to weigh the benefits to be gained. It is also essential to consider the practicality of each type of shopping. These are merely alternatives but the buyer has his freedom to purchase the way he wants. Works cited Grewal, Dhruv, Iyer, Gopalkrishnan. R., Levy, Michael. â€Å"Internet retailing: enablers, limiters and market consequences.†Ã‚   Journal of Business Research 57 (2002): 703-713. Olsen, Kai, A. The Internet, the Web, and Ebusiness: Formalizing Applications for the Real World. Scarecrow Press, 2005. â€Å"Online vs Traditional Shopping.† Philosphe.com. 5 July 2008   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     http://www.philosophe.com/commerce/traditional.html

Thursday, January 23, 2020

The Second Tradition of Thanksgiving Essay -- Essays Papers

When the great holiday of Thanksgiving comes to mind, most people think of becoming total gluttons and gorging themselves with a seemingly unending amount of food. Others might think of the time spent with family and friends. The whole basis of the holiday is family togetherness, fellowship, and thankfulness for blessings received during the previous year. Every family has their own unique way of spending time together with loved ones only seen during the holidays. In the Stock home, there is only one thing we enjoy doing. Sure, like every other family we have our grand and elaborate dinner, which is composed of all the greatest delicacies my mother and grandmother can whip up. Of course, as is expected, after stuffing ourselves as if this was our last meal the men in the family congregate in the living room. We sit and wait for our tradition to begin by discussing how each of our lives has been unfolding since last Thanksgiving. Finally, the moment arrives, kick off of the first of many Thanksgiving Day football games. There are thousands of fans who watch football with religious devotion. At the Stock house that is not the case. However on Thanksgiving, our eyes glaze over and we rise to the highest of football enthusiasts. Every man sitting around our big screen T.V. has his own team to cheer for, which usually causes many spirited discussions during the four quarters of testosterone induced insanity. As the game plays on we all grow further and further engrossed in watching. As the women talk in the kitchen and the children run around, sometimes even right in front of the television, our stares never stray from the glowing giver of joy. It might seem silly... ...nderstand and appreciate the games my dad and the rest of my male family members have been watching for years, I became that much closer with all of them. As John Madden said â€Å"The turkey brings the family together, but the football keeps them together† (www.espn.com). As a tradition Thanksgiving’s football watching extravaganza has become an occasion I have begun to look forward to for months. After spending this great tradition with my father and my family those geezers are looking a lot younger. Work Cited Stock, John, Personal Interview, 11-29-03 www.espn.com, Friday, Nov. 21, ESPN, 11-21-03 www.football.com, Friday, Nov. 21, NFL Internet Network, 11-21-03 http://rats2u.com/thanksgiving_events.htm, 2001, St. Clair Associates, 11-21-03 http://www.dezmin.com/Mtarchives/000-122.html, Nov. 21, 2001, Dezmin’s Archives and It’s Contributors, 11-21-03

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

The Chinese Abacus – Short Essay

The Chinese Abacus The Chinese Abacus is a simple device for performing mathematical calculations. The Chinese Abacus also known as a â€Å"Suanpan† in Chinese. The Abacus was first mentioned by the mathematician Xu Yueh at the end of Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A. D). The Abacus is a tool for calculating numbers, and was widely used in ancient times up to the invention of the modern mechanical and electronic calculators. The Abacus is similar to the modern calculator. It has a rectangular wooden frame with beads in the columns.There is a cross rod to divide beads into two parts, above the rod each bead represents quantities of five and as it moves right it goes up like 50, 500, 5000 and so on, while under the rod each bead represents quantities of one and goes up to 10, 100, 1000, and so on. The basic operations for which the abacus is helpful include arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The computational methods using an Abacus a re called abacus calculations. This device was created using wood and beads. You only count the beads that are in the center on the divider.The Abacus is still in use today by shopkeepers in Asia and â€Å"Chinatowns† in North America. The use of the abacus is still taught in Asian schools, and some few schools in America. Blind children are taught to use the Abacus. One particular use for the Abacus is teaching children simple mathematics and especially multiplication. The Abacus is also an excellent tool for teaching other base numbering systems since it easily adapts itself to any base. I made my Abacus by simply getting four wood planks and nailing them together to make a wooden frame.Then I got another wood plank and nailed in the middle to make the cross rod. I drilled 13 holes on the cross rod, the top, and bottom of the frame. I got a stick stuck it through the top of the frame, placed two beads in and stuck it through the cross rod, added five more beads then stuck t he stick through the bottom part of the frame thus making the first column. I continued this process 12 more times until I finished all of the 13 columns. After I was done I painted my frame purple and I was finished. A perfectly crafted Chinese Abacus made within one and a half hours. .

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Biography of Rem Koolhaas, Dutch Architect

Rem Koolhaas (born November 17, 1944) is a Dutch architect and urbanist known for his innovative, cerebral designs. He has been called a modernist, a deconstructivist, and a structuralist, yet many critics claim he leans toward humanism; his work searches for a link between technology and humanity. Koolhaas teaches at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Fast Facts: Rem Koolhaas Known For: Koolhaas is an architect and urbanist known for his unusual designs.Born: November 17, 1944 in Rotterdam, NetherlandsParents: Anton Koolhaas and Selinde Pietertje RoosenburgSpouse: Madelon VriesendorpChildren: Charlie, TomasNotable Quote: Architecture is a dangerous mixture of power and impotence. Early Life Remment Lucas Koolhaas was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on November 17, 1944. He spent four years of his youth in Indonesia, where his father, a novelist, served as cultural director. Following in the footsteps of his father, the young Koolhaas began his career as a writer. He was a journalist for the Haase Post in The Hague and later tried his hand at writing movie scripts. Koolhaass writings on architecture won him fame in the field before he had even completed a single building. After graduating in 1972 from the Architecture Association School in London, Koolhaas accepted a research fellowship in the United States. During his visit, he wrote the book Delirious New York, which he described as a retroactive manifesto for Manhattan and which critics hailed as a classic text on modern architecture and society. Career In 1975, Koolhaas founded the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in London with Madelon Vriesendorm and Elia and Zoe Zenghelis. Zaha Hadid—a future winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize—was one of their first interns. Focusing on contemporary design, the company won a competition for an addition to the Parliament in The Hague and a major commission to develop a master plan for a housing quarter in Amsterdam. The firms early work included the 1987 Netherlands Dance Theater, also in The Hague; Nexus Housing in Fukuoka, Japan; and Kunsthal, a museum built in Rotterdam in 1992. Delirious New York was reprinted in 1994 under the title Rem Koolhaas and the Place of Modern Architecture. The same year, Koolhaas published S,M,L,XL in collaboration with the Canadian graphic designer Bruce Mau. Described as a novel about architecture, the book combines works produced by Koolhaass architectural firm with photos, plans, fiction, and cartoons. The Euralille Master Plan and Lille Grand Palais on the France side of the Channel Tunnel were also completed in 1994. Koolhaas also contributed to the design for the Educatorium at the University of Utrecht. Koolhaass OMA completed Maison à   Bordeaux—perhaps the most famous house built for a man in a wheelchair—in 1998. In 2000, when Koolhaas was in his mid-50s, he won the prestigious Pritzker Prize. In its citation, the prize jury described the Dutch architect as that rare combination of visionary and implementer—philosopher and pragmatist—theorist and prophet. The New York Times declared him to be one of architecture’s most influential thinkers. Since winning the Pritzker Prize, Koolhaass work has been iconic. Notable designs include the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin, Germany (2001);  the Seattle Public Library in Seattle, Washington (2004);  the CCTV Building in Beijing, China (2008);  the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas (2009);  the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in Shenzhen, China (2013);  the Bibliothà ¨que Alexis de Tocqueville in Caen, France (2016);  the Concrete at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2017); and his first residential building in New York City at  121 East 22nd Street. A few decades after founding OMA, Rem Koolhaas reversed the letters and formed AMO, a research reflection of his architecture firm. While OMA remains dedicated to the realization of buildings and masterplans, states the OMA website, AMO operates in areas beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture, including media, politics, sociology, renewable energy, technology, fashion, curating, publishing, and graphic design. Koolhaas continued to do work for Prada and in the summer of 2006, he designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London. Visionary Pragmatism Koolhaas is known for his pragmatic approach to design. The McCormick Tribune Campus Center in Chicago—completed in 2003—is a good example of his problem-solving. The student center is not the first structure to hug a rail—Frank Gehrys 2000  Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle has a monorail that goes directly through that museum, like a Disney extravaganza. The Koolhaas Tube (made of corrugated stainless steel) is more practical, though. The city train connects Chicago with the 1940s campus designed by  Mies van der Rohe. Not only was Koolhaas thinking about urbanist theory with the exterior design, but before designing the interior he set out to document student patterns of behavior to create practical pathways and spaces inside the student center. This was not the first time Koolhaas had played with trains. His Master Plan for Euralille (1989–1994) transformed the northern city of Lille, France, into a tourist destination. Koolhaas took advantage of the completion of the Channel Tunnel, using it as an opportunity to remake the city. Of the project, he said: Paradoxically, at the end of the 20th century, the frank admission of the Promethean ambition—for example, to change the destiny of an entire city—is taboo. Most of the new buildings for the Euralille project were designed by French architects, except for Congrexpo, which Koolhaas himself designed. Architecturally, Congrexpo is scandalously simple, it says on the architects website. It is not a building that defines a clear architectural identity but a building that creates and triggers potential, almost in an urbanistic sense. In 2008, Koolhaas designed the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing. The 51-story structure looks like an enormous robot. Yet The New York Times writes that it may be the greatest work of architecture built in this century. These designs, like the 2004 Seattle Public Library, defy labels. The Library appears to be made up of unrelated, disharmonious abstract forms, having no visual logic. And yet the free-flowing arrangement of rooms is designed for basic functionality. Thats what Koolhaas is famous for—thinking forward and backward at the same time. Designs of the Mind How are we to respond to structures with glass floors or erratically zigzagging stairs or shimmering translucent walls? Has Koolhaas ignored the needs and aesthetics of the people who will occupy his buildings? Or is he using technology to show us better ways to live? According to the Pritzker Prize jury, Koolhaass work is as much about ideas as it is buildings. He became famous for his writings and social commentary before any of his designs was actually constructed. And some of his most celebrated designs remain on the drawing board. Koolhaas has said that only 5% of his designs ever get built. Thats our dirty secret, he told Der Spiegel. The biggest part of our work for competitions and bid invitations disappears automatically. No other profession would accept such conditions. But you cant look at these designs as waste. Theyre ideas; they will survive in books. Sources â€Å"Jury Citation: Rem Koolhaas.† The Pritzker Architecture Prize.â€Å"IIT McCormick Tribune Campus Center.† OMA.Oehmke, Philipp, and Tobias Rapp. â€Å"Interview with Star Architect Rem Koolhaas.† Spiegel Online, Der Spiegel, 16 Dec. 2011.Ouroussoff, Nicolai. â€Å"Koolhaas, Delirious in Beijing.† The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 July 2011.