How to Plan a Traditional Chinese Wedding

How to Plan a Traditional Chinese Wedding While Chinese weddings have become infused with Western wedding traditions, most Chinese weddings maintain some traditional cultural elements. Do you want to know how to plan a traditional Chinese wedding? From the engagement to the ceremony, heres what you should know. 1. Plan the Perfect Engagement As in Western culture, before a wedding, there must first be an engagement. In the past, most Chinese families relied on arranged marriages, but today, the majority of couples find their own match and marry for love. However, some elements of a traditional Chinese  wedding engagement remain intact. For example, the grooms family will typically send a betrothal gift to the brides family, which typically includes food and cakes. These gifts help seal the engagement. In addition to betrothal gifts, both the bride and grooms family will consult a fortune teller whose role is to help the family determine if the couple is compatible for marriage. The fortune teller will use various things such as names, birth dates, and time of birth to analyze compatibility. If all goes well, the couple will set a date for their marriage. 2. Choose the Right Dress For many Chinese women, picking the perfect wedding gown actually means picking three dresses. The typical traditional dress is called a qipao, which has been worn in China since the 17th century. Most women will wear one red qipao, a white Western-style gown, and a third ball gown throughout the night. The dresses are changed throughout the reception after courses are served. Some brides will even opt for a fourth dress, which they wear as they are saying their goodbyes as guests depart the wedding. 3. Invite Guests Traditional  Chinese wedding invitations are typically red and placed within a red envelope. Unlike the red envelopes used to give gifts of money, wedding invitation envelopes are typically wider and longer. The text is usually written in gold, which is a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture. Like in Western culture, the invitation features important information about the celebration. However, invitations are sometimes only mailed or hand presented several weeks or days before the wedding, as opposed to many months. The double happiness character, shuÄ ngxÇ Ã‚  (é›™åâ€"Å") is often written somewhere on the invitation. 4. Choose Decor Decorations at a typical Chinese wedding are usually provided by the reception venue. The Chinese character for happiness is often hung upside down as a symbol for the arrival of happiness. In addition to Chinese symbols, decor may include lights, candles, and flowers similar to those youd find at a typical Western wedding. Venues will often have a stage where the bridge and groom stands before the reception begins and while toasts are being made. Guests are not invited to the exchanging of vows, so the reception is the first time they see the couple.

The History of Hypodermic Needles and Syringes

The History of Hypodermic Needles and Syringes Various forms of intravenous injection and infusion have been around as far back  as the late 1600s. However, it wasnt until 1853 that  Charles Gabriel Pravaz and Alexander Wood developed  a needle fine enough to pierce the skin.  The syringe  was the first device used to inject morphine as a painkiller.  The breakthrough also  eliminated  many of the technical difficulties facing those experimenting with blood transfusion. Credit for the evolution of the universally useful hypodermic syringe with its hollow, pointed needle is usually given to Dr. Wood. He came up with the invention after experimenting with a hollow needle for the administration of drugs and found that  the method was not necessarily limited to the administration of opiates. Eventually, he felt confident enough to publish a short paper in The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Review titled  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A New Method of Treating Neuralgia by the Direct Application of Opiates to the Painful Points.† At about the same time, Charles Gabriel Pravaz, of Lyon, was making a similar syringe that quickly came into use during surgeries under the name of the â€Å"Pravaz Syringe.† A Brief Timeline of Disposable Syringes Arthur E. Smith  received eight U.S. patents for disposable  syringes in 1949 and 1950.In 1954, Becton, Dickinson and Company  created the first mass-produced disposable syringe and needle produced in glass. It was developed for Dr. Jonas Salks mass administration of the new Salk polio vaccine for  one million American children.Roehr Products  introduced a plastic  disposable hypodermic syringe called the  Monoject in 1955.Colin Murdoch, a pharmacist from Timaru, New Zealand, patented a  plastic disposable syringe  to replace the glass syringe in 1956. Murdoch patented a total of 46 inventions,  including a silent burglar alarm, automatic syringes for vaccinating animals, the childproof bottle top and the tranquilizer gun.  In 1961, Becton Dickinson introduced its first plastic disposable syringe, the Plastipak.African American inventor  Phil Brooks  received a U.S. patent for a disposable syringe on April 9, 1974. Syringes for Vaccinations   Benjamin A. Rubin is credited for inventing the pronged vaccinating and testing needle or  vaccination needle. This was a refinement to the conventional syringe needle. Dr. Edward Jenner performed the first vaccination. The  English physician began to develop vaccines by studying the link between smallpox and cowpox, a milder disease.  He injected one boy with cowpox and found that the boy became immune to smallpox. Jenner published his findings in 1798. Within three years, as many as 100,000 people in Britain had been vaccinated against smallpox.   Alternatives to Syringes   The microneedle is a painless alternative to the needle and syringe. A  chemical engineering professor from the Georgia Institute of Technology named Mark Prausnitz  teamed up with electrical engineer Mark Allen to develop the prototype microneedle device. It is made up of 400 silicon-based microscopic needles - each the width of a human hair - and looks something like the nicotine patch used to help people quit smoking. Its tiny, hollow needles are so small that any medication can be delivered through the skin without reaching the nerve cells that create pain. Microelectronics within the device control the time and dosage of the medicine delivered. Another delivery device is the Hypospray. Developed by PowderJect Pharmaceuticals in Fremont, California, the  technology uses pressurized helium to spray dry powdered medications on the skin for absorption.

The Scientific Proof behind Marijuana Effects on Humans Essay

The Scientific Proof behind Marijuana Effects on Humans - Essay Example The debate on the legalization of marijuana to be used as a medical substance has lasted for a very long time whereby there are those who are for the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, and there are others who strongly are against its legalization. The argument on either side is based on the benefits and risks associated with such a move whereby those who think that legalizing marijuana for medical use is beneficial to support its legalization, however, those who think that it would be riskier to legalize marijuana oppose the move. In order to understand the raging debate over legalization of marijuana, it is critical to understand the different views expressed by both sides and it is only after establishing the underlying points and issues that we can be able to have an insight into the debate surrounding marijuana in the USA. There are advantages of marijuana as espoused by the supporters of its legalization whereby the scientific studies have proved that marijuana has some medical value. This is not a new idea because marijuana has been used in the past for medical purposes in the treatment of various ailments classified under therapeutic and palliative groups. In addition to that, smoked cannabis is not only safe but is also effective in the treatment and management of diseases and conditions such as; nausea, pain, AIDs-related weight loss, and palliative care diseases. Nevertheless, marijuana usually makes a person feel high, or have a sense of well being that is why it is abused.

Movie Alice in wonderland Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Movie Alice in wonderland - Essay Example Tim Burton’s portrayal of Underland is visually unique as is his point of view. Burton as director is essential to the overall look and feel of the film. This film grossed $319.3 million at the box office and DVD sales to date. The setting of the film at times is rather creepy. This Alice is unlike any others in the Alice and Wonderland films previously made. Alice is curious, but strong willed and not easily swayed into what she, eventually, does by the end of the film. Alice is visually stunning, but the portrayal by the actors is weak, the story itself is rather weak. For a fantasy film it works, little kids would enjoy this film, as well, but the action and adventure is just not something that Alice in Wonderland should have shown. For a fantasy film, I would need to see at least the following three criteria. First, it must be visually stunning, Star Wars saga falls here. Second, it must have strange and unique creatures to its world, e.g. Hobbit / Lord of the Rings movies. And third, there must be a quest which the lead character needs to complete, whether or not it is destined for him or his own altogether, Harry Potter saga. Alice in Wonderland is visually stunning. From the colorations of the wardrobe to the design of the characters themselves, Tim Burton has a knack for stunning visualization. And like Star Wars, which is visually stunning with a grimy feeling to it, Alice in Wonderland, with its gothic, dark feeling to it, still is quite visually stunning with the varied shapes of the settings, to the wardrobe and the make-up of each and every character in the story. The visuals of a boring party, even felt as though it were stuffy in the room as I watched this scene, to the many different place in Undeland (as Wonderland is called in this film) where the visuals change and your feelings to go along right with them.At one point in the film, shortly after Alice arrives in

Upsides to Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Upsides to Social Networking Essay Within recent years, internet users have taken to social networking for their various personal needs. Social networks have become much more prominent in our increasingly technological world and the number of users using them are increasing. In Karen Goldberg Goff’s article, â€Å"Social Networking Benefits Validated,† she argues that Social Networking has various benefits for its users that will be essential throughout life. While social networks may show signs of danger to some people, the benefits do outweigh the potential dangers. Not only do social networks provide an online community, they provide users with many benefits and skills they may then use in their lives. Social networks provide great opportunities for socialization. As Monica Villa, founder of theonlinemom.com says, social networking â€Å"is allowing a lot of dialogue among people who may not otherwise have a chance for a lot of dialogue† (Goff). For those who want to be able to communicate with others, social networking is there to help them combat their shyness or there social isolationism by allowing them to connect with other people they can talk to. For those with disabilities, social networking is a useful means of communication to put their â€Å"personality at the forefront† while lessening the focus on the actual disability so that only the words, not the disability, are seen (Holmquist). In a report by the nonprofit child advocacy group Common Sense Media, â€Å"one in five teens said social media makes them feel more confident† (Wallace). It was also reported that more than twenty nine percent of teens report that social networking makes them less shy while twenty eight percent reported feeling more outgoing as a result of communicating through social networks. Twenty percent of the teens reported feeling more confident through social networking (fifty three percent of teens identified themselves as somewhat shy or really shy in general). Not all youths happen to be socially adept and social network provide them with a great virtual place to make friends, speak to friends, and be as vocal as they truly want to be (Social Networking). As for the socialization with friends already made, over half of the teens (fifty two percent) in the report from Common Sense Media said social networking made their relationships better as opposed to the four percent who said that  social networking has negatively affected their relationships (Wallace). With social networks, users can extend friendships and meet others with similar interests. Lisa Tripp, an assistant professor at Florida State University, says that â€Å"technology, including YouTube, iPods and podcasting, creates avenues for extending one’s circle of friends, boosts self-directed learning and fosters independence† (Goff). While many people go on social networking sites to talk to friends they may already know, these sites can also be used to find like-minded people with similar hobbies and interests (Goff). Teens can use social networking to expand their social circle and meet people who they would enjoy speaking too. Before social networking was available to communicate with people across the world, a fan of a certain character or film or even an idea might find himself isolated if there was not a person with the similar interest. In today’s world with social networking being so popular, the once isolated kid can now find himself speaking to m any other people just like him and may come to know that he can go out and seek peers to talk to (Goff). In the study by Common Sense Media, sixty nine percent of the teens said that they were able to know the students at their school better through social networking sites and fifty seven percent of the teens reported that they used social networking sites to make new friends (Social Networking). With the interactions with other people, users using social networks can build up their self-confidence as they share pictures and statuses about themselves and in return receiving positive feedback from their peers (Wallace). A way that one’s social network can be especially useful in the long run is when finding a job. Deborah Leuchovious, coordinator of PACER’s TATRA Project has stated, â€Å"Drawing on one’s own personal networks is one of the most effective strategies for finding employment (Holmquist). Through social networking, various helpful skills can be learned and practiced. The researchers from the Digital Youth Project, conducted at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley, found that â€Å"the constant communication that social networking provides is encouraging useful skills† (Goff). The study looked at thousands of hours of online observation and concluded that new opportunities are  created, as a result of social networking, for young people to deal with social norms, explore interests, work on ways to express themselves, and develop technical skills (Goff). For adolescents using social networking, they can develop skills needed to become independent, working adults in society as they will make a lot of decisions for themselves while online (Holmquist). The majority of skills learned online would be social skills. These skills give teens the ability to start thinking before they say things and to think about who they are while becoming more independent so that they can form their own personal identity (Holmquist). Other important skills learned would be technological skills that will be â€Å"essential to the digital economy,† as Monica Villa has stated (Goff). Not only will the technological skills be useful when communicating, they will also be of use when making the transition from high school to college and when making the transition of being an adolescent to being a competent citizen. By using social networking websites, one may have a place to go to for help when dealing with life’s problems. Although the place will be a virtual social network, there will still be a greater number of people who will actually show sympathy and provide help or guidance. Not all people will want to speak of personal problems verbally and social network provide a place to seek encouragement from fellow peers. An example of a situation where social networking helped to save a life happened recently when an eighteen year old posted on his Facebook page that he was thinking about jumping off the George Washington Bridge, which connects New York and New Jersey. After seeing his post, Port Authority officers contacted him and encouraged him to not go through with what he wanted to do and to go receive help (Wallace). Social networking can also have positive effects on one’s health. By providing an individual with a large social group, that individual will have an â€Å"impr oved life satisfaction, stroke recovery, memory retention, and an overall well-being† (Social Networking). The friends that one has on a social network also may serve as encouragement when dealing with health related issues such as exercise, dieting, and smoking (Social Networking). There are opportunities to learn about events and even personal interests  through social networking. For teens, social networking sites are second only to newspapers for their top news source and are able to spread information faster than any other source of media (Social Networking). Over fifty percent of the people in the study by Common Sense Media reported that they learned about breaking news from social media (Social Networking). Social networking even plays a large role in politics. Over a quarter of US voters that were younger than thirty reported to have obtained information about the 2008 Presidential campaign from social media (Social Networking). Aside from just learning about events, people can learn about how they can be involved in the world around them. By becoming aware of the world around them, adolescents will also learn about how they may also become involved and what they can do for social good. Social media sites can empower individuals to create meaningful, positive change (Wallace). Groups like Grow Global Citizens use social networks to increase teens’ awareness of the world around them and to allow them to become more â€Å"innovative about how they can get involved† (Wallace). Social media strategist, Elena Sonnino has stated that now teens can do much more in regards to their involvement aside from things like book drives and canned food drives (Wallace). When speaking of social networking, more concerns rather than benefits are mentioned. Since the benefits are not as mentioned as the possible dangers, people tend to believe that social networking may have harmful effects but this is not true. Most of what is told by news outlets is the negatives of social networking, such as how cyberbullying can turn tragic (Wallace). News outlets focus on the negatives without taking into account that â€Å"for every heartbreaking case of cyberbullying, there are many stories of teens using social media for good† (Wallace). Other negatives mentioned about social networking is that it causes teens to be lazy and that what they do online may not be safe. Mizuko Ito, from the Digital Youth Project, has stated that spending time online is essential for young people to acquire social and technical skills that are needed to be competent citizens in the digital age (Goff). Even though there may be risks that may be encountered online by some peopl e, youth who engage in risky behaviors in other parts of their lives are the most at risk (Holmquist). Parents may also become involved with their kids’ social network. They can view their  page at any time and even have their password to see what their kid is doing (Goff). To lessen the dangers of social networking even more, users also have the option to change their privacy settings so that certain details are hidden to others and even so that only people they know may contact them. The benefits of social networking have shown themselves to be useful and helpful in the increasing digital world. Not only do users gain skills of socialization, they also learn more about themselves and the world around them. Social networks are a great place to seek friends with similar interests, news, and also help. Although there may be possible dangers with social networking, they may be taken care of and do not seem great enough compared to the upsides of social networking. The benefits that social networks bring will become useful for other aspects of life. Social networking has achieved a way for users to not only gain essential benefits and skills in their everyday lives, but also throughout their lives. Works Cited Goff, Karen Goldberg. Social Networking Benefits Validated. Washington Times. The Washington Times, 28 Jan. 2009. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Holmquist, Julie. Social Networking Sites: Consider the Benefits, Concerns for Your Teenager. Impact Newsletter. Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, Fall 2009. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Social Networking. ProCon. ProCon.org, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Wallace, Kelly. The Upside of Selfies: Social Media Isnt All Bad for Kids. CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

The Bag of Weed :: Personal Narrative Essays

The Bag of Weed "Come on, it's just one hit, no one will ever find out." We all gathered around the pipe, anxiously awaiting our turn. It was 1:00 in the morning and everyone was asleep, including the dean, or so we thought. Earlier that morning, a friend came up to me excitedly announcing her purchase. She had gotten a bag of weed. I showed a look of approval, not quite caring or knowing what was ahead. I soon would be part of that deal, but at a much higher price. After the evening activities, we all piled back into the dorm and started heading to each other's rooms. It was a Friday night, and it was nearly impossible to go to bed before 12:00. As our group of friends all sat there, the idea of getting stoned got thrown into the pot. Being at a Christian school, not very many of us had ever done that before, especially not in the dorm. "There's a first time for everything," one of the girls piped in. We all agreed it would be fun, but knew the consequences if we were to get caught. After contemplating it all, we decided to at least wait until 1:00, when everyone started going to bed. The time passed quickly as we discussed our plan. We would make a pipe out of an empty pop can, put towels under the door to help stop the smoke from leaking out, and turned on the fan by the window so it would help blow the smoke out. We definitely had it all figured out. The weed was brought out, and placed ever so carefully on the can. We passed it around, and one hit turned into two and two into four. By that time we were all laughing hysterically, obviously needing nothing to laugh at. After we put the weed away, we sat there laughing, joking, eating and just having fun, thinking we were good to go. Minutes later, a knock came at the door, making each of our heart beats come to a halting stop. As the door opened, the dean appeared like a ghost in the night and we all knew we were busted. "Where's the cigarettes?" she asked. We all sat there, looking dumbfounded, and wishing it were only cigarettes because the consequences for that were less severe. She stood at the door for a few minutes, staring at us with a look of complete disappointment on her face, before walking out the door, shutting it behind her.

Passages in IF I Stay by Gayle Forman

Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you. † At 2:48 A. M. (Page 67) I believe life is all about the little decisions we make every day. There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So we must keep in mind that, the choice we make, makes us. Because after all, everything Just a matter of choice. â€Å"†¦ Dying is easy. Living is hard. † At 10:40 P. M. (Page 62) Living is hard. Living without purpose and without someone who loves you is even harder.And life has a lot of ups and down. The world is a dangerous and scary place. It takes gut to face the world. It takes a lot of courage to stand for the world. Maybe it's too poignant but it depends on one's point of view. Dying is a life chance or a choice. It's easy to decide whether you want to die or not. Therefore I believe this statement is true. â€Å"Life might take you down different roads. But each of you gets to decide which one to take. † At 4:57 A. M. Page 73) This pa ssage is also about making a choice. There are many different roads we will encounter, but in the end, it depends on our own decision. Life is the greatest journey you will be on, so the decisions we make can affect our way of life. The decisions we make in life can make our life. â€Å"People believe what they want to believe. † 4:49 P. M. (Page 29) People believe what they want to believe most of the time. They believe things without any reason but they believe often times without good reason.Lots of people have reasons for what they believe, but when those reasons are proven wrong they till stand on their point of view. â€Å"Fake it till you make it. † 5:40 P. M. (Page 35) If you don't feel confident, pretend you are until you gain the experience that is all for real. Act like you are something so you can, in fact, become that thing. Though it might seem force in the beginning, soon it will become natural. The mind can be tricked, and you can balance your life in t hat little trick. You will learn what you need to and turn pretend confidence into the real deal.