Scarification Scarification was typical in the primary ethnic groups, now has become popular in the civilized world too. It is based on burning, defrosting, cutting and removing the skin.
Piercing:labrets, Barbells, Circular barbells, captive bead rings, and flesh tunnels
Nowadays it is very popular. It’s based on piercings of the body in specific places (for example nose, tongue, intimate space) and implementing there earrings. Earring after healing can be converted into another one - more fitting. The most common body parts are: ears, nose, lips, tongue, eyebrows, nipples, navel, and genitals (including women - around the labia and clitoris, men - penis, scrotum). tunnels are becoming most popular from some time and the latest trend – something like corset. See examples below:
Of course we must add tattoos here (but I have already written about them).
Also transplantation and amputations of body parts, implants and stitching the mouth and eyes become increasingly popular now.
Some of them are very hard to describe, just look at some examples:
Below list of the 10 most modified human bodies in the world: go
And here is an interview with a Stalking Cat – the no. 1:
First brass rings girl get when she completes five years. After completing 10 years her rings count is going up. Adult women wear about nine kilograms of rings all the time without a break.
Nobody knows about the roots of this practice. According to some people it comes from a time where the tigers were around the villages which were attacked their victims mostly in the neck. Thick metal rims have to guard against the teeth of a tigers. According to other people rings were intended to ensure wife fidelity. In the case of treason they was taken off from the neck which underwent fracture under the weight of the head. To this day when the researchers must remove the rims from one of the Padaung women then she is in mortal danger of twisting the neck. Hence, during such operations the head at least two persons. Recently performed X-rays showed that the result of long neck is a lowered clavicle under the weight of the rings.
Feet binding
Feet binding (or bandaging) is a Chinese habit which was practiced from about X to the beginning of the XX century. Its goal was to achieve the aesthetic effects by shortening and deformity of women’s feet.
Feet binding initially was used in girls from higher social classes, which are not required to perform heavy physical work - it was a determination of social status. Over time it was adopted among the lower social classes. In China short foot was a symbol of refinement and they provide a good marriage for the owner.
At the beginning of the twentieth century people began to strongly criticizing it due to the fact that this habit was mutilated women and was carrying a lot of suffering. Now it is completely prohibited. The last generation of women who have been subjected to feet binding almost completely gone in China.
The reasons for performing cranial deformation are varied. A prominent hypothesis is that deformation was performed to signify group affiliation. Or it may have been done to demonstrate elite status.
Head flattening, also called head binding, head shaping or head moulding, is the application of pressure or bindings to cranial bones (the human skull) to alter their shapes. Flat shapes, elongated ones (produced by binding between two pieces of wood), rounded ones (binding in cloth) and conical ones are among those chosen. It is typically carried out on an infant, as the skull is most pliable at this time. In a typical case, headbinding begins approximately a month after birth and continues for about six months.
It is a flattening a young girl's breast process by piece of wood or stone heated in the fire when they starts shaping. For what? – “To protect young girls from men's eyes and save them to early sexual intercourse” - the hangman’s words.
This practice is widespread in Cameroon where it affects at least 26% of girls at the time of its coming into puberty.
Man circumcision is a practice which is generally accepted in the world and I think everyone of us has heard something about it. However, female circumcision is a ritual that is both very strange and frightening. However female circumcision is a ritual that is both very strange and frightening. In the world is alive 130 million of circumcised women and 2 million of women are circumcised per year.
World Health Organization (WHO) categorization: 1. Excision of the foreskin clitoris and partial or total excision of the clitoris. 2. Excision of the clitoris along with the foreskin and the inner labia. 3. Excision of the entire genital and stitching the vagina. 4. Includes a diverse range of practices, such as pricking the clitoris with needles, burning or scarring the genitals as well as ripping or tearing of the vagina.
In contrast to male circumcision, female circumcision is considered by many groups and organizations as a violation of human rights – it is more drastic and in some cultures it is even a specific act which cause pain which is to give an additional effect of "cleansing". But even more civilized acts of female circumcision gives rise to many protests around the world as an act of unjustifiable women mutilation of substantial part of her body.
In the past tattoos were symbol of faith, they defined the membership in the group, were used to deter the enemies. Today they are part of pop culture.
History of tattooing dates back to ancient Egypt. The oldest body decoration regarded as tattoo was discovered on the body of the mummy whose age is estimated at 2200 years.
In ancient Greece tattoos were used to classify the higher social status – they were a sign of noble birth. In Roman Empire tattoos have people who were a soldiers or slaves. In primary nations tattooing was a ritual function less than aesthetic. Not everyone could have a tattoo – it had to be earned. Tattoos could symbolize finished initiation process, they allows to integrate with social group. Tattoos on the body wore mostly by warriors. Maori tribal tattoo on the left.
In Japanese culture tattoo had magical and religious aspects (tattooed were participants of rites). Also they were used to classify to a social group - tattoos marks the geishas and criminals. At the end of the eighteenth century Japanese tattoo rose to the rank of art. Tattoo makers came to be regarded as artists. Today the permanent drawings on the body are part of the country's national culture.
In Europe the precursors of tattoos dissemination can be sailors whose body decoration was a souvenir of the trip.
Why tattoo nowadays? In the most as aesthetic or cosmetic reasons and as a manifestation of something by its owner.
Specific function had and still have the criminal tattoos - shows positions in the hierarchy. For example, a dot between the fo refinger and thumb means thief. Still we can meet with the stereotype that the tattooed person must be criminal. At this link below you can find the meaning of prison tattoos.
Nowadays each of us can get tattoo, we do it to distinguish itself, to have a sort of amulet which is a magical weapon in the fight against failure. For other of us they could remind our values and the important events in our lives. Regardless of what directs us we must seriously think about this step, because to make a tattoo is much easier than to remove it later. Please see some examples below.
Finally let me show you video about a man who tattooed own eyeballs:
What do you think about tattoos? Does any of you have one? What do you think about these extreme tattoos and what about the tattooed eyeballs?Would you risk blindness to get this one? In your opinion which of these tattoos was not a good idea?
A cigarette is a small roll with a filter contains various form of tobacco. There can be also narcotic chemicals like marihuana or hashish, then it is called "joint". While smoking, nicotine enters to the blood. In addition to nicotine, cigarette smoke contains a lot of harmful and carcinogenic chemicals.
Bad effects of smoking Now I will present some examples of bad effects of smoking (you probably know all of them ;]):
Carcinogenic chemicals. Nicotine isn't carcinogenic by itself. The most dangerous are chemicals like benzene, cad and urethane. Individual human organs are sensitive to cigarette smoke constituents. Most smoking-related cancers develop in the respiratory lung, larynx, trachea, esophagus and mouth. However, the carcinogenic compounds present in tobacco and cigarette smoke penetrate with the blood through the body and cause a lot of damages. They are the cause of kidney tumors, bladder and possibly the stomach, colon and blood.
Nicotine addiction Nicotine may improve the ability of concentration, lower levels of anxiety and irritability, and increase the level of activity of neurons and measure relaxation. But don't forget that this is one of the highest addictive substance. Due to the rapid metabolism, hunger of nicotine appears at 30-45 minutes after the last cigarette burn. If addicted person will not get the dose within a few hours, the most symptoms are: hunger of smoke, irritability, anxiety, anger, impaired concentration, increased appetite, slow heart rate, headaches and sleep disturbances. Hunger is felt most strongly after 24 hours since last cigarette burn, and later it's decreasing for 2-4 weeks.
Reproductive system Smoking affects the reproductive system, especially in women. Many female smokers experience irregular or absent menstruations. Fertility is compromised and the risk of cervical cancer is increased. Men, experience lower sperm count, more abnormal sperm with decreased motility. Even more serious are the risks to an unborn child if the mother smokes. Miscarriage is more common in women who smoke.
Why people smoke? Well, there are a lot of points why people take the cigarette for the first time, or smoke for many years.
Taste of cigarette is not important. The most important is the satisfaction you can get from a cigarette that you can't get from anything else.
In many situations we think about cigarettes as a reward for something. For example: if we've done some hard work, we deserve to break and we are going to smoke. Here is nice movie about smoking in work ;-D :
"Smoke is cool" Some years ago, the smoke of cigarette was indication of virility. Even now people smoke cigarettes because they like watch at smoke flying from their mouth.
Boring or waiting... The simplest way to not get bored is... go to smoke! When people are bored, or wait for something/someone, they smoke. It's easier to watch a cigarette get smaller and smaller than to keep watching a clock.
Next presentations will be about methods of breaking the addiction, and the "Smoking 2.0" - Electronically cigarettes
And here are some questions for you: 1. Are you smoking? If yes - how long? 2. Do you know any other reasons why people like smoking? 3. Do you think that smoking should be forbidden in Poland?
Legends about the children brought up by animals are old as the world. One of the most popular is the legend about two brothers (Rome’s founders) being raised by a she-wolf - Romulus and Remus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus).
But not about legends I will tell, I’ll present two shocking stories from the recent past.
Genie
For the first 13 years of age she stayed locked in his bedroom, being completely isolated from the surrounding world. She was discovered on November 4, 1970. During the day she was tied to a chair at night locked in a cage. Each time when she tried to say anything, she was beaten. as a thirteen year old girl was almost mute- she knew about 20 words, most of which have strongly negative connotations such as "Stop." After that she was discovered she went to Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. Over the next few years, Genie was changed foster home several times. She has made great progress while she was living with a psychologist. Genie learned to express themselves through sign language. After discontinuation of funding for research psychologist decided to abandon of girl foster and then she was returned to her mother. After several months she gave up custody of her daughter. Next Genie went to six different foster families what was not only a progress deterioration but also a complete educational disaster. In some houses she was mentally abused and finally she returned to the phase of a complete lack of communication. All of her story was described in 1994 in a book by Russ Rymer and presented in the film "A bird in a cage" directed by Harry Bromley Davenport.
Oksana
She was born in 1983 in a family of alcoholics living in Ukraine. She was kicked out of Home when she was 3 years old. Lived among the dogs she learned behavior from their, five years feeding raw meat. She was ran on all fours, barked and sniff food. Among animals she was deprived of the human intellectual and social stimulation. The five-year absence of interaction was very difficult for a young girl to learn human language. Now after a long therapy she can speak. Research from 2005 saying that Oksana is at a six-year mental development. Can count, but does not know how to sum two numbers. Can not read or spell. Currently, she lives in a home for the mentally ill where takes care of the animals staying there.
The left hand scan shows the brain of a normal three year old with healthy neural development. The right hand scan shows dark patches where whole areas of the feral brain have shrunk from lack of stimulation.
Stories of feral children shows that the difference between humans and animals is less than we would like to be. Studies of this kind of cases shows that to be fully human must become one. As we can see the culture is fundamental importance. What do you think about that?
Television document “Believe or not” on National Geographic channel
The aim of my third post is to show sports that are not commonly known and they are considered as dangerous or weird.
First, my favourite one, which unfortunately I still couldn't try is urban golf. Rules are similar to normal golf, but as you can guess, it is played in the city. Equipment that you need is only a club and a tennis ball. Choosing a club is an individual matter, but smaller number are preferred as lower flying balls do not get lost so fast. This is also the reason why each player should have at least a few balls. Tennis ones are chosen, because it would be impossible to find a golf ball sometimes. The target of each golfer is to shoot his ball at a target with the smallest amount of hits possible. Anything can be a target - from a container to a hydrant. If a target is small it is possible to put a ball close to it, like 1 meter or a length of a club. The best unofficial rule (as there are no official rules) of this game is: "#2 EVERYBODY SUCKS, meaning that the worse you play, the better. The only thing that counts is the "fun factor".
Next interesting activity needs a little more free space and definitely should not be done near the crowd. It's called powerkiting. For me, it looks like a connection of kiting on water and flying a kite for kids. The idea is to fly as high or far holding a sail, as possible. You stand on a field, set your kite in a proper direction against the wind and let it pull you. Sounds quite easy, but can be really dangerous. The is a large variety of kits to chose, from smaller ones for beginners up to the ones that have over 12 square meters. There are some upgrades for a bored ones, like standing on a board with wheels while kiting. I strongly advise anyone who wants to try it, to do it with an experienced person, unless you want to end up like:
One of the most well-known sports that gets more and more fans last years is parkour. No equipment is needed so everyone can try it. Point is: get from point A to point B in the fastest way. Running, jumping, sliding - all of it makes it possible to avoid urban obstacles. Term 'parkour' came from French 'Le parkour' meaning the way of moving. It became really popular after a series of movies called "Yamakasi". An interesting variation of parkour is freerun. Idea is quite similar, but it involves doing interesting tricks during the run, like somersaults, flips, spins and so on. Sports like this can be even made in the office :)
Hundreds of interesting sports were presented by Remi Gaillard or Balls Of Steel - Neg's Urban Sports on youtube, I guess most of you already saw them. Karting on the streets, rodeo riding on the pedestrians and running from security makes adrenaline go really high.My advise is, do not try this...
Have you ever tried any of this sports? Or maybe during the summer boredom you invented one on your own?
Probably most popular water sport in our neighbourhood is kayaking. Not taking care of the pollution of Vistula river it can be a really great activity. Starting at 2 towers (shown on the picture on the right) we can swim over 18 kilometres to get to Zegrze. It should take about 4 hours. One of the biggest attractions of this trip is Tadeusz Tillinger's sluice which, for a long time was a second biggest sluice, after the one on Nile river in Egypt. At two towers there are also other possibilities, that most of us never tried like jumping from big heights, huge swing and climbing section. In winter, we can even try ice climbing - it is the only place in Poland where we can try in on fake wall.
Talking about water sports we cannot skip all the possibilities connected with Zegrze reservoir. During summer it is filled with yachts and windsurfers. If we have a little luck, we can see a hovercraft passing over 160km/h, training for competitions that take place few times a year. Last year we even had European Championship organized there.
There are also some smaller rivers or canals that can be used in an interesting way. Most impressive is wakeboaring. Sport is similar to windsurfing, but you need one person to assist you in car or a motorboat. Idea is simple, you hold one end of a rope and the other one is attached to the vehicle. Besides achieving high speeds you can performs many tricks in air.
For me, the biggest problem is of course pollution - it is supposed, that even sitting near water from Vitula has negative effects on our health. WWF claims that 56% of the river cannot be located in any class describing its purity. Here are some interesting numbers (unfortunately from 2006) - during this year, following amounts of metals has been transported into sea: 106 tons of zinc, 73 tons of copper, 102 tons of nickel and 8,5 tons of mercury (!). Happy swimming :)
In addition to water sports I would like to add Frisbee, which can be done anywhere as one of my favourite sports. Unfortunately it was already mentioned in comments so I will just give some basic information. Throwing frisbee is an activity most of us already did as a kid. The point is to throw round thing to the other person, to the target or just as far as we can. During many years this discipline evolved into serious sport, although I still have a feeling that people think it is used mostly to play with a dog. There are two main games connected with it. First, Ultimate Frisbee is similar to rugby or basketball. The aim of a 7-person team is to get with frisbee to the opponents side of field. You cannot move holding disc and if it falls on ground it is given to the other team. There is also Freestyle Frisbee, which can be done solo. The only rule is that all you do, have to look impressive, here is a movie showing it
Wednesday 21 April 2010
Red Ocean Strategy vs. Blue Ocean Strategy
Marketing sector now benefits from two quite different strategies Red Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Strategy.The differences between these strategies are very large.Red Ocean Strategy is a strategy widely used around the world.Most companies used foundation of this strategy to defeat the competition.Companies using this strategy still fighting for luring new customers with promotions and big discounts on their products.Quite a different strategy Blue Ocean Strategy is where the fight for customers is not so big.The assumptions of this strategy rely on this to the client wanted the same product for a higher price.Apple is a company that best uses this strategy.Apple boss Steve Jobs is an example of how to use the strategies in the best possible way.
What is blue ocean strategy?
Blue Ocean Strategy is one of the latest business ideas in the world. It was created quite recently, but immediately gained recognition among experts the presidents and directors of many companies. Blue Ocean Strategy is a strategy that differs significantly from the other strategies. Concept Blue Oocean Strategy is based on a finding of "Do not fight the competition issues to become irrelevant." Trusting the old principle, which says that the simplest solutions are best for you. Apple is the biggest company benefits from Blue Ocenan Strategy, using the assumptions of this strategy.
Apple is a company producing computers, laptops, media players, phones and programs. All Apple products are different from competitive products, quality of workmanship, materials used and the particular simple design. Steve Jobs has created a different brand from competitors that attracts customers. Apple is great at using the Blue Ocean Strategy. Apple is the biggest competitor to such companies as Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell.
Steve Jobs main objective was to create a luxury brand with a classic design of its products. Apple products have excellent performance, reliability, and high price Apple products are not as advertised as the competition but the whole world is waiting for new technology which is usually a pioneer Apple.
Apple from the beginning uses Blue Ocean Strategy in such a way to achieve excellent sales results for its products. Customers are delighted to use the products of the brand.
Characteristic Blue Ocean Strategy
·Create uncontested market space
·Make the competition irrelevant
·Focus on non-customers
·Create and capture new demand
·Break the value-cost tradeoff
·(Seek greater value to customers and low cost simultaneously)
·Align the whole system of a firm’s activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost.
·Tension builds before the release of a new product
·The higher price than the commercial products
·Better performance of their products
·Innovative technology
What is Red Ocean Strategy?
Red Ocean is a space all of these markets, which are already discovered and developed.It is their struggle for each percentage point of market share.The Red Ocean, players want to produce products and provide services cheaper and better than the competition.His theories are celebrating the success of improving employee productivity and production efficiency.But, over time, improving efficiency is becoming more expensive and more difficult, in addition, the competition is doing the same thing, and ultimately the whole industry is like a headlamp in place.
Red Ocean Strategy is a strategy designed to gain the greatest possible number of customers and to sell as many of their products.These companies advertise their products in every way possible.The fight between the two companies is a constant.Some of these companies are trying to create exclusive product lines to increase the range of the brand.
Characteristic Red Ocean Strategy
·Compete in existing market space
·Beat the competition
·Focus on existing customers
·Exploit existing demand
·Make the value-cost tradeoff
·(create greater value to customers at a higher cost or create reasonable value at a lower cost)
·Align the whole system of a firm’s activities with its strategic choice of differentiation or low cost
·Every percent in market is very important
·Strong fight about customer
·Big competition amid companies
Red Ocean is World merciless competition and fight for the customer.
Company using Red Ocean Strategy
•Polish market mobile cellular
-Orange
-Era
-Plus
•Global market computers
-IBM
-Dell
-HP
-Asus
.
If anyone would like to learn more about Blue Ocean Strategy recommend this book.
What do you think about these strategies? What do you thing about Blue Ocean Strategy? What do you think about Apple? Please comment.
Scarification was typical in the primary ethnic groups, now has become popular in the civilized world too. It is based on burning, defrosting, cutting and removing the skin.
Piercing: labrets, Barbells, Circular barbells, captive bead rings, and flesh tunnels
Nowadays it is very popular. It’s based on piercings of the body in specific places (for example nose, tongue, intimate space) and implementing there earrings. Earring after healing can be converted into another one - more fitting.
Below list of the 10 most modified human bodies in the world:
