Taxi Driver

In the American film classic, Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorcese, Travis Bickle's personality and point of view of reality are heavily twisted. His disassociation with the norm and extreme mental states of mind depict the life of a deranged, depraved, and lonely Vietnam veteran. His terrible social skills are an apparent sign of mental illness and continue to drive Travis into deeper levels of solidarity. This loneliness gradually fuels Travis into living a miserable and misanthropic life. Travis's social ineptitude inevitably leads to his isolation and distorted perception of himself and the rest of society.The film opens with Travis being interview and accepting the job as a taxi driver. He explains his willingness to work lots of extra hours and preference for night shifts is due to his inability to sleep. It is revealed then that Travis suffers from insomnia. Although Insomnia is a serious disease, Travis seems complacent and shows no interest in curing himself. Even in the first scene of the film, it is already exposed that Travis suffers from at least one mental disorder yet has no aspirations to improve himself.Upon getting the job and exiting his place of work, he proceeds to pull out a flask of what is perceived to be alcohol and starts drinking it in the clear of day on the street. He displays no inclination that his actions are not the acceptable social norm. After a long twelve hour shift, Travis reflects on how the city of Manhattan has become a dump for degenerate punks and prostitutes. He perceives the New York nightlife he caters to and drives around as garbage polluting his town. He himself then enters a dirty porn theater once he's off-duty.He does not see the similarities between himself and the other pervs and goons of New York City. He sees them as lowly scum that are responsible for the dirtiness of the city, even though he is apart of the same dreary world he despises. The constant encounters with lowlifes and trash creates Travis's view of the city as a terrible and mediocre place, while he forgets about how during the daytime the streets of Manhattan are much different. His only evidence to judge the city is through the brief interactions and conversations between himself and his patrons.And with most of them being drunks and criminals, Travis is left with a distrustful and negative view of what the inhabitants of the city where he lives. He is alone and only has himself to create assumption of what reality really is, and unfortunately with his mental illnesses he is in dyer need of someone to guide him towards reality. Yet when Travis attempts to find someone who can give him companionship and help him, his lack of social skills only push people farther away. When purchasing his ticket for the porn theater, Travis tries to initiate a relatively normal conversation with the young woman at the concessions.She shows obvious disgust towards Travis but with this unbeknownst to him he continues the conversation an d presses her for her name. Upon failing, he enters the theater but doesn't seem to understand why she was so resistant to introduce herself. His inability to pick up on social cues only confuses Travis and separates him even more from social interaction. Travis then sits alone in the theater with the various purchased candies sleep deprived and further drifts into his own little world. Even the relationship with his family has been severed because of Travis purposely lying to family through the mail.He has been telling them for what is assumed many years that he has been healthy and fine but is now working for the federal government and is unable to give them his real home address. These blatant lies prove Travis's reality is not like our own and also shows how his mental illnesses have successfully removed him from a sane state of mind. Travis's doomed future of complete and utter insanity is surprisingly sidetracked when he sees Betsy for the first time. At his first site of her he describes her begin an angel, the purest of beings among the dirt and scum of the city.He envisions her as angelic perfection and of course, due to his lacking social skills begins spying on her from his cab for a number of weeks to the point that Betsy actually notices his stalking. Though eventually Travis gets the stregnth to ask her out. He dresses noticeably nicer than usual and appears to act as normal as he physically can. Betsy's first impression of Travis is seen with much curiosity. He interests her because of his odd and quirky demeanor and agrees to go out for coffee with him. Travis successfully takes her out for coffee without any problems of showing his ineptitude in social situation.Following their coffee date, Travis's decides to take Betsy to a movie. His relationship with Betsy ends with him bringing her to a film at one of the porn theaters he frequents instead of a regular cinema. The choice of venue disgusts Betsy and leaves her in contempt for Travis. And a fter several attempts to win her back with gifts and hundreds of phone calls Travis justifies himself by concluding she is not the angel he envisioned earlier but really just like all the other dirt he's surrounded by. He had destroyed the only relationship he had in the world because he was not able to realize what was socially acceptable.Though Travis was quick to write Betsy off as just another scum of the city, his anger and disappointment towards grow increasingly more visible. Before his fling with Betsy he had only been a secluded and seemingly content with his life. He was fine with how he lived and saw nothing wrong with his skewed view of reality. But after his final confrontation with Betsy at her place of work, he exhibits a new qualities of violence and almost throws a punch at one of Betsy's co-workers. Travis's spark of violence is implodes when he has a passenger which forever changes his psyche.The passenger directs Travis to park across the street from a specific a partment building. At the angle they parked the man witnesses his wife through the window of another man's apartment. As Travis listens from the driver's seat, he hears the furious man's deliberation of how he will make his wife pay for cheating on him. The man's violent and graphic detailing of his of he is going to murder his wife and her lover affects Travis in very powerful ways. Travis's lack of interaction with people leaves him vulnerable and very impressionable. The encounter he has with the patron is more interaction than he has had since his break up with Betsy.Even with Travis remaining completely silent through the event he is detrimentally changed. He irrationally takes the man's horrific description as a sign of determination and strength. He almost seems to admire the man's ability to take control of the situation and do what he believes is fair and just. Even while the man continually says â€Å"You must think I'm pretty sick† Travis seems to be already planni ng his own similar plan on doing his own vigilante law enforcement. Following that night, Travis concludes he is destined to do justice and clean the dirt off the streets himself.Just as the passenger had planned to do, he believed to do what is right you must take matters into your own hands. Travis sees this as an opportunity to get rid of the scum polluting his city and to prove to himself that he is someone who has made in impact. This is the ultimate breaking point for Travis. He seems to have cut any strands he had with reality and is only viewing the world as his own playground for justice. He immediately begins changing his life style. He begins daily regiments of exercise and weight training. He starts to drink and eat healthier and no longer drinks alcohol or consumes medications.He also trains his body for combat and pushes his body and mind to new limits, even sticking his hand into scolding flames to learn pain suppression. His obsession with his body and mind makes Tra vis an empty canister of dangerous ideas. These new life choices all occur at the same time he buys four guns from an illegal dealer. He tells the man he is going to change his life and eagerly practices using his weapons upon buying them while pointing them at innocent civilians in the street below the building he is in. This makes Travis even more dangerous and likely to be violent.His perception of right and wrong are invisible and his objectives seem to illogical, irrational, and completely insane. These objectives culminate into him becoming hell-bent on making the dirt of his home pay and feels it is time for him to truly make a difference. His course of action to change the city for good fixates onto Iris. Iris is an underage prostitute which Travis had only came in brief contact with before deciding she would be his â€Å"damsel in distress†. He begins his quest to save her from the slums she is living in and get her back to a safe regular life that he feels she deser ves.He is obsessed with making an impact in Iris's life and by doing so fulfilling what he believes is his purpose in life. It is clear at this point that Travis no longer has any concept of reality or even the law. He has no fear of the outcome of his actions and then decides to assassinate Palantine, a leading presidential candidate whom is also Betsy's boss. These actions are what Travis sees as his last stand against the world and all of it's evils and problems. Determined to make a difference he arrives at the rally Palantine is having and readies himself knowing he will most likely die.Confident he will die during the attempt, he leaves a letter with 500 dollars in it explaining he is probably dead by the time she reads the letter. He has lost all rationality and has no second thoughts on staying alive. He has no connection with the world yet he is focused on changing it. Fortunately, his assassination attempt fails and Travis flees from secret service. Surprised to still be a live, Travis goes to the apartment which Iris and her pimp, Sport, use for her services. Still armed to the teeth, he quickly kills Sport while he is guarding the entrance to where Iris is.A gun fight ensues resulting in Travis being shot multiple times but killing the others involved. He sees scared and trembling Iris and feels he has done his job successfully. The belief that he succeeded conveys that Travis has completely extroverted himself from normalcy and has no longer has a sane thought in his mind. Once completing his objective he tries to commit suicide multiple times but fails because of his guns are empty and he has ran out of bullets. Now that he is fulfilled his duty he feels useless and accepts his fate to die.As he sits and bleeds out through his many bullet holes the police arrive only to find him miming a gun and â€Å"shooting† himself in the head. The police take him and he remarkably survives though goes into a coma for many months. Upon finally waking up he sees that he has been proclaimed a hero by the city for killing off the multiple criminals he had shot. Travis's actions had been viewed positively by the public who saw him as a symbol for morals and a model citizen. His attempt to kill Palantine was unknown and his plans that were driven by insanity were seen as acts of bravery.Only when Travis was completely distanced and separated from society by his mental illness do they recognize him. And ironically recognize him in a positive way not realizing that he is truly needs help and psychological examination. Travis's dive into psychosis was a collaboration of mental illness which he could no longer subdue. Each one triggering a stronger and powerful response which led him into the depths of solitude and isolation. He was without social stimulation for extensive periods of time and his lack of interaction with others only led to his psychological demise.Not many people came into contact with Travis but when they did they impacte d him in very extreme ways. These interactions led to Travis making decisive actions and decision which forced him out of control. He was tragdically without help and unable to even ask for some because he didn't even realize there was anything wrong with himself in the first place. His mental problems created a young man who spiraled out of control without the ability to stop and understand his problems. His escalations led to him not only not able to see reality correctly but also not realize he needed help and was suffering from multiple mental illnesses.

Modern Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Modern Philosophy - Essay Example In philosophy, empiricism is generally a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, based on perceptual observations by the five senses. . such as sight, touch, hearing and smell. According to Hume, empiricism is a reduction of ideas to nothing more than fuzzy remembered images of actual perceptions that they regard freedom or self-determination both as real and as having important ontological implications, for soul or mind or divinity. John Locke is the father of true empiricism, which is nothing more than a denial of innate (or a priori) knowledge and philosophical rationalism (the belief that knowledge can be derived by reason alone without reference to the perceived world) and insistence that all knowledge is derived and based on conscious experience of the world. That the world we are conscious of is objectively real, and it is our conscious perception of that objectively real world and our reasoning about it, which is the only source of true knowledge. Locke's empiricism began and ended with Locke. Bishop Berkley and Hume immediately destroyed it, and "empiricism" after Locke devolved into extreme Skepticism and subjective Idealism. In the late eighteenth century Immanuel Kant set forth a groundbreaking philosophical system which claimed to bring unity to rationalism and empiricism. Rationalists believe there are innate ideas that are not found in experience. These ideas exist independently of any experience people may have. These ideas may in some way derive from the structure of the human mind, or they may exist independently of the mind. If they exist independently, they may be understood by a human mind once it reaches a necessary degree of sophistication. Empiricists who denied that there are concepts that exist prior to experience. For them, all knowledge is a product of human learning, based on human perception. Perception, however, may cause concern, since illusions, misunderstandings, and hallucinations prove that perception does not always depict the world as it really is. In Kant's view people certainly do have knowledge that is prior to experience, which is not devoid of cognitive significance. Kant has been justly recognized for creating a revolutionary synthesis between the absolute, but speculative certainties of the continental rationalism of his time (represented by Leibniz) and the practical approach of British empiricism (culminating with Hume) that ended up in universal skepticism. Kant's initial position was considerably closer to the continental rationalism of Leibniz and Wolff than to British empiricism. Both his background and his personal inclination caused him to search for absolute certainties rather than pragmatic solutions. It was Hume's skepticism merely served as a catalyst to make him realize how little certainty there could be in any metaphysical construct which described himself as a lover of metaphysics whose affection had not been reciprocated. In the eighteenth

Does John Stuart Mill succeed in reconciling the concept of justice Essay

Does John Stuart Mill succeed in reconciling the concept of justice with utilitarianism - Essay Example Justice that is balanced essentially relies on the properties and forms of freedom. Such properties are the associated â€Å"natures† of the theory of liberty, the driving forces, the spheres of influence, the limitations and the causes that make one either to give value to freedom or to find it objectionable. Dependence and independence reflect two different acts of any human being. However protective measures are required for existence of too much of independence such that a solution to â€Å"a condition for justice† may be obtained. The provision for human resources reflects two different principles; one that is â€Å"process-freedom† and explains the freedom of benefiting from one’s activities requiring â€Å"self ownership†, while the other principle presents the case of â€Å"shared equally† the benefits obtained. According to the modern theories of justice, utilitarianism as well as some other solutions, provided by Gauthier and Nash, necessitates the perception of a â€Å"cardinal utility† such that differences in the levels of utilities may be explained or compared. Justice has been known to be a virtue that assists the feeble against attacks from the stronger society of people. Initiation of states, laws and religions were particularly for the purpose of establishing justice in a society. Justice intends to aid the weaker section of people by protecting them and helps to strengthen those who are strong. Justice can be described as an accomplishment that is â€Å"in accordance with the laws†. It aims to benefit both the weaker and the stronger sections of people in a society by means of â€Å"just laws† with which the strong may rule (Barr & Club, 1932, pp.19-20). Justice is considered as reverential when â€Å"it values a justiciable’s situation because the justiciable values it† (Kolm, 2002, p.31). The ethical evaluation of justice and its judgment depends on a set of variables that include social and ethical values for justice (Kolm, 2002, pp.31-32). Study on Utilitarianism: Utilitarianism has been conventionally u nderstood as â€Å"most good should be done†. Although this view is in support of few philosophers like John Stuart Mill, there are several other opinions that charges to state that this principle is not attuned with what justice or fairness demands in distributing benefits to all sections of people in a society. Laws that necessitate impartiality in profits distribution â€Å"are best in the long run† and thus should be thought of without initiating maximization of benefits in certain circumstances for particular sections

Article project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project - Article Example The additional hiring of 80,000 workers last month is miniscule as this job gain only just keeps pace with population growth. The gain has done little to trim down the backlog of 14 million unemployed workers, avers the article. $787 billion stimulus package: The author has linked the failure of the stimulus package, announced by the U.S government at the peak of recession to the diminished chances of Barack Obama being reelected as the President of United States. 9% unemployment rate: The rate of unemployment in the United States has been hovering around the 9% mark for most part of this year now. The author compares the present rate of joblessness to the 4.6 % unemployment rate that was prevailing in the country a year before the recession began. The comparison illustrates that reaching the pre-recession glory is still a far cry for the United States. 39.4 weeks: Average time spent looking for a job: The article brings to light the difficult time the unemployed in the country are facing. The average time that an unemployed worker pounded the pavement touched 39.4 weeks in October, pretty close to the peak of 40.5 weeks recorded in September. The article suggests that the longer a person remains out of job, the more difficult it gets, for varied reasons, for that person to land a job. 34.3 hours: Average length of workweek: There has been no change in the length of the average workweek for a year now, reveals the article. The statistic remained at 34.3 hours in October as well. The author argues that companies invariably extend the workweek and make the present employees work longer before going in for fresh hiring. Therefore, a stagnant workweek does not bode well for job growth in the United States. The news article successfully integrates all information and apprises the reader why the threat of a double dip recession still looms large. There appears no bias in the article as it also refers to the positive indicators like

New Developments in Radiology and Medical Imaging Essay

New Developments in Radiology and Medical Imaging - Essay Example The use of PACS to import images has the support of physicians at UCSF but old technology dies hard thus the continued usage of viewing images on CD still standard (Phillips Medical Imaging Blog: Radiology PACS Reduces Repeat Procedures Per Recent AJR Study). 4 Implementation Cost of PACS 4 Table  1 5 Advantages of Implementing PACS 6 Disadvantages of Implementing PACS 7 Summary 7 Works Cited 8 New Developments in Radiology and Medical Imaging Introduction Medical imaging is an evolving industry with increasing technical advancements in the profession. The ever changing technology requires that with cost effective architecture and technology the health business should lead to better patient care. Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) is one such new development in radiology. Other new advancements include CT scans, Ultrasound, Virtual Intraluminal Endoscopy, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), MRI, Radio Surgery and High Intensity focused Ultrasound (McKesson Medical I maging Blog: Recent Advancements in Radiology). This paper focuses on PACS. About Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) PACS are communication systems that allow physicians to read radiology images without leaving their computers. On McKesson website they reveal about McKesson Radiology 12.0 which introduces a new web-based platform with the ultimate PACS experience. The new release is made up of McKesson Radiology station, and the client side application for PACS solution which provide superior image display, work flow efficiency and system integration capabilities. The platform reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) of users through providing a scalable and flexible architecture for handling organization’s growing data. The technology provided improved access to images and clinical reports thus enabling physicians to deliver optimal patient care. The McKesson Radiology 12.0 has five deployment alternatives where one can choose from according to his flavor (M cKesson All about PACS: the Picture of Better Health). These alternatives include: i. McKesson Radiology station provided for the performance-focused, diagnostic end-user. ii. McKesson Radiology station Lite provided for those who work outside the health care facilities and require streamlined solutions on standard windows-based PCs, laptops or Macitonsh Platforms. iii. McKesson Radiology station eJacket for referring physicians, patients and report-centric end- users. iv. McKesson Radiology station Disc provided for those who need to send CDs or DVDs to others i.e. referring physicians, consultation purposes from other specialists, and to patients for their own records. v. McKesson Enterprise Image Clinical Reference Viewer which addresses emerging mobile-workflow requirements for radiologists, referring physicians and other specialists. Application Communication systems are a lifeline of any hospital and mostly within Radiology departments. Using PACS to import radiology images pl ay an important role in reducing repeated tasks. At the McKesson Medical imaging blog David Philips explain an incident concerning a report concluding that patients who had undergone CT or MRI before transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) had more repeat imaging than when the images were imported into the PACS.

Microeconmoics problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Microeconmoics problems - Essay Example When the first customer is admitted, the marginal benefit ($15.25) exceeds the marginal cost of that customer ($14). When the second customer is admitted, the marginal benefit of $15.25 received exceeds the marginal cost of $14.5 of admitting the second customer. Similarly, when the third customer is admitted, the marginal benefit ($15.25) of admitting the third customer exceeds the marginal cost ($15). However, if the fourth customer is admitted, marginal cost ($15.5) exceeds the marginal benefit ($15.25). Hence 3 customers should be admitted per hour to earn an optimum profit. b) If the price of one-hour workout is increased to $16.25, five customers should be admitted. If more than 5 customers are admitted, marginal cost will exceed marginal benefit. Question 8: a) The cost of taking an additional class for Lauren $20. The optimal number of classes should be where the marginal benefit of taking a class exceeds its marginal cost. When Lauren takes 1 class, her marginal benefit ($23 ) exceeds the marginal cost ($20). But if Lauren takes the second class, her marginal cost of $20 exceeds the marginal benefit of $19. Hence Lauren’s optimal number of karate class per week is one. b) Georgia’s optimal number of karate classes per week is 2 since when she takes two classes; her marginal benefit of $22 exceeds her marginal cost of $20. Question 12: The following table shows the marginal cost and marginal benefit De Beers receive at each quantity of diamond produced: Quantity of Diamonds Total benefit ($) Marginal Benefit ($) Total cost ($) Marginal cost ($) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1000 1000 50 50 2 1900 900 100 50 3 2700 800 200 100 4 3400 700 400 200 5 4000 600 800 400 6 4500 500 1500 700 7 4900 400 2500 1000 8 5200 300 3800 1300 As shown above, De Beers marginal cost of producing the sixth diamond exceeds the marginal revenue received. Hence De Beers should produce five diamonds as this is the optimal quantity of diamonds De Beers should produce to maximize its t otal gain. The above graph shows that De Beers should produce 5 diamonds. If De Beers produce more than 5 diamonds, the marginal cost will exceed the marginal benefit which will reduce the overall benefit of De Beers. c) The following table shows that De Beers earns the gains the highest when 5 diamonds are produced. De Beers’ highest net gain is $3200 if 5 diamonds are produced. Total benefit ($) Total cost ($) Net gain ($) 0 0 0 1000 50 950 1900 100 1800 2700 200 2500 3400 400 3000 4000 800 3200 4500 1500 3000 4900 2500 2400 5200 3800

Fibre Reinforce Polymer Composites in Bridge Structures Term Paper

Fibre Reinforce Polymer Composites in Bridge Structures - Term Paper Example From the research it can be comprehended that mechanically, a composite is a separable combination of two or more materials that are not the same at the molecular level but purposefully mixed to come up with a new material that has optimal and superior properties, which are different from those of its components. These materials have been utilized over the years in construction. An ancient way was the use of straw for reinforcement in clay and mud bricks. In the last century, in several structural systems, combination of reinforcing concrete and steel has been used for construction. However, a new crop of composite material has since been largely accepted by most engineers for construction and the rehabilitation of new structures and existing facilities. This class consists of Fibre Reinforced Polymer composites, which were in the earlier days developed specifically for defense and aerospace. Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) are a combination of polymeric resins which acts as binders o r matrices that has stiff and strong fibre assemblies which act as the reinforcing phase. The combination of a reinforcing phase with the matrix phase produces a material system that is analogous to steel reinforced concrete and is new. However, these concentrations may significantly vary; generally, the reinforced concrete rarely has more than 5% reinforcement, whereas Fibre reinforced polymer composites contains more than 30% reinforcements.... This class consists of Fibre Reinforced Polymer composites, which were in the earlier days developed specifically for defense and aerospace. Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) are a combination of polymeric resins which acts as binders or matrices that has stiff and strong fibre assemblies which act as the reinforcing phase. The combination of a reinforcing phase with the matrix phase produces a material system that is analogous to steel reinforced concrete and is new. However, these concentrations may significantly vary; generally, the reinforced concrete rarely has more than 5% reinforcement, whereas Fibre reinforced polymer composites contains more than 30% reinforcements. Components of a Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composite Fibre This is a material that has been made into a long filament. A single fibre normally has up to 15Â µm. When the diameter is bigger, the probability of surface defects increases. The aspect ratio of diameter and length in continuous fibres can range from thousa nds to infinity. They usually occupy 50% of the weight and over 30% of the volume. Fibres are mainly meant for providing fitness, carrying the load, providing thermal stability, strength, and other structural properties to Fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) (2). The fibres in FRP composite need to have very high ultimate strength, high modulus of elasticity, low variation strength, high uniformity of diameter, high stability, and high uniformity of surface dimension among fibres. There are various forms of fibre used as reinforcements for polymer composite reinforcement exists. The manufacturer of materials made from FRP composites normally present