Article Summaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Article Summaries - Essay Example 1-2). GDP estimation in the US begins with a best level estimate that is usually produced once every five years. It is typically calculated on an annual and quarterly basis. The annual estimates uses data collected from surveys done by the National Census Bureau’s covering about 150,000 reporting units. On the other hand, the quarterly estimates come from the monthly surveys done by the Census Bureau covering about 35,500 reporting units (Landefeld et al. 4-5). The estimates done every five years also incorporate new definitions and ideas that update the accounts to keep with up-to-date with changes in the economy. A method called â€Å"commodity-flow† is, for example, used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to develop best level estimates for final sales based on product category (Landefeld et al. 7). The bureau also uses price-times quantity method to provide estimates for products with inconsistent data (Landefeld et al. 9). Estimates for investment, exports, imports, and government components also have their unique methods of determination. The final expenditures for the federal government, for example, are determined using budget data (Landefeld et al. 11-19). There are, however, several challenges associated with GDP measurement and determination of national accounts. There is no enough data for measuring sector services. There are also components that are difficult to value. There is, therefore, need to develop comprehensive estimation methods that can value all products by virtue of their nature (Landefeld et al. 22) The article is informative and provides detailed information concerning GDP and the methods used in its estimation. I particularly appreciate the author’s contribution in detailing the history behind the development of the framework that estimates GDP. It is, however, unfortunate that in spite of the developments

Collision 1D Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Collision 1D - Lab Report Example It is as well known to be a vector quantity and its direction is same as the velocity. There is no special name for momentum unit but commonly letter p is used to represent the momentum vector. Momentum conservation can be derived using Newton’s third law. There is conservation of momentum in cases where there is interaction of interacting objects with each other. For instance, if p1is the systems initial momentum before collision and pf is the final systems momentum after collision, then we have: Energy conservation is considered to be another important conservation law. Energy is not a vector but a scalar. Whereby a scalar has no direction but it has magnitude only. There is conservation of energy based on whether the forces between are conservative. Gravity magnetic forces and electric are example of conservative forces. Other forces at nuclear physics level are also conservative. Friction is considered to be the most critical non-conservative force and it was been considered in this experiment. It is non-conservative force because there is energy conversion to heat. Two bodies sticking together after collision is also considered to be another non-conservative force. This is a special friction case since the energy is converted to heat in the process The experiment dealt with collisions only in one dimension. The bodies’ motion was constrained by a horizontal track. This implied that momentum and velocity was only in one direction(x or -x).Where x represents the tracks co-ordinates. Because we dealt with 2 bodies, the momentum conservation law can be illustrated as. Hence, the masses of the 2 bodies as well as their vectors velocity after and before collision is supposed to be known is order to show momentum conservation. It is mandatory to evaluate the energy after and before collision in order to find out if the energy conserved. The gravitational potential energy is not changed in this case

How did Television Sitcoms Change Gender Roles?

How did Television Sitcoms Change Gender Roles? How did television sitcoms change gender roles from late 50s to 60s? Television started to become a popular piece of entertainment for the family in the 50s. Television was one of the most important entertainment forms of device that entertained the family at home rather than going out[1]. As television got popular over the years, more and more people started to buy them for their house. Television took the place for piano, radio and phonograph[2]. Television was placed in the center of the family, where they would spend family time watching news to sitcoms. Television was the great family entertainer that brought mom, dad, and the kids together; while portraying different gender roles and social functions in a society[3]. Sitcoms in 1950s portrayed of having a perfect family, husband was the bread winner and the women was the house wife. Women were often showed in sitcoms as the family care of the family and also not expected to have a job. Sitcoms played a major role in the American society and played a biggest influence role on women throughout the years .1960s was the era where the perfect family construct was changed, where both men and women were shown of having jobs in sitcoms, which was different from 1950s. There was a big shift in the sitcoms, once it was shown to have a perfect family of one male worker in the family to showing both gender having a job. Television and sitcoms played a huge role into shaping up the future of the society. The American suburb was growing postwar era, a nuclear family was a basic social construct [4]. Sitcoms such as father knows best and leave it to beaver showed a perfect nuclear family construct. A womens job was to stay at home, take care of the family, cook, and make husband happy. In an episode from I love Lucy; Lucy was portrayed to follow her husbands commands. Where the man is the master, and the woman does what shes told (equal rights).ÂÂ   Usually women had to be obedient to their husbands, respect their opinion and always agree with their opinion.ÂÂ   Most of the sitcoms would show women at home taking care of the house instead of pursuing a career. A womans place is in home (leave it to beaver, Beavers house guest).ÂÂ   Sitcoms such as father knows best, Jane the mother, was always at home taking care of the children, cleaning, and making food; While the man had a different role A husband was the bread winner of the family[5]. In an episode from Father knows best, a young engineer had the ideal family vision of a hardworking man that worked hard all day that would come home to pretty wife. So when the day is over he can come home to some nice pretty wife (Betty, Girl Engineer).ÂÂ   There are many things that sitcoms portrayed about a suburban culture from Father knows best, I love Lucy, and Leave it to beaver that showed predominantly common gender role, where the husband was the bread winner and women was the home wife. Sitcom such as father knows the best played a perfect nuclear family that Americans dreamed of having. Jim played the role of the husband. He came home after work every day expecting dinner and the house to be clean. Since the men were the money provider for the family, they realized that supporting the family was hard at times. For example: in an episode Jim told the family Time has come for us to tighten our bills (The Mink Coat). This shows that Jim was the only money provider for the whole family, while the rest of the family did not know how to control their expenses. It got harder for Jim to balance the checks, since he was the only money provider for the house. In a way, Jim as a husband and father has to make his family happy but since he is the only worker of the family, sitcoms showed that man would work hard all day and come home to nice family, which was a stress reliever. While women on sitcoms had a different thinking that earning money was same as working in the home. Lucys character was mainly showed as naÃÆ'Â ¯ve, dumb, and careless with money. For example, in I love Lucy whats so tough about earning a living (Job Switching). Lucy thought that earning money was not hard, and it could be done by women as well. Sitcoms often showed that women were not mature when it came to money decision and work, while on the other had men were shown to be the mature responsible earner of the family. Sitcoms often showed women only doing the house work. They were not shown intelligent and were not encouraged to pursue any career.ÂÂ   For example: In an episode from fathers knows best in which betty signed up as wanting to be an engineer, one of bettys guy friend said but youre a girl (Betty, Girl Engineer) referring it to how men thought girls were not capable to do jobs like men. Even mothers would train their daughters to do house work and be a good wife. Youre joking (Betty, an engineer) Jane, mother of Betty took it as a joke that Betty was going to be an engineer. Sitcoms often showed that women were not expected to do big things in life such as work and earn a living. In an episode from I love Lucy, Ricky said Anybody can cook and do house work (Job Switching). Ricky the husband works in the kitchen and Lucy works in a chocolate factory. It showed in the episode how it was miserable for both the man and women to struggle for job switching. It referenced that women were better in the kitchen and man were better at earning a living. Sitcoms also showed that women were shown non intelligent even if they were working in a chocolate factory. In 1960s, there was a change in sitcoms, where women were not always shown working in the kitchen but they held some type of job on the side. Shows such as That Girl played an important role in the 1960s showing women were more than capable to work and handle house work. Ann was portrayed as a strong woman who is focused on her career. You got the job (Help Wanted) it was when Ann got a job as a secretary job. It was an important scene because it showed the viewers that women should advance in their careers instead of being a full time house wife.ÂÂ   Ann was a main character in the show, where she was portrayed as a hard working woman. Shows like That Girl, made women realize that they can be more independent. Sitcom such as That Girl tried to show that women should pursue their career instead of being rushed to their marriage and raising a family. Finally, Television played an important role in social life and gender life. Television transitioned the whole idea of gender roles. 1950s was a period of time where nuclear family was known as the dream family. In 1950s, men were the bread winner of the family and the women were the home taker of the house. The idea of nuclear family started to transition as time progressed. 1960s had a revolutionary change in sitcoms, women were shown having a job and taking care of the family, but before it was different where they were not shown to be working. Father knows best, I love Lucy, and Leave it to beaver showed how a typical family construct and showed the gender responsibility. Shows like that girl started to change the idea of a dream family and men and women were shown to be equal. Bibliography Primary sources: Father Knows the best. Betty, Girl Engineer April 11, 1956. Television Father Knows the best. The Mink Coat. April 11, 1956. Television Leave it to beaver, Beavers house guest. October 8, 1960. Television I love Lucy, job switching. September 15, 1952. Television I love Lucy, Equal Rights. October 26,1953. Television That girl, help wanted. October 20, 1966. Television Second Sources: Bogart, Leo. The Age of Television. 3rd ed., New York: Ungar, 1972. Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992. Print. [1] Bogart, Leo. The Age of Television. 3rd ed., New York: Ungar, 1972. [2] Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992. Print. [3] Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992. Print. [4] Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992. Print. [5] Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1992. Print.

Essay --

John C. Maxwell once wrote, â€Å"Leadership is the power of one harnessing the power of many.† Rousseau, in The Social Contract Theory writes that leadership is necessary to create law. A leader must have the ability to provide for all, no matter the case. Thus, they must have the â€Å"power of many† in order to understand the will of the people. A population cannot create laws for itself without guidance from some higher power. An effective leader must be able to harness the power of many in order to create effective laws and rules for the collective good. Rousseau uses several examples of worthy leaders in order to prove that quality leadership determines fair law in Book II, Chapter VI: THE LAW. In particular, he discusses the role of God, legislators, and guides. First, the efficiency of lawmaking will be discussed, then the reasons law is essential, next the characteristics per Rousseau of an ideal lawmaker, and finally the best type of leader or guide will be debated. Many things have changed since Rousseau’s time, however the need for a leader to determine fair law has remained the same, and will continue to be a large part of governments and societies. Rousseau describes the efficiency of lawmaking, saying: â€Å"So long as men are content to attach to this word only metaphysical ideas, they will continue to debate without being understood† (p.178). Rousseau is essentially arguing that the relationship between the number of leaders and the productivity of those leaders is an inverse one: the more leaders, the less accomplished. This is why it is necessary to have one strong leader instead of having the whole of the people lead the people. The difference between decrees and laws is the difference between States and republics. R... ...lways right. A guide who is able to enlighten the general public and create laws is a true asset to the population because of a leader’s ability to view objects and situations without a personal perspective. This is why there is always â€Å"need of a legislator.† Some leaders believe that they are held to lesser standards than their people. This is one problem with putting certain people in charge of the rest of the community. However, laws apply to everyone, including those who make them. This is why there is a separate party that enforces the law, to create equality for all. This is why leaders and guides are beneficial for a community. In order to maintain a fair society, there is need for legislators who are subjected to the laws they create. Without guides, the laws would not be effective or fair to all, and the State would not obtain the status as a republic.

Revivalism Essay

â€Å"Revivalism is an authentic Afro-Christian religious folk form that evolved during the eighteenth to nineteenth century. Initially, it was the native Baptist Christians who joined forces with the Moravians, and other non-conformist churches to become the forerunners of the movement. However, Jamaica was said to have experienced a religious movement called the Great Revival in 1861, which saw the incorporation of much more African retention in the movement. Pocomania is more African in form while Zion is more Christian oriented. † [1] Upon preparing to embark this journey, I was a bit disgruntled that I had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to go this â€Å"Watt Town† excursion, but I still approached with a open mind, though I had an idea of what to expect, seeing that I was already acquainted with quite a few Revivalists. Honestly I expected it to be a waste of time, but upon seeing the fellowship of my friends, while waiting on the buses which were scheduled to take us on our journey it got easier and easier, we engaged in jokes and hymns we swore were Revivalist hymns but Mr. Grey quickly busted our bubble and told us that those hymns were Pentecostal. We were greeted by a semi-pleasant but slow bus driver, but the vibe in our bus quickly took our minds off the length of the journey. I view Revivalists as highly religious people who are in tune with spirits with from various realms, known as Heaven, Earth and Ground spirit realms, I met with a lot of different Revivalists, but what I found rather interesting was the fact that the core of what they were saying were similar but they were also many subtle differences, For example I met with a man, whose name is Joseph Whitter, of the Olivette Seventh day church. nd he seemed to be quite respected in the church community, he blatantly stated at the beginning of the conversation that, â€Å"Revivalism is the only way to be saved†, we had a long drawn out discussion on what are my personal views on religion and the opening statement he made, where I told him that I strongly disagree with that statement and I believe that there is only one God and peace and love is the ultimate goa l, which everyone should try to achieve, no matter what religion one identifies with. I then met with Miss. Barbara Harper of the same church, Olivette Seventh day church, and she stated that people should go to any church they want to go to and do anything that is truly pleasing to God, when I mentioned what her church brother thought about the same thing, she said that there is no one way to get to heaven and that people spend more of their time in competition with other denominations and religions rather than giving praises to the most high. I laughed a bit and I was in total agreement with her statement. We then started to talk about her life, and how she was before she identified that Revivalism was for her, I could see that the movement actually helped her and improved her life, before moving on I thanked her for being so honest and reasoning with me, telling her that I would listen to her talk any day for she had a liberal and open mind and I absolutely hated radical minded people, who try to force their doctrines and beliefs down peoples throats. When we finally arrived at Watt Town, after our extra long journey I had no idea of what I was about to witness, the site was like nothing I had seen before, I was greeted by what had seemed to be hundreds of people, I discovered that Watt Town was having what had seemed like an inter -church convention. I saw children from various schools and young adults like our selves there to see this feat. One of the first things I noticed about the Revivalists was they were wearing different uniforms in different styles and colours, I wondered and asked why were they dressed like this and a kind lady told me that each church was represented by different uniforms. The seal is the focal point of the church; this is where the angels are believed to manifest themselves. This is the most sacred area of the ground and is a welcoming tool. The seal is a dominant feature in all revivalist churches because the seal encourages spirits which come and possess the members, enabling them to carry out their works of healing and worship. It is advised that one should walk around the seal three times to pay respect to the Tribune God. Some seals can be seen with silver coins in them, this is payment to the spirits for their help. The flags and banners we saw at the front play a very important role in the revivalism. A tall pole usually marks a revival ground. The flags on the pole are used to attack passing spirits, the attraction of spirits is very important to revivalism because they believe in many spirits and that they can be appeased or summoned to assist in their day-to-day lives. Each banner has its own purpose. Green means anything of nature, Blue and white means peace, pink love and red stands for the blood of Jesus. Upon venturing to the top of the structure, some pebbles started to rain from a roof top, some hitting my head, not understanding anything about what was going on yet, I didn’t take kindly to this, that confused me a bit more than I already was. When a group of us finally got to the top we noticed the different worship circles/prayer group, and I was pleased by some as I saw some circles which were mixed with members of different churches, this showed me that pride was not an issue and did not hinder worship, and the main goal, magnifying the most high, I stood in amazement right next to two worship circles and I heard various choruses, some I had heard before, some I had not, I was familiar with songs such as â€Å"Madda de great stone got to move† and â€Å"Rock oh! Rock holy, rock oh! Rock holy†. Being a musician I enjoyed this aspect of the excursion, identifying the keys and the chord progressions that would go with their simple but effective melodies. I noticed that even though their uniforms were different, they had many things in common, I noticed that many of them had head wraps with various pieces of stationery in the wraps, I laughed at this sight because I thought they were taking notes or something, but as I went on and I learned more I discovered that the pencils, rulers and scissors that I saw resting in their head wraps had special significance. The pencils and rulers signifies healing among the followers, the scissors were carried around by a specific set of people, known as the healers, who use the scissors to literally cut evil from around the persons being healed, as demonstrated to us by a young man named Otis. A few of the Revivalists were also seen carrying around a meter ruler, this was given to people who had been living a righteous life and who were slated to be married. We saw some people washing their face with sugar water, this was said to bring clearance and purity, the prayer shawl was said to represent the Tribe of Judah, as we learned that, like the Rastafarians there was a lot of African roots in Revivalism also, and they used red green and gold to identify with Ethiopia and Ghana. When I inquired about a lamp I saw an elderly woman carrying around, she said that the lamp also represents healing and spiritual light because revivalists don’t walk in the darkness. These healing symbols were brought from Africa with the slaves and became an integral part of the revivalist healing services. As a result the present day revivalist has maintained the practice. I asked some Revivalists of their actual occupations and from the replies I found out that they were either day workers, higglers or fishermen, (more than likely belonging to the lower class) I saw that this must have contributed to the scornful treatment by mainstream and middle/upper class Christians, They consider them to be highly superstitious, pagan, primitive and comical in ritual behaviors especially when they suspect them of practicing obeah. The disdain heaped on the lower class involved in revivalism can be traced to colonialism. Stratification was practiced on the plantation not only from the perspective of whites to none whites or but also among the blacks. The free slave felt himself above the house slave who felt they were superior to the field slaves and there was further stratification in that group depending on the gang to which they belong. Seaga, in his writings in the 1980’s explained that Revivalism also has different levels within its structure. There is the Leader who is the central figure of importance; below the leader are the armour bearer, shepherd boy and mother. The leader is never usually questioned on the reason for ritual observances. The ritualistic forms of Revivalism takes three major forms such as prayer meeting, street meeting and rituals for specific purposes for example tables, altars and baths. The meetings are usually opened to the public. Revivalism is divided into two groups, Zion and Pocomania, Pocomania is more African in form while Zion is more Christian oriented. they are referred to as 2 different spiritual groups the 60 and 61, the 60 spirit (Zion) are persons who believe in only one God, the Heavenly spirits, archangels, saints and angels. ho are viewed as firmly rooted and committed Christian. The 61 (Pocomania) spirit comprises of individuals who take commands from earth-bound spirits are the â€Å"Fallen Angels† (satanic powers), from God and from The Ground spirits are those of the human dead that are not biblically mentioned. I noticed that the people of the 60 spirit, look down the 61 in a way which gave me a feeling of segregation between both of the groups. I noticed that like other Christians, Revivalists also go on fasting sessions but they can’t just get up and fast they have to be ordered by the holy spirit. Also apart a Revivalists culture includes heavy usage of flowers they believe that when you place the flowers in water and go to sleep you dream see your future, whether it brings destruction or fortune. Some of my views on Revivalists were different after the trip, previously I thought that, Revivalists only went to church like other Christians and the worship was similar but I was mistaken, I also thought that they used instruments but I discovered that their bodies were their instruments, stomping and grunting to help them keep time and to provide percussive sounds. In my opinion the greatest gift Revivalists can give to the Jamaican culture, is their sense of unity, having being bashed for many many years, I saw that these people remained strong and stood firm for what they believe. That is what many religions and people of Jamaica need to survive through good times and bad, this was what I took away from the journey, and if I didn’t take anything else, I was glad I took this quality from the Revivalists, unity is strength and they will forever be a constant reminder of that value.

Magnetic Tape Essay

Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders. A device that stores computer data on magnetic tape is a tape drivOver years, magnetic tape can suffer from deterioration called sticky-shed syndrome. Caused by absorption of moisture into the binder of the tape, it can render the tape unusable. Merits: Capacity * One of the key advantages of magnetic tape is its capacity for holding data. Magnetic tape was the first medium able to hold a feature-length movie on a small, inexpensive device, thus enabling the home video market of the 1980s. In addition, compact cassettes can hold music on both sides, giving them a 90-minute total playing time, which is even greater than most CDs. Editing * Magnetic tape is also easy to edit using a traditional linear-editing system. This can involve duplicating a portion of a tape to a master reel, or physically cutting the tape and attaching the desired portions together with glue, splicing cement or adhesive tape. Editing in this manner requires no special computer equipment and may be less expensive and/or easier to learn than nonlinear digital editing. DEMERITS: Generation Loss * One of the disadvantages of magnetic tape is generation loss, which refers to the fact that each successive copy of a tape loses quality compared to the original. This can make it difficult to use magnetic tape for editing-intensive projects, or when extremely high fidelity is important. Digital media, on the other hand, can be copied and reproduced indefinitely with no visible or audible difference between the original and any of its copies. Durability * Another problem with magnetic tape is its tendency to stretch out over time, causing the quality of the data to deteriorate. On old video tapes, this generally appears in the form of poor audio, and picture data can eventually suffer as well. Over time magnetic tape acquires a layer of magnetic debris from recording and playback heads, which may need to be cleaned periodically to continue functioning. Mechanical Complexity * The mechanical complexity needed to use magnetic tape is another disadvantage of the medium. Items like cassette and VHS tapes include two separate reels, as well as a mechanism for exposing a small portion of the tape inside a player or recording device. Reel-to-reel tape players use multiple motors and moving parts, each of which is susceptible to mechanical failure. In the realm of digital media, flash-based memory uses no moving parts, thus eliminating this problem. Advantages and Disadvantages of a USB Flash Drive February 27, 2012 Advantages and disadvantages Advantages Compared to hard drives, flash drives use little power, have no fragile moving parts, and for most capacities are small and light. Data stored on flash drives is impervious to mechanical shock, magnetic fields, scratches and dust. These properties make them suitable for transporting data from place to place and keeping the data readily at hand. Flash drives also store data densely compared to many removable media. In mid-2009, 256 GB drives became available, with the ability to hold many times more data than a DVD or even a Blu-ray disc,[2] Most personal computers support USB as of 2010. Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class so that most modern operating systems can read and write to them without installing device drivers. The flash drives present a simple block-structured logical unit to the host operating system, hiding the individual complex implementation details of the various underlying flash memory devices. The operating system can use any file system or block addressing scheme. Some computers can boot up from flash drives. Specially manufactured flash drives are available that have a tough rubber or metal casing designed to be waterproof and virtually â€Å"unbreakable†. These flash drives retain their memory after being submerged in water, and even through a machine wash. Leaving such a flash drive out to dry completely before allowing current to run through it has been known to result in a working drive with no future problems. Channel Five‘s Gadget Show cooked one of these flash drives with propane, froze it with dry ice, submerged it in various acidic liquids, ran over it with a jeep and fired it against a wall with a mortar. A company specializing in recovering lost data from computer drives managed to recover all the data on the drive.[42] All data on the other removable storage devices tested, using optical or magnetic technologies, were destroyed. Disadvantages Main article: Flash memory#Limitations Like all flash memory devices, flash drives can sustain only a limited number of write and erase cycles before the drive fails.[43][unreliable source?][44] This should be a consideration when using a flash drive to run application software or an operating system. To address this, as well as space limitations, some developers have produced special versions of operating systems (such as Linux in Live USB)[45] or commonplace applications (such as Mozilla Firefox) designed to run from flash drives. These are typically optimized for size and configured to place temporary or intermediate files in the computer’s main RAM rather than store them temporarily on the flash drive. Most USB flash drives no longer include a write-protect mechanism, although a small number have a switch on the housing of the drive itself to keep the host computer from writing or modifying data on the drive. Write-protection makes a device suitable for repairing virus-contaminated host computers without risk o f infecting the USB flash drive itself. A write-locked SD card in a USB flash card reader adapter is an effective way to avoid any writes on the flash medium. The SD card as a WORM device has an essentially unlimited life. A drawback to the small size is that they are easily misplaced, left behind, or otherwise lost. This is a particular problem if the data they contain are sensitive (see data security). As a consequence, some manufacturers have added encryption hardware to their drives—although software encryption systems which can be used in conjunction with any mass storage medium achieve the same thing. Most drives can be attached to keychains, necklaces and lanyards. The USB plug is usually fitted with a removable and easily lost protective cap, or is retractable. USB flash drives are more expensive per unit of storage than large hard drives, but are less expensive in capacities of a few tens of gigabytes as of 2011 Maximum available capacity is increasing with time, but is less than larger hard drives. This balance is changing, but the rate of change is slowing.. Most USB based flash technology integrates a printed circuit board with a metal tip which is simply soldered on. As a result the stress point is where the two pieces join. Some manufacturers quality control does not ensure a proper solder temp further weakening the stress point. Since many Flash Drives stick out from a users laptop or PC they are likely to be bumped repeatedly in their life time and may break at the stress point. Most of the time a break at the stress point results in permanent damage to the printed circuit board where the joint is torn from the circuit. However, some manufacturers produce discreet flash drives that do not stick out and others use a solid metal uni-body that has no easily discernible stress point.