The Janplex Post

 Fat free food Whereas business owners call them marketing strategies, none business owners regard them as marketing tricks. Regardless of what you like to call them, businesses cannot survive without marketing tricks. Marketing tricks are the flywheel that keeps businesses engine running. We tend not to be concerned about them because of our perception that we are familiar with them and can avoid them. However, a careful look at the marketing tricks used by businesses will reveal that many of us have fallen victims of them in the past and can still fall victim of the malpractice in future. Let us consider two of these popular tricks used in supermarkets. The first marketing trick used by retailers is relating to the slogan “75% reduced fat”. Items labelled 75% reduced fat are often displayed on supermarket shelves. Some of us who are conscious of our health tend to go for them to avoid consuming excess fat. Excess fat in the body is considered to be a risk factor for...

 Death bed The death sentence or capital punishment was abolished in Europe by the European Court on Human Rights in 1950. Since then, European courts cannot impose the death sentence on any criminal regardless of whether the criminal has committed a heinous crime. The rationale for this law is that criminals can be reformed regardless of their criminal career. However, the public is divided over this issue. Supporters of the death sentence claim that it can serve as deterrence for crime. European leaders recognised this fact for the last time shortly before capital punishment was abolished in Europe. They almost unanimously accepted that capital punishment was the only befitting sentence for senior Nazi and Japanese leaders responsible for Second World War atrocities. I think only a few people today can disagree with the European leaders over this judgment considering that the nature of crime committed by the war criminals was extraordinary. Although it cannot be ...

Parenting Fast food consumption in the UK is a time-bomb waiting to explode anytime. Fast food consumption has been attributed to the rising levels of obesity among UK children and adults . Obesity can result in a host of ill health including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The subsequent cost of these conditions to the tax payer is enormous. The government intends to reduce this cost by making policies not aimed specifically at reducing adult obesity but at minimising child obesity. A major piece of legislation being considered in this regard is the ban on fast food advertisements on televisions before 9pm. The reason for this proposed ban on fast food advertisements is very simple. Most children tend to be up by 9pm watching television programmes including fast food advertisements. They cannot make informed decisions about the effect of such advertisements on their health. Neither can their parents make it for them. Hence, there is the need for a ban on televis...

 Saturated food For many decades saturated fat has been perceived as the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It is assumed that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol level which is responsible for atherosclerosis and stroke. Consequently, consumers are often advised to avoid food high in saturated fat such as cheese and butter and encouraged to consume food low in saturated fat such as oily fish and nuts. However, consumers who may have been heeding to this advice will be shocked to learn that there is no association between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease. That is, consuming fast food such as chicken burger or chicken nuggets regularly cannot increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. This verdict comes from researchers from the University of Cambridge and Medical Research Council, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of Bristol, Erasmus University Medical Centre and Harvard School of Public Health. These researchers analysed M...

 Criminal There is the assumption that some people are born criminals just like the way some people are believed to be born geniuses. No matter what you do they will grow up to lead a life of crime. It follows from this that if they are born with criminal behaviour, criminals will lack control of their behaviour. In other words, criminal behaviour will be determined by genes rather than by external factors such as lack of opportunities and poverty. Researchers have attempted to investigate this assumption that some people are born with criminal intents. Their studies have focused largely on genetic studies involving identical twins. The rationale for using identical twin studies in genetic research is that identical twins tend to develop from one egg and share the same genetic make-up. It follows from this that if a particular behaviour is found to be more common in identical twins than in non-identical twins or siblings, the only possible explanation for this behavio...

 Missiles mounted on Russian tank Russian invasion of Crimean, Ukraine, has been one of the topical issues around the world for a number of weeks now. Both the west and United Nations have been very critical of this military adventure and asking Russia to pull out its troops from Crimea. The west is going further by threatening a number of punitive sanctions against Russia if it does not pull out its troops from Ukrainian soil. In light of these, does Russia have any justification for its destabilising acts in Ukraine? Russia can draw a parallel between its military action on Ukraine now and the military strikes against the Former Yugoslavia by NATO in 1999. NATO conducted a number of military strikes against the former Yugoslavia in 1999 to stop the killings of Kosovar Albanians. Although the United Nations did not authorise it as demonstrated by the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1199, NATO justified this military action on the ground that over 1,5...

 The normal distribution curve IQ ( Intelligence Quotient ) tests play a very important role in our society. They are used, for example, to identify both children who may need extra help in their education and those who are very bright and should be given special education to enhance their abilities. IQ tests are also used for job recruitment and training purposes. Whether they are used at school or in the workplace, the rationale for using IQ tests is that they are good measure of intelligence. Before establishing whether IQ tests are really good measure of intelligence, it is important to understand briefly what is meant by the concept of intelligence. Intelligence simply refers to the ability to understand the world and cope with its challenges. In other words, thinking is not possible without intelligence. It is assumed that the ability to understand difficult tasks, reason and solve problems are all due to intelligence. However, the question that arises is whether ...