The American Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The American Civil War - Essay Example   Seven undiplomatic Southern states claimed their withdrawal from the United States and thus formed the Confederacy States of America. In return, the northern states and the southern states split.   One of the causes of American civil war was the economic and social variances between the north and the south.   The two areas were quite different, and the South feared that the North would try to impose its systems on them (Kelly).   The second reason was the government limited the federal rights in the states. In 1832, South Carolina declined to pass the federal tariff legislation of 1828. Thus, the government used military force to put the region in check. The southern states felt limited in expressing the state rights.  The Dred Scot decision is the third cause of the civil war. Dred Scott was a slave who sought nationality through the American legal systems. The Supreme Court denied any African-American from obtaining US citizenship, consequently, enslaving more people.  The election of Abraham Lincoln also contributed to the war. They feared that the Republican president would abolish slavery. Thus, ruining the Southern economy. That is why Lincoln was a worthy opponent to the expansion of slavery. In conclusion, it is true that the American civil war was caused by discrimination and selfish needs. Slavery denied people a real life as capitalism ruled allowing the rich to be richer. The legal systems were corrupt with unfair discrimination.

Comparing Body Modification vs Self Mutilation

Comparing Body Modification vs Self Mutilation Self injury and body modification are closely related to or considered the same thing to some people. The intent one has behind doing these things separate whether it is self injury or simply self expression. Self injury, self harm, and self mutilation are described as deliberate harm to oneself. The injury usually causes noticeable damage such as: cutting, burning, hair pulling, and even in the worst case scenario, limb amputation. This is not to be confused with an attempt at suicide (Thompson, 2010). This is usually due to a long history of sexual abuse, physical abuse, broken homes, alcoholic homes, and absent parents. Most people attempt self injury because they lack the proper coping skills (Thompson, 2010). Many people that self-injure try to keep it a secret due to the fact that they are ashamed, feel guilty, or are embarrassed. The fact is that people who self injure are sound and reasonable people that probably were never taught the correct ways to cope with immense emotional pain. People who self harm are in fear that if they tell or ask someone for help that they will be committed or considered psychotic (Thompson, 2010). Sadly enough this is true, people tend to make assumptions about things they dont understand. The first step in identifying self harm vs. body modification is to identify the directness, lethality, and repetition. Directness refers to how intentional the act is when done. If the act is done with complete awareness and consciousness of its dangerous effects, and an aware intent to produce those effects its considered direct (Martinson, 2002). There are different stages of self injury. The most extreme form is major self mutilation. Where this form results in serious disfigurement such as: castration, and limb amputation (Thompson, 2010). Then there is the stereotypic self injury which is when one will head bang against a wall, eyeball gouge, and bite. The last type of self injury is the most common form, superficial self mutilation which involves cutting, hair pulling, burning, bones breaking, and interference with wound healing (Thompson, 2010). One of the main questions people ponder is why would one want to self injure themselves? Self injury helps with intense feelings like anger, sadness, frustration, loneliness, shame, and guilt. People who self injure tend to do so to try and release feelings they cant deal with. Self injurers also feel that maybe if they cut themselves seeing their own blood will make them feel something as opposed to the numbness they are used to (Thompson, 2010). Another reason people self injure and continue to self injure is because endorphins are released when you self injure. Giving you that calm and relaxed feeling, almost like a high from a drug. Endorphins are protein chains that are released by the Hypothalamus area in the brain. They act in the same way as morphine except that endorphins are 18-50 times stronger (Thompson, 2010). Your body uses endorphins for several purposes. Firstly, to boost energy when you need it; secondly to reduce pain from injury; and thirdly, to signal that you are doing something worthwhile or enjoyable and to encourage you to do more of the same. Others feel that dealing with physical pain is easier to deal with and easier to understand then what the real under lying issue is. Self injury is also used to punish oneself. If they were physically, mentally, or sexually abused. They may feel it was their fault which makes them feel the need to punish themselves for doing nothing to stop it (Thompson, 2010). The Act of self injury usually leaves a feeling of calmness and peace, almost like a high from a drug (Thompson, 2010). Since this feeling is temporary it usually leads the person to do it again. Or this may continue until the real underlying problem is solved or they find a better way to cope (Thompson, 2010). It all comes down to lacking the proper coping skills. The definition of self injury is deliberate harm to ones own body. The injury is done to oneself, without another person, and the injury is severe enough for tissue damage, such as scarring to result. Acts that are committed with conscious suicidal intent or are ass ociated with sexual arousal are excluded (Martinson, 2002). 14% of self-injurers were diagnosed with major depression, as opposed to 56% of the suicide-attempters. Alcohol dependence was diagnosed in 16% of the self injury group, but in 26% of the suicide attempters group. Only 2% of the Self Injury group was considered schizophrenic; 9% of the suicidal attempters group was. The self injury group was 12% vs. 7% or to be diagnosed with adjustment disorder with depressed mood 24% vs. 6 %( Martinson, 2002). The reason for some cases of self-mutilation is borderline personality disorder. These people have problems with self-image, mood and instability in their relationships. They may have other issues including depression, anxiety, conduct problems, antisocial behavior and eating disorders particularly bulimia. Almost one-half of adult self-mutilators are reported to be depressed (self mutilation, 2011). Adolescent self-mutilators report an increased use of substances including alcohol. This may be related to impulsivity as a response pattern to stress or other situations. Alcohol abuse or family violence can also play a role in self mutilation and a history of violent and deprived family situations can lead to self mutilation(Self mutilation,2011). One of the main issues separating self-injurious acts from tattoos and piercings is that of pride. Most people who go to get tattooed or pierced are proud, and enjoy their new art expressed on their body. They want to show others their ink, their studs, their plugs. They enjoy telling their story of the pain, the fear, the experience. In contrast, people who self injure usually dont tell anyone about it nor do they want anyone to know. Self-injurers go to great lengths to cover and hide their wounds and scars. Self-injurers do not want to show off their scars. Self mutilation is a distinct behavior, in definition, method and purpose, from tattooing and piercing (Alderman, 2009). The history of tattooing is very extensive. Something which is now pretty acceptable and common in society. Tattoos have been around for more than 5000 years (Tattoogallery, 2007). Tattoos are used today as a form of expression. People get tattoos to commemorate lost family members, show off things they have interest in, and perhaps just a design they enjoy. Tattooing had many very important purposes in the beginning of time for many different reasons, and many different cultures. In Egypt before 2000 B.C, only priestesses were allowed to be tattooed for ritualistic purposes. In Thailand men were the only people allowed to have tattoos. Thai people believed that tattoos place magical protection on the skin. Women were considered strong enough to live without the need of protection (Tattoogallery, 2007). The original purpose of tattoos was to be centered around being involved and in tune with nature. Tattoos were believed to possess magical abilities, blessings and to ward off demons (TattooGallery, 2007). Around the time tattoos were beginning, the bible was being written and certain religious leaders spoke out against the art of tattooing your body, because they believed that your body is your temple and created with no flaws. To them marking your body with symbols is basically telling the gods or god that they made a mistake when creating you (TattooGallery, 2007). As time continued tattoos became more of a symbol of status and less of a magical purpose. With certain tribes like the Celts and Native American tribes, markings were tattooed on the skin to tell stories, events, and their ranking in the tribe hierarchy. On the other hand, In Greece and Rome slaves were tattooed, criminals so that no one would mistake them if they tried to flee (Tattoo Galllery, 2007). As long as there has been man there has been tattooing. Tattooing has been used in almost every culture, and for almost every purpose. One of the main arguments with tattooing is that some cultures and religions are not acceptable to tattooing. In the Jewish religion there are some Jewish customs that prohibit a burial if the person has a tattoo (Self mutilation). Body art has basically evolved with mankind evolving. The intent one has behind getting a tattoo or piercing is the distinguishing factor between self mutilation and just an everyday tattoo. There are many factors that play a role in this, such as: self esteem. People do things for many different reasons. Some get tattoos because they really like an art piece, they enjoy the way it makes them look, or perhaps a way it makes them feel. For some tattooing is a self esteem booster, they feel they are more unique more special than others, it makes them feel pretty. It is not always the case that people walk into a tattoo shop to get a tattoo specifically for the pain. The experience you have while getting a tattoo also plays a role in if you continue to want tattoos. There are many people that get a tattoo and dont get another one due to the experience they had, they are not happy with the results, or they did it on a whim and regret it. It is not always about a pain inducing want. The era that one grows up in also has an effect on liking or disliking tattoos, agreeing with or disagreeing with tattoos. You cannot expect everyone to be on the same page if their whole lives they grew up in a household when tattoos werent common and were extremely frowned upon. These people may not see the purpose, a point to tattoos, or just plain think they are ridiculous. Self injury is harm to ones self, by ones self, not with the intent to kill oneself. In the cases of tattooing and piercing the harm is definitely done to oneself, but not with the intent of killing yourself or with the sole purpose of pain in mind. Receiving a tattoo or piercing is a poor and ineffective way to try getting relief for a self injurer. One of the main reasons people self injure is because they are in control and can do the act themselves, and in turn have the control to hide it. So the idea that either of these behaviors would be done as a suicide attempt or a self injury attempt does not seem to be the case. Most people dont tattoo or pierce themselves; instead they find the assistance of a professional. Occasionally someone may tattoo themselves, particularly in settings such as detention facilities, inpatient programs and other residential environments (8). Self-piercing is more common as it is fairly easy to do. This is what distinguishes the true self-injury from tattoos and piercings is the idea that self-injury is performed by ones own hand, and is usually the main purpose of self injury. In conclusion, self injury and body modification are closely related to or considered the same thing to some people. The intent one has behind doing these things separate whether it is self injury or simply self expression. Some differences between self injury and body modification are, Making a statement vs. making self feel better, uniqueness vs. coping, set apart from mainstream vs. shame, and proud vs. secret, conscious choice vs. unable to control urge. These are some things that can distinguish self injury from tattoos and piercings. Many people that self-injure try to keep it a secret due to the fact that they are ashamed, feel guilty, or are embarrassed. The fact is that people who self injure are sound and reasonable people that probably were never taught the correct ways to cope with immense emotional pain. People who self harm are in fear that if they tell or ask someone for help that they will be committed or considered psychotic (Thompson, 2010). Sadly enough this is true, people tend to make assumptions about things they dont understand. One of the main issues separating self-injurious acts from tattoos and piercings is that of pride. Most people who go to get tattooed or pierced are proud, and enjoy their new art expressed on their body. They want to show others their ink, their studs, their plugs. They enjoy telling their story of the pain, the fear, the experience. In contrast, people who self injure usually dont tell anyone about it nor do they want anyone to know. Self-injurers go to great lengths to cover and hide their wounds and scars. Self-injurers do not want to show off their scars. Self mutilation is a distinct behavior, in definition, method and purpose, from tattooing and piercing (Alderman, 2009). If anything, the history of tattooing gives an indication of the evolution of the mindset of humankind through the ages, depending on their era. Looking back, that the nature of tattoos is now more cosmetic than ritualistic, as the widespread belief in magic has been replaced by the importance of looks and individuality, and the use of the body as a canvas for art(Tattoo Gallery,2007). References Thompson, C. (2010, July 30). Self Injury. Retrieved February 30, 2011, from www.mirror-mirror.org/selfinj.htm Rubin, L. (2009, July 2). popular culture meets psychology. Retrieved February 27, 2011, from www.psychologytoday.com Stirn, A. A. (2008). Tattoos, body piercing and self harm are there link? Retrieved February 27, 2011, from www.bps-research-digest.com Martinson, D. A. (2002, December 18). Tattoos, body piercing and self harm are there link? Retrieved February 29, 2011, from www.palace.net/llama/psych/what.html Self Mutilation. (2011). Retrieved February 29, 2011, from www.massgeneral.org The history of tattoos. (2007). Retrieved February 29, 2011, from www.tattoo-gallery.org/history-of-tattoos.html The history of tattoos. (2007). Retrieved February 29, 2011, from www.hubpages.com Alderman, T. (2009, December 10). The scarred soul. Retrieved February 29, 2011, from www.psycholgoytoday.com/blog/the-scarred-soul/200912/tattoos-andpiercings-selfinjury Making a statement vs. making self feel better Uniqueness vs. coping Set apart from mainstream vs. shame Proudly show Vs. secret Conscious choice vs. unable to control urge

We Wear the Mask Essay -- Literature

Paul Laurence Dunbar’s â€Å"We Wear the Mask† is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the faà §ade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, â€Å"But let the dream otherwise† (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role over the life of African Americans, whom pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This ocassion, according to Dunbar, is the â€Å"debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s â€Å"We Wear the Mask† acts as â€Å"an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems† (Desmet, Hart and Miller 466). Through the utilization of iambic t etrameter, end rhyme, sound devices and figurative language, the speaker expresses the hidden pain and suffering African Americans possessed, as they were â€Å"tortured souls† behind their masks (10). The poem’s meter, iambic tetrameter, stands for the speaker’s heartfelt attitude regarding the sorrow that blacks kept away from whites, and in some cases, themselves. In the first stanza, the speaker proclaims that â€Å"[w]ith torn and bleeding hearts we smile, / And mouth with myriad subtleties† (4-5). During the time Dunbar published â€Å"We Wear the Mask,† blacks were treated with no dignity and were discriminated against on a constant basis. They felt they could not do anything to stop the series of unfortunate events that were happening to them, such as beatings, lynches, and no sufficient way to earn income or educ... ...eding hearts† and â€Å"mouth . . . . myriad subtleties† (4-5).Today, everyone is entitled to having equal opportunities in the US. Back in Dunbar’s time, on the other hand, slavery prohibited blacks from being an ordinary person in society. Although they prayed heavily and persevered, they wore the mask for the time-being, in the hopes of living in a world where the color of one’s skin would not determine his or her character. Works Cited Dunbar, Paul Laurence. "We Wear the Mask." Prentice Hall: Literature Portfolio. Ed. Christy Desmet, D. Alexis Hart, and Deborah Church Miller. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. 466-67. Print. "Paul Laurence Dunbar." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9 February 2012. Web. 12 February 2012.

A character study of Nick Bottom Essay

The play † Midsummer night’s Dream† was written by William Shakespeare in 1595 and is set in Athens, Greece. The play features four main groups of people, the court, the lovers, the rude mechanicals and the fairies, all of which are linked by love, marriage, the night and the natural world. The title is paradoxical as, when the compound word â€Å"midsummer† is used it conjures a picture of the play taking place during a joyful and enjoyable time, whereas the word â€Å"night† implies that the play occurs during a dark and frightening time. The oxymoronic title gives the impression that the play is unreal and magical. Nick Bottom is a lower class weaver who considers himself to be a very important and professional person, as he dresses very smartly in the modern film version of the play. This gives us the impression that he is very conceited about himself as well as his appearance. In Act I Scene (ii) Bottom is introduced to the play as the mechanicals gather to determine the roles of each character. Immediately Bottom tries to take control of the situation, as he says † First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the name of the actors; and so grow to a point†. This shows that Bottom is very bossy, and that he thinks that he is the leader, as he gives Quince precise orders to follow. This also shows that he is a very committed actor as he is very eager to know his role in the play. Bottom becomes full of himself and very pompous as he begins to beseech for various parts of the play, as he says, † let me play Thisbe too. I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice†. In my opinion this shows how ardent and desperate he is for glory, as he searches for more parts to play. Bottom then asks to act the part of the lion, but is refused by Quince, as he feels that Nick’s acting is of such a high quality that he may frighten the ladies. Bottom says â€Å"I will roar that I will make the duke say let him roar again, let him roar again†, which shows how self-centred and ambitious he is. Quince then replies by saying â€Å"And you should do it too, terribly, you would frighten the duchess and the ladies that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all†. This shows that Quince looks up to Bottom as a great actor and a leader, as he is very go-getting and Quince believes that he is so good he will actually scare the ladies. In the modern film of â€Å"A Midsummer Night’s Dream†, Bottom is also very dramatic and emotional, as he appears to be very prestigious and egotistical. He is very dramatic as he suddenly feels an urge to act, and becomes inspired by himself, as he shouts phrases such as â€Å"The raging rocks and shivering shocks shall break the locks of prison gates, and Phibbus’ car shall shine from far, and make and mar the foolish fates†, which are out of his own inspiration and imagination. Bottom is also very prestigious and egotistical in the sense that he only cares about himself, as he wants to act all of the parts in the play. Bottom also appears to be very emotional, as during one point in the play he is very excited and joyous, whereas he suddenly becomes sad and unhappy. This occurs when Bottom tries to act various parts of the play and someone throws a bucket of water on him. This not only shows what other people think of him, but how foolish he is to actually think that hi is a good actor. As the mechanicals go to the woods to rehearse, Bottom makes himself seem even more foolish as he says, â€Å"First, Pyramus must draw a sword and kill himself, whom the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that? â€Å". This implies that Bottom is so confident that their acting is good that they will scare the ladies. Shortly after Bottom suggests an idea of a prologue to inform the women that Pyramus is not really dead. He says â€Å"Not a whit; I have a device to make all well. Write me a prologue, and let the prologue seem to say we will do no harm with our swords, and that Pyramus is not killed indeed†. At this point Shakespeare is expressing how silly the mechanicals were becoming, as they were thinking that they were so good that they needed a prologue, so that they do not frighten the audience. Throughout the play Bottom really thinks he’s something really special for a number of the following reasons. Firstly, he comes up with ideas such as the prologue and thinks that he is such a good actor. Secondly, he actually deems that Titania is in love with him and that he is so handsome and good looking, but wakes up and wonders if it is all a dream. Thirdly, Bottom sees a statue that reminds him of his ‘dream’ and requests a ballad thinking that it was his destiny to perform his dream. He thinks that God has sent him a message to perform the dream and name it â€Å"Bottom’s Dream†. This tells us that Bottom is very imprudent, as he is silly enough to think that God has sent him a message just to perform his dream. Bottom seems more foolish and stupid, as the play continues as he makes continual malapropisms, by mistaking the words ‘devourer’ for ‘deflower’ and also ‘ninny’ instead of ‘ninus tonb’. Another way is when his head is turned into an ass’s head, which matches his behaviour and attitude and makes the play seem more and more surreal. Before the entrance to the wedding, the mechanicals were waiting for Bottom and when he arrived there was a big cheer, which shows that they really looked up to Bottom, as he was an inspiration to them. When the mechanicals are selected to perform, they are delighted, not knowing that they are only being chosen for the Duke’s and Duchess’s amusement. They begin to perform and are laughed at when the wall is seen, as there is a man standing with his arms spread out, covered with a sheet of paper with bricks painted on it but still continue to amuse the guests. Then poor vocabulary is used, which shows that they are uneducated when they say, â€Å"I see a voice† â€Å"hear his face†. At the end Bottom steps in and kills himself, which ends the play and pleases the crowd. Bottom thinks that he is the hero but does not know that everyone was clapping because they were amused. Overall I think that Bottom is a very self-absorbed and shameless person, as he only cares about himself and is very unabashed as seen when their play was acted. Nick Bottom is also a fool as he is always the last one to understand the joke, and he does not know when people are laughing at him. He is also very foolish and big-headed as he thinks that he is supposed to perform his dream, as a message from God. In synopsis I think that Shakespeare is trying to show how lower class people were treated, and how foolish, nai ve and over-ambitious people like Nick Bottom were. However, Shakespeare could have also meant that if you have a dream or an ambition that you should go for it and try to achieve something, like Bottom did.

Kate Chopin “The story of an hour”

Kate Chopin, in her short-story `the story of an hour`, presents to the reader the frustration of a woman who is suppressed by her husband’s will. In `six feet of the country`, Nadine Gordimer shows how time changes a relationship between a husband and wife. Although both these stories do not have negative or villain characters, they have elements which show mundane difficulties of everyday life. Both the stories intricately depict the complexities in married life, arising out of restrictions in freedom and feeling of discontent in each other’s company. This may cause one to ponder that the evil does not necessarily lie in the minds of married people, but in the institution of marriage itself.When the main character Louise in `the story of an hour’ is informed of the death of her husband, the reader’s mind is conditioned to expect tremendous grief and sorrow. She rushes into her room with tears and locks herself up. However, after the initial shock, she fe els extremely free. She is relieved that she does not have to feel suppressed anymore. She gazes out of the window and looks forward to the simple joys of life. The start of spring season is meant to indicate the end of her stifling marriage and the dawn of a new beginning in her life. The line â€Å"And yet she loved him – sometimes† (Chopin 8) shows that her husband was not necessarily a bad person. She just wants to live for herself, without the kneeling down to the whim of her husband.Until that day, she feared how she was going to live a painfully long life of repression. But, now she hopes to live a long life to savor life and cherish her long-lost freedom. The phrase â€Å"A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime† (Chopin 8) goes to show that the bond of marriage causes one another to pose undue restrictions on each other’s personal freedoms. Louise is overjoyed with her new-found appreciation for life, but fate strik es back when her supposedly dead husband returns back without a scratch in his body. This eventually turns out to be one shock too many for Louise, as she suffers from a fatal heart attack. But, the doctor consoles everyone by saying that Louise’s heart was shocked by the happiness of seeing her husband alive. Feature Article – Short Story  The Plane of the Sleeping BeautyIn `six feet of the country’, Nadine Gordimer tells the tale of a married white man in apartheid-stricken South Africa. The story revolves around a multitude of themes including a dysfunctional marriage, urban vs. town life, bureaucracy and racial oppression. The central character and his wife own a farm. He is really not good at farming and hence the wife takes care of the farm. The wife expects more of out of her husband and immediately expresses her disapproval when he fails to do so.The husband, on the other hand, feels inadequate and is not entirely satisfied with his career. But, he just continues to live his life filled with frequent disputes with his wife. He quite is critical of his wife being messy and says â€Å"I had come home and been infuriated to find her in a pair of filthy old sacks and her hair uncombed† (Gordimer 122), while the same did not seem too unattractive a few years back. This shows that marriages over time can get monotonous and boring.   Although this might seem quite a cynical view of life, it is an honest portrayal of the true nature of human beings.One night, a black immigrant boy dies of pneumonia. But, during the funeral, it is uncovered that a different body was handed-over to them, indicating bureaucratic lapses in the government. His wife compels him to be more helpful and communicative, which essentially goes against his true nature and will. Although he is reluctant to stand up against his own â€Å"race†, he represses his own will to please his wife and tries to help his black employees by petitioning against the administration but eventually gives up. The husband character feels helpless and disgusted not only at the bureaucratic system, but also at the system of marriage that keeps him tied down.Chopin uses symbolism as an effective tool to convey the protagonist’s deepest emotions. The phrase ‘comfortable, roomy armchair’ signifies that Louise has accepted the death of her husband and prepared to live a free life. The author also ends the story by sprinkling a dash of irony. When Louise comes out of the room after mourning the death of her husband, she walks out as a new person full of hope. But, the fact that her husband is still alive kills her dream of being free from the treachery of married of life. On the other hand, Gordimer uses metaphor effectively in `six feet of the country’. The main character says â€Å"she and Petrus both kept their eyes on me as I spoke, and, oddly for those moments they looked exactly alike.†(Gordimer 124) The eyes look alike to the husband because he feels regret and guilt for letting down his wife and his black employee.Both the stories emphasize the saying ‘Marriage is the only war where you sleep with the enemy`. However, Chopin’s `the story of an hour’ gives a much deeper insight into a married person’s p syche and thus stands as stronger evidence for the aforementioned quote compared to `six feet of the country’ by Gordimer. Although the latter also has several elements describing marital problems, it tends to mainly focus on issues racial discrimination and other societal problems. Nonetheless, both the stories effectively show how a common man or woman is stifled by institutions such as marriage and societal pressures.Works CitedChopin, Kate. (1894). â€Å"The story of an Hour†. The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction.Gordimer, Nadine. (1986). â€Å"Six feet of the country.† Anthology of Short Stories.

Creation vs. Evolution essays

Creation vs. Evolution essays There was and is a battle on Creation and Evolution. The evolution theory about the big bang is wrong. There are alot of mistakes in it. The first mistake is that the moon gets farther every year by about 2.66 inchees...if the earch was only 100,000,000 years old, the moon was then touching the earth. And the tides would be so big that they would cover the earth 2 times a day (remember that u could only die ones). The second fault is that the evolutionists say that the dinosaurs are extinct, and that they r millions of years old. But i don't believe that because scientists carbon dated a seal that just died, and it said that it was 23,000 years old. To my opinion evolution is the dumbest theory that they teach in schools. It is just that i don't get why does everyone have to pay just so that the kids will be tought a big lie. Not saying that evolution theory is a religion. Because u cannot prove that it happened. If they let evolution be taught in public schools, why won't they let Creation be taught in public schools? It is probably because of the New World Order. The NWO is an organization that wants to make all of the people robots. They want to put chips into humans and control them. If there is a Creator, then thye know that they will have to follow the laws of Him, and they don't want to believe that because they want to do what they like, not what they want. ...

Completed Suicide

Completed Suicide â€Å"Completed Suicide â€Å"Completed Suicide By Maeve Maddox A reader wonders about the use of a new way of referring to suicide: I came across completed suicide repeatedly in an article by the Mental Health of America Board of directors that used this phrase repeatedly in their petition to have President Obama send letters of condolence to family of service members that have committed suicide.   Is completed suicide correct? I have heard of committed suicide and attempted suicide, but not completed suicide. Whats your take?    My take is that, outside its valid use in medical literature, the expression completed suicide is being used as a euphemism by people who feel there’s more of a stigma attached to saying that someone â€Å"committed suicide.† In a post at Common Sense Journalism, Doug Fisher says that he asked several copy editors what they thought of the term and found that â€Å"the reaction was almost uniformly negative† regarding its use. His post includes a comment by Pam Wood, chief copy editor of the American Medical News, in which she explains the medical use of the term. In a non-technical context, â€Å"completed suicide† is redundant. Suicide is a word like murder; the single word says it all. There can be nothing incomplete about a suicide. It is an accomplished act. One can speak of â€Å"a failed suicide attempt.† Once the act has been committed, it’s a suicide. Trying to soften the anguish of a family member who has lost a child or spouse to suicide is understandable. Support groups can be excused for using the term â€Å"completed suicide† if they think that it will make their members feel better. Professional journalists probably ought to go ahead and say that someone has committed suicide. Besides, over time, euphemisms have a way of becoming just as harsh as the original expression. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Grammar Test 126 Feel-Good Words90 Verbs Starting with â€Å"Ex-†

Rise and Fall of Nazi Officer Franz Stangl

Rise and Fall of Nazi Officer Franz Stangl Franz Stangl, nicknamed The White Death, was an Austrian Nazi who served as director of the Treblinka and Sobibor death camps in Poland during World War II. Under his co-direction, it is estimated that more than 1 million people were gassed and buried in mass graves. After the war, Stangl fled Europe, first to Syria and then to Brazil. In 1967, he was tracked down by Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and extradited to Germany, where he was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died from a heart attack in prison in 1971. Stangl as a Youth Franz Stangl was born in Altmuenster, Austria, on March 26, 1908. As a young man, he worked in textile factories, which would help him find employment later while on the run. He joined two organizations: the Nazi party and the Austrian police. When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, the ambitious young policeman joined the Gestapo and soon impressed his superiors with his cold efficiency and willingness to follow orders. Stangl and Aktion T4 In 1940, Stangl was assigned to Aktion T4, a Nazi program designed to improve the Aryan master race gene pool by weeding out the infirm. Stangl was assigned to the Hartheim Euthanasia Center near Linz, Austria. Germans and Austrian citizens who were deemed unworthy were euthanized, including those born with birth defects, the mentally ill, alcoholics, those with Down’s syndrome and other illnesses. The prevailing theory was that those with defects were draining the resources from society and polluting the Aryan race. At Hartheim, Stangl proved that he had the proper combination of attention to detail, organizational skill and absolute indifference to the suffering of those he deemed inferior. Aktion T4 was eventually suspended after indignation from German and Austrian citizens. Stangl at Sobibor Death Camp After Germany had invaded Poland, the Nazis had to figure out what to do with the millions of Polish Jews, who were considered subhuman according to the racial policy of Nazi Germany. The Nazis built three death camps in eastern Poland: Sobibor, Treblinka, and Belzec. Stangl was assigned as chief administrator of the Sobibor death camp, which was inaugurated in May 1942. Stangl served as camp director until his transfer in August. Trains carrying Jews from all over Eastern Europe arrived at the camp. Train passengers arrived, were systematically stripped, shaved and sent to the gas chambers to die. It is estimated in the three months that Stangl was at Sobibor, 100,000 Jews died under Stangl’s watch. Stangl at Treblinka Death Camp Sobibor was running very smoothly and efficiently, but the Treblinka death camp was not. Stangl was reassigned to Treblinka to make it more efficient. As the Nazi hierarchy had hoped, Stangl turned the inefficient camp around. When he arrived, he found corpses strewn about, little discipline among the soldiers and inefficient killing methods. He ordered the place cleaned up and made the train station attractive so that incoming Jewish passengers would not realize what was going to happen to them until it was too late. He ordered the construction of new, larger gas chambers and raised the killing capacity of Treblinka to an estimated 22,000 per day. He was so good at his job that he was awarded the honor â€Å"Best Camp Commandant in Poland† and awarded the Iron Cross, one of the highest Nazi honors. Stangl Assigned to Italy and Return to Austria Stangl was so efficient at administrating the death camps that he put himself out of work. By the middle of 1943, most of the Jews in Poland were either dead or hiding. The death camps were no longer needed. Anticipating the international outrage to the death camps, the Nazis bulldozed the camps and tried to hide the evidence as best they could. Stangl and other camp leaders like him were sent to the Italian front in 1943; it was hypothesized that it may have been a way to try and kill them off. Stangl survived the battles in  Italy and returned to Austria in 1945, where he stayed until the war ended. Flight to Brazil As an SS officer, the genocidal terror squad of the Nazi Party, Stangl attracted the attention of the Allies after the war and spent two years in an American internment camp. The Americans did not seem to realize who he was. When Austria began to show interest in him in 1947, it was due to his involvement in Aktion T4, not for the horrors that took place in Sobibor and Treblinka. He escaped in 1948 and made his way to Rome, where pro-Nazi bishop Alois Hudal helped him and his friend Gustav Wagner escape. Stangl first went to Damascus, Syria, where he easily found work in a textile factory. He prospered and was able to send for his wife and daughters. In 1951, the family moved to Brazil and settled in So Paulo. Turning up the Heat on Stangl Throughout his travels, Stangl did little to hide his identity. He never used an alias and even registered with the Austrian embassy in Brazil. By the early 1960s, although he felt safe in Brazil, it had to have been clear to Stangl that he was a wanted man. Fellow Nazi Adolf Eichmann was snatched off a Buenos Aires street in 1960 before being taken to Israel, tried and executed. In 1963, Gerhard Bohne, another former officer associated with Aktion T4, was indicted in Germany; he would eventually be extradited from Argentina. In 1964, 11 men who had worked for Stangl at Treblinka were tried and convicted. One of them was Kurt Franz, who had succeeded Stangl as commander of the camp.   Nazi Hunter Wiesenthal on the Chase Simon Wiesenthal, the well-known concentration camp survivor, and Nazi hunter had a long list of Nazi war criminals he  wanted to be brought  to justice, and Stangl’s name was near the top of the list. In 1964, Wiesenthal got a tip  that Stangl was living in Brazil and working at a Volkswagen factory in So Paulo. According to Wiesenthal, one of the tips came from a former Gestapo officer, who demanded to be paid one penny for every Jew killed at Treblinka and Sobibor. Wiesenthal estimated that 700,000 Jews had died in those camps, so the total for the tip came to $7,000, payable if and when Stangl was captured. Wiesenthal eventually paid the informant. Another tip to Wiesenthal concerning Stangl’s whereabouts may have come from Stangl’s former son-in-law. Arrest and Extradition Wiesenthal pressured Germany to issue a request to Brazil for the arrest and extradition of Stangl. On February 28, 1967, the ex-Nazi was arrested in Brazil as he returned from a bar with his adult daughter. In June, Brazilian courts ruled that he should be extradited and shortly thereafter he was put on a plane for West Germany. It took German authorities three years to bring him to trial. He was charged with the deaths of 1.2 million people. Trial and Death Stangl’s trial began on May 13, 1970. The prosecution’s case was well-documented and Stangl did not contest most of the accusations. He instead relied on the same line prosecutors had been hearing since the Nuremberg Trials, that he was only â€Å"following orders.† He was convicted on December 22, 1970, of complicity in the deaths of 900,000 people and sentenced to life in prison. He died of a heart attack in prison on June 28, 1971, about six months after his conviction. Before he died, he gave a long interview to Austrian writer Gitta Sereny. The interview sheds some light on how Stangl was able to commit the atrocities he did. He repeatedly said that his conscience was clear because he had come to see the endless train cars of Jews as nothing more than cargo. He said he did not hate Jews personally but was proud of the organizational work he had done in the camps. In the same interview, he mentioned that his former colleague Gustav Wagner was hiding in Brazil. Later, Wiesenthal would track Wagner down and have him arrested, but the Brazilian government never extradited him.   Unlike some of the other Nazis, Stangl did not appear to relish the killing he oversaw. There are no accounts of him ever murdering anyone personally like fellow camp commander Josef Schwammberger or Auschwitz â€Å"Angel of Death† Josef Mengele. He wore a whip while at the camps, which he apparently seldom used it, although there were very few eyewitnesses who survived the Sobibor and Treblinka camps to verify it. There is no doubt, however, that Stangl’s institutionalized slaughter ended the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Wiesenthal claimed to have brought 1,100 former Nazis to justice. Stangl was by far the â€Å"biggest fish† that the famous Nazi hunter ever caught. Sources Simon Wiesenthal Archive. Franz Stangl. Walters, Guy. Hunting Evil: the Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring them to Justice. 2010: Broadway Books.

Oil Market in The Azerbaijan Republic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Oil Market in The Azerbaijan Republic - Essay Example It also contains the world's largest deposits of natural gas (Energy Information Administration 2008). The breakup of the former Soviet Union has attracted much of the world's interests in the huge oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea region. The newly independent countries have signed many contracts worth billions of dollars to develop the region's oil and gas fields. The Caspian Sea has the potential to become one of the major oil and gas production areas in the world similar in its capacity to the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (Energy Information Administration 2008). During World War II, Azerbaijan's oil production peaked at about 500,000 barrels per day (bbl/d). Oil extracted from Azerbaijan constituted 71.4% of overall oil output of former Soviet Union. Following the war, the former Soviet Union directed resources elsewhere causing Azerbaijan's oil production to drop dramatically. In 1991, Azerbaijan gained its independence from the former Soviet Union and oil production was at a minimum low of 180,000 bbl/d (Energy Information Administration 2008). The ability of Azerbaijan to develop its oil and natural gas resources was dependent on the availability of sources of capital and technology. Since then, Azerbaijan officials have been trying to attract foreign investments into their oil and gas industry. Azerbaijan's has 1.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in addition to enormous possible reserves in the Caspian Sea. These oil reserves in addition to successful governmental policies have attracted foreign international investment to Azerbaijan. Since 1996, over $3.4 billion has been invested in the oil sector with expectations to reach $2 billion in 2006. Ever since, Azerbaijan's oil industry experienced a boom reaching almost 800,000 bbl/d in 2007. Much growth is still anticipated during the 21st century. It is expected that by 2010, Azerbaijan's oil production would exceed 1.5 million bbl/d (www.stat.gov.az, 2006). New fields in the Caspian Sea were developed through joint ventures (JVs) and production sharing agreements (PSAs). JVs were later converted to PSAs in 2000, due to their restrictions on the ability to export their oil (Energy Information Administration 2008). The Caspian Sea has 30 billion tons of oil, 18-20 trillion cubic meters of gas, which comprises 15 percent of the world carbon-hydrogen resources. The oil deposit that belongs to Azerbaijan 3-5 billion tons of oil, 5 trillion cubic meters of gas the oil production in Azerbaijan is expected to increase rapidly (SOCAR, 2008).. Azerbaijan carries most of its oil products from the Caspian Sea to the European market through the following four major pipelines: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Baku-Novorossiysk, Baku-Supsa, and Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) as shown in figure 1 (Energy Information Administration, 2008). Figure 1: Four Major Pipelines of Azerbaijan The Caspian Sea is also rich with natural gas. The largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan is Shah Deniz. Azerbaijan is planning to supply natural gas to Turkey and European countries through the development of South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) (SOCAR, 2008). The former Soviet Union lacked of environmental protection has caused heavy environmental damages to Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. Mismanagement of the oil industry has generated much pollution and alteration of the natural environment of Caspian Sea region. Furthermore, oil and

Midterm Essay Question about Germany Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Midterm Question about Germany - Essay Example Strategy The Germany’s military strategy was to control Alsace region up to the mountain range, the Thionville and Metz in order to protect the borders and sovereignty of Germany. The military had also planned to control the Thionville and Metz during the war. The developing of the strategy of taking over the aforementioned lands helped Germans to win in the Franco-Prussian war in 1871 and contributed to the defeat of France and emergence of united German state. Economy According to Pohlsander (27), the military had interest in some states like the Alsace-Lorrain which had iron-ore and coal resources. With the help of these natural resources German leaders planned to develop the country’s economy. The main goal was military annexation since France had lost some land and inhabitants. It had also lost its mining and steel potential. The German Empire wanted to achieve growth of its economy and so the creation of a free independent nation-state able to wage war against its neighbors was a must at that time. Factors from European World that Contributed to Germany’s Development from 18 Century through 1871 Germany’s development was contributed to by different factors during that period; these included political and military factors, the factor of French culture and religious reforms among others. The Prussian State The German Prussian state played a major role in the development of Germany. Prussia was the biggest state and also most developed one which controlled Zollverein and most of the German states during that period. Zollverein was a union that was used to enable the states to compare their developments and statuses within the context of... The European world contributed majorly to the development of Germany. The victory in the war made the nation stronger as from 1871 the military forces continued becoming more powerful and grew in number as the French wanted revenge (Pohlsander 53). There was economic growth due to the unification of the states, which enabled them to trade and contributed to civilization growth. Despite the fact that a lot of citizens lost their lives either in war or due to epidemics like different diseases, Otto von Bismarck was able to defeat France in war. Germany established its own state which it is still among the most powerful nations in the world. We have learnt that the economic development from 1815-1871 contributed to Germany’s unification as only after the war with the economic boom Germany became the nation as it is today.

Selecting Forensic Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Selecting Forensic Tools - Essay Example ion/attack. It is, hence, computer detective work. The importance of computer forensic technologies to the securitization of information and for the detection of the source of cyber crimes, manifest in the unauthorized retrieval of data, cannot be overemphasized. As both Stephenson (1999) and Carrier (2004) emphasize, organizations which do not have a digital forensics system in place are inexcusably careless and irresponsible. The implication here is that organizations which handle sensitive data, especially data which the law holds as confidential and private such as patient information, will have a digital forensics system in place. This was confirmed by our organization's IT Director who explained that a digital forensics analysis system was implemented over two years ago. While the IT Director claimed that the organization did not abide by criteria for the determination of whether to use open source or commercial tool sets, his explanation of the system and the process of its selection underscore its efficiency. Tool Selection The selection of the tool set was determined by the needs of the organization, the nature of its data and, importantly, a review of past attacks and unauthorized intrusion attempts. As a healthcare organization, the securitization of data is of primary importance since the leakage of patient information to unauthorized personnel renders the organization vulnerable to litigation. Furthermore, because of the nature of its activities, the data information combines between text, as in medical reports and demographic data, graphics, as in patient X-rays, and numbers, as in financial information. The organization, therefore, has to protect three data types. In their analysis of the various computer forensic tools, Yasinsac and Manzano (2001) maintain that the criteria for selection should be data type and organizational needs and activities. Further explaining this, they note that the tools which are used vis--vis graphical data are not effective when used for numerical or textual information. Watermarking tools are most effective where graphical data is concerned but not so in relation to textual data (Yasinsac and Manzano, 2001). Furthermore, whether commercial or open source tool sets are used should depend on an organization's size, the complexity of its functions and the volumes of data it handles (Yasinsac and Manzano, 2001). Even though he concurred with Yasinsac and Manzano's (2001) recommendations, the IT director admitted that adherence to their tool set selection criteria was not feasible. While open-source rather than commercial tools were used as a result of the complexity of the organization's processes and the volumes of data it handles, it did not distinguish between graphic and text-based data. Doing so would involve the implementation of two different digital forensics tool sets, thereby multiplying the human and non-human resources assigned

Black Billionaires The Roberts Brothers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Black Billionaires The Roberts Brothers - Essay Example However, despite these odds and lower expectations, a few of these African Americans rise to the occasion to demonstrate such impeccable leadership skills and business value given that they make it to the list of billionaires of America. One such example of black billionaires is the Roberts Brothers who have managed to erect a chain of hotels worth billions. Studying their case to demonstrate the leadership styles can give a good sense of the true scenario prevalent in America. Also, going over the issues which these business-men had to face while conducting business can also proved futile to their style of business. Therefore, the paper will aim at exploring and understanding the business techniques and styles undertaken by these African American professional who are performing exceptionally well in their respective domains and earning billions. The African American Billionaires, contrary to popular perception, are engaged in a diverse range of businesses. In other words, African American entrepreneurs can now be found leading almost all kinds of businesses. For instance, Oprah Winfrey is one of the most renowned talk show host, producer, director amongst many other things, alongside playing an active role in politics. Similarly, Kenneth Frazier owns a pharmaceutical company while Ursula Burns is the CEO of Xerox. Similarly, many entrepreneurs like Roberts brothers are making a name in hospitality industry with various other black billionaires indulged in a multitude of businesses. Therefore, black billionaires aren’t dominating in a single field, rather their scope of engagement in context to business is expanding by the day. This implies that the number of African Americans seeking a higher educational status is increasing and thus, the business practices would now have to be shaped in such a way that African Ameri cans also get a fair share of inclusion. In other

The views of Descartes on Rationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The views of Descartes on Rationalism - Essay Example He argues that there are many things that he accepted as truth in his childhood. Descartes refuted his childish and youthful beliefs and sought to build his ideas afresh. He used a methodological approach to handle issues that nagged his mind. He is quoted as saying that â€Å"some thoughts within him were as due to his power of thinking.† In applying these thoughts in ideas of notion, he was able to distinguish them from others. In his first meditation, Descartes doubts many things that happen to human life. Notably, Descartes employs a rational and methodological doubt. For instance, he states that when he dreams, he is deceived by illusions that he sees in the dreams. Similarly, the insane perceive the same dreams in their waking moments. He argues that human beings are thinking beings in a position to know their minds distinctively and clearly, but have to work towards knowing their own mind. Descartes is aware of the power to reason, which he views as the basis of accepting knowledge. Descartes regards anything that is doubtful as false. He gives a critical analysis of his existence and the existence of demons. He argues that he exists because he has conceived that opinion in his mind. He clearly notes the difference that exists between â€Å"I think† and â€Å"I exist†. He recognizes the power of human beings to think. In doing so, he asserts that human beings are able to think about things that do not exist. Questioning the existence of things in human environment would lead to thinking and doubting some norms in the society. In as much as that would happen, the mind exists within the body, thus he is able to think and sense at the same time. This attribute provides room for discerning what is good, right, or wrong. Descartes believed that sensory perception is part of the same mind which thinks but is not veridical. For instance, when experimenting with wax, he realized that the wax had

Unit9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Unit9 - Essay Example The course met my expectations as I was set on learning about analysis of policies and the in-depth detail was provided. The progress so far has been overwhelming. I did not expect that at this point I would have made much progress and learnt the much I have but the truth is that am way ahead and am immensely impressed by this progress. Despite the overwhelming progress and the making of leeway in the course, I still wish most of the concepts about the public policies analysis could have been carried out in slower manner to give time to really understand them since they impact directly on our day to day lives. All in all, the much taught though shallow still was good. To those students undertaking this course next year, I would advise them to start early preparations of trying to understand (though not fully) the main concepts in the course. This is in order to enable them have many questions which in the end makes the course be detailed with as many real life examples as possible hence making the course much more relevant to them. More interactive time and open forums with the tutor where debates about the course topics would have arisen and therefore made the course less intense would have been appreciated. This is because interactive time provides an avenue and time to get up close with the course instructor and hence opening communication channels to the shy students who are not so comfortable in intense classroom lectures and do better in an open forum sort-of discussion. Reuters. â€Å"Consumer Spending Rises as Jobless Claims Hold Steady.† The New York Times, 30th August, 2012. Retrieved from:

The views of Descartes on Rationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The views of Descartes on Rationalism - Essay Example He argues that there are many things that he accepted as truth in his childhood. Descartes refuted his childish and youthful beliefs and sought to build his ideas afresh. He used a methodological approach to handle issues that nagged his mind. He is quoted as saying that â€Å"some thoughts within him were as due to his power of thinking.† In applying these thoughts in ideas of notion, he was able to distinguish them from others. In his first meditation, Descartes doubts many things that happen to human life. Notably, Descartes employs a rational and methodological doubt. For instance, he states that when he dreams, he is deceived by illusions that he sees in the dreams. Similarly, the insane perceive the same dreams in their waking moments. He argues that human beings are thinking beings in a position to know their minds distinctively and clearly, but have to work towards knowing their own mind. Descartes is aware of the power to reason, which he views as the basis of accepting knowledge. Descartes regards anything that is doubtful as false. He gives a critical analysis of his existence and the existence of demons. He argues that he exists because he has conceived that opinion in his mind. He clearly notes the difference that exists between â€Å"I think† and â€Å"I exist†. He recognizes the power of human beings to think. In doing so, he asserts that human beings are able to think about things that do not exist. Questioning the existence of things in human environment would lead to thinking and doubting some norms in the society. In as much as that would happen, the mind exists within the body, thus he is able to think and sense at the same time. This attribute provides room for discerning what is good, right, or wrong. Descartes believed that sensory perception is part of the same mind which thinks but is not veridical. For instance, when experimenting with wax, he realized that the wax had

Term paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Term paper - Essay Example sic accounting in the current financial crisis situation which has once again raised concerns amongst stakeholders as major US corporations are having financial difficulties and have already declared bankruptcies. The act of accounting manipulation in order to maintain interest of shareholders in companies is more likely to happen in addition to increase in other types of frauds. Therefore, forensic accountants are more than ever in the spot light for their role to tackle bigger challenges which lie ahead of the current recession. In this research paper different aspects of forensic accounting will be discussed and its relevance as a determining factor to the outcome of accounting frauds and scandals that erupted in the previous recessions that left their trails on the US economy. This report is not limited to the US economy but it also relates to the role of forensic accounting and its due consideration provided by the regulatory frameworks of other countries by carrying out a thorough research and supplementing the report with inquisitive insight into the profession of forensic accounting and the challenges which are confronting this profession in the qualm of the current global recession and fears of yet again a stream of cases involving accounting manipulation emerging tearing down what is considered to be strictly regulated reporting framework. The reason for selecting this area of research is that cases of frauds and accounting manipulations are already on the rise as companies try to survive and retain shareholders interest in them. The older version of forensic accounting could be traced back to 1817 when a case involving bankruptcy was being investigated in the US court and the formal use of term ‘ forensic accounting’ appeared in the article published by Maurice E. Peloubet (Crumbley, 2001). Today forensic accounting is considered to be one of the most important and highly valued branches of the accounting profession. There are a large number of

Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood

Bilingual Acquisition in Early Childhood Are bilingual children two monolingual children in one? Discuss. Research into bilingual acquisition in early childhood has investigated whether infants and toddlers brought up in bilingual settings can be said to have a single language system during the initial stages of language acquisition or whether these early bilinguals develop two separate language systems from the start. If the latter can be shown to be the case, it could be argued that bilingual children are indeed two monolingual children in one. However, there has been considerable debate over the merits of both claims for some period of time. This essay will consider the arguments and some of the evidence put forward in support of both points of view. Researchers differentiate between two languages acquired from birth (simultaneous bilingual acquisition) and the acquisition of a second language during early childhood. Research, intending to address the question of developing bilingual language systems in the infant, focuses on simultaneous bilingual acquisition. Although as Lanza points out it isn’t always easy to decide on â€Å"the cut-off point between first language acquisition and early second-language acquisition.† [1] The language environment, with both parents speaking both languages or the adoption of a one language one parent approach, is also a consideration. It is often pointed out that bilingual children acquire their languages in much the same way as monolingual children acquire theirs. Pearson and colleagues testing the acquisition of vocabulary found that â€Å"differences in average vocabulary size (between the bilingual and monolingual children in their study) across the age range tested were relat ively small.†[2] Studies of childhood bilingual development have shown that in almost all cases, children mix elements from the two languages they are acquiring. This has lead to claims that in the early stages of acquisition bilingual children have a single language system. Code mixing may involve any aspect of the child’s language system i.e., phonetic, lexical, phrasal, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic. Code mixing is not limited to children. Many researchers have investigated the phenomenon of code mixing or switching in adult bilinguals. However, there are important differences between the two. Adult code switching is rule governed. â€Å"What is thought to distinguish bilingual children’s mixing from adult mixing is the lack of systematicity or compliance to linguistic rules in the case of children.† [3] The fact that mixing declines with age has been cited as evidence that the child originally had one system that gradually separates into two. The period of mixing is followed by language differentiation sometime during the bilingual child’s third year. Volterra and Taeschner’s seminal paper interpreting code mixing in terms of a three-stage model of a single language system has had numerous supporters and critics. [4] A growing number of researchers have published papers in the past couple of decades supporting a two-language system. In 1985 Vihman looked at a bilingual Estonian/ English child. Having pointed out that there was insufficient data concerning the child’s comprehension skills in both languages to confirm whether or not he had a single system: â€Å"It seems likely that two receptive stores did exist in a rudimentary form even at this earliest stage, however, since comprehension appeared to develop rapidly in both English and Estonian contexts well before the development of a wide-ranging productive vocabulary.† [5] Considerable research has shown that monolingual children develop comprehension before production skills. The author agreed with Lindholm and Padilla[6] that â€Å"bilingual children are able, from an early age, to differentiate their two systems†. [7] Genesee also found evidence of â€Å"differentiated underlying language systems† in his study of early bilinguals. He argued that â€Å"bilingual children are able to differentiate their language systems from the beginning and that they are able to use their developing language systems differentially in contextually sensitive ways.† [8] Paradis and Genesee concluded the bilingual children in their study developed entirely distinct pronoun system for the two languages. [9]Their research therefore supports the separate language hypothesis. Likewise, Quay’s study of an English/ Spanish bilingual child â€Å"provides no evidence for the two-stage model of lexical development proposed by Volterra and Taeschner.† [10] Empirical and Interpretative Difficulties Methodology Most researchers criticise the methodology used by previous researchers in the field. Diary studies of a single child are common making any generalisation difficult. Other factors making comparison and therefore generalisation difficult include: the differing exposure to the languages experienced by each child, their different language backgrounds and history, the different methods of language sampling undertaken by the various researchers, and the fact that to date there is no standardised measurements to compare children at various stages of bilingual development. Furthermore, diary studies may be insufficient to accurately reflect the linguistic competence of the child studied, regardless of whether or not the findings can be shown to be valid for other bilinguals. â€Å"Diary data may not capture all translation equivalents.† [11] Quay also points out that studies making use of audio and video recordings tend not to make them frequently enough: â€Å"Infrequent recordings for a short duration each time do not allow for conclusive evidence with regard to bilingual children’s ability to produce translation equivalents.†[12] Radford reviewing Paradis and Genesee (1996) remarks on a methodological shortcoming noted in many other studies, the use of a small corpus of data: â€Å"This might lead us to the conclusion that PG simply didn’t have enough data from enough children to support the sweeping theoretical claims that they make.†[13] Pearson and colleagues also criticize the emphasis on case studies â€Å"a form in which systematic comparisons with other children are not generally attempted.† [14] Their own research compared the language development of 25 English/ Spanish bilinguals with 35 monolinguals: â€Å"Without detailed information from a wide range of children, it is difficult to gain a broad perspective on what is typical and what is exceptional in early bilingual development.†[15] Radford states, â€Å"much of the evidence VT (Volterra and Taeschner) bring to bear in support of their claim that children start out with a common syntax for their two languages is based to a large extent on code-mixing.†[16] He suggests the fact that bilingual children are known to code mix cannot be seen as evidence for a single language system because adult also code switch and they are â€Å"generally assumed to have separate grammars for each language.† However, as has been stated earlier, children do not code mix in the way adults do. More problematic for supporters of the single language system is the finding by Genesee and colleagues that code mixing in early bilinguals is not as common as Volterra and Taeschner claim.[17] These researchers discovered that code mixing takes place in only 1%-7% of bilingual children’s utterances. Like Radford, Genesee claims that there are serious methodological and interpretative shortcomings with much research into simultaneous bilingualism. In order for the single system hypothesis to be valid, bilingual children would need to â€Å"use items from both languages indiscriminately in all contexts of communication.†[18] However, as Genesee makes clear, most research in the field has failed to analyse the data by context. Volterra and Taeschner for example, present isolated examples of the child addressing one parent only.[19] Vihman did look at her bilingual child’s utterances in context but she focused on one language only.[20] If the appearance, then decline, of code mixing in early bilingual development is not necessarily evidence of a single language system, what other factors may be responsible for the phenomenon? Vihman (1985) argues that the decline in mixing has more to do with the bilingual child gaining in sociolinguistic competence than evidence of the separation of language systems.[21] Lanza also suggests a more sociolinguistic explanation for code mixing: â€Å"Children do learn to differentiate their language: however, this differentiation process occurs in language socialisation through which they learn to differentiate ways of speaking according to the social demands of the situation.† [22] Other researchers point out that with the acquisition of more lexical items as the child’s language skills develop, there is less need to borrow between languages (the lexical gap hypothesis).[23] [24] Peterson claims bilingual children switch to their dominant language because they haven’t the lexicon or syntactic structure in the weaker one.[25] Bernardini agrees â€Å" in some young bilingual children†¦with uneven development, having one language that is clearly weaker than the other, sentence-internal code-mixing is a result of uneven lexical development in the two languages.† [26] Pearson and colleagues test the Volterra Taeschner (1978) claim â€Å"if children already have a lexical representation for a concept in either language, they will not be motivated to learn or use the word’s translation in the other.†[27] This follows Clark’s principle of contrast, which predicts an absence of synonymy in early lexical development in both monolingual and bilingual children.[28] Pearson and colleagues found no evidence to support Volterra Taeschner in their study of 27 early bilinguals. Quay also found â€Å"no foundation for the principle of contrast in (the) bilingual case (studied).† Quay points out â€Å"most studies do not take into account whether young bilinguals have the lexical resources to make a choice between their two languages.† [29] According to Grosjean one language may be dominant because the child is exposed to that language more frequently and needs it to communicate with more people.[30] Serratrice defined â€Å"language dominance in terms of the amount of input the child receives†. [31]It has been pointed out by a number of researchers that mixing may be linked to the child’s speech environment. [32] The bilingual child might code mix because he hears his parents or other adults doing so. It has been argued the â€Å"best way to avoid bilingual mixing in children is to have each parent speak only one language to the child.† [33] Quay suggests, â€Å"linguistic input from adult interlocutors must be taken into account in discussions of children’s language choices.†[34] Conclusions It is clear that many factors are involved in simultaneous bilingual acquisition. The debate over whether these young children develop one or two language systems initially has yet to be satisfactorily resolved. As many researchers point out parental input may well prove to be of particular importance. Whether the child has one system or two and thus resembles a single monolingual child or two monolingual children, it is clear that their â€Å"ability to understand two languages may be comparable in each language to monolingual children’s.†[35] Bernardini, P and Schlyter, S (2004) Growing syntactic structure and code-mixing in the weaker language: The Ivy hypothesis. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 7, 49-70 Clark, E (1987) The principle of contrast: a constraint on language acquisition. In B. MacWhinney (ed.) Mechanisms of Language Acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Genesee, F (1989) Early bilingual development: one language or two? Journal of Child Language 16, 161-179 Genesee, F. Nicoladis, E Paradis, J (1995) Language differentiation in early bilingual development. Journal of Child language 22, 611-630 Grosjean, F (1982) Life with two languages: an introduction to bilingualism. Cambridge MA: Harvard Uni press Lanza, E. (1992) Can bilingual two-year-olds code-switch? Journal of Child language 19, 633-657 Lindholm, K and Padilla, A (1978) Child bilingualism: report on language mixing, switching and translations. Linguistics 211, 23-44 Paradis, J. and Genesee, F. (1996). ‘Syntactic acquisition in bilingual children: autonomous orinterdependent?’ Studies in Second Language Acquisition 18: 1-25. Pearson, B, Fernandez, S and Oller, D 1993. Lexical development in bilingual infants and toddlers: comparison to Monolingual norms. Language Learning 43:1, 93-120 Pearson, B, Fernandez, S and Oller, D 1995. Cross-language synonyms in the lexicons of bilingual infants: One language or two? Journal of Child Language 22, 345-368 Pearson, B. Fernandez, S. Lewedeg, V Oller, K (1997). The relation of input factors to lexical learning by bilingual infants. Applied Psycholinguistics 18, 41-58 Peterson, J (1988) Word-internal code-switching constraints in a bilingual child’s grammar. Linguistics, 26, 479-493 Quay, S (1995) The bilingual lexicon: implications for studies of language choice. Journal of Child Language 22, 369-387 Radford, A (2005) Children’s English: Principles-and-Parameters Perspectives. University of Essex. Serratrice, L. Referential cohesion in the narratives of bilingual English-Italian children and monolingual peers. Journal of Pragmatics 39 (2007) 1058–1087 1083 Vihman, M. (1985) Language differentiation by the bilingual infant. Journal of Child Language 12, 297-324 Volterra, T and Taeschner, T (1978) The acquisition and development of language by bilingual children. Journal of Child Language 5, 311-326 1 Footnotes [1] Lanza (1992:634) [2] Pearson et al (1993:112) [3] Genesee (1989) [4] Volterra and Taeschner (1978) [5] Vihman (1985:316) [6] Lindholm and Padilla (1978) [7] Vihman (1985:317) [8] Genesee (1989:174) [9] Paradis and Genesee (1996). [10] Quay (1995:385) [11] Quay (1995:382) [12] Quay (1995:383) [13] Radford (2005) [14] Pearson et al (1993:95) [15] Pearson et al (1995:348) [16] Radford (2005) [17] Genesee et al (1995) [18] Genesee (1989:165) [19] Volterra and Taeschner (1978) [20] Vihman (1985) [21] Vihman (1985) [22] Lanza (1992:654) [23] Volterra and Taeschner (1978) [24] Lindholm and Padilla (1978) [25] Peterson (1988) [26] Bernardini and Schlyter (2004:49) [27] Pearson et al (1995:346) [28] Clark (1987) [29] Quay (1995:369) [30] Grosjean (1982) [31] Serratrice (2007) [32] Genesee (1989) [33] Genesee (1989:170) [34] Quay (1995:383) [35] Pearson et al (1993:113)

Beauty :: essays research papers

Beauty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Summary of The Biology of Beauty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many articles are written by modern psychologists and psychoanalysts that stress the importance of beauty in human and animal breeding as well as survival. One such article The Biology of Beauty suggests this importance and backs it up with many facts and figures as well as surveys on normal people. The article states many theories and hypotheses and also tries to explain why beauty plays such an important role in sexuality and power. What is beauty? According to this article, beauty is a combination of symmetry, special qualities, and traits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Symmetry is perhaps the most supported part of beauty in this article. The article states that symmetry shows abundance of sexual hormones, health, and strength of the immune system. They support their hypothesis of symmetry's affect on the abundance of sexual hormones with various scientific evidence. Two psychologists, Steven Gangestead and Randy Thornhill measured the symmetry of hundreds of men and women in college. They also asked them to complete a personal confidential survey that gave information on their health and sex lives. What they found was that the men and women with better symmetry had started having sex 3-4 years before the people with average symmetry. Gangestead and Thornhill also completed another survey involving women's responses to symmetrical men and men with average symmetry. The results were as expected. The women with symmetrical partners responded twice as much compared to the women with men having average symmetry. The rate of contraception was also much higher. Animals are much more severe in their choosing. Female penguins won't accept males who aren't plump and symmetrical, and female scorpion flies only accept males with symmetrical wings, as they are better at hunting and protecting. Also, less symmetrical men and women surveyed had more ailments and more frequent accounts of illnesses compared to symmetrical men and women who were overall much healthier.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Special qualities also play a role in beauty. A person with normal features is not considered as beautiful as one with a few outstanding features. New Mexico State University's Victor Johnston conducted a computer survey called FacePrints in which participants of all ages and ethnic groups were asked to give their accounts of a perfect face into the computer. What they came up with was very surprising. Instead of selecting a female with average facial features, the men leaned toward a girlish face consisting of many outstanding features. Their ideal face consisted of a small chin and jaws as well as large eyes and luscious lips. Women value the opposite of the face constructed by men: a face consisting of a strong jaw and chin, prominent

Against Censoring Harmless Obscene Language :: essays research papers

Against Censoring Harmless Obscene Language Why the !@#$ would any &*$% head want to censor @#$ &*$% offensive language? I mean what the !@#$?? Did any of that offend anyone? Would it if I had used the actual words? I hope it wouldn't because I sure didn't intend for it to. But then again, if it did, well, don't take this personally, but, you don't need to be reading this. I'm sorry, but I am not forcing you to. No one is. Close your eyes if someone puts it in front of you, sing the Macarena a loud if someone reads it to you, whatever. The fact of the matter is, freedom of speech is the law. I have in my hand, not that you would know this, the Constitution of the United States of America. In this constitution, there is this little thing called the Bill of Rights which contains the first ten amendments, the first being the freedom of speech. Article I of the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law†¦abridging the freedom of speech." Translated, this asserts that I can say what ever the !@#$ I want to.†  Ooh, I'm sorry, I hope you closed your eyes and washed your ears out with soap. If not, too $%@# bad! My belief is that nothing should be censored. Nothing. It is every person's right and responsibility to shield him or herself from any language and other audio and visual provided I do not say anything false which could hurt another person's reputation messages that is found demeaning to the individual. One person may find my !@#$%& language offensive, yet another may find my language rather humorous and meaningful. I feel that when I use offensive language, I am more thoroughly stressing my point. Allow me to demonstrate my point. I have just been shot in the knee cap on my way to the Noble Prize Award Dinner, and I will now be disqualified as a contestant for the Noble Peace Prize. I then say to the bad man, "Ow†¦that hurt. Why†¦did you†¦do†¦that†¦to me?" The man who has done this awful deed will feel no remorse and carry on whistling It's a wonderful life. Now, let's try this again with a more meaningful message. "Son of a !@%$#!!! What the !@#$ did you @#$ &*$% do that for you #$%& ^*%&$ #$$ %&$% $&*% &$ $%*$%????" The man will now have a better sense of what pain he has brought me. He will still obviously run and hide and do nothing about what he did, but he'll more than likely feel more guilty for what he did.

Dolphin

New research suggests that dolphins are second only to humans in smarts. – MRI scans indicate that these marine mammals are self-aware. – Researchers think dolphins are especially vulnerable to suffering and trauma. When human measures for intelligence are applied to other species, dolphins come in Just behind humans in brainpower, according to new research. Dolphins demonstrate skills and awareness previously thought to be present only in humans.New MRI scans show that dolphin brains are four to five times larger for their body size when compared to another nimal of similar size, according to Lori Marino, a senior lecturer in neuroscience and behavioral biology at Emory University, and one of the world's leading dolphin experts. Humans also possess an impressive brain-to-body ratio. â€Å"If we use relative brain size as a metric of ‘intelligence' then one would have to conclude that dolphins are second in intelligence to modern humans,† said Marino, who p erformed several MRI scans on dolphin brains.Marino will be presenting her findings at next month's American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting. â€Å"Size isn't verything,† she admitted, but she says at least two other lines of evidence support her claims about dolphin intelligence. First, various features of the dolphin neocortex the part of the brain involved in higher-order thinking and processing of emotional information are â€Å"particularly expanded† in dolphins. Second, behavioral studies conducted by Marino and other experts demonstrate that dolphins exhibit human- like skills.These include mirror self-recognition, cultural learning, comprehension of symbol-based communication systems, and an understanding of abstract concepts. The Navy's Marine Mammal Program began in 1960 with two goals. First, the Navvy wanted to study the underwater sonar capabilities of dolphins and beluga whales to learn how to design more efficient methods of detecting objects underwater, and to improve the speed of their boats and submarines by researching how dolphins are able to swim so fast and dive so deep.In addition to this research component, the Navvy also trained dolphins, beluga whales, sea lions and other marine mammals to perform various underwater tasks, including delivering equipment to divers nderwater, locating and retrieving lost objects, guarding boats and submarines, and doing underwater surveillance using a camera held in their mouths. Dolphins were used for some of these tasks in the Vietnam War and in the Persian Gulf. The Marine Mammal Program was originally classified, and was at its peak during the Cold War.The Soviet Union's military was conducting similar research and training programs in the race to dominate the underwater front. At one point during the 1980's, the U. S. program had over 100 dolphins, as well as numerous sea lions and beluga whales, and an operating budget ot $8 million dollars. By the ‘s, howeve r, the Cold W was over, and the Navvy's Marine Mammal project was downsized. In 1992, the program became declassified. Many of the dolphins were retired, and controversy arose over whether or not it would be feasible to return unnecessary dolphins to the wild. pecific Tasks Navvy marine mammals are trained to perform many underwater duties, including Bottlenose dolphins detect and mark of underwater mines. The animal locates a mine and then deposits a weighted buoy line near the mine in order to mark it. California sea lions attach grabber devices to underwater objects for etrieval. This system is used extensively in training exercises with divers for Explosive Ordnance Disposal units. Practice mines are placed on the sea floor; those not found by the divers during the exercise are retrieved by the sea lions. Bottlenose dolphins are used to detect and defend against enemy swimmers.This procedure was used in both the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf to protect Navvy anchored vessels from enemy swimmers seeking to plant explosives. The dolphins would swim slowly, patrolling the area with their sonar, and alert armed trainer guards if they located a swimmer. They are also trained to â€Å"tag† the enemy swimmer with a marker so that Navvy personnel can apprehend him. During the Vietnam War, rumors circulated about a â€Å"swimmer nullification program† in which dolphins were also being trained to shoot at enemy swimmers with a device similar to the tagging device.The Navvy denies that any such program existed or that any dolphin has ever been trained to attacka human. 1960's naw begins use of marine mammals 1965 sea lab II In 1965, the Marine Mammal Program began its first military project: Sea Lab II. Working in the waters off La Jolla, California, a bottlenose dolphin named Tuffy ompleted the first successful open ocean military exercise. He repeatedly dove 200 feet to the Sea Lab II installation, carrying mail and tools to naw personnel. He was a lso trained to guide lost divers to safety. 965-75 dolphins used in Vietnam The Navvy sent five dolphins to Cam Ranh Bay to perform underwater surveillance and guard military boats from enemy swimmers. Although during this era rumors circulated about a â€Å"swimmer nullification program† through which dolphins were trained to attack and kill enemy swimmer, the Navvy denies such a program ever existed. 1975 ntroduction of sea lions and beluga whales With the success of the dolphin program, the Navvy began working with sea lions, training them to recover military hardware or weaponry fired and dropped in the ocean.The sea lions could dive and recover objects at depths of up to 650 feet. The Navvy also began exploring the use of beluga whales, which, like dolphins, use sonar to navigate. Beluga whales could operate at much colder temperatures and deeper depths than either dolphins or sea lions. naw builds up collection of dolphins The Marine Mammal Program reached its heyday in the 1980's, with an expanded udget and increased number of dolphins.In 1986, Congress partially repealed the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act by letting the Navvy collect wild dolphins from for â€Å"national defense purposes. † The Navvy planned to use the dolphins to expand its mine disposal units and to stock a breeding program. 1986-88 dolphins in the Persian gulf The naw sent six dolphins to the Persian Gulf, where they patrolled the harbor in Bahrain to protect US flagships from enemy swimmers and mines, and escorted Kuwaiti oil tankers through potentially dangerous waters. One of the dolphins, â€Å"Skippy,† died ofa bacterial infection. ssile guarding project in Bangor abandoned In the late 1980's the Navvy began a project through which dolphins would act as guards at the Bangor Washington Trident Missile Base. Animal activists opposed the project, and filed suit against the Navvy under the National Environmental Protection Act claiming that the Navvy must do an environmental evaluation to determine whether deployment in the cold northern waters off Bangor would harm dolphins originally captured in the Gulf of Mexico. A Judge ruled that such a study must be completed before the project could continue.The Navvy abandoned the project. By 1994, the Navvy policy on moving dolphins to environments with radically different water temperatures changed; a spokesperson said that in general, the Navvy would only move dolphins between environments with a 20 degree difference in temperature, except in emergency situations. 1990S downsizing, declassification, retirement With the end of the Cold War, the Navvy's budget for the marine mammal program was drastically reduced, and all but one of its training centers were closed down.Of the 103 dolphins remaining in the program, the Navvy decided it needed only 70 to maintain its downsized operations. Much of the project was declassified, although certain details remain protected. This raised the question of what to do with the remaining dolphins. In the 1992 Defense Appropriations Act, Congress alloted a half million dollars to the Navvy to â€Å"to develop training procedures which will allow mammals which are no longer required for this project to be released into their natural habitat. The Navvy held two conferences of researchers and experts and determined that a reintroduction program would not be cost effective. In an attempt to downsize its dolphin troops, the Navvy offered to give its surplus trained dolphins o marine parks However, interest in the tree dolphins was low because many marine parks by this time had developed successful in-house breeding programs. The Navvy only got only four requests, but pledged to care for the unclaimed dolphins until their deaths.Later in 1994, the Navvy agreed to send three dolphins to Sugarloaf sanctuary, near Key West in Florida, a rehabilitation facility run by Ric O'Barry. O'Barry planned to reeducate the dolphins so they could be safe ly released into the wild, once the necessary federal permits were granted. 1996 illegal release of Luther and Buck Two of the dolphins being held at the Sugarloaf Sanctuary, Luther and Buck, were being prepared for life in the wild while awaiting federal permits for their release. In May, before the permits had been issued, O'Barry released the dolphins into the Gulf of Mexico.He believed that the dolphins were ready for release and that the bureaucratric requirements for a permit were designed to prevent the release of the Navvy dolphins. He thought that to wait any longer before letting them go would jeopardize their chances of successful adaptation to the wild. read O'Barry's defense f his actions, and criticism of the release from Naomi Rose The dolphins were recaptured less than two weeks later and returned to the Navvy. All three of these dolphins are now back with the Navvy. One of them is still in Florida; the other two are back in San Diego in the Navvy facility there. 997 Ukrainian dolphins trained by the Soviet Navvy for military operations are now being used for therapy with autistic and emotionally disturbed children. Mahalia Jackson Mrs. Harvey English 093 (1 :OO) October 29, 2013 Dolphins Dolphins are very interesting creatures. There are many things about a dolphin you may not know about. They do many ditterent things witn humans, and they do many different things in their everyday lives. There are many peculiar amazing creatures in the ocean, but none of them compares to the dolphins.In the beginning of time about 50 million years ago research shows that dolphins were once a land animal. They looked like a wolf, as this animal they hunted in the shallow waters, and eventually they learned how to adapt between land and water. Research says, â€Å"That their forelegs became flippers, the hind legs disappeared and the fluke evolved, and their fur disappeared and the nostrils moved to the top of their head. This how they breathe today. Even thou gh they surface ever few minutes in the water, they can stay under water up to 15 minutes.Now in order to navigate they use echolocation to find their way around the ocean or the sea. In order to find food the uses clicks to send out to return off of an object in the water researchers say, â€Å"It's just like an echo. † This is how they find their food, dolphins. And other threatening animals or rocks. Just like humans have a family; well, dolphins have families that they live in. The families are usually or mostly lead by a female dolphin. Just like in a society of humans the females primarily are the head of the house hold or family.Every dolphin in the family help each other out, sometimes several families might come together to make a school of dolphins. Jackson 2 Dolphins are very intelligent, they are the second-smartest animal in the world. Research shows that dolphins shows skills and awareness that for many years they thought only humans had. They gave them MIR scan s, and they found out that a dolphin's brain is four to five times larger than their own bodies when it is compared to another animals of a similar size. Dolphins has been in the U. S. Navvy for more than forty years.The Navvy's Marine Mammal Program began in 1960 and they had two reasons for this program. It was that the Navvy wanted to study the underwater sonar capabilities of dolphins, and to learn how to design more sufficient methods for detecting objects underwater, and to also improve the speed of their boats and submarines by researching how dolphins are able to swim so fast and dive so deep into the water. Dolphins Just didn't Join the Navvy or became a part of it they had to be trained to do the Jobs they were going to be assigned to do. In order to help the Navvy in upcoming wars to come.They was trained to deliver equipment to divers underwater, locating and retrieving lost objects that the Navvy thought was important, guarding boats and submarines, and doing underwater surveillance using a camera to hold in their mouths. Researchers says, â€Å"The dolphins were trained to attack and kill the enemy in the Vietnam War. † Lastly, Dolphins are many things on this Earth. They are intelligent, they are used in the U. S. Navvy. In order to help them discover enemies and to protect the ships. They are descendants of wolves and that they ave hair it's Just on the top of their head.Female dolphins are the head of the family, and several families might come and Join them. All together Dolphins are amazing creatures, they can be your friend and protect you to the end.

Film versions of Romeo and Juliet Essay

My aim of this essay is to compare the two versions of Romeo and Juliet that are directed by Baz Lehrman and Franco Zeffirelli. Lehrman set his in modern times with modern clothing and buildings. He still uses early modern English but with some lines changed, so the modern audience can understand the story a little easier. It was created in 1996. It is given a Miami beach setting with loud music and super-artsy sets, reviewers said â€Å"Natural born killers meet Stratford-Upon-Avon, a kind of Shakespeare MTV†. This version definitely helped younger people with the understanding of the play, and to appreciate the works of Shakespeare, simply because Lehrman could keep to the main basis of the story, yet modernise it to suit these recent times, and keep the audience interested throughout the whole of the film. It was certified as a twelve. Zeffireli’s version is set in Elizabethan times in Italy. At the time that this film was created it was the first version of Romeo and Juliet where the two main characters were played by actual teenagers (seventeen and fifteen). He created the latest action, humour and romantic film version of Romeo and Juliet yet. It was shot in Italy in three main cities of Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, but all the scenes of riot and duelling were shot in Gubbio. It was certified as PG. Both of the opening scenes begin with the famous chorus â€Å"Two households both alike in dignity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This gives you a basic outline of the story although it isn’t clear. Zeffirelli had a male voice talking with the same tone of voice throughout it, it was a fairly plain tone but had the hint of sadness as well. On the screen all you can see is a border surrounding the town at the edge of the screen in orange and yellow swirls giving it an ornament look. There is a birds eye view moving across the town then through it, the camera moves very slowly and appears almost like an introduction to the town and gives a sense of romance and anger. The romance because of when the shot is in the town centre it pivots towards the sun it makes you think of happiness and love. Anger, because of the mist right at the beginning and the dark shadows of the walls when the camera goes down fairly dark alleyways. There is folky and old aged music throughout it, this gives you a head start in knowing there will be old fashioned buildings and costume, this creates an image of the Shakespearian times and recall over the whole story of Romeo and Juliet. Lehrman begins with a television set and a pitch black background with the T.V screen fuzzy at first then with someone channel hopping giving you the directors name an the production team name. It is completely silent with only the sounds of the remote control flicking over the channels. Then there is a newscaster announcing the news/story of Romeo and Juliet’s death. She is reading the chorus which is read at the beginning of Franco Zeffireli’s version. As she is talking the camera very slowly zooms into the screen. Then just as she reads the last line the camera zooms in very quickly into the blue background on the T.V screen. Then very loud opera music is played. This gives you a sense of danger maybe violence, the camera zooms down a long road through the town, I think this might have been influenced by the last line â€Å"Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage† as the word â€Å"traffic† stands out. Then there are flashes of the scenes throughout the movie mainly of violence. The chorus is repeated this time by a male voice. There are pictures of newspaper articles and main words like â€Å"Two star crossed lovers take their life† this is to point out main themes of the story. There is also displays of the white dove and sacred heart labelling Catholicism. The party scene in Zeffireli’s in some ways is different but also similar to that in Lehrman’s, like when the pair talk to each other there is a solo being sung in the background or on-stage both romantic songs to set the scene for when the pair fall in love. In Lehrman’s you have the vision of Romeo who is on drugs, so there is a lot of spinning camera work to show the works of ecstasy also it changes from one thing to another like when Romeo is talking to Lord Capulet then the next moment he sees him singing also the appearance of Mercutio singing and dancing. Later he is looking into the fish tank and there he sees Juliet on the other side of it. He instantly takes an interest in her beauty and follows her over. Then Juliet dances with Paris but keeps an eye out for Romeo. When the dance is over there is a huge celebration when Romeo grabs Juliet’s hand and they begin to talk then the camera shows what Juliet is seeing when Paris turns around ands laughs. Later when they are in the lift together the camera slowly moves around them whilst they kiss to get all sides of them both, it does this about two times I think they do this because its such a passionate moment that Lehrman wanted to make it last as long as possible. In fact its done twice once when they get in the lift and then again when they run out of the lift then back in. When the nurse comes to get Juliet she gives Romeo an evil look, which he doesn’t understand at first until he realises that she is Capulet, the music quietens and the camera holds long time shots at both their faces also when Juliet finds out Romeo’s a Montague, this creates a lot tension. In Zeffirellis he chose to get Romeo to see Juliet before she sees him whilst she is dancing. Soon Juliet spots him and she takes an interest. Zeffirelli chose to get them to meet through a dance called the moreska. Here they dance together they don’t actually talk but you can see in their faces they begin to fancy each other. At this section just like in Lehrmans there is a lot of spinning camera work especially when there are two circles dancing it shows flashes of Lord Capulet, Romeo, Juliet, and of the entire room which they are in. When it finishes a soloist comes on stage and every one creates a circle round him, Romeo and Juliet try to find each other and when they do Romeo grabs her hand and talks to her. Later they kiss and the camera pauses on them whilst there is no singing in the music this makes it fairly romantic but I think it would have been a bit better if the camera looked up and down them to show they are really falling in-love. When the nurse takes Juliet away she asks the nurse to find out who Romeo is. Also Romeo finds that Juliet is a Capulet here, as well as Juliet finding out that he is a Montague. Both directors chose to hold the camera on the couples first kiss. I think they chose this because it really creates a romantic atmosphere this helps people to see the passion between each other. Also they chose to get Romeo to grab Juliet’s hand from behind a column, this makes him appear like the no fear type, the type who are not scared to jump into things like here he instantly tries to impress her with â€Å"holy palmers kiss†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This keeps up Romeos personality on what he does for love, like at the end killing himself for Juliet.