ESSAYS

"On the Rainy River"

2010-02-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

The relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay “On The Rainy River,” the author Tim O’Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had effected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it take the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O’Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodge that O’Brien stays at while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O’Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influence out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.

In the essay O’Brien is faced with a conflict, a moral dilemma. He had to decide whether he was either going to go to the war and fight or was he going to run away and avoid the draft. The relationship he had with Berdahl was not of friends or even regular acquaintances. Rather they were perfect strangers. That goes to show you that anyone can be a major influence on your life. Berdahl helped to open O’Brien’s heart. He realized who he was and where he had come from, his past and what he has been through. How all the events of the past helped him to become the person he was right now. How his past helped form his personal identity.

The formation of our own personal identities often begin at birth. As you grow up your parents are a major influence on you. They teach you many things and help to shape your personal identity. They teach you the basics, from knowing right from wrong to your basic moral values. Your moral values are often built upon the basic morals your parents have and what they have taught you in return. Since you are young you often believe that everything your parents say and do is always right and you look up to that. When you do something wrong your parents are always quick to correct you and show you that what you have done is not right. Your parents can only teach you so much. They do the best they can to the extent of their knowledge. Some things we have to learn on our own. That’s what makes us humans. We learn from our personal mistakes and build upon that. The many things you gain from your parents are often carried on with you throughout your life and will be passed around to other people and someday even your very own children.

You are also influenced greatly by the people around you. Such as other family members, friends, and other groups of your peers. They help to form aspects of yourself such as your personality. The type of friends you have are a major influence on your personal identity. You often try to fit into the group. They motivate you to do certain things to act a certain way. They affect not only your mental identity but also your physical identity as well. Like how your look and how you dress. How you get along with people and how you treat others is often an affected by the group of people you are around most of the time. Your friends can also help to form your personal identity in the same ways your parents do. They can teach you moral values and tell you when you are doing something wrong. Also often the more friends you have can form the type of person you are such as how you act. If you have more friends you are generally a more open person and it is easy fro you to communicate with others. If you have less friends you often become more of a shy person and keep to yourself more often. Either way your friends help build your moral character and your personal identity.

Another major influence is your nationality. Your nationality forms who you are and how other people look at you. People often treat others of different nationalities differently. This in turn forms how you look at people of different decent also. Traditions within your nationality help to form some of your moral values also. The way your ancestors lived and what kind of people the were are a major influence on Vietnamese traditions. Your traditions help you to from certain aspects of your moral value. In Vietnamese tradition, who you are is very important. You are brought up on very peaceful morals. Religion is also a major part of the Vietnamese tradition. Vietnamese families are often very religious. Whether being either Buddhist or Catholic out religious beliefs are very important to us. Religion is a very essential part of our daily lives, many of our basic morals and values come from the practice of religion. Families often keep a very strong bond between each other. You learn how to respect others such as your parents and elders. Traditions teach you many things. Even the little things like your daily habits, such as saying good bye to your parents when you leave in the morning for school and greeting them when you come home. They are all things that help to form your traditions and who you are.

No one is ever alone. Everyone is influenced by others. Our personal identities are based on the relationships with have with others. They help us to form who we are. Relationships are very vital to making us unique in our own ways. That combination of all that we learn come together to help us realize that without relationships how would we would we be able to build on our personal identity. Whether being from out parents, friends, or peers. It is clear that they all play an important role in the framework of our personal identities.

James Media Vs Reality

2010-02-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

What do you think of when you hear the name Jesse James? Most will think of the romantic gun slinging days of the old west, when your only friends were the revolver at your side and your trusty horse. Much of the truth of the old west is shrouded for the more appealing ideas of freedom and excitement. Media has made a huge contribution to the romanticizing of the old west. Movies television shows and books add an appealing glimmer to the old west. Jesse James and the James gang have been used as tools through out history to glorify the vigilante way of life in the old west. Because of this their life stories have been twisted over time in many different ways to suit the needs of the writers. Jesse James and the James Gang have done two huge things for America’s perception of the old west and the crime of those times. On the surface Jesse and the gang become archetypal heroes and have set the basis for popular and mostly fictional literature that is a huge part of Americas culture and when you dig deeper they become an important lesson of how the hardships of the old west can harden a person to a criminal.
At a first and superficial glance James was a gun slinging Robin Hood figure that has become a hero to many people. The most popular stories in American literature start the tales after Jesse had formed the James Younger gang and they started their amazing and infamous robberies that spread across the west. Jesse, his brother Frank, and the three Younger brothers, along with many accomplices gained and lost along the way committed many recorded robberies that accounted for over 250,000 in loses for banks and businesses. What was done with this money of course could never have been recorded but the popular tales say that James gave huge portions to the unfortunate wanderers of the west who were down on their luck. This formed Jesse’s Robin Hood figure and many other stories of old west vigilantes followed suit. Legends of Billy the Kid suggested that he had a heart of gold. Supposedly many of his robberies were strictly for the benefit of the less fortunate as well. American culture took to heart all of these wild tales for other reasons as well. Especially the idea of the complete freedom of adventure these men seemed to have. The gang traveled the west with out restriction robbing and stealing all that they needed and killing every one in their way. It seems quite sway from the traditional set homes and working for money that set in soon after the old western times. Imagine that instead of going to work tomorrow you got up when ever you wanted, when you got hungry you went down to the local store and stole as much food and whiskey as you wanted, and if any one had anything to say about you shot them and then moved on to the next town. Sounds quite appealing to the every day working man but of course the grass is always greener….
James and the gang became heroes to many keeping alive the romanticism of the old west and keeping it part of the American culture. There are still many people today that enjoy collecting James gang and other old west memorabilia; there are also the endless movies and books that tell of his adventures. I even came across a web sight where you can swear fealty to some one whom is supposedly a direct bloodline to Jesse James and become part of the modern day James Gang. Trademark of all heroes James death is in supposed dispute. Although it is highly respected that James was killed by one of his own gang members for the large reward on James head there are many tales that say that James lived to the age of 104 and did many more amazing robberies and adventures before he finally died. Much like the infamous Elvis sightings and tales of Government conspiracy around Jim Morrison’s death. Like any hero people find ways to keep them alive even after their physical life has ended. James in his gang became American legends through media twisted stories and added much to America’s culture concerning the old west.
Unfortunately these tales are just that, twisted stories. James real story is not pretty or glorifying when it comes down to the bear bones of the facts. His is a story of a hardened criminal quick to steal and even quicker to murder. James real story starts well before the James Gang even formed. Jesse was born September 5 1847. His father died too soon after for James to even remember him. As Jesse grew up his mother went through two other husbands who were both always either too far away or too drunk to be a father to Jesse. The lack of a father figure took its toll on Jesse as at the age of 16 Jesse left home to join “Bloody” Bill Anderson’s guerilla forces against the union army. These guerillas were notorious for making attacks on sleeping and off guard soldiers with the intent of completely wiping them out. Take no prisoners. Jesse had surrounded himself with brutal killers at a very impressionable age. They showed him respect only in fear of their lives. Jesse learned to shoot very quickly simply to survive and became quite a sharp shooter. Traveling with the guerillas through out the war had given Jesse a cold uncaring and hardened posterior.
As the force went along its way destroying union forces where ever they could James became quite a high ranker among the guerillas. This, of course, among the brutes was only measured by how many you killed or how much the others feared you but Jesse had grown used to the rough ways. Most who confronted James ended up dead or learned never to get in the way again. Jesse continued with the forces until a battle in 1865 left him with a chest wound.
Jesse left the forces to recuperate and upon recovering met up with his brother Frank and the three Younger Brothers Cole, Jim, and Bob to start a crime spree that would last ten years. The band of criminals was an ever-changing pool of scum. They picked up and lost accomplices along the way as they stole and killed their way round running form the law when the heat was too much. The recorded robberies backed up by bank files and businesses making criminal reports took place mostly in Missouri and Kentucky but where spread to Texas, Arkansas, and Iowa as well. In total the losses were over 250,000 dollars and none of Jesse’s supposed Robin Hood acts whereever recorded. More important than the money losses the loss in lives never seemed to phase James or his gang much either. On many occasions innocent were killed most would be the bank clerk or a train worker that would not cooperate but in some cases innocent bystanders where hit by stray bullets and where killed. The only backed up act of kindness that ever surfaced was a copy of a letter Jesse had written to the family of a bank clerk apologizing for his unfortunate demise explaining that Jesse had merely intended to injure the man because he would not cooperate. This later came along with a small some of money meant to compensate for the loss of the father of a family. There are even a few records of children being killed by Jesse’s gang. Being the hero that he is supposed to be you would think he would think twice about starting another shoot out after a child died in a gunfight. Of course, Jesse was not a hero simply a hardened criminal out for blood and money.
James existence was blotched all over the western United States, as he liked to have portraits of himself done. Portraits of James have been proven to have been done in Nashville, California, and Nebraska. As the robberies continued many stage coaches banks and trains were hit by the James Younger Gang. The invincible James Gang never seemed to miss their mark but they would soon prove to be more human than the stories tell. The reign of the James Younger gang ended ten years after it began in 1876 when a shoot out took out the younger brothers and all most all of the James gang. Jesse and his brother were the only ones to escape with out being captured or killed. They were both however badly injured and seeking refuge from the law to recover. James and Frank disappear as criminals for about three years the only recorded history of them is that Frank has a child with his wife Annie 1878. Soon after the James resurface in a short spree of robberies from 1879 to 1881. Their final robbery on September 7 1881 was the end of Jesse James criminal career. Jesse how ever had always surrounded himself with greedy murders and for this he would pay dearly.
Jesse assumes the name Tom Howard and finally settles down with his wife and children in St Joseph, MO on December 24, 1881. It seemed that Jesse had completely evaded the law no one knew what happened to Jesse James except a few close friends and some gang members. Jesse of course had quite price on his head by now and it was advertised quite well by those famous wanted dead or alive signs posted all over the western united states. The 10,000-dollar reward was worth more to Bob Ford than any mans life. This ex-gang member knew of Jesse’s whereabouts and had plotted his murder for over a year before Jesse retired from crime. Now that Jesse’s guard was down Ford saw the perfect time to strike. April 3, 1882 Ford and his brother enter James home and shoot the unsuspecting James in the back of the head ending his criminal reign quite abruptly. A suitable death for the life he led. Ford never got the money he was shot in the back shortly there after by another criminal who Ford thought he could trust. It seemed that was the fate of most of the old western “heroes”.
Over all James and his gang were really quite terrible people. They did cold bloodedly kill many people and often each other over money or small disputes. If you look at the sugarcoated image taken to heart by American culture, sure these guys could be neat heroes to look up to and have a little fun with fantasizing about. Looking at the true story told by the recorded facts however you can easily see how the ways of the west were quite brutal and unforgiving. Either side of James is important to history one adding to the culture of the old west and the other teaching an important lesson about the hardships of Old west. Jesse did though go down in history and looking at the facts and seeing him as the cold criminal he was or looking at the media image he is still there either way burned into U S History for time passed and time to come.

Problem Finding Affordable Housing

2010-02-03T07:23:00.000-08:00

Finding affordable housing has been a big problem during the last three decades. This paper will explore the causes and the consequences of the crisis. It will also state some possible solutions that will be based upon the government and the people’s contribution.
Housing has been the biggest bill for a family in these days. Every year the price to rent a single apartment rises. The landlords have to keep raising the cost in order to pay the taxes and mortgage that are imposed to them. Failing to meet their obligations will result in the lost of their building.
People in necessity can not rent these apartments because they do not have a good income. The price to rent an apartment in most cities now reaches 600 hundred dollars every month with only one bedroom. Sometime their job lay them off while in addition to their bill, they have family to be fed and dressed. Some of them do not have any kind of employment at all.
Families that can not afford an apartment by themself sometimes share with cousins, brothers, aunts, and uncles. It is not unusual to see more than ten people living in a small room together. At night two or three people may sleep in one bed. Those who do not have a bed sleep on sofa or on the floor. When all these people sleep together, they do not receive enough oxygen. They are exposed to carbon dioxide that can cause serious illness to them.
Worst of all, some people can not get a place to sleep at all. They sleep under boxes, in cars, and in abandoned houses and building where women and children can get raped. They do not have heat to help them survive in the cold temperature. The broken houses often do not have a good roof to exempt them from raining period.
Some days, those homeless people are running without food. They don’t have anything for themselves and their children. Little kids would possibly spend a complete day without tasting a potato chip. Witnessing someone who is looking through a trash container to obtain something to eat is not strange in our big cities today. It is unbelievable to imagine that the United States, which pretends to be the world’s richest country, has people living in such condition.
Many children who are in the streets are also the result of this crisis. Those kids who do not have any kind of support from anybody just have to find a way to survive. Here they are causing serious security problems. They do not go to school, nor get a basic family instruction. They are in the streets involved in crime, robbery and many other dishonest activities.
The government has tried many projects to solve the problem. Recently, billions of dollars were spent to build more houses. In 1981, the government invested $32 billion, but within 8 years the amount had been reduced to $9 billion, which had caused a surplus of homeless in that period of time. Another $34 billion were spent again in 1990 for more housing and routine maintenance (Dreier, Appelbaum 18).
Social organizations have also done many to improve the situation. The Central Arizona Shelter Services, Inc. provides home for 400 single adults. The case managers work with the people on an individual basis to determine their needs and their appropriate length of time (http://www.amug.org/~helpnet/). The Center for the Homeless, another powerful organization who has saved a featured NBA first round pick from the street, provides not only home but free food and material goods (http://www.center-for-homeless.com). The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) offers a wide range of services including case management, vocational training, immediate referrals for medical and mental health care, outreach to the street and encampments, and transitional and permanent housing (http://homepages.together.net/~cots/help.html). There exist many other associations that are giving similar assistance to the needy.
The question is if so much has done, why could not the situation have improved. It seems we need everybody’s contribution to the factor. We can call for a national fundraising where we can gather money from all the 50 states through institutions like churches, school, colleges, and local groups. Since low wages is one of the important factors of the case, it will be good if a minimum wage of about $8 an hour is imposed. Also, more jobs need to be available to the public. The government has to lower taxes on housing that the landlords will make it easier for someone to afford an apartment.
As I previously stated, the housing crisis is a very dominant factor in the country. I think every American should be concerned about the crisis and give whatever to save these poor people. We do not have to wait only for the government support, but we can do much more to improve the problem. It will be good if we support the organizations for all the charities they have done to save the homeless.

Olympic Games

2009-11-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

INTRODUCTION
Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These two opposing elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention. The conflict between the Olympic movement's high ideals and the commercialism or political acts which accompany the Game.
Olympic Games
The ancient Olympics were rather different from the modern Games. There were fewer events and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Also, the games were always held at Olympia instead of moving around to different sites every time.
Like our Olympics, though, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map. One young Athenian nobleman defended his political reputation by
mentioning how he entered seven chariots in the Olympic chariot-race. This high number of entries made both the aristocrat and Athens look very wealthy and powerful.
The Ancient Olympic Games
The ancient Olympic Games, was also a part of a major religious festival honoring Zeus, the chief Greek god, were the biggest event in their world. They were the scene of political rivalries between people from different parts of the Greek world, the site of controversies, boasts, public announcements, and humiliations.

Politics were present at the ancient Olympics in many forms. In 365 B.C., the Arcadians and the Pisatans took over the Altis, and they presided over the 104th Olympiad the next year. When the Eleans finally regained control of Olympia, they declared the 104th Games invalid.
Some valuable political deeds were recorded at Olympia. An inscription on a victory statue honored Pantarces of Elis not only for winning in the Olympic horse-races, but also for making peace between the Achaeans and the Eleans, and negotiating the release of both sides' prisoners of war. Olympia was also a place for announcing political alliances. Thucydides describes a 100-year military treaty the Athenians, Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans entered into, which was recorded in public inscriptions on stone pillars at the first three cities, and on a bronze pillar at Olympia.
The Olympic festival not only celebrated excellence in athletics. It also provided the occasion for Greeks to produce lasting cultural achievements in architecture, mathematics, sculpture, and poetry.
The ancient Greeks were architectural innovators. The temple of Zeus, designed by the architect Libon, was one of the largest Doric temples built in Greece. Libon tried to build the temple in an ideal system of proportions, so that the distance between the columns was harmoniously proportional to their height, and the other architectural elements were sized proportionately as well. The Greek mathematician Euclid expressed this ideal ratio in his Elements, a book on geometry which is said to be the second most popular book of all time, after the Bible.
The cultural achievement most directly tied to the Olympic games was poetry commissioned in honor of athletic victors. These poems, called Epinicians, were written by the most famous poets of the day, including Pindar, Bacchylides, and Simonides they were extremely popular. Proof of this is that the playwright Aristophanes portrays an average, not especially literary Athenian man who asks his son to sing a particular forty-year-old epinician poem composed by Simonides. The poem and the athlete live on in people's memories long after the day of victory. The epinician odes were written to immortalize the athletic victors and they have lasted longer than many of the statues and inscriptions which were made for the same purpose.
A truce (in Greek, ekecheiria, which literally means "holding of hands") was announced before and during each of the Olympic festivals, to allow visitors to travel safely to Olympia. An inscription describing the truce was written on a bronze discus which was displayed at Olympia. During the truce, wars were suspended, armies were prohibited from entering Elis or threatening the Games, legal disputes, and the carrying out of death penalties were forbidden.
The Olympic truce was faithfully observed for the most part, although the historian Thucydides recounts that the Lacedaemonians were banned from participating in the Games, after they attacked a fortress in Lepreum and a town in Elis, during the truce. The Lacedaemonians complained that the truce had not yet been announced at the time of their attack. But the Eleans fined them two thousand minae, two for each soldier, as the law required.
Another international truce was enforced during the annual Mysteries, a religious rite held at the major sanctuary site of Eleusis. The truces of Olympia and Eleusis not only allowed worshippers and athletes to travel more safely; they also provided a common basis for peace among the Greeks. Lysistrata, the title character in a comic play by Aristophanes, makes this point when she tries to convince the Athenians and the Spartans to end their war.
As you can see that the Olympic Game is a historical event that has lasted through the centuries till today. The Greek then are now taking the privilege of honoring.
The assignment of the year's 2004 Olympic Games to Athens is radically
different from previous ones. For a main characteristic of the 2004 Olympics is
its cultural dimension.
Greece does not consider the Olympics just to be the foremost athletic event that lasts for a few days every four years because Greece wishes to revive the idea of the Olympiad. Therefore, it is desirable to organize not just one cultural event but a cultural program of global scope which will develop and culminate during the four years period between two successive Olympic Games. Greece undertakes the responsibility to organize the 2004 Olympic Games in a manner that will incorporate this new cultural dimension and feels committed to set a new vision of the Olympic idea which will have a permanent effect.
The Main Idea of Cultural Olympiad
The main idea is that the Cultural Olympiad will become a permanent institution and extend over the period of the four years between two successive Olympic Games and culminating with the Cultural Olympics. Greece envisions these Olympics of Culture as the Olympics of the Spirit and Arts, sees itself as the permanent seat of the institution that will cooperate effectively with the various cities which will be assigned the organization of the Olympic Games.
The Political and Ideological Problems
The political and ideological problems of international athletic gatherings are well-known. Prominent among them is the ideological and media exploitation of the organization itself, as well as the symbolic and media exploitation. The commer-cialization of the athletic achievements with whatever this entails for athletes.
The Cultural Olympiad 2000-2004 and the Cultural Olympic games of 2004 will be hosted in the already existing cultural facilities all over the country. The events will take place in the existing covered or open–air exhibition spaces or cultural halls, ancient theaters or other "natural settings". Special emphasis will be given to places with historic reference (Athens, Olympia, Epidavros, Thessaloniki, Olympus, Philippoi, e.t.c.).

Nicholas II, The Last Tsar of Russia (1894-1917)

2009-11-15T09:15:00.001-08:00

Nicholas II, The Last Tsar of Russia (1894-1917)

The earliest ancestor of the Russian Romanovs emigrated to Russia from Prussia in the 14th century. This ancestor’s great-great granddaughter was Anastasia Romanov, who became Tsar Ivan IV’s first wife. Ivan IV (1533-1584), known as Ivan the Terrible, was the grandson of Ivan the Great and was crowned the first Tsar of all Russia in 1547. The son of Ivan the Terrible was a very weak Tsar and allowed the ruling power to fall into the hands of the nobles, one of whom was Nikita Romanov. This Tsar died without any heirs and the chaos that followed his reign became known as the “Time of Troubles.” In 1613, a national assembly of nobles elected Michael Romanov (Russian name Mikhail), as the first Romanov Tsar of Russia. Michael was Tsar from 1613 until 1645. The Romanov Dynasty ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917, a period of over three hundred years. The last Romanov Tsar was Nicholas II (Russian name Nikolai) who was Tsar from 1894 until 1917, when the Romanov Dynasty came to a tragic end. Nicholas II is the focus of this paper, but to understand the Nicholas II reign requires a short description of rule under the Tsars preceding him.
All of the Russian Tsars, from the time of Ivan the Terrible, drew their political power away from the nobility, either by force or through diplomacy which allowed the nobility greater control over the occupants on their land. This political power grab by the Tsars increased until the nineteenth century when both of these relationships came increasingly under attack. A revolt in 1825 by young, reformist military officers attempted to force a constitutional monarchy by preventing the accession of Nicholas I, but failed. Russia became more industrialized as the twentieth century approached, and the inadequacies of autocratic Tsarist rule became increasingly evident. At the same time, Russia expanded its territory and power considerably with borders extending to Afghanistan and China.
Alexander III was the father of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. Alexander III came to the throne as Tsar on March 1, 1881 after the assassination of his father, when he was only 36 years old. During Alexander III’s reign, capitalism was strengthened and an industrial revolution was developing. But his domestic policy was particularly harsh against both revolutionaries and liberal movements which developed from the policies of the preceding Tsars.
Nicholas II, the last Russian Emperor and eldest son of Alexander III, was born on May 6, 1868. Ironically, this particular day is the Orthodox feast day of Saint Job the Suffer, whose image appears to have mirrored Nicholas’s troubled life. He was called little “Nickey” by his mother, Marie Fyodorovna Romanov, a petite brunette and his father, the giant and intimidating Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov. The Romanov men throughout the 19th century were well known as being physically large and imposing figures, an image well adapted to their roles as Russian Tsars. But Nicholas took after his mother instead of his father in stature, and was only about 5’-6” tall, and the other Romanov men towered over him. Nicholas tried to compensate for his lack of stature by working out with weights and other athletic equipment, but he remained slight and wiry in physique. His legs were short, but he appeared quite regal when mounted on a horse, which was one of his loves in life, others being large cars and collie dogs. Tsar Alexander III realized that the problems facing a 20th Century Tsar would be quite different from those of the past, so he arranged an excellent education to prepare Nicholas for his role as Russian Tsar, ensuring that Nicholas was probably the best educated European Monarch in his time. As time progressed, the Romanov dynasty had became more Europeanized through intermarriage with European royal families. It was estimated that Nicholas II was only 1/256 Russian.
Terrorism was a real threat to the Tsars, and this caused Nicholas to be isolated from his future subjects and also to be cut off from any liberal thinking. This isolation deprived Nicholas of any interaction with the intellectual and artistic communities, and caused a dearth of ideas about honor, service, and tradition which would later hinder his ability to govern Russia. Nicholas achieved the rank of Colonel in the Life Guards while he was the Tsarevich, heir to the throne. He enjoyed these years as a military officer and also the friendships of the other officers. These were relatively stress free times, and in 1893 he became engaged to a German princess, Alix Victoria Eleanor Louisa Beatrice (Alexandra Fedorovna) and married her. However, in the Fall of 1894, Tsar Alexander III developed a serious nephritis condition, which is a chronic inflammation of the kidneys, and died on October 20, 1894 at only 47 years of age. This event caused Nicholas II to ascended to the throne and he was crowned on May 14, 1896. The crowning ceremony in Moscow was overshadowed by catastrophe on Khodynskoe Field, when in the rush for refreshments which had been set up on tables over ditches in a field, over a thousand spectators were crushed to death. This event probably created an impression in Nicholas II’s subjects of an uncaring ruler.
Nicholas II and Alexandra had four daughters between 1885 and 1901, a situation that did not produce a heir to the throne, since only males could become Tsars. The four daughters were the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Finally, on July 30, 1904, a heir to the throne was born and named Aleksey Nickolaevich Romanov, the last child born to the Tsar and his wife. This child was both a blessing and a curse to his parents, the Romanov Dynasty and Russia as a whole. This resulted from Aleksey being born a hemophiliac, sometimes called “the royal disease.” Hemophilia is a disease in which the blood does not clot properly, and the person can die easily from small injuries. Only males can get hemophilia, and only women can carry the disease. Alexandra inherited the hemophilia genes from her mother, who in turn got them from her mother Queen Victoria . Aleksey became the first Russian Boy Scout in 1909 due to Tsar Nicholas interest and support of this organization, which disappeared after the 1917 Revolution.
After Aleksey was diagnosed a hemophiliac, Alexandra became frantic and searched for a solution to this medical dilemma. This search led her to a man named Grigory Rasputin. Rasputin was shadowy and mysterious character from the Tyumen district of Siberia. One day while he was plowing a field, Rasputin thought he saw a vision which told him to make a pilgrimage, and he walked two thousand miles to a church in Greece. He returned home a changed man, reciting the scripture and praying at length, even though he was neither a monk nor or a priest. In fact, Rasputin had a wife and children, and one of his children named Maria, became a circus performer and died in Los Angeles, California. Alexandra saw Rasputin as the cure for Aleksey’s hemophilia, and while he was alive, witness including medical doctors and skeptics, concluded that he possessed some inexplicable power over Tsarevich Aleksey and his hemophilia. This gave Rasputin some power and protection from both Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra.
After he became Tsar, Nicholas quickly learned that he was surrounded by deceit and the self-interest of bureaucrats and sycophants. He realized that he could trust very few people besides his wife and became cynical and mistrustful of human nature. This fear was not without cause since Nicholas II’s ministers were very reactionary and created an unstable political situation for him. Nicholas II loved Russia first, then his family, a trait of a good ruler. He was a hard and diligent worker, but unfortunately, he was unable to see the whole picture because he tended to focus greatly on details. Nicholas became a strong supporter of the right of the sovereign despite growing pressures from revolutionary groups with practical desires. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russia had many anti-tsarist political movements. One of them, the Cadets (liberal Constitutional Democrats) advocated constitutional monarchy and representative government. Another group, the Social Revolutionaries, which were a revival of the populist revolutionary tradition of the 1870’s, espoused a Russian agrarian socialism based on the collective, cooperative spirit of the mir. The Social Democrats hoped to apply the theories of Karl Marx to the Russian situation. The Social Democrats had a radial faction called the Bolsheviks, which included Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky, and planned on an industrial laborers (Proletariat) revolt, a small classs in Russia since industrialization was still in a developing stage. This explosive political scene was noted by Tsar Nicholas II, and was part of the reason that Russia went to war with Japan. In 1905 Japan attacked Russia in a dispute over far eastern territories which caused Russia to suffer greatly, as the Russian logistical supply system broke down and food prices soared, public discontent spread rapidly. Russia suffered a bad military defeat by Japan, and 400,000 Russian soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. Material losses were valued at 2.5 billion gold rubles. Bloody Sunday occurred in January, 1905 when Tsarist troops fired on peaceful demonstrators who were petitioning Nicholas II for a redress of perceived grievances. Nicholas II was absent during this occurrence. This tragic event caused revolutionary outbreaks to erupt throughout Russia, which Nicholas II responded to by proclaiming the Manifesto of 17 October 1905. This Manifesto guaranteed fundamental civil freedoms including personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. A national parliament was also created and called the Duma. The right to vote in the Duma was severely restricted and it became a kind of debating society with no real voice in the Russian Government. After concluding the war with Japan, Nicholas II attempted to reverse the new freedoms, which resulted in a more reactionary government and increased repression. It is not clear whether Russia was moving towards or away from a revolution prior to World War I.
Peter Stolypin served as Nicholas II’s chief advisor from 1906 until 1911 when he was assassinated. After Stolypin’s demise, Rasputin’s political influence with Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra greatly increased. During Nicholas II’s reign, and prior to the outbreak of World War I, Russia contributed to the fine arts. In 1898, Moscow Art Theater was founded and produced Chekhov’s Sea Gull. In 1909 Diaghilev’s Ballet russe toured Western Europe. In 1910, Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird scandalized Paris. In 1913, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was produced. Russia’s contributions to the fine arts essentially disappeared after the Romanov Dynasty ended and the Bolsheviks era began.
Russia entered World War I on the Allied side against Germany on August 1, 1914. The war was being fought on Russia’s borders with European nations, and Russia suffered badly in this war. Territory was lost to Germany, and Russia suffered massive casualties. Tsarist armies fared poorly in battles which they should have won but lost. This caused Nicholas II to go to the scene of the battles and take over the army, which left control of the government in the hands of Tsarist Alexandra and Rasputin. This only created greater discontent and unrest in the Russian people who feared that their government was now controlled by a German Princess whose allegiance was to Germany. Loss of territory combined with massive war causalities caused civilian unrest and resulted in the Second Russian Revolution in February 1917. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on March 15, 1917. This was the end of the Romanov Dynasty. A provisional government was implemented after Nicholas II abdication, in an effort to try and maintain order out of the chaos in society, but this measure was unsuccessful partly due to the archaic political scene existing in Russia at this point in time.
Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, and their four daughters and their son were held as political prisoners for just over a year after Nicholas II’s abdication. Then, just after midnight on July 17, 1918, they were awakened by their captors and told to dress for a photograph, but instead they were to be executed. Yakov Yurovsky was the captor in charge of carrying out the execution of the imperial family. In addition to the imperial family, they were joined by their servants: Trupp, the valet; Demidova, the maid; and Kharitonov, the cook and Dr. Botkin, the family physician. Yakov Yurovsky and his accomplices carried out the execution of these eleven victims and ended the Romanov Dynasty of Russia.
This brutal murder of Russia’s last Tsar ended the Romanov Dynasty of Russia and probably set the pattern for the Stalinists and their brutal treatment of the Russian people in the years following the Second Russian Revolution.

The Next Generation IP

2009-11-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

The Next Generation IP

Recent years saw huge increase in Internet growth there were 40,073 networks on Internet (as of 10/4/94) and it was doubling approximately every 12 months. The current version (IPv4) of Internet Protocol was sufficient for 20 years, but if Internet will continue to grow, pretty soon we will run out of addresses for all connections because IPv4 can handle only 32 bit addresses (which are millions of connections). This is the major drawback of IPv4. The other issues is that IPv4 was not designed to handle real time applications such as video and audio efficiently and IPv4 can create a lot of fragmentation due to the lack of ability to predict or detect the bottlenecks in the packet’s path.
The next generation of IP was designed by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to handle all of these problems and was first presented on July 25, 1994 in Toronto. Thou structurally it is very different from IPv4; it still incorporates all the successful features of IPv4 like its ability to adapt to many topologies or technologies at the same time. IPv6 is also connectionless and routed independently. The biggest problem was solved by increasing address format from 32 bits to 128 bits. This increase gave 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses (should be more that enough for a long time). IPv6 is also better designed for choosing the optimum path of the packet since switching the paths for each packet will degrade performance of the network. You (well the protocol) can request the unbreakable path, for the applications that need constant connection, through the same route. You need this feature to successfully transmit high quality video and audio over the net. Another great advantage of IPv6 is its compatibility with the IPv4. This will make transition between these two versions painless. Because it doesn't matter how well a new protocol is if there is no practical way to transition the current operational systems running IPv4 to the new protocol.
Structurally both versions are also different. They have different datagram systems and unlike IPv4, IPv6 does not specify all the possible protocol features, this makes it more adaptable to the user’s needs. The datagram in IPv6 consists of Base Header, Optional Extension Headers, and the Data Area. The Base Header is twice as large than in IPv4 due to the added extra 96 bits to the each destination and source addresses, but it actually contains less data. It contains: VERS – for version IPv6, PRIORITY – specifies the urgency
0 Uncharacterized traffic
1 "Filler" traffic (e.g., Netnews)
2 Unattended data transfer (e.g., email)
3 (Reserved)
4 Attended bulk transfer (e.g., FTP, HTTP, NFS)
5 (Reserved)
6 Interactive traffic (e.g., telnet, X)
7 Internet control traffic (e.g., routing protocols, SNMP),
FLOW LABEL – designed for use with performance dependant applications, PAYLOAD LENGTH –how much data is in the packet, NEXT HEADER – tells what is the data going to be in the next header, HOP LIMIT – same as time to live, and SOURCE and DESTINATION addresses. The Base Header takes 40 octets without the optional headers. The IPv6 also differs in the way it is assigning addresses. It has 3 different types: unicast, multicast and anycast. UNICAST (uni – one) address corresponds to the single machine and datagram is given a shortest possible path. MULTICAST corresponds to the many computers on the Internet. It basically sends a copy of the packet to each node. The set of nodes is dynamic they can change over time. ANYCAST sends one copy of a datagram to the group of PCs that share same class prefix (same network). IPv6 also saves space by using ‘0’ address compression which works by compressing many 0’s in one row into smaller equivalent.
The other advantage of IPv6 over IPv4 is the better data security. This is achieved by adding two optional extensions “Authentication Header” provide authentication and integrity to IPv6 datagrams. The second security extension header provided with IPng is the "IPng Encapsulating Security Header" this mechanism provides integrity and confidentiality to IPv6 datagrams. Both extension headers are flexible and algorithm independent, this provides flexibility and universality to them.

LIFE OF MA PARKER

2009-11-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

LIFE OF MA PARKER

Katherine Mansfield was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1888. She went
to London to study music when she was quite young. When she later returned to
New Zealand, she found life there difficult, and moved to England again.
Because of serious lung disease which eventually led to her death, she also spent
many years of her life in Germany and France. She died in 1923.
Katherine Mansfield is remembered as one of the classical writers of
English short stories, and it is very much due to her works that the short story
gained a full literary status.

In Life of Ma Parker, we meet Ma Parker, an aging woman, now working as a
housekeeper. She was born in Stratford-on-Avon, and left home at the age of 16
to work as a maid in London. She had to work hard, she was never allowed to
go out and she was harassed by the cook. After working here, she worked just as
hard in a doctor's house for a couple of years before marrying her husband, who
was a baker. They had 13 children together, but only six of them survived.
When the children still were young, her husband died of consumption. Her
husband's sister then came to assist her, but soon afterwards hurt herself so
badly that Ma Parker now had one more person to look after. Ma Parker's
children grew up, but only one of her daughters kept in touch. The daughter
married a waiter and got Lennie, Ma Parker's only joy in life. However, also he
died because of consumption. We meet Ma Parker working in a young
gentleman's house the day after Lennie was buried.

As in most short stories, the setting in Life of Ma Parker plays an important role
and is quite relevant to the story. The description of the weather outside plays an
important role in conveying the right melancholic and dark mood. The
gentleman's apartment is probably also very typical for the places where Ma
Parker works.

Ma Parker has had a very hard life. Because of this, she's both physically and
psychologically exhausted. You can notice this when she's taking off her boots.
For many years that has meant great agony to her, so her face expresses the pain
even before she starts taking them off. She probably doesn't look very well
anymore either. This is supported by what the young gentleman tells his friends
about his household system and thinks about her as a hag; «You simply dirty
everything you've got, get a hag in once a week to clean up, and the thing's
done.»
Ma Parker has worked as a servant for others almost whole her life, and
therefore also behaves like one. She wants to do her job, and not be in anyone's
way. Even if she's dissatisfied with things, she doesn't usually complain. When
she's talking to an employer she's using a polite and inferior language and she
doesn't express any of her own feelings or ideas. Actually, she's normally not
showing any feelings to close family members. She has never cried in front of
others, not even her own children.
As we follow her throughout this specific day, Ma Parker comes closer
and closer to a point where she will break down. The more she thinks about her
misery over the years, the more she wants to cry about it all. Unfortunately it
will take too much time, and wherever she starts to cry, she will bother
someone. Therefore, in her opinion, she can't...
Ma Parker is probably quite representative for her social background as a
member of the poor working class. She, as many others, has had a life filled
with poverty, hard work, lousy wages and lack of appreciation. Because of her
social position, she hasn't got much of an education and she hadn't learnt about
Shakespeare, even if he was from her home city.
The «literary gentleman» who Ma Parker works for, isn't very concerned
by her situation. He does ask her how her grandson is, but judging by his
comment upon Lenny's burial («I hope the funeral was a success»), it seems he
asks mostly to be polite and to show that he after all is paying some attention.
The gentleman seems to think that Ma Parker is quite stupid. After giving his
unsuitable comment on the burial, he thinks she has problems understanding
him, while it really is him who has said something extremely stupid. Her
neighbors talk among themselves about how hard a life Ma Parker has had, but
without feeling very sorry for her.
Because of the life she has had, and because of the hard work she still
does, I feel very much respect and sympathy towards Ma Parker. She has also
got a tremendous self discipline. On the positive side, this has made her able to
work hard and raise six children almost on her own. However, the strong self
discipline has also stopped her from expressing her feelings, and therefore also
get rid of the burden she's bearing in her mind. Because of that, she's now on the
edge of a nervous breakdown.

Judging by his conversations with Ma Parker, it seems that the «literary
gentleman» is not very self confident. He tries to prove to himself and to his
housekeeper the opposite, but he's quite a helpless person, not even capable of
looking after his own apartment. During his upbringing in a middle or upper
class family, he's probably been taken so much care of that he's not able to stand
on his own feet as an adult. I don't think he's a typical representative of his
social background, but his personality has very much been shaped by his social
background. For someone from Ma Parker's social layer, it would be almost
impossible to get as coddled as her employer is. Both he and Ma Parker are
victims of different circumstances, but I don't feel as much sympathy for «the
literary gentleman» as for Ma Parker.

Life of Ma Parker follows one plot all the time, with the otherwise
chronological story being broken up by Ma Parker looking back at her life and
reflecting about her grandson.
Throughout the story, as we get to know Ma Parker better and learn about
all her problems, the tension increases. It's quite obvious that she eventually will
break down. However, the end of the story doesn't suggest when this is going to
happen, as Ma Parker can't think of anywhere to cry. At this point the tension
drops, but it's still there as it's up to the reader to think of what probably
happened in the end. The plot hasn't really indicated anything about the ending,
so it isn't that unexpected.
During most of the story we see things from an outside point of view.
However, the point of view switches to one inside Ma Parker sometimes when
she's thinking. The way Katherine Mansfield uses the point of view is important
to make the story as simple in construction as it is, because you haven't got more
than two points of view to relate to.

To support the story's simple construction, symbols and figures of speech aren't
very much used, the language is quite simple, the vocabulary not especially rich
and there are few connotations in use. The tone throughout the story is quite
gloomy, supported by Ma Parker's sad thoughts and also the cold and rainy
weather outside.

I would say that the theme in Life of Ma Parker is how unfair life can be. Ma
Parker has worked hard for herself and her family her whole life, but has
nothing left. In my opinion, the author wants to tell us that it's important to show
sympathy and understanding across traditional class borders.

The Holocaust

2009-11-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

The Holocaust

The word Holocaust means “widespread destruction.” It took place during World War II as Adolf Hitler’s plan of conquering the world. Hitler, the Nazi Dictator, planned to carry out his plan by destroying the Jewish population.
The Holocaust first came into perspective when Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. At first Hitler has harsh laws put on the Jewish religion to minimize their power and freedom. Such laws included not being allowed in public stores. The actual start of the Holocaust has been traced by historians to November 9, 1938. It started by the Nazis forcing the Jewish cultural to go to concentration camps. After the Nazis cleared out a Jewish neighborhoods, they would burn them down leaving no trace. Jews who did not go to concentration camps went to ghettos to work as slaves.
No matter how many Jews the Nazis had, they always went after more. In 1939 Germany took over Poland and took control over its three million Jews. In 1940, Germany took over Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, and the Netherlands gaining many more Jews.
At the concentration camps the Jews were badly mistreated. The Nazis showed no signs of pity towards them. In 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union and began the mass murder of Jews. The Nazis saw it all as a game. They wanted to see how much they could put the Jews through until they finally died. The Nazis also participated in horrifying practices and treatment of the Jews. According to the magazine Social Education October 1995 such activities were:
A- Human skin form the dead corps was made into lampshades, bags, and brief cases. Human fat was made into soap, and shrunken skulls were used as paper weights.
B- Jews were fed the bears housed in private zoos.
C- Husbands were forced to have sex with other’s wives in front of their children.
D- Women were forced to have sexual relations with animals.
E- Soldiers practiced there gunsmanship by shooting the Jew’s finger tips and noses.
F- Jewish babies were launched into the air and skewered by bayonets in front of their mothers.
G- Prisoners were used as guinea pigs to test how long a human could go with out oxygen, how long one could tolerate in cold water, and to observe the effect of injected deadly germs.
I- Women’s ovaries were burned with x-rays and then the effects were observed.
No matter what the lack of supplies the Nazis had, they just kept on hauling in the Jews. They were starved, beaten, crammed into small housing area with many other Jews, and forced to sleep in freezing weather without blankets. When a Jew would die, which happened very often, they would just throw the bodies on the side of the streets. When there was a severe lack of food, the cooks would use the corps as food for the living Jews.
In 1945 the Nazis started what was known as the “death marches” toward Germany. The “death marches” were when all of the Jews were forced to run to new concentration camps away from the moving in allied powers. They would have to run in freezing conditions non-stop. If they were to slow down, the Nazis would start shooting them. If someone was to trip, they would be trampled to death by the many thousands of other Jews also running. The only hope for the Jews was that the running would soon come to a stop. Those who could not keep on going died. They did not even get to take a break to go to the bathroom, nor did they get to eat while running. They ended up running many hours before being able to stop. The Jew ended up staying at these new camps for a short while.
On May 7, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered ending the World War II in Europe. Shortly after this occurred, the Jews that remained were set free and rescued by the allied powers. On October 1, 1946, another major event that involved the Holocaust took place, the conclusion of the first major Nuremberg trials. The Nuremberg trials were where Nazi leaders, such as the death camp leaders, were brought to trial by the International Military Tribunal, composed of one judge and one alternate judge from each of the signatory nations. The conclusion of the trials were as followed. Twelve Nazi leaders were executed. Three were sentenced to life in prison, and four others received various prison terms. On October 16, the twelve Nazi leaders sentenced to death, were executed.
The number of people killed in the Holocaust has been to be known around 11,000,000. Not all of them were Jewish though. The total number of Jews killed in the Holocaust has been estimated to be around 5,820,960. This was two thirds of the entire Jewish population. The countries that lost the most were Polish Soviet Area with 4,666,000, Hungary with 402,000, and Czechoslovakia with 277,000. The remaining Holocaust victims that were killed belonged to such ethnic groups such as Gypsies, Poles, and Slavs.
I conclude this essay by stating that the Holocaust was a very tragic and devastating time. Most of the books that survivors have written only touch what actually went on there. Those who carried out these horrible crimes should be put through the same pain that they caused millions of others. Anyone who has survived it has gone through more than any of us could ever imagine, and those that did not make it possibly went through more than those who did.

The Painted Door

2009-11-15T04:10:00.002-08:00

Is John Guilty of Causing Ann to Commit Adultery ?
It is evident that John is guilty of causing Ann to Commit adultery in Sinclair Ross’s “The Painted Door.” John’s desire, for instance, reveals his intentions. In addition, John’s low self-esteem suggests his motive. Finally, the card game showed us that John planned and deliberately caused Ann to commit adultery.

The purpose of John’s action is to make Ann happy. John believes that Ann is the most important person in his life as he was described on Pg. 48 "… naively proud of Ann.” He believes that "it seemed only right that she should have [the best].” To John, Ann deserves a man better than a dull-witted man like himself. When John learned that Ann liked the companionship of Steven (Pg. 52 Once she had danced with Steven six or seven times in the evening, and they talked about it for as many months.), he conceived the plan for Ann and Steven to fall in love. Owing to John's love and devotion to Ann, he causes Ann to commit adultery with Steve.

John’s intention or the reason for his action is his low self-esteem. John had so little faith in himself that he did not believe that he can fulfill his wife’s desires. On Pg. 49, John described one of Ann's needs, "That's what you need, Ann - someone to talk to beside me.” When Ann reveals to us that John does not often talk to her, Pg. 50 That's what I need - someone to talk to, John never talks, we learned that John is actually telling Ann that she needs Steven instead of him. In addition, John believes that he was such a stupid person that he could not do anything for his wife.
“To him it was not what he actually accomplished by means of the sacrifice that mattered, but the sacrifice itself, the gesture-something done fore her sake"
Owing to the little self-respect that he had, he decided to sacrifice his relationship with Ann and later on his own life to show Ann he loves her.

Ann falling in love with Steven is not an accident, but instead, a part of John’s plan. John knew a storm was coming (Pg. 47. You said yourself we could expect a storm) so he left the house. He then invited Steve to his house sot hat Ann and Steven were alone together. Ann, having been flattered by Steve (Pg. 51. Such a storm to face, I should feel flattered), fell in love with him. Moreover, Ross foreshadowed that John will carry out his plan by the skillful use of the card game as a symbol. The fact that Ann never had a say in the out come of the story was shown by Ann’s own words on Pg. 55, “ . . . I will watch and let John play.” John was the person controlling the out come of the story. Ann was merely a prize to be won. Furthermore, we can assume that John setup Ann to fall in love and have sex with Steven owing to the fact that John planned this card game as Ann said on Pg. 58, “ We’re going to play cards, He was the one suggested it.”

Although this story had often been taught emphasizing that Ann was the unfaithful wife who betrayed her husband, one may still argue it was John who setups the whole incident. John's purpose in setting them up was to make Ann happy and his reason was to show Ann his devotion though sacrifice. Moreover, the card game as symbol was used by Sinclair Ross as a device to unfold what really happened. Sinclair Ross never directly told us that John was responsible for causing Ann’s adultery; however, John’s clear intention, motives and a workable plan reveled the possibility.

Pascal

2009-11-15T04:10:00.001-08:00

Pascal

Surprised or incredulous, members of the intellectual elite of Paris attend the exhibition of a strange machine, created by a 21 year-old youth. Nobody notices its reach: so that a mechanism capable to do so many calculations? Centuries later, the mill would be considered the calculating- first of the modern ones.

Blaise Pascal, the inventor of the calculating machine, would also develop important studies of Mathematics and Physics, besides leaving deep meditations on Philosophy and Christian Religion.

Born in 1623, Blaise Pascal interiorizou the dilemmas of its time: the shock among the old medieval order, in that the influence of the Christian doctrine, and a new vision of the world prevailed, own of the emergent capitalist society, based on the development of the sciences (mathematics, physics, etc.) and of its application in the technology. On a side, the Church tried to preserve its authority on the men, reaffirming the need of the faith; from the other, the humanity discovered that it could walk without the divine help, being guided for by force of its reason.

The Cientist

The scientific and rationalistic aspect of Pascal was revealed from the childhood. Instigated by the father, that, refusing to send the son to the school, took charge of his education, young Pascal rushed to the investigation of any problem with that if he ran across. Restless and curious, already to the 11 years, he accomplished experiences on the sounds, that resulted in a small agreement.

It is also counted that, not satisfied with the paternal promise that later he would receive lessons on mathematics, he developed for own initiative, the study of geometric illustrations. Thus, to the 12 years, he got to deduce alone the first 32 positions of the geometry established by Euclides.

The processes in the study of the Mathematics were fast: no longer he was to reproduce the one that the old specialists had done, but of doing new discoveries. To the 16 years, he wrote the " Rehearsal on the Conical " published in 1640, a work on the Profective Geometry in that investigated the conical ones - geometric illustrations whose properties don't lose temper when projected in several ways of a plan on another one.

After “La Pascaline's " construction - the machine of calculating -, the attention of Pascal went back to the experiences on the atmospheric pressure accomplished by Torricelli. Second this cientist, the space that stayed on the column of mercury of a barometer corresponded to the vacuum; Pascal demonstrated that the assumed " vacuum " didn't pass of rarefied air. In that study, he also analyzed the properties of the hydraulic pressure, enunciating a proposition that would be known as " law of Pascal "; the pressure exercised on the liquid in a shut recipient is transmitted by all the directions, with no modifyings.

The Religious Crisis

During that whole period, Pascal, as his contemporaries, he directed his conduct according with the prescriptions of the Catholic Church. This seemed to conform to at the new times, being shown tolerant with the scientific investigations that, direct or indirectly, they refuted the extracted dogmas of the Bible. In that measured, the Catholicism of the generation of Pascal tended to be much more a simple habit than a true faith: the faith in God didn't have consequences in the daily life.

The theological current founded by Dutch Cornelius Jansen, even so, it considered such attitude a true corruption of the Christianity. Jansen affirmed that the philosophical reason was the " mother of all the heresies "; in other words, it condemned any free thought, I don't subject to the control of the Church. According to him, the man was not guided by its free will; it was predestined, and the salvation didn't depend on its actions, but, only, of the divine grace.

In France, such current - known like Jansenism -, in spite of officially condemned by the Pope, it spread quickly, tends with main center difusor, the convent of Port-Royal. From there, the French jansenists started to nail the solitary retreat and the scorn for the material and social life.

Pascal would take contact with the jansenism in 1646, when the father, sick, became attended by two medical followers of the doctrine. In the discussions with these, Pascal went being taken by the feeling that there was something superior, deeper than the human reason.

If this solved the problems of the Nature, of mathematical or physical order, it was shown impotent to solve other problems, as the sin and the salvation.

This, even so, it didn't take it he abandon the scientific researches. Starting from 1652, Pascal began to investigate the mathematical subjects raised by the " Games of Dices ", elaborating the calculation of the probabilities. It gave studies, that he called himself “Geometry of Pascal ", it controls numeric that allows to calculate several possible combinations to a certain number of objects contained to each other.

However, no longer he felt more comfortable in than himself denominated as " mundane " life. Like this, as he tells his sister, to the 30 years, Pascal " decided to give up of the social " commitments. He began moving of neighborhood and, for better break with his habits, went live in the field, where so much did to abandon the world that the world after all abandoned him.

The Man and the Infinite

Actually he didn't abandon the world. In spite of having confined in the convent of Port-Royal starting from 1655, it started to develop intense literary activity and philosophical-religious person to disclose and to defend before the world the ideas of Jansenism. Of that activity they resulted, among other works, the " Provincial ", a series of goods writings starting from 1656, and, “Thoughts ", published in 1670, eight years after the author's death.

Besides, Pascal didn't totally stand back of the scientific activity: retaking the previous studies on the subject of the " infinitely small " ones; it developed in 1658 a work on the area of the ciclóide, it curves described by a point of the circumference that rolls on a straight line. That study would be the percursor of the integral calculation, elaborated later by Leibniz and Newton.

But even that scientific work was tied up to problems physiologic-religious persons. In fact, its interest for the " infinitely small " ones was associated to a larger subject. What is the man before the infinite "? Because the man, according to Pascal, is it placed among two infinites: the " infinitely big " (the Universe) and the " infinitely small " (particles, atoms).

Before that immensity, the man meets lost: We " burned in the desire of finding a firm platform and a last and permanent base for on her to build a tower that rises until the infinite; even so, the alicerces ruem and the earth opens up until the abyss ".

If the man, through its reason, gets to unmask several secrets of the world, he will never get to know everything, the infinite. There is only, therefore, a fixed point where the man can lean on: God. But the existence of God establishes in the man the trust in himself. The man continues lost, tormented, while it doesn't come the grace of God. It is not the man that should reveal the existence of God, because the reason is unable of that; the revelation only depends on God. While this not to grant the grace to the man, God will always be occult.

Macbeth

2009-11-15T04:07:00.000-08:00

A Tale of Two Theories
Macbeth(c.1607), written by William Shakespeare, is the tragic tale of Macbeth, a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. This tagedy could in fact be called "A Tale of Two Theories". One theory suggests that the tragic hero, Macbeth, is led down an unescapable road of doom by an outside force, namely fate in the form of the three witches. The second suggests that there is no supernatural force working against Macbeth, which therefore makes him responsible for his own actions and inevitable downfall. It must be remembered that Macbethis a literary work of art, and as a peice of art is open to many different interpretations, none of them right and none of them wrong. But the text of the play seems to imply that Macbeth is indeed responsible for his own actions which are provoked by an unwillingness to listen to his own conscience, the witches, and his ambition.
First, Macbeth ignores the voice of his own psyche. He knows what he is doing is wrong even before he murders Duncan, but he allows Lady Macbeth and greed to cloud his judgement. In referring to the idea of the murder of Duncan, Macbeth first states,"We will proceed no further in this business"(I.vii.32). Yet, after speaking with Lady Macbeth he recants and proclaims,"I am settled, and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat"(I.vii.79 80). There is nothing supernatural to be found in a man being swayed by the woman he loves, as a matter of fact this action could be perceived as quite the opposite.
Second, the witches have to be dispelled as a source of Macbeth's misfortune before the latter theory can be considered. It is admittedly strange that the weird sisters first address Macbeth with,"All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!"(I.iii.49), a title which not even Macbeth is aware he has been awarded. Even stranger is the third witch calling to Macbeth,"All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"(I.iii.50). However as stated by Bradley,"No connection of these announcements with any actions of his was even hinted by [the withches]"(232). Some are still not convinced though of the witches less than supernatural role; nevertheless, Macbeth appears throughout the play to be completely aware
3
of his actions, as opposed to being contolled by some mystic force. The effect of the witches on the action of the play is best summarized by these words:
...while the influences of the Witches'
prophecies on Macbeth is very great, it is
quite clearly shown to be an influnce and
nothing more.(Bradley 232)
Most important to the theory that Macbeth is reponsible for his own actions would be a point that the infamous witches and Macbeth agree upon. Such an element exists in the form of Macbeth's ambiton. In the soliloquy Macbeth gives before he murders Duncan, he states, "...I have no spur/To prick the sides of intent, but only/Vaulting ambition,..."(I.vii.25 27). Are these the words of a man who is merely being led down a self dustructive path of doom, with no will of his own? Or are they the words of a man who realizes not only the graveness of his actions, but, also the reasons behind them? The answer is clear, Macbeth is a totally cognizant principal and not a mindless puppet. Later the head witch, Hecate, declares,"Hath been but for a wayward son,/Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do,/Loves for his own ends, not for you." (III.v.11 13), which again highlights Macbeth's ambitious nature. The most significant part of the play is the part that is missing, and that is a connection between Macbeth's ambition and some spell cast by the weird sisters which might be said to magically cause an increase in his desires.
While purposely played in a mysterious setting, the location is not meant to cloud the true theme of the play with the supernatural. Macbeth simply succumbs to natural urges which take him to a fate of his own making. Everyone has character flaws that he must live with; Macbeth simply allowed those flaws to destroy him.

Living Together Before Marriage

2009-11-15T04:06:00.001-08:00

Living Together Before Marriage First, let's get some pre-conceived notions out of the way. I am not a religious zealot. I am not some pastor of a church. I am not some founder of a religious organization. I am not a preacher. I was not ordained by God. I am not a harsh judgmental person. I am however, simply 20 years old, struggling to walk with Christ, and my views come from the Bible. They were not taught to me by parents. My church did not teach me this. My youth leader did not tell me what to think. I simply sit down in the corner of my room, open up my Bible and read it, and tell people what I think; not what I FEEL is right, but what I THINK is right based on the Bible. Now let's face the subject at hand. First, I want to answer a question people may have, "Am I a bad person for living with someone before marriage?" This is not a good question to ask. It is equivalent to someone asking, "Do people sin? Can someone on this earth make it without sinning?" The answer is no. The question is not "am I a bad person?" It is "are WE bad people?" Yes we are. Christ says, "Why do you call me good? There is only one that is good. God is good." Paul later says, "For ALL have sinned. . ." People are not "basically good." It's not that you lie once or lust after someone a couple of times, or live with someone before marriage. It's that all people are corrupt. They have an inner nature to rebel aganist laws. There are two types of laws. There are God's natural physical laws (i.e. gravity, etc.), and there are God's moral laws. People's nature is to rebel against God. God says, "Don't lie." The next day, you're lying. God says, "Don't lust." Everyday you find yourself lusting. ALL people have a corrupt, evil, sinful heart. It is a constant battle with the flesh. The flesh says, "Please your body. If your happy, it's fine", but Christ says, "Love people and obey my commands." Second: I DO NOT go by these notions: "If your happy, it's okay." "We use birth control, it's fine." "I have kids; it's fine to live together." "It is a very common thing to do around here; it's fine." "People are going to do it anyway, protect yourself. . .it's fine." I think these notions are false. They go directly against the Bible, and OPPOSITE Christ. Christ says, "Don't do. Period." He does NOT say, "If you're happy. . .", "Use protection", "It's okay to live together, but make sure..." He says, "Do not. Period." But people don't like to hear that. People do not want to be told how to live their life. People want to do what FEELS good and what their body says is pleasing. In Hebrews 3, it says, "...fix your thoughts on Jesus...whom we confess." We are daily supposed to fix our thoughts on Him. Live a life to what HE wants. Jesus tells His people to live a life NOT of the world. Don't love the world or anything in the world. The world thinks it's perfectly fine to do whatever makes you happy. Christ says, "No, you do what I want. If it goes against 10,000 people, you go aganist 10,000 people. If it goes against what your girl/boyfriend desires, you follow Me first. If it seems these disastors will happen to you if you do this, you do it anyway because I told you to." Christ makes it very plain to us that he wants us to live a very moral life on this earth. Christians are supposed to be moral people. They are supposed to be like Christ. Christians live their lives trying to copy Christ. Now, a person may not see the reasons for doing what God wants. You may find yourself asking, "Wait to have sex before marriage?! But why?! There is birth control now! We are engaged to be married! This is a 100% committed relationship! Doing this will make me happy which will make my kids happy!" Christ says, "So? You do what I say. No if's, and's, or but's about it. I created sex for marriage, and I created a man and a woman to marry, not to live together. Why are you having sex before marriage and living together? You are doing the opposite what I say!" "But it's just soooo right to do it!" Christ's only words are: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Whoever calls himself a Christian and does not obey God's commands, is a lire. Again, to make this straight, there is a difference between God's LAW, and Jesus' COMMANDS. What are Jesus' commands? "Love your neighbor as yourself, and love God with all your heart, soul, and mind." If you love God with everything, you will then do what is morally right. Every law God ever gave is boiled down to those two commands. Now you may ask, "Where does the notion come in that says Christ doesn't want his people to live together before marriage, with sex or no sex?" In the Bible there is NO place that says, "God doesn't want people to live together before marriage, sex or no sex." Just like there is no place in the Bible where the word "Trinity" is used, or there is no place in the Bible where it says, "God doesn't want people to look at pornography." The more you read the Bible, the more you study it, the more deeply you get into it, the more of a bigger picture you will see. It is not that you "look for a specific verse", it is the big picture that God is trying to say. . .the over all thing God is trying to get across. First of all, why is it wrong for Christians to look at porn? Certainly there is no verse which says that, but you can gather it from verses like, "focus on whatever is pure, lovely, true...". From verses like, "If you lust after somebody in your heart, you have already committed adultry," and from others like, "Please Christ, not the flesh." From all those, one can conclude that looking at porn goes against what Christ wants in his people. It is the same idea about living together before marriage. Certainly there is no verse that speaks aganist the specific act. But you can gather it from verses like, "A man and a woman shall leave their parents and become one in the flesh," and from verses like, "Don't place yourself in tempting postions," and "Focus your thoughts on Jesus. . ." and "Marriage should be honored by all. . ." This means you place marriage above anything else. . .above living together, above birth control. Marriage comes first. Then you may find yourself saying, "True. If I move in with my boy/girlfriend (or commonly referred to as "shacking up"), then I AM going aganist what Christ says here and here and here and here and here." Again, it's the big picture the Bible is trying to say through all SORTS of different verses. Second of all, shacking up together is not something you do. You just don't do it. It is not a rule to live by. . .not something you teach your kids. You teach your kids that marriage is to be honored, revered, protected, and profound. . .not living with a shack-up honey. It's like the concept of stealing. If you ask someone, "Why don't you steal? If there was a laptop computer sitting in a room with nobody around, why wouldn't you steal it?" Normally he would say, "It's just wrong," or "It's something that is not to be done," or "It's just not right to do." Same idea about shacking up. It's just wrong. Period. It's not wise, smart, or good. As in stealing a person wouldn't say "Because I might get caught," and in sex or shacking up you wouldn't say, "But I use protection!," or "I am totally committed to this person!" You would simply say, "It's just wrong. It's trying to come as close as you can come to the moral boundaries and trying to get away with it." I believe when Christ appears at his "second coming" and begins to judge every person, millions and millions of people are going to look up at Christ and say: "Ooooops!" I believe that they aren't even going to speak a single word. No defense's are going to come out of their mouths. All Christ will do is just stand in front of them and not say a word and they all will know for certain that they are condemed.. My next point has to do with trusting God. I have heard countless people say, "Well, living together before marriage is smart because THEN you know if this is the person I'm meant to be with;" or the big one, "It would be better if we live together faithfully all our lives, than to get married and divorced." I have several responses to this. One is that you are not honoring marriage a single bit. You are honoring a totally different belief system. You are honoring living together above marriage. Second is that you are not trusting God at all! You are using shacking up as the test to see if you are the right ones to be together, INSTEAD of marrying "the one" picked out by God. You marry that right one, THEN you do not get a divorce. It is NOT the switched around version. The bottom line is, if you just HAVE to move in together, then how can you be trusting God? How is God being trusted here if the notion of "I have to SEE if this is the right one before I get married?" Rather, you should be saying, "I'm trusting God that he will bring me my mate for life, and Christ will be the center of our marriage so that divorce will never happen." To me, a girl like that is an absoulute jewel. A precious stone is such a girl. There is, somewhere, a girl God has for me. The most awesomest God fearing girl there is! God knows my future. God knows when the time is right.

Mahatma Gandhi

2009-11-15T04:03:00.000-08:00

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869. Although his father was a chief minister for the maharaja of Porbandar, the family came from the traditional caste of grocers (the name Gandhi means "grocer"). His mother's religion was Jainism, a Hindu religion which ideas of nonviolence and vegetarianism are very important. Gandhi said that he was most influenced by his mother, whose life "was an endless chain of fasts and vows." When, in the company of boyhood friends, he secretly smoked, ate meat, told lies, or wore Western clothing, he had an intense feeling of guilt. These feelings forced him to make resolutions about his moral behaviour that were to stay with him for the rest of his life.
Ghandi married at the age of 13. When he was 18, he went to London to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1891 and for a while he was attorney in Bombay. From 1893 to 1914 he worked for an Indian firm in South Africa. During these years Gandhi's humiliating experiences of open, official racial discrimination and aphartheid propelled him into agitation on behalf of the Indian community of South Africa.
He started protest campaigns and organized provocating demonstrations, but never used violence. His philosophy was to never fight back against the atrocities, but still never retreat. This, he said, would decrease the hate against him and his fellow believers, and increase the respect felt towards him. Gandhi's one aim was that everybody - hindues, muslims, sikhs, jews, christians, black and white - could live together in peace and harmony.
Under the banner "We are citizens of the empire" he gathered Indians from all over South Africa to a march for freedom.
He gradually developed his techniques and tenets of nonviolent resistance, and when he returned to India in January 1915, he was celebrated as a national hero.
He was soon asked to participate in and organize India's fight for freedom, as he fought aphatheid in South Africa.
Then he started his journey to discover "the real India", the life in the 700.000 small villages and the countryside with all the hardworking men and women.
These were the ones he was going to represent in his fight for justice.
As time passed, more and more people got to know about Gandhi and his controversial views, and Gandhi's popularity grew incredibly fast, something the English Vice-king and government didn't approve of at all. Armed only with honesty and a bamboo stick, Gandhi got through demands like a rebait on rent pay to the English land-owners, freedom for the Indians to grow crops of their own choice and the establishment of a part- Indian commission to hear grievances from the Indians.
The Englishmen allowed these demands without questions, "just to see the back of him".
But Gandhi had greater aims.
They sent Gandhi to jail several times, but they always had to release him, because he never used or indirectly caused violence or crime. He convinced almost everyone that nonviolence increases respect and decreases hate, but terror-actions and violence justifies the atrocities.
Now, the Englishmen were getting afraid of this little, big man. And fright made them dangerous.
In the town of Amritsar in 1919, English soliders, armed with guns, attacked and shot to kill hundreds of nationalist demonstrators, demonstrators who's goal was, ironically enough, nonviolence. 1516 demonstrators were killed or wounded.
The general said that he wanted to give the Indians a lesson that would have an impact throughout all of India.
The English people and government reputiated this terrible action and the attitude that prompted it.
The massacre of Amritsar turned Gandhi to direct political protest, and made it possible for him to propose that maybe it was time for the Englishmen to go home for good. Within a year he was the dominant figure in the Indian National Congress, where Gandhi challenged the Brits: "100.000 Englishmen cannot control 350 million Indians if these Indians won't cooperate".
That was what Gandhi wanted to achieve when he launched on a policy of noncooperation with the British. Nonviolence and noncooperation would make India independent of the British Empire, and the Indians would see the Englishmen off as friends.
The first action of this noncooperation policy was to make the indians realize that to buy and use cotton clothing made in England made the Indian people unemployed and poor.
But one day a policeman got killed as a direct consequence of one of the civil disobedience-marches, and Gandhi felt obligated to abandon total noncooperation.
Despite that Gandhi actually stopped a revolution that cold have cost hundreds of Englishmens lives, Gandhi was sentenced to jail, this time on the charges of encouraging the Indian people to noncooperation and civil disobedience.
The Englishmen thought that after a few years in jail, Gandhi would be forgotten.
But from the first day he became a free man he once again fought for a free India.
In 1930 Gandhi arranged one of his most famous anti-English action: The salt march. This was a reaction to England's unreasonable salt-taxes. The Indish people are, as all other people, dependent of salt. Many Indians couldn't afford salt because of the new taxes. Gandhi gathered hundreds of thousands people, and they all marched towards the Indian Sea to extract salt from the ocean. First, the British government chose to overlook it, but after a while they tried to stop the action. They arrested 90-100.00 people, and in one demonstration the British soliders killed and wounded 10-20.000 men.
After the salt-massacre the British empire's moral and ethic reputation was lost forever (if there ever were any).
India had endured all the cruelties, unreason and hardship, and the people had neither defeated nor retreated. In everybodies hearts, India was now free and independent.
It seemed like the British government finally saw that, because in 1931 Gandhi was invited to participate in a government-conference in London, to discuss "the possible independence of India".
But the talking in England ends in nothing, India is still a part of the British empire.
Together with his struggle for political independence, Gandhi fought to improve the status of the lowest classes of society, the casteless "Untouchables", whom he called harijans ("children of God"). He was a believer in manual labor and simple living; he spun the thread and wove the cloth for his own garments and insisted that his followers do so, too. He disagreed with those who wanted India to become an industrial country.
Gandhi thought that his philisophy, the nonviolent resistance, could be used during World War II. Not without a great number of causualties and deaths of course, but people always get killed or wounded in wars.
In 1942-44, Gandhi was imprisoned for the last time, after he had demanded total withdrawal of the British (the "Quit India" movement).
Gandhi was tireless in his attempts to get a closer relationship between the Hindu majority and the numerous minorities of India, particularly the Muslims. His greatest failure, in fact, was his inability to dissuade India Muslims, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, from creating a separate state, Pakistan.
When independence of India was finally achieved in 1947 after negotiations in whitch Gandhi was a principal participant, he opposed the partition of India with such intensity that he launched a mass movement against it. This resulted in a gruesome Civil War in India and Pakistan, the muslims fought the hindues. Millions of people got killed, men, women and children were slaughtered.
Gandhi couldn't watch this without action. He started fasting and said he would not eat until he was convinced that the fighting would stop, and never ever start again. And once again the people of India listened to Bapu, the country's Father. The fighting stopped and the people swore that they would rather die than fight again, noone wanted to see Gandhi die!
Nobody but one.
January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in Dehli by a Hindu fanatic who mistakenly thought that Gandhi was both pro-Muslim and pro-Pakistan.
India had lost their father, the whole world had lost one of the greatest and wisest men ever.
Gen. George C. Marshal, American Secretary of State, said about Gandhi:
"Mahatma Gandhi has become a spokesman for the concience of all mankind.
He was a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than
Empires."
And Albert Einstein added:
"Generations to come will scarcely not believe that such a man as this ever
in flesh and blood walked upon this Earth."

Home sweet home

2009-11-15T03:57:00.000-08:00

Engelsk stilinnlevering
Oppgave 5
Uke 43

I chose to divide the composition into three, and use all of the headlines.

Home sweet home
I’m home....my worst nightmare was over. The last five days I have spent in a dark, cold «mine». I did never thought I got home, but I did and here is the story....
Left alone
It was Sunday morning. The autumn had coloured the nature with all kinds of coloures. It was beautiful. Mum and I decided to go for a walk. We went up to the hills and headed for the mountains. It was beautiful. Once again I sat down and thought about life. God must have a colourfull fantasy if he really created this, I thought to myself. After a few hours of walking my mother was getting on my nerves.
-I got to go pee. I’ll be right back, I said. I had to get some rest from my mother, so I sat down. Later I had to go back to her so she wouldn’t worry. From here I don’t remember that much, besides that I was falling into a big hole. I’ve still got bruces from the landing. It was dark and cold. I was screaming for my mother, but there was no use. I took out a lighter from my bag. I lightened it, and I could not see anything but walls. Where were I, in a cave, or a kind of cellar? I was left alone, and it was getting dark. I thought about my mother, what would she think? I fooled around in my bag, and I found some of my mother’s cigaretts.
I knew it was bad for me but I took one anyway. It was getting cold, and I was hungry too. I looked in the bag again and I grabbed some biscuits to eat, and a coat to wear. I thought to myself; what if they don’t find me, how do I get out, and do they even care looking for me? I was frightened to death. I didn’t know if there was day or night, but I got up and looked around. I found a lantern, and lightened it up. I didn’t believe my own eyes...It was some kind of a mine. I jumped into a wagon, and rolled slowly longer into the mine. After fooling around in the mine for a long time I gleamed light ahead of me. I was free, well I thought so, but I was wrong. As far as I could see, I saw mountains, nothing but mountains. I didn’t know what to do. I sat down and cried, I cried for a long time. I didn’t know how much I would miss my family and friends until then. I missed my bed to. I had not slept for two days, so I lied down and fell asleep. I slept for a long time.....

Saved!
....and when I woke up, I was home. I didn’t understand how or when I got home, but that didn’t make any differents, because all that mattered was that I was home......

Jon Anders Midthun

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

2009-11-15T03:56:00.000-08:00

THE GREAT DEPRESSION
"ONLY A PERIODIC LOW-POINT, OR A
BREAKDOWN OF CAPITALISM?"

The great depression from 1929 and into the 1930's, is the period in modern times with the largest unemployment, and the highest frequencies of bankruptcies. But can one from this say that "the Great Depression" was a breakdown of capitalism? Or was it simply an economic low-point that had to follow the prosperous 20's?
In the 1920's everything seemed to be running smoothly over the whole world. People had a good time and business prospered. Lots of new inventions were introduced such as the first planes, the radio and many families got hold of a refrigerators. In the more wealthy families they even had washing machines and vacuum cleaners. As the 20's were coming to an end, over 20 million Americans had cars.
During the 1920's there was a free marked where all was manufactured from the play of
supply and demand on the world marked. The whole production was based on credit i.e..
promise to pay in the future. The system was based on mutual confidence and exchange.
The economy was dependent on foreign loans, and government expenditure was
dangerously high, with businesses suffering from low profit margins.
The world believed that the great expansion, as in the early 20's, would continue and with all
the new inventions life would become pure joy and happiness. Sales, profits and wages went
through the roof.
The acute phase of the Great Depression began in October 1929, on "the Black Friday", with the Wall Street Crash and continued through the early 1930s. The stock marked crash was not the cause of the depression, but a symptom of a problem whose real causes lay much deeper. Some of them even so fare away from Wall Street, as the farmers of eastern Europe,
After share prices plunged on Wall Street in 1929 the US banks began to call in their foreign
loans. They had also loaned money to many people who as a result of the Crash could not
repay it. Meanwhile, those who had money on deposit at the bank began to withdraw it.
Without enough money to pay depositors, many banks collapsed. A shortage of cash meant
that there was less money to invest in industry and less money to be spent on industrial and
farm products. Many banks had to close down, and was the mere symbol of how terrifying the depression was. The first bank to close down in Europe was the "Creditanstalt" in Vienna in 1931.
As the depression got worse the years following the "Black Friday" (1929), different views developed on what had to be done. The optimists, people like president H.C. Hoover, believed this was just a periodic low point that had to follow the prosperity of the 20's, and that the prosperity was just around the corner. They said this based on earlier experiences, and knowledge of that history repeats itself. They said that the depression followed the prosperity as WW1 had followed the prosperity at the change of the century. Hoovers way of tackling the depression made him very unpopular.
Hoover was inaugurated in March 1929, and enjoyed only half a year of the economic prosperity with which the country had become familiar. He took unprecedented measures to deal with the depression as for the interest of maintaining consumer purchasing power, he urged business leaders not to cut wages, as had been their usual custom during hard times. His policy was only temporarily successful; production declined, unemployment grew, and eventually wages for those still employed were cut after all.
The people not so optimistic as Hoover, took measures to prevent getting dragged down into the dark whole of economic ruin.
On the international scene this meant an end to the old economic system, with manufacturing from the play of supply and demand. Now every country tried to protect itself by putting up high tariffs so to make sure it got to sell its own products. This again gradually lead to the abandoning of the gold standard. In this way the world capitalism was effected, but not broken down. There was still buying and selling across boarders even though in a much smaller scale. Some measures were though taken at the bottom of the depression which reminded strongly of the communism of the Soviet Union. When Hoover was replaced by Roosevelt in 1933, factories were put on manufacturing schemes and rationalism appeared in many aspects of life. The governments took hold of production to get the countries up of the dump. This can be said to be a breakdown of capitalism to a certain extent, but can also be viewed as a strengthening and return to capitalism. It would take more than two-three years to breakdown a system that it had taken so long to build up.
In Germany, the withdrawal of foreign finance in the early 1930s and the resulting
hardships opened the way for the rise of fascism and Adolf Hitler. The withdrawal of loans from Germany was not meant as a punishment of Germany, but a measure of saving ones own skin. In the totalitarian system of Hitler Germany there was a special kind of capitalism, which was run by the government, but distributed by the people. In many countries the Great Depression resulted in a big shift in public attitudes and in government policy towards welfare provision.

Summary of 'The Country of the Blind'

2009-11-15T03:35:00.000-08:00

Summary of 'The Country of the Blind'

Author: Herbert George Wells
Plot: In this tale a mountain climber falls off into a strange and isolated world which is inhabited by blind people who claim to have been in existence for about 15 generations and cut off from the rest of the world by an earthquake in the early years of founding. The intruder remembers an old rhyme and quickly decides that "In the Country of the Blind, the One-eyed Man is King."
However, his attitude seems wrong in a society which no longer knows the meaning of the word "see" and still operates perfectly, effectively and happily with their other senses tuned sensitively. Virtually imprisoned and relegated to serve them, the interloper begins to learn living with his disability - his sight. Eventually he falls in love with a woman. He gains the permission to marry her only if he is willing to abandon his eyes, which are deemed the course of the irrational outbursts which occurred in the beginning of his 'imprisonment', and have them removed. When he finally has to choose between his love and one of his most important senses, his sight, he chooses the latter one and decides to break out.
Interpretation: The whole story is a reversal of the idea of disability which shows us that the circumstances alone define the word disability. The experience of being an alien seems to be the major point of this story.
The visitor first thinks that he has got an advantage over the blind people, remembering an old phrase: "In the Country of the Blind, the One-eyed Man is King," but his advantage turns out to be in fact a disadvantage. The climax of the story is the end where he has to decide whether his sight is more important to him or love.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

2009-11-04T08:02:00.001-08:00

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

It is time for Norwegians to get their heads out of the sand
regarding chemical weapons. Declaring Norway a chemical weapons
free area is an illusion. Those Soviet systems on the Kola
Peninsula capable of delivering chemical weapons are not there
for the amusement of Russian soldiers.
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev did not get around to
discussing chemical weapons in Iceland. An American official who
was there commented that there are only so many hours in a day.
Another reason was that there was little public pressure.
This is surprising, since a number of countries have used
chemical weapons since World War II, most recently in the Iraq-
Iran conflict. Furthermore, they have always been used against
countries which had poor chemical defenses and little or nothing
with which to retaliate.
A quarter of a century ago, there were about five countries
with chemical weapons. There are now about fifteen, and the
number is growing.
It is ironic that most discussion recently has been about
the US decision to produce binary chemical weapons. These
consist of two chemicals, which remain separate until firing. If
nothing else, they are safer to transport and store than the
present unitary weapons.
Most people have forgotten that the US unilaterally ceased
production of chemical weapons in 1969. There has also been
little interest until recently in the stocks of American chemical
weapons which have been in Europe for decades. Nor did anyone
pay much attention to the Soviet buildup of its chemical forces
which followed the US decision to stop production.
It was only when the Storting Foreign Affairs Committee went
to Washington early this year that the binary weapon issue arose
here. At that time, the committee's members learned that some
Congressmen who were opposing the binary weapons insisted on
consulting NATO.
During the discussion of the binaries in NATO, some coun-
tries, including Norway, registered their objections. Most of
the members, however, regretfully endorsed them.
Subsequently, the US Congress has authorized the Pentagon to
go ahead with the production of some binary weapons. The US Army
will stockpile these in the US. It will also destroy all of its
present chemical stocks.
General Bernard Rogers, the senior NATO commander in Europe,
has expressed his satisfaction with these arrangements. He is,
however, not happy with the unwillingness of NATO politicians to
provide him guidance regarding the possible use of chemical
weapons.
NATO strategy provides for the possible use of chemical
weapons, in response to their use by the Soviet Union. Unlike
with nuclear weapons, however, Rogers has no political guidelines
regarding how chemical weapons might be used.
If, for example, the Soviets were to use chemical weapons
against Norway, how should NATO military commanders respond?
Should they only take protective measures, which will greatly
limit their ability to fight? If the decision were to retaliate
with chemical weapons, what kind should they use and against what
targets?
Some people suggest that NATO could retaliate with nuclear
weapons. Are they serious? Can anyone imagine an American
President authorizing the use of nuclear weapons because the
Soviets used some chemical weapons against, for example, Norwe-
gian troops in Finnmark?
Everyone agrees that the best solution would be to destroy
all chemical weapons. There have been negotiations on this
subject in Geneva for many years now.
The main obstacle is verification. There has been much
controversy regarding American charges that the Soviets are
producing biological weapons and have used chemical weapons, for
example in Afghanistan. If these charges were wrong, the Soviets
could have dispelled them easily by allowing on site inspections.
Until they understand this, there will be no agreement on
chemical weapons. When talking to Russians, Norwegians should
point this out.
In writing this article, I am not suggesting that Norwegians
should not continue to be concerned about nuclear weapons. After
Iceland, one can at least hope that there will be some reduction
in their numbers. As things are going, one cannot be equally
optimistic about chemical weapons.
If there is to be any progress regarding chemical weapons in
Geneva, governments must show more concern. This in turn will
require that the public learn to discuss this emotional subject
at least as calmly as they do nuclear weapons. Ignoring chemical
weapons because they are terrible will not make them go away.

Breakdown of the early Ancient roman republic

2009-11-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

Essay on the breakdown of the early Ancient roman republic.

For men who had easily endured hardship, danger and difficult uncertainty, leisure and riches, though in some ways desirable, proved burdensome and a source of grief. Sallust

The causes for the breakdown of the early Roman Republic cannot be attributed to a single event, trend or individual, rather it was due to a combination of all three in varying degrees. The principal and fundamental cause was the breakdown of the political checks and balances, particularly the Cursus Honorum from 133 BC onwards. This subversion occurred both accidentally and through the subversive behavior of individuals, unconsciously and consciously undermining the fabric of the republic in their quest for power and glory. One substantial outcome of this incapacitation was the emergence of violence as a political means. Once this had occurred the end of the old republic was heralded an autocratic dictatorship was born.
The republic was born out of a collapsed monarchy and was specifically geared to prevent a centralization of power. The mechanisms to this end were contained in the Cursus Honorum, a document that outlined the ladder of offices. It demanded, among other things, 10 years of military or legal service before any magistracy could be held, annual election and two years between consecutive offices (Plutarch, 1974. p.140). This system was designed to ensure that no individual could become too powerful by dividing jurisdiction between several groups and allowing for veto.
The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius are often blamed for causing divisions and antagonizing the aristocracy and particularly the senate by introducing laws and legislation that, although promoting egalitarianism for the poor, were catalysts to later breaches of the Cursus Honorum. Both Tiberius and Gaius had laws enacted without consulting the senate. This weakened the senate’s power and started a trend of ignoring the senate that remained until the breakdown (Plutarch, 1986. p 176). These Graccian reforms included the implementation of a welfare system whereby Romans citizens would be given free corn and the Lex Agraria or land reforms that broke down the latafundia and increased the number of small-scale farms. The welfare corn system not only aroused violent anger from the nobility but also created an urban mob (Suetonius, 1979. p.42) that relied on handouts and later participated in violence. Tiberius Gracchus ran for election to the tribunate for two years consecutively (123 and 122 BC). This was in direct contradiction to the Cursus honorum. The senate, when they heard of Tiberius’ plan, killed him. This action was significant, due to it being the first time that violence had been used for a political end, it was not to be the last.
Marius and Sulla, great leaders of Rome from 119 to 78 BC, can be attributed part of the blame for the breakdown of the republic. Their constant quarreling led to factional fighting amongst the people and eventually to civil war. Marius came into power before Sulla and, like the Gracchi, showed a tendency towards disturbing the status quo and antagonized the nobility. Marius’ reforms centered on military change, the most controversial of which was the extension of military service for the landless class. This seemingly insignificant reform had wide repercussions since it created semi-professional soldiers rather than a citizen militia (Bradley, 1990. p 270). Since no pension scheme was organized, the soldiers were largely dependent on their commanders for payment and pensions of land. This dependence led to the soldiers being "tied" to their commanders, allowing for the later development of armies that were loyal to individuals rather than to the state. Marius’ contempt for the Cursus Honorum is illustrated by his standing in the consular elections while not in Rome, a post that he gained and held for six years. This action was in direct contradiction to the rule of one-year consulships in the Cursus Honorum and allowed Marius to establish a power base that he used for his own political designs.
Both Marius and Sulla used violence openly as a political means. The first such incident was during the tribunal election where Marius killed Nonnius, a political opponent to his friend Saturnius. This was not the only example of violence from Marius. When returned from exile, he killed everyone who had ever offended him and took their land for himself. Sulla was not much better, having a similar proscription list and sometimes adding names to the list simply to acquire property. Legions of Roman soldiers, who had effectualy turned into private armies, carried out these executions. This practice of obtaining soldiers for personal means led eventually to the widespread use of violence and eventually to civil war.
Close to the end of the republic, a triumvirate arose, combining the three most powerful men in Rome-Pompey, Caesar and Crassus. Caesar engineered the union, using the military and political skill of Pompey and the Financial and political power of Crassus for his own benefit. He manipulated both men to pass legislation and reforms that would spell the end of the republic and catapult him into an autocratic Dictatorship.
Caesar, upon election to his first consulship in 59 BC, was faced not only with a hostile senate, but also a large proportion of the tribunes, acting on behalf of the nobles, that seemed determined to oppose his amendments. A relatively moderate bill to provide pensions for Pompey’s veterans was met with prolonged and systematic obstruction (Bradley, 1990. p336) by the senate. Caesar chose then to bypass the senate and took the bill directly to the assembly where it was vetoed by a tribune named Bibulus. Upon knowledge of this, he presented the assembly with Pompey, who vowed to use violence if necessary to defend the people’s rights. The bill was subsequently passed. Caesar, according to Suetonius, governed alone, and did very much as he pleased. (Suetonius, 1979. p.110)
Each of the men was greedy for glory and power, demanding triumphs and ovations for military and political victories. Their earlier quarrels over such things had been damaging for the republic but their eventual union was to be its downfall.
It is interesting to note however that, in the words of Plutarch. All of these men "came to an inglorious and ineffectual end". (Plutarch, 1974. p.213)
Close to the breakdown, violence was used almost as a matter of course in political activities. From 133 BC mob violence became commonplace. Many politicians were dragged away and butchered by angry mobs, not the least of whom was Caesar himself. This trend towards violent resolution of political issues is well documented. Pompey used this element to his advantage, stirring up the crowd to the point that people were afraid to speak out against him since if they did, they were liable to be beaten to death by his supporters or murdered by his army.
The culmination of these events and trends was the breakdown of the Republic and the regression into a dictatorship, a system that survived until the fall of the Empire hundreds of years later. The seeds for the fall were planted very early in the form of social and political problems that continued for the Romans long after the breakdown of the republic. Although brilliant in their military and the development of physical infrastructure, the Romans made the mistake of letting the carefully and meticulously placed system of checks and balances fall asunder, taking with it the stability and potential for political egalitarianism that had made the Roman empire great.

BRAIN DRAIN OF ASIA

2009-11-04T07:58:00.001-08:00

BRAIN DRAIN OF ASIA

By what reason can we criticize ones ambitions? In Global Studies we were told that the developing countries, such as India and China, should cease the “exports of great minds and invest them in their own country”. I can understand the point that is being made. Developing and Low-Income nations need all of the help that they can get.
However, the critics of the “Brain Drain” feel that brilliant minds should be left where they are... yet I find it hard to believe that the peanut gallery can speak on behalf of these select scholars. In the United States our education systems are superb. Most every student has ambitions and future visions of their lives- and find that the key to such successes are through learning. We are encouraged by our parents, teachers and peers to venture out and reach our goals... and we find that no matter where we go education seems to be a key element along the way. If one wanted to pursue astronomy... they’d be sent to the moon. If one wanted to pursue ice fishing... they’d most likely find happiness in the Arctic. If one wanted to pursue fashion... they’d be aboard the next flight to Paris. No
country offers every amenity in life. One may find what they truly want in life beyond the fifty-nifty states.
I’d like to think that all countries encourage their people to get educated and experience what world offers. Those intellects who have things to share should not be closed away by domestic greed. It is no surprise that countries with poor education systems, and governments that condemn free thought, should have few, but bright, stars under their roof. Those individuals who have dreams of success are determined to fight ignorance, and find it in themselves to get educated. In a nation of poverty and chaos it is hard for these people to win. I have spoken to such people and they have told me that they have experienced a lot of competition and discouragement along their way. These people
now live in the United States... and their names can be found in medical journals throughout the world. They told me that they were one out of their entire graduating class to be able to go to college. The wonderful minds that derive from such perseverance find that developed nations hold the technology and the support for their studies. Undeveloped countries don’t have as great a number of colleges, medical schools, hospitals and technical
investments, that developed countries have. They pursue our systems... and we welcome their ideas.
The “Brain Drain” is the only way out for those people who want more in life than farming and weaving baskets, as the majority of the people in developing countries try to follow their forefathers trades in a modern world. When given the opportunity through education they are able to contribute so much more back into society. The intellects of
these nations cannot be wasted. If one’s country cannot provide what they need, then they are best off leaving. No one has ever found new horizons without first losing sight of the shore.

Area 51

2009-11-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Area 51

The creation of Area 51 began in April of 1955, when a Lockheed test pilot, Tony LeVier, searched for a remote site to test the U-2. Grooms Lake is chosen as the location for the runway. By August of 1955, the U-2 makes its first flight from Grooms Lake. That was only the beginning for test flights from Area 51. In April 1962, the first A-12 Blackbird was tested at Groom Lake. February 1982, the F-117A Stealth fighter takes off for the first time. All other test flights have not been released to the public, but that doesn’t mean they don’t occur. However, they are, in no way, shape or form, alien test flights. Nearly all of the evidence that supports the alien spacecraft theory, is without backing, or solid information. Also, the US government played on the UFO theories to hide their own testing plans. Today, Area 51 is the home to the latest top secret aircraft: the Aurora, among others Many of these aircraft, past and present, are able to perform incredible feats in the sky. Some so unbelievable, that they could be mistaken for alien spacecraft by fanatics of extra-terrestrials. However, based on the falsified eye-witness accounts of Area 51, and declassification of military spy planes like the U-2 and F-117A Stealth fighter, I am here to tell you that these flights are not alien crafts, but actually secret military aircraft.
I. According to Glenn Campbell, a leading researcher on Area 51, Bob Lazar provided the most incredible source for information supporting alien ships at Area 51, and also the most falsified.
A. He claims to have worked with alien spacecraft at an area called Area S-4, which is right next to Area 51.
1. He claims he worked there until 1988 as a senior researcher.
2. Government papers have shown that he was merely a repair technician.
3. He also claims that he gained complete exposure to Area 51.

a. He only made a few visits to the site between Nov 1988 and April 1989.
b. Those familiar with classified Gov. programs say such rapid exposure to a top secret project is unlikely.
B. He also claims to have seen nine flying saucers housed in a hangar built into a hill.
1. None of his claims can be verified.
a. People can’t just go to the alien hangars and check for space craft.
b. He took a lie detector test and the results were inconclusive.
c. There is no evidence that Lazar even visited Area 51.
1. Can be unofficially checked by former workers.
2. Unable to describe the arrival areas or what you see when you first arrive at Area 51.
C. The information about Lazar that can be checked is a lie.
1. He lied about his academic credentials
2. He lied about his status at Los Alamos Base.
3. He is not a reliable source.
II. The U-2 was the initial reason Area 51 was created, as stated in a timeline created by Tom Mahood, a respected Area 51 historian.
A. It was a secret spy plane created in the 1950s to get recon photos behind the Iron Curtain.
B. During the Cold War, it was used frequently to determine what kind of arsenal the USSR really had.
C. It needed an extremely long runway, because of the high speed it needed to take off.

1. Groom Lake provided the flattest, most secluded, and closest spot to other military bases.
III. The SR-71 Blackbird was the next generation of spy planes.
A. Created during Cold War to gather info on USSR
1. It was publicly announced by LBJ on Feb 29, 1964
2. The first flight took place on December 22, 1964.
B. Unlike U-2, the SR-71 could go over Mach 2.
1. According to the Augusta Chronicle, the SR-71 was tested by diving down from 50,000 feet and then swooping to a horizontal flight.
2. This maneuver is called a dipsy doodle
3. Occasionally, the exhaust turns green, giving it a UFO persona.
4. UFO sightings coincide with the coming and going of secret aircraft.
IV. The F-117A Stealth Fighter is perhaps the most well known aircraft tested at Groom Lake.
A. First plane in history to use low-observable stealth technology.
1. Work began in 1978, under Lockheed.
2. First one finished in 1982.
3. Last one rolled out in 1990.
B. It was kept so secret, nobody had any idea it existed until 1990, when they had stopped production of them.
1. Gov. used secret at Area 51 to hide all testing for over 10 years.
2. It is impossible to say how many other planes are currently being tested at Area 51, and nobody knows about them.
3. Silly to jump to conclusions and say that any unusual aircraft are aliens.
V. In Michael Haas’s Newsletter from Berkley University, the Aurora Aircraft is the latest craft being tested at Area 51.

A. It was created to replace the SR-71.
1. It can attain speed s of Mach 6-8 (4400 mph)
2. It is so secret, that nobody is sure what it looks like exactly.
3. By 1992, after 4 years of testing, it flies from Area 51 to an atoll in the Pacific, then to Scotland, where it refuels, and returns to Area 51.
4. As it lands, an F111 fighter flies down in close formation to mask the Aurora from any civilian radars.
5. Bill Sweetman in his article in Jane’s Defense Weekly “Mystery Contact May Be Aurora”, he states that when reaching speeds of Mach 6, the leading edge of the aircraft will glow bright red, giving it an alien look.
6. It also creates sonic booms as it flies by, which has been recorded by numerous seismological instruments, at regular intervals that correspond with testing schedules.
V. The prospect that UFOs are being tested at Area 51 simply has no backing.
A. There is no proof that UFOs are stored at Groom Lake.
1. The Government is very secretive about Area 51, but not because of UFOs.
2. Their secret military aircraft are very top secret.
3. The few people that have spoken out about experience from Area 51 have been proven discredible.
a. Bob Lazar was a complete liar about the information that is checkable.....why should we believe what he says about things that can’t be checked?
4. The UFO sightings can be easily explained by military aircraft that are being tested.

a. dispy doodle
b. green exhaust
c. Aurora sonic booms
d. glowing leading edge of Aurora
Just because the military doesn’t tell civilians about their aircraft does not mean that there must be alien intervention. It simply means that the government is trying to protect it new toys. They have every right to keep their top secret aircraft a secret.....that’s why it is called top secret, right? The government is like a little kid. How many of you when you were little wanted to share your new toys? I didn’t!

Nuclear Energy

2009-10-30T07:43:00.001-07:00

Nuclear Energy

You are watching the control panels and gages for rector two. Sitting comely you think about how easy your job is. It is a joke! All day you sit around and watch the gages for reactor number two just to make sure they maintain their settings. You don’t even need to look at the gages either because a computer automatically regulates them without you. Life is so good. Suddenly all the sirens go of and the gages and displays spin wildly in every direction. The ground shakes and you can hear the sound of a deep rumble. Unknown to you, the reactor’s cooling pumps have failed to cool the reactor’s core and in 3 seconds the temperature went from 280 degrees centigrade to 4,000 degrees centigrade. The water that was in the reactor is instantly turned to steam which creates tremendous amount of pressure in the reactor core. Above the reactor core there is a 5 foot thick lead plate and above that there is a meter thick floor composed of iron, barium, serpentine, concrete, and stone. The exploding steam fires the floor up like shrapnel. The metal plate goes through the four foot thick concrete roof like butter and reaches and altitude of sixty meters. You can hear ripping, rending, wrenching, screeching, scraping, tearing sounds of a vast machine breaking apart. L. Ray Silver, a leading author who covered the disaster at Chernobyl, said that within the core, steam reacts with zirconium to produce that first explosive in nature’s arsenal, hydrogen. Near-molten fuel fragments shatter nearly incandescent graphite, torching chunks of it, exploding the hydrogen. The explosion breaks every pipe in the building rocking it with such power that the building is split into sections (11-13). You look down at your body and notice that it feels hot and your hands look different. Unknown to you a tremendous amount of neutrons are hitting your cells and taking chucks out of your skin. Suddenly everything goes black.
The paragraph above describes the scene of what happened at Chernobyl nuclear plant a few years ago. From that time until the present many other smaller accidents have happened. From these accidents many people have died and millions have been indirectly affected. Nuclear energy has far to many negative problems than advantages. From the mining of uranium to disposal of nuclear waist there are problems of such magnitude that no scientist on this earth has an answer for. Nuclear energy has so many problems associated to it that it should be banned from the earth.

To understand the threat of nuclear energy we must first understand what happens in a nuclear reaction. Ann E. Weiss, who has written several books on the subject of nuclear energy, described what happens inside a nuclear power plant. In a nuclear reaction the nuclei of its atoms split, producing energy in the form of heat. The heat makes steam which powers a turbine. Fission takes place in a nuclear reactor. The fuel used is pellets of uranium. In a modern reactor, half-inch long pellets of uranium are packed into 12 or 14 foot tubes made of an alloy of the metal zirconium. About 50,000 zircalloy fuel rods make up the reaction core. To control a nuclear reaction control rods made of cadmium is used which absorbs neutrons. With the control rods in place in the core, a chain reaction cannot begin. When the plant operators want to start the chain reaction they activate machinery that pulls the control rods away from the core. Once this is done a single free neutron is enough to set off the reaction. As the reaction continues, a moderator slows the neutrons down enough to ensure that they will continually split more uranium atoms. At the same time, the moderator acts as a coolant. It keep the overall temperature about 300 degrees Celsius. Since the temperature at spots inside the fuel rods may be as high as 1,100 degrees Celsius, enormous amounts of coolant are continually needed to keep the core temperature at the proper level. When the plant must be must be shut down the control rods are lowered all the way back into the core. That brings the chain reaction to a standstill. The core cools, and steam is no longer produced (23-24). In all nuclear reactions use uranium and produce some plutonium.
Since nuclear reactions produce a considerable amount of plutonium there are considerable hazards that come along with it. Nader and Abbotts, two men who have a great amount of experience in the nuclear industry, comment that:
Plutonium’s major dangers include the fact that it is weapons-grade material, that it is highly toxic, and it is extremely long-lasting: it will take 24,000 years for half of it to decay. In addition to the possibility that plutonium could contaminate the environment or the population in an accident, there is also the danger that a terrorist group could steal plutonium for the purposes of fashioning an illicit nuclear weapon. (63)
Plutonium-239 is a man-made reactor by-product which emits highly energetic alpha particles. Even though alpha particles can be stopped by a piece of paper that can be very dangerous to tissue if they are taken into the body by ingestion or inhalation. Expressing extreme concern over the issue of plutonium getting into the human body Nader and Abbotts write:
Experiments with dogs show that the inhalation of as little as three millionths of a gram of Pu-239 can cause lung cancer. John Gofman has reported that plutonium and other alpha-emitters, such as curium and americium [other products of a nuclear reaction], when in a form that cannot readily be dissolved by body fluids, ‘represent an inhalation hazard in a class some five orders of magnitude [100,000 times] more potent, weight for weight, than potent chemical carcinogens.’ The fact that plutonium has a very long half-life, 24,000 years, makes it one of the deadliest elements known and one of the most difficult to manage. (78)
The reason why plutonium is so dangerous when it gets into the lungs is because plutonium releases radiation to a small mass of the lung at a very short distance. This effect of radiation from plutonium giving a concentrated dose to one small area is much greater than if the same amount of radiation had been uniformly distributed throughout the lung. Another problem with plutonium is its toxicity. Plutonium is the most toxic of all elements. Fred H. Knelman, who was a senior executive on the nuclear control panel in Washington D.C., wrote, «One pound of plutonium-239, distributed to the lungs of a large population, could cause between ten and fifteen million lung-cancer deaths» (32).
Plutonium is rapidly becoming more and more common throughout the world because it is being produced all the time in nuclear reactions. The Nuclear Control Institute, in Washington D.C., published a paper on the Internet describing the problem of plutonium production.
By the turn of the century, 1,400 metric tons of plutonium will have been produced in the spent fuel of nuclear power reactors, and some 300 tons of it will have been separated into weapons-usable form. Less than 18 pounds (8 kilograms) is needed to build a Nagasaki-type bomb. The amounts will continue to grow rapidly. By 2010, there will be 550 tons of separated plutonium in commerce, more than twice the amount now contained in the world’s nuclear arsenals. By that time, Japan will have acquired an amount of plutonium equivalent to the present U.S. military stockpile. («The Problem», 2)

The quote above has a few hidden statements behind it. First it predicts that soon other nations will have a greater nuclear arsenal than the U.S.A. Also the quote says that plutonium is growing to be an excess product from nuclear reactions and thus other countries who are not economically stable will have a greater tendency to want to sell some plutonium to power hungry politicians for money to help the economy of their own country.
The subject of plutonium directly relates to nuclear terrorism. The terrorists’ holy grail is to build a nuclear bomb. It is becoming increasingly easy to find the knowledge on how to build a nuclear bomb. The only thing that is holding terrorists back is getting their hands on some plutonium or weapons-grade uranium.
Christopher K. Mitchell, a student under professor J. Ruvalds, wrote a research report in physics 177N class that stated that when constructing a nuclear weapon, there would be two main issues for a terrorist. The first issue would be the knowledge required about building the bomb and making it work. Essentially, this knowledge is not a great problem. For instance, anyone can purchase a copy of "The Los Alamos Primer" for approximately twenty three dollars. This book details the work of scientist who participated in the Manhattan Project tests in New Mexico. Inside the book, a terrorist could find the amount of uranium needed to create a successful nuclear explosion. In addition, the book details the different types of nuclear bombs and how to construct them. According to Carson Mark, a nuclear weapons specialist, a terrorist group would need some specialist, such as a nuclear physicist, a chemist, and an explosives engineer to build a nuclear weapon. In addition, some specialized equipment would be required. The second issue of building a nuclear weapon is the material needed to fuel the chemical reaction. Of the two issues, this one creates a much larger problem. Until recently, it was nearly impossible for a terrorist to even consider obtaining either bomb grade plutonium or uranium. In the past, these bomb grade fuels would have been nearly impossible to steal and the price to purchase such materials was far above the budget of any terrorist group. Many experts feel that it would cost at least five to ten million dollars to purchase enough plutonium to make a nuclear weapon. Others place the estimate as high as twenty or thirty million dollars (2). The problems of obtaining money and scientists are not big. The Soviet Union has left many of its top nuclear scientists without jobs and money. Many would be happy to get out of their crime ridden country to work for a terrorist group or another country associated with terrorism like Iran or Iraq. Money is not a problem for these two countries who hold some of the world’s biggest oil reserves. This paragraph represents only one type of terrorism that can be done with money and talent but what can other terrorist groups do who don’t have very much money?
One very vulnerable terrorist target is the nuclear powerplants. Scott D. Portzline, who has a Ph.D. is nuclear physics, writes that :
Considering the fact that a nuclear plant houses more than a thousand times the radiation as released in an atomic burst, the magnitude of a single attack could reach beyond 100,000 deaths and the immediate loss of tens of billions of dollars. The land and properties destroyed (your insurance won't cover nuclear disasters) would remain useless for decades and would become a stark monument reminding the world of the terrorists' ideology. With more than 100 reactors in the United States alone, if one is successfully destroyed, just threatening additional attacks could instill the sort of high impact terror which is being sought by a new breed of terrorists. (1)

For years, what has caused concern for many observers and several federal oversight committees is a report on the potential for damage from truck bombs.
Unacceptable damage to vital reactor systems could occur from a relatively small charge at close setback distances, and from larger but still reasonable sized charges at large setback distances, greater than the protected area for most plants. («Nuclear Terrorism», 2)
This represents the Nuclear Report Committee's most feared result. At some plants, a large bomb detonated offsite can cause enough damage to lead to a deadly release of radiation or even a meltdown!
The release of radiation can come from different areas in the nuclear cycle. One of the biggest radiation threats is uranium mill tailings. «After the uranium ore is separated, the tailings are left behind. Tailings contain radioactive thorium which remains dangerous for over 100,000 years» («Nuclear Waist: The Big Picture», 2). Thousands of tons of uranium mill tailings are being produced each year. Abbots and Nader comment that uranium mill tailings is a byproduct of the enrichment process. Less than one fifth of the amount of potential uranium is extracted in a given amount of rock or sand. (90) This leaves four fifths of the uranium that was inside the rock deep in the earth, on top of the ground in the form of sand. This sand can blow across large amounts of land. «By 1986 2.7 billion cubic feet of tailings were blowing in the wind, damaging native crops and human life» (Nuclear Waist, the Big Picture 2). This is one of the biggest environmental hazard that we face today. Expressing their concern about uranium dust, Nader and Abbotts write :
Uranium dust represents a respiratory hazard to mine and mill workers, but most of the problems with uranium mining and milling are associated with uranium’s decay products. They present a much greater radiation hazard. Through a series of nuclear reactions, uranium undergoes radioactive decay to radium, which in turn decays ro radon gas. The radon gas in turn decays to isotopes which in turn can cause serious biological damage, particulary when inhaled. (82 - 84)
The serious results of having mill tailings open to the environment are just being felt now. Since the beginning of the nuclear age to the late 1960's there has been no official record kept on where mill tailings have been stored. Many towns in the middle of the United States have been built on mill tailings. Some people unknowingly have used mill tailings as building materials. Corinne Browne and Robert Munroe, who are very well internationally known authors, state that :
In some places, such as Grand Junction, Colorado, people used the mill tailings as landfill and construction material. In Grand Junction, five thousand houses, a school, a church, a supermarket, and a hospital were built on tailings, thus creating situations where people live and work in buildings emitting radioactivity. (81)
In towns that have been built on mill tailings there is a great increase in health related costs because of an increase in cancers and radiation induced diseases. Corinne Browne and Robert Munroe go comment on the effects of living in an environment that has radiation.

In the early 1970s, a pediatrician in Grand Junction noticed an abnormally large number of children being born with cleft lips and cleft palates. A study showed that there was a far higher incidence of leukemia, hydroencephalitis, and subtle birth defects in the Grand Junction area than in surrounding counties. (81)
A person could then conclude that the nuclear industry is mostly to blame for the nation wide increase of cancers and deaths. Is the nuclear industry really benefitting the nation or is it just making the world into a radioactive dump which takes thousands of years to clean up?
One last major problem with nuclear energy that needs to be touched on is the storage of nuclear waste. Nuclear waste includes all contaminated parts that have had contact with any source of nuclear energy and all products of a nuclear reaction that was discussed at the beginning of the paper. There are several problems that relate to the storage of nuclear energy.
At a nuclear storage facility, there are security officers, technicians, scientists, and regular staff which make sure the facility is safe. In the paper, «Uranium: Its Uses and Hazards», it states the half-life of some radioactive isotopes. Uranium-238 which has a half-life of 4.46 billion years and that uranium-235 which has a half-life of 704 million years represent most of nuclear waste stored at nuclear waist facilities. (1) This means that people will have to be monitoring these facilities for about ten billion years. Fred H. Knelman is very concerned about the time and man power required to run these storage facilities. Knelman wrote :
There must always be intelligent people around to cope with eventualities we have not thought of....Reactor safety, waste disposal, and the transport of radioactive materials are complex matters about which little can be said with absolute certainty. Is mankind prepared to exert the eternal vigilance needed to ensure proper and safe operation of its nuclear system? (39)
The searching for proper storage facilities and places has always been one of the top priorities of the nuclear industry. The problem is that no one wants a nuclear waste facility in there back yard. Literally billions of dollars has been spent just on looking for places to store nuclear waste.
Nuclear energy has many short term benefits but many more short term and long term problems. If anyone of the lethal potential problems develop and get out of control than the world is in serious trouble. Can the world afford to be dancing with death? Just think if a nuclear plant exploded because of a terrorist attack how our lives would be changed forever. Are we unselfish enough live without a few comforts now so that our children can have a brighter future? A nuclear disaster is the worst thing that can happen to this planet because it threatens the whole future of the human race. Nuclear energy is not worth the risk. The problem of nuclear energy such as terrorism, plutonium production, uranium mill tailings, and waste storage problems make nuclear energy too risky for humans to even experiment with. Nuclear energy holds our future in a tight grip so we must do something about it.

Mother - Tongue

2009-10-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

Mother - Tongue

When one is subjected to rape of both the body and mind, developing an identity is difficult. Nora Cobb Keller’s short story entitled “Mother-Tongue” is about a Korean woman’s struggle for her identity lost when she experiences rape. The story is softly spoken through a Korean woman named Akiko. Akiko’s essence is stripped from her while enduring multiple rapes of both body and mind. Her loss of identity starts when her sister sells her to the Japanese for cattle at age twelve. The Japanese place Akiko in a recreation camp named Jungun Lanfu where she is forced to prostitute for Japanese soldiers. There they rape her not only of her body, but of her mind and soul as well. They violate her spirit by displaying murdered women and rape her of her language by restricting speaking. Akiko continues through life existing but never truly living. However, the miraculous birth of her child renews her spirit. Akiko’s brevity of life compels the reader to feel courage and compassion for her.

The mental rape inflicted by the Japanese stripped her of her verbal language. In Jungun Lanfu she is forbidden from ever speaking through her lingual language, she is only to respond to the sexual wants of the soldiers. To keep her sanity, she and the other woman of the camp develop a silent language. They send messages to each other “through eye movements, body posture, tilts of the head or - rhythmic rustlings” (319). After the missionaries save Akiko, she is unable to tell them her name. “I had no voice and could only stand dumbly in front of their moving mouths” (319). The missionaries refer to her as Akiko because the word was stitched on her dress. However, the word Akiko in the Japanese camps was the label for a pleasure woman.

Akiko’s body moves along the planet without a spirit to drive it. She thinks by killing herself she can recover her lost inner spirit. Because she saw what the Japanese soldiers did to the body of Induk, another Korean Akiko, she does not. The soldiers murdered Induk because she was rebellious. Afterwards, they displayed her skewered body in the camp for the other women to see what would happen to them if they were as difficult as she had been. Akiko believed that Induk knew of the consequences for disobeying and that this was her way to salvation. She knew Induk did not go crazy but that Induk needed the raping of her body and mind to end, even if it meant her own death. “...she was going sane. She was planning to escape” is what Akiko thought (322).

With Akiko’s survival of two violently torturous abortions at Jungun Lanfu, the conception of her child is miraculous. Her ignition for life comes through that of her surprise daughter named Tweggi. Akiko teaches her daughter the language of tenderness, love and caring through the warmth of touching and acting quickly upon her child’s needs. “I touch each part of her body, waiting until I see recognition in her eyes” (323). These caresses are genuine displays of affection that cannot be spoken through words. Akiko knows the only fulfillment of love is through this unheard dialect. This “Mother-Tongue” will reinforce her daughter’s identity, existence and spirit. Akiko knows that this, “is what quiets her, tells her she is precious “ (320). It is the ultimate language of love delivered straight to one’s soul.

The writer of a short story needs to bring the reader to life by stirring up powerfully deep emotions. For short stories to be successful, the reader must participate in the existence of a character. To do this, the writer must accomplish the two things that Frederick Busch outlines in his essay titled “Bad.” First, the writer must truly love his character. If the writer does not love his character, than neither will the reader. Secondly, the writer must imitate real life through logical language to achieve an effectively moving story. Nora Cobb Keller accomplishes both of Busch’s criteria within the story “Mother-Tongue.” Keller created a tangible and persuasive character that comes alive in the heart of the reader. The character’s terror of madness and death causes the reader to feel for the character. Akiko gracefully steps inside the reader’s mind and establishes a strong and convincing presence. The story’s energy stimulates emotions of fear, loneliness and understanding within the reader. By the standards established by Frederick Busch in “Bad,” “Mother-Tongue” has the elements of what it takes to be a good short story.

Is the telephone a curse or a blessing ?

2009-10-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

Is the telephone a curse or a blessing ?

A slightly eccentric professor of archaeology in West Africa would neither answer the telephone nor reply to letters. As for letters, he would say, leave them long enough and they answer themselves. As for the telephone, I consider it an unwarranted intrusion. If people want to talk to me they can come and see me. Of course, the world could not carry on in its modern way without the telephone, which has become an essential part of living. Yet, in some respects it can be a curse.
Today, telephonic communication is worldwide and instantaneous. It is possible to dial people at the other end of the world without even going through an operator. This is fine, providing the time-differences are remembered. More seriously, in conjunction with satellite television, world news is instantly on our screens, sometimes even as it happens. Such exposure of, usually, unhappy events, wars, accidents, acts of terrorism etc can actually have a bad influence on the course of a war, a hostage-taking, or a tribal massacre. When it took a British ship four months to deliver a letter to or from, say, India, the crisis had often been settled locally, with much less anxiety all round.

The telephone has greatly decreased the volume of mail worldwide. Some letters have to be written, of course, but the art of private letter writing has become a dying art. Writing a good letter means first collecting then sorting out one's thoughts, and the finished article can be something to be proud of, a small masterpiece. And because letters today are considered of secondary importance, mail services in many countries have greatly deteriorated.

One of the most annoying experiences in life is to be seated in somebody's office and to begin to talk business when suddenly the telephone rings. "Oh, excuse me", says the official, "I must answer this". Why should the telephone be given priority over the individual who has taken the trouble to attend in person ?

The telephone can become a curse in the home, when it is abused either by the caller or by a family member. Most countries have customary hours for mealtimes, and a caller who is determined to speak to you at all costs will often make use of this knowledge, interrupt your meal, and perhaps or perhaps not apologize for doing so. Small wonder that many people take the phone off the hook when they sit down to eat.

There are the callers you can well do without. Some commercial concerns employ salespeople to use the hard sell on the telephone, and this is becoming such a nuisance that in many cases the problem is being brought under legal control. The worst kind of unwanted calls are abusive calls or obscene calls, made usually to single women and often late at night. Modern telephone systems can be made to identify the source of these calls, and this should go some way to helping the police solve the problem.

Family members have been mentioned, and here one thinks of the commercial exploitation of teenagers who are pressed to use chat-lines to pour out their troubles, or to talk to teenager pals overseas. Neither occupation offers any benefit, and the parents' phone bill may become astronomical.

Does all this mean that the telephone is really a curse? Of course not. Like any other advance in science the telephone is neutral. If it is abused, it becomes a curse. If properly used it is a great blessing in many ways.

To the lonely person, telephone chats are a blessing. To the disabled person, the telephone may be the only means of keeping in touch with family and friends. To the business, the stock exchange, and countless other features of modern life, the telephone is essential. In the police response to crime, in fire or medical emergencies, the telephone is indispensable. In all matters which require urgent communication and quick response, such as the locating of suitable bodily organs for transplant surgery, the telephone is a boon. For air to ground and ship to shore communication, the telephone is vital. Properly and responsibly used, it is a blessing.

Mission Unaccomplished

2009-10-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

Mission Unaccomplished

Peacefully I lay on the solid and rugged ground. As gusts of wind rose, I could sense the featherweight sand passing through my powerless body. The sound of the wind was humming the elegy that seemed to be playing for me. The time was drawing near. It was time for me to unite with my loved ones. My eyes were getting heavier every second. I started to lose feeling of my lower body. Large gusts of wind howled once again, reminding me that the time had come. As I shut my eyes, memories and emotions started to flow…
I saw an opening in the enemy’s defense and went in breathing calmly as I slashed a horizontal gash across his thick neck. I could almost smell the death in the enemy’s breath as I made a final thrust, burying my jeweled sword up to the hilt in his chest. I was exhausted from the countless wounds. I had lost too much blood. Even standing up required an extra effort. I was tired of everything, of the battles, of the bloody corpses of enemies and of my family, but most of all, of this war that had made me lose so much.
The war was carried from the past generation between two groups; Hucard and Namcot. Many centuries ago, our asteroid was once united, but eventually, arguments appeared. The two groups have too many unlike judgments to solutions and soon they separated. Afterwards, the opposite asteroid became enemies, they started to have battles and began sending secrets agent to spy on each other. The principle of these two countries was to overwhelm reciprocally and conquer more properties. There was only one way to end this combat, one of the asteroids would have to surrender or to be defeated.
Everything was peaceful inside the central asteroid’s shield. The firm shield was to stand up against the strongest impact that man could create. But apparently, a spy was generously paid to sabotage the energy generator which operated the ozone. Then we were hit and I was the only one who survived after the great impact. When enemies noticed that there was a living soul inside the central asteroid, they sent troops to go after me. I had no choice but to flee to the other section of the asteroid immediately.
As I ran across what was left of a road, I had to cover my eyes against the brilliant flashes of bombardments from the sky. Dilapidated towers and houses were scattered everywhere, corpses littered the ground leaving putrid odour. From the mound of debris that I was standing on, I could see what used to be my home. I could see it burning, leaving great gray trails of smoke snaking into the sky like claws grasping for life. This place of sorrow was once my home, a place I lived in, a place to defend. I had tried my best, but to no avail. The enemy had attacked too vigorously and too unexpectedly.
All of a sudden, I saw the enemy’s gun boats surrounding this sector. The people who lived here had always lived a quiet peaceful life. The attackers broke into a panic stricken state, while the yellowish haze of the shield dissolved. The shield had meant the people’s endurance of existence. This sector of the asteroid was one of the last places to be hit, at least the opposition was not as difficult as the attack in the central city where the majority of weapons are located.
An enemy’s combat team dropped from the sky fully armed with powerful weapons. All I could do was observe. It would be useless to attempt the manslaughter, there were too many of them. As time seemed to stop, one of the combat team member walked toward a young beautiful girl. She was driving away tears from her eyes and was too terrified to take any chances to escape. As the enemy draw his sword out, the young lady shut her eyes and waited for the assassination. The enemy gashed her throat without any consideration. She looked painfully at me for a second and then went limp. Dark red blood gurgled from her lips and neck, leaving a trail of it. At that moment I felt like crying out in agony. My heart was filled with a weight so great that I could hardly breathe.
As I watch the innocent slaying of the girl, surges of memories and passions flood into my mind. I did not want to remember, I just wanted to disregard everything, yet the memory came. As the central asteroid’s shield was destroyed my family and I were running to one of the emergency space ports seeking escapes, the assassins came. Without any second thoughts, the assassins aimed massive firearms at us and pulled the triggers. As soon as my father heard the gun, he grabbed me tightly and protected me with his soul. At that moment, all I could hear was gun fire and vanishing shriek. I find myself useless, I heard my family die one after another and all I could do was remain silence. Revenge, all I could think of was revenge, but how? With what? After awhile, I started to calm down. Without any enemies noticing, I silently turned around. I saw many assassins and one that caught my attention was the one without an ear on the right side of his face.
I continued to watch the assassinations that just hit this sector. Unexpectedly, a member of the combat team caught my attention. By the figure of his armor, it was obvious that he was the leader of the combat team, also the right side of his face was missing an ear. I stood still, cold air circulated my body. I was petrified. I did not know what to do. I must take revenge for my family. It did not matter if I was killed, because I could associate with my loves ones. But first I am going to give it all to avenge everyone who had been killed by these nasty attackers.
I went in thrusting. I twisted my body at the last moment to dodge the spray of bullets that whipped at me. My sword struck true, knocking the assault sniper from the enemy’s hand. The enemy countered with a backhand swipe that propelled him and my sword a few meters away. If it was not for the commander armor that he was wearing, he would, no doubt, have been a pile of broken bones by now.
The commander charged towards me bellowing a deafening war cry, his eyes thirsty for the sight of my blood. Time slowed once again as I saw death creeping closer. The commander’s muscular grayish rock-like skin pounded closer and closer. It was too much to suffer, waiting for death while lying there painfully with broken legs. At the last moment, as the commander leaped his final stride, he screamed with deathly terror. I felt nothing but emptiness.
… bright light struck my eyes, and feel that I am traveling through a long and peaceful tunnel. All of wounds from the previous battle are healed. Then I opened my eyes, my family was all waiting for me

How far are our lives today affected by the past ?

2009-10-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

How far are our lives today affected by the past ?

"History is bunk". This saying was attributed to the late Henry Ford, of the motor company. Though untrue, the statement makes the true point that no approach to the past is ever complete. Therefore the influence of the past on our lives is not easy to assess. Neither should we ignore the fact that in many contexts people deliberately reject the past for a variety of reasons. Yet, it remains true that genetic inheritance is a far more powerful influence on our lives than either upbringing or social environment, and that our genetic make-up has been conditioned by the past.
Yet, we are not entirely the victims of our physical inheritance. We learn a great deal from the attitudes of our parents and grandparents. Some we adopt, others we may reject as old-fashioned or irrelevant. The same applies to our hopes for the future. Just because father and grandfather were manual workers, does this prevent us from obtaining a good education and qualifying for a professional or business career ? Thankfully, in the modern world, and in most countries, it does not. More societies are ceasing to be autocracies, and are becoming meritocracies. The restrictions of the past make us even more aware of the opportunities of the present.

The same applies to outmoded class systems. Most countries have had class systems based on rank and wealth, supported by almost unbreakable barriers. Thankfully, this is generally less true today. Society is more flexible. If our grandparents kowtowed to the local dignitaries, we are no longer compelled to do the same. Except in countries which preserve autocratic and caste systems, education and opportunity have abolished these old shibboleths.

Yet, in many other ways we are still influenced by the past. The families and the societies in which we live are without question given their character by history. In many societies, family tradition is still all-important. Codes of morals, good manners and general behavior are instilled into us as children, and this has been the case for generations. The society into which we were born has its own standards of what is acceptable and what isn't. Most people conform to both, or are identified as drop-outs .

These pressures to conform stem from the different histories of different countries. A primitive and warlike tribe may put their young men through horrific initiation ceremonies in order to inure them to pain and to test valor, because they must become hunters and warriors, and the young men do not question the ordeal. Families in a country which has a caste system may withhold the freedom of women to choose their own husbands, or at least veto a marriage which is not approved. Women in other countries play a subordinate role because such is the diktat of their national religion. The young people of one African tribe will instinctively hate the people of an adjacent tribe because there has been a long history of warfare between the two.

In more advanced countries, military and naval traditions, which are deeply rooted in history, play a major role, especially in wartime. So does geography. The citizens of a small country surrounded by powerful neighbors, and frequently the victim of invasion, live in a perpetual perhaps subconscious fear of a repetition, and are often slow to develop independence and a sense of national pride. On the other hand, an island such as Britain, never successfully invaded since 1066 A.D., maintains a fierce pride in its freedoms and independence -- hence Britain's reluctance to become a European state. And from this stemmed the seafaring tradition which in the past enabled Britain to build an empire.

Again, some countries have developed by evolution, others through revolution. Both kinds may now be democracies, but in countries such as France the "will of the people" plays a much greater part than in countries where anomalies and injustices have been eliminated by parliamentary and legal reform.

Perhaps the chief factor which affects our lives is education, and the style of education which any country offers is deeply rooted in its history. The teaching of history itself always has a national emphasis, which always colors the student's outlook.

In spite of modern communication, in spite of the modern, modish concept of a world community , in spite of the rebellious atmosphere of the 1960s in the USA and the UK, in spite even of glasnov and perestroika, the main influences on our lives stem from the history of the country in which we happen to live. This is mediated through the society to which we belong, and the families which gave us birth.

Kids - summary

2009-10-30T07:29:00.002-07:00

Kids - summary

Characters:
• Telly: On the outside, Telly is the kind of teenage boy any mother might let her daughter go out with. He look "normal" - whatever that means - and can be polite and sincere when it brings him an advantage and suits him. But Telly is an inveterate liar. He would say or do anything to satisfy his addiction to deflower virgins girls ("They are gonna remember you because you were the first"). Sexually unengaged girls present the greatest challenge to him and, as some kind of bonus, are guaranteed disease free. He's only motivation is lust and he's propelled by it like some kind of heat-seeking missile. Or as he says at the end of the movie: "Fucking is what I love. Take that away from me and I really got nothin."
• Casper is Telly's best friend. He's as much into drugs and alcohol as into sleeping with girls. Unlike Telly, his partners don't have to come out with their hymens being intact but he's not concerned about the future or the consequences of his actions. He takes life as it comes, whether that means raping a stoned girls, inhaling dope, or beating someone half to death.
• Jenny: She is a former conquest of Telly, the only boy she ever had (unprotected) sex with. When her HIV test comes back positive, her whole life collapses around her and nothing seems to make sense anymore. Her best friend Ruby has had sex with at least eight guys and yet, tested negative. She now tries to track Telly down to tell him her "news".

Plot:
The screenplay takes place in Manhattan and starts with Telly locked in embrace with a young girl barely into puberty. Telly tries to seduce her with his sweet-talking, telling her how much he loves her and how she's the only one. And he's as successful as he was with several other girls before. Despite his former promises, it hurts when he tears away her virginity with his brutal uncaring thrusts. After the deed Telly races away outside to meet his friend Casper to describe his latest conquest in graphic detail. To him, the self proclaimed "virgin surgeon", virgins are a perfect target to aim at: they're clean, free from STDs and above all will still remember him after 50 years because he was the first one. It seems to be his way of leaving a legacy. On their way to a friends house they both decide to get some food and alcohol in their own cursing and shoplifting fashion.
Arriving at their destination it gets even worse. Sitting around at their friends home, high, in a blaze of smoke, and talking about girls and sex. Meanwhile, somewhere across the town a mirror-group consisting of Jenny's friends happen to talk about the same topic: sex. Juxtaposing both conversations you can see the diverse and yet similar views of both groups. When the topic of AIDS comes up the boys dismiss it as fiction ("I don't know any kids with AIDS....It's like some weird make-believe story that the whole world believes.") while the girls are more worried, particularly Ruby and Jennie who have done a testing. The main shocker of the movie is that Jennie tests positive while she's only slept once with a boy, Telly - compared to Ruby who's slept with at least eight guys without catching the HIV.
Starting with this revelation everything falls apart in her life and Telly mutates into some kind of walking time bomb, who has to be stopped by all means. Jenny desperately tries to find Telly to tell him her - their news. Meanwhile Telly and Casper by Telly's house trying to get some money, which his mother won't give him. So they decide to steal it instead and head off to buy some drugs at the local park. In this scene a gang of Caspers friends beat a hoodlum half to death only because Casper bumped into him with his skateboard. Meanwhile Telly gets fixed on another target he can deflower: Darcy, a cute 13-year-old girl and he uses the same tactic in refuting her fears as he used at the beginning of the film/screenplay. Jenny's need to find Telly now becomes even more urgent since she could thus, stop another girl from sharing the same fate. After several failed attempts to find Telly she finally finds him at a party. Unfortunately she arrives too late for Darcy who was already seduced by Telly. The screenplay ends with one stunning last question which seems to be typical for today's generation described in the movie: "Jesus Christ. What's happened?"

Personal Opinion:
When I first watched the film a was very shocked about the stark views it provides and their truth, blurring the border between reality and fiction with a kind of documentary feeling accompanying the movie. The movie displays a portrait of youths who resort to drugs and sex not as a form of rebellion but to fill the void of their otherwise empty and meaningless lives.
There are a lot of powerful scenes scattered throughout the film which left their impressions on me.
One of them appears while Jenny is on the search for Telly when a cab picks her up. The driver sees her as a quite good-looking girl with a troubled face. As he watches her, silent and axious, he gives her his grandmother's advice: "If you want to be happy don't think. Don't bump into any walls. If you stutter don't talk." whereas she answers "What if everything falls apart?". The taxi driver is from an era where problems, no matter how dire, can be fixed - or at least be survived, which is excactly her problem.
Another one is the scene where the various views on sex are juxtaposed. What is stiking to me is not that the conversations are different, but that they are somwhow so similar. The girls in Kids are no longer the romantics as they were in the good old times and neither are the boys. In fact they are anything but that. This scene shows us what has changed in the course of time. Of course there are differences too like their idea of a foreplay: while the girls all agree that foreplay with a boy who knows what they like is the best, the boys think foreplay is a good chance for the girls to practice feelatio, which they know the girls can't get enough of.
The scenes which impressed me most is the one which ends with the final and stunning question, "Jesus Christ. What happened?", which is interestingly enough asked by Casper.

CAESAR

2009-10-30T07:29:00.001-07:00

CAESAR

Gaius Julius Caesar was an extremely powerful politician and a brilliant

general. He also gained the respect as a good leader and was appointed

dictator of Rome. Caesar helped Rome and the present day world become

what it is today by his great leadership qualities.

Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BC. Legend has it that Caesar was born

threw an incision in his mothers stomach, that is how the term Caesarean

Section originated (Isenberg, pg 11). Caesars father was also named Gaius

Julius Caesar as was his father. Caesar mother name was Aurelia which was

connected with the prominent Aurelii family (Ward, pg 1). Caesar had three

names because he was the eldest son. His personal name is Gaius, his second

name is the name of his family's clan (Julius), and his third name is the

family name (Caesar), which means "hairy."

Caesar was introduced into politics at a very young age. Almost

everyone in Caesars family had a position in the senate or held a political

office. When Caesar was twelve, he went to the Curia which is the Senate

House to listen to speeches and debates and watch the statesmen at work.

Caesar was also often found at the Regia which is the offices of the High

Priest because his uncle, Cuius Cotta held an important position in the

College of Priests.

Caesar learned a lot from his uncle, Gaius Marius (Grant, pg 34). Marius

was involved in politics at a very young age, just as Caesar was. It was very

difficult being a young man involved in a career that mostly adults were in

charge of, but Marius won the loyalty of the common people and was elected

into consul in 108 BC. Marius was also a brilliant general who won a lot of

battles for Rome and its people.

Caesar was also in the military and held a rank as general. Caesar led his

troops to many battles and was rarely defeated. During this time, his military

was one of the strongest in all of Europe. Caesar learned a lot of his military

strategies from his uncle, Marius who was probably one of the greatest

military leaders to ever live.

Caesars political success had a lot to do with getting on the common

peoples side and helping to meet their needs. By doing this, people gladly

elected him into higher positions. Caesar was also a strong supporter of the

military and wanted to keep it as strong as it could be. While in the military,

Caesar was an aedile which is a person in charge of games. When he was

doing this, he went into debt. In 61 BC., Caesar became governor of Further

Spain. While in Spain, his military action restored his finances. In 60 BC.,

Caesar was elected to the consulate with the support of Crassus and Pompey.

Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the first Triumvirate which is a form of

government. After forming the Triumvirate, Caesar obtained a reduction of

the Asian tax contracts for Crassus, land for Pompeys veterans, and Caesar

received the governorships of Illyricum, Cisalpine Gaul, and Transalpine

Gaul. Caesar was also given control of a large army, which he used to take

over Gaul. He gained a lot of strength from the Gallic Wars, which lasted

from 58 to 51 BC.

Caesar had a couple of wives. His first was Pompeia who he married in

68 BC. Pompeia was the granddaughter of Sulla and a relative of Pompey.

After 6 years, Caesar divorced Pompeia after assuming she was with another

man. Caesars next wife was Calpurnia, who he married in 58 BC. Caesar had

one child, Julia and another adopted son, Octavian, who later takes over

Rome.

In 59 BC., Julia married Pompey. Strain encouraged by Crassus,

developed between Caesar and Pompey. The "Triumvirate" was renegotiated

in 56 BC., but the death of Julia in 54 BC. and Crassus in 53 BC. and the

great success of Caesar in Gaul eventually destroyed Caesars relationship

with Pompey. On January 10, 49 BC., Caesar crossed the Italy border which

started civil war. Caesars stronger army defeated Pompeys army and forced

Pompey to withdraw to Greece.

In 49 BC., Caesar was appointed dictator of Rome and in 44 BC. he was

appointed dictator for life. While dictator, Caesar introduced many reforms,

such as limiting the distribution of free grain, founding citizen colonies,

introducing the Julian calendar on January 1, 45 BC., and enlarging the

senate. And at the same time he reduced debts, revised the tax structure, and

extended Roman citizenship to non-Italians. On March 15, 44 BC., two of

Caesars partners, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus stabbed

Caesar to death at a meeting of the senate in Pompeys theater. After Caesars

death, his adopted son Octavian took his place as dictator. Besides being a

great leader, he was also an accomplished orator and writer. His two

surviving works On the Gallic War and On the Civil War introduced personal

war commentaries into our literature.

To sum things up, Gaius Julius Caesar was a powerful leader in our

history. Caesar struggled to make Rome a good place and he did a fine job at

doing it. Julius Caesar will always be remembered as not just a man, but as a

great leader.

Microsoft is Dead

2009-10-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is Dead

A few days ago I suddenly realized Microsoft was dead. I was talking to a young startup founder about how Google was different from Yahoo. I said that Yahoo had been warped from the start by their fear of Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a "media company" instead of a technology company. Then I looked at his face and realized he didn't understand. It was as if I'd told him how much girls liked Barry Manilow in the mid 80s. Barry who?

Microsoft? He didn't say anything, but I could tell he didn't quite believe anyone would be frightened of them.

Microsoft cast a shadow over the software world for almost 20 years starting in the late 80s. I can remember when it was IBM before them. I mostly ignored this shadow. I never used Microsoft software, so it only affected me indirectly—for example, in the spam I got from botnets. And because I wasn't paying attention, I didn't notice when the shadow disappeared.

But it's gone now. I can sense that. No one is even afraid of Microsoft anymore. They still make a lot of money—so does IBM, for that matter. But they're not dangerous.

When did Microsoft die, and of what? I know they seemed dangerous as late as 2001, because I wrote an essay then about how they were less dangerous than they seemed. I'd guess they were dead by 2005. I know when we started Y Combinator we didn't worry about Microsoft as competition for the startups we funded. In fact, we've never even invited them to the demo days we organize for startups to present to investors. We invite Yahoo and Google and some other Internet companies, but we've never bothered to invite Microsoft. Nor has anyone there ever even sent us an email. They're in a different world.

What killed them? Four things, I think, all of them occurring simultaneously in the mid 2000s.

The most obvious is Google. There can only be one big man in town, and they're clearly it. Google is the most dangerous company now by far, in both the good and bad senses of the word. Microsoft can at best limp along afterward.

When did Google take the lead? There will be a tendency to push it back to their IPO in August 2004, but they weren't setting the terms of the debate then. I'd say they took the lead in 2005. Gmail was one of the things that put them over the edge. Gmail showed they could do more than search.

Gmail also showed how much you could do with web-based software, if you took advantage of what later came to be called "Ajax." And that was the second cause of Microsoft's death: everyone can see the desktop is over. It now seems inevitable that applications will live on the web—not just email, but everything, right up to Photoshop. Even Microsoft sees that now.

Ironically, Microsoft unintentionally helped create Ajax. The x in Ajax is from the XMLHttpRequest object, which lets the browser communicate with the server in the background while displaying a page. (Originally the only way to communicate with the server was to ask for a new page.) XMLHttpRequest was created by Microsoft in the late 90s because they needed it for Outlook. What they didn't realize was that it would be useful to a lot of other people too—in fact, to anyone who wanted to make web apps work like desktop ones.

The other critical component of Ajax is Javascript, the programming language that runs in the browser. Microsoft saw the danger of Javascript and tried to keep it broken for as long as they could. [1] But eventually the open source world won, by producing Javascript libraries that grew over the brokenness of Explorer the way a tree grows over barbed wire.

The third cause of Microsoft's death was broadband Internet. Anyone who cares can have fast Internet access now. And the bigger the pipe to the server, the less you need the desktop.

The last nail in the coffin came, of all places, from Apple. Thanks to OS X, Apple has come back from the dead in a way that is extremely rare in technology. [2] Their victory is so complete that I'm now surprised when I come across a computer running Windows. Nearly all the people we fund at Y Combinator use Apple laptops. It was the same in the audience at startup school. All the computer people use Macs or Linux now. Windows is for grandmas, like Macs used to be in the 90s. So not only does the desktop no longer matter, no one who cares about computers uses Microsoft's anyway.

And of course Apple has Microsoft on the run in music too, with TV and phones on the way.

I'm glad Microsoft is dead. They were like Nero or Commodus—evil in the way only inherited power can make you. Because remember, the Microsoft monopoly didn't begin with Microsoft. They got it from IBM. The software business was overhung by a monopoly from about the mid-1950s to about 2005. For practically its whole existence, that is. One of the reasons "Web 2.0" has such an air of euphoria about it is the feeling, conscious or not, that this era of monopoly may finally be over.

Of course, as a hacker I can't help thinking about how something broken could be fixed. Is there some way Microsoft could come back? In principle, yes. To see how, envision two things: (a) the amount of cash Microsoft now has on hand, and (b) Larry and Sergey making the rounds of all the search engines ten years ago trying to sell the idea for Google for a million dollars, and being turned down by everyone.

The surprising fact is, brilliant hackers—dangerously brilliant hackers—can be had very cheaply, by the standards of a company as rich as Microsoft. They can't hire smart people anymore, but they could buy as many as they wanted for only an order of magnitude more. So if they wanted to be a contender again, this is how they could do it:
Buy all the good "Web 2.0" startups. They could get substantially all of them for less than they'd have to pay for Facebook.

Put them all in a building in Silicon Valley, surrounded by lead shielding to protect them from any contact with Redmond.
I feel safe suggesting this, because they'd never do it. Microsoft's biggest weakness is that they still don't realize how much they suck. They still think they can write software in house. Maybe they can, by the standards of the desktop world. But that world ended a few years ago.

I already know what the reaction to this essay will be. Half the readers will say that Microsoft is still an enormously profitable company, and that I should be more careful about drawing conclusions based on what a few people think in our insular little "Web 2.0" bubble. The other half, the younger half, will complain that this is old news.

Electric Cars

2009-10-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Electric Cars

In numerous cities across the country, the personal automobile is the single greatest polluter, as emissions from million of vehicles on the road add up. Car pollution is one of the biggest polluters the solution is to have much more efficient vehicles that produce fewer emissions with every mile. So what would be the best thing for cars to run off of in the future? Electric vehicles are the answer to this problem. Electric vehicles or EVs, are vehicles that are powered by an electric motor instead of an internal combustion engine (Frequently). EVs use electricity as the "fuel" instead of gasoline or some other combustible fuel. The power for the vehicle is stored in many large batteries in the bottom of the car, then from there the power goes to a power regulator where it is changed from DC power to AC power. The engine only has one moving part, which send the power directly to the wheels. Therefore it does all the primary functions of a gas engine with no emissions. (Automobile) With technology like this one might guess who is going to jump on the electric vehicle bandwagon right away. The major auto manufactures are producing high-performance electric vehicles, such as General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and many foreign companies as well, in a wide range of style and sizes. They include passenger cars, mini-vans, sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. Also there are some as small as bicycles and motor scooters and as big as busses. (Frequently) The EV is environmentally friendly (Automobile). Electric vehicles are today's zero-emission vehicles (Technology). The EV releases no pollutant because it has no tailpipe. Therefore, making it safe for the environment. Instead of gas stations, EVs get their "fuel" from electric power stations. An electric powered engine has many has many benefits over a gas engine in the comfort department as well. EVs offer a quiet fume-free, smooth driving experience. Since the motor does not operate when the vehicle is at a stop, an EV has no "idle" noises (Frequently). EVs provide fast acceleration by delivering power instantly to the wheels by providing high torque at low speeds, they give a feel of smooth and quick responsiveness (Technology). Well-designed EVs like those produced by major auto companies, travel at speeds equivalent to conventional vehicles and offer all the same safety and high-speed performance features. The EV also has low operating costs. The per-mile fuel cost of operating an EV can be less than one-third that of a gasoline-powered car (Frequently). EV owners also say goodbye to many familiar maintenance costs, no more tune-ups, oil changes or muffler replacements (Technology). Another advantage of an EV is the convince of no gas stations. EV drivers like that "refueling" can be done overnight, easily and safely at home or at public locations like shopping centers, where electric charging units have been installed. Electric vehicles are very safe. The EVs produced by major companies meet all safety requirements. As the EV becomes more popular the safety record is being safety monitored. To date, findings are positive and have shown that numerous EV vehicles maximize safety. For example EVs have lower center of gravity that makes them less likely to roll over. EVs have also less potential for major fires or explosions. And the body construction and durability of EVs enhance the vehicle safety in an accident (Technology). A question that many people ask is "where and how can I buy or lease an EV?" The dealerships selling EVs are limited at this time, because the industry is just beginning to emerge. As EVs become more popular, the network of EV dealerships that sell and service EVs will grow. Several major auto companies are now making EVs available on a lease basis so that customers will not have to worry about maintenance and so that they can minimize the risk associated with the purchase of new technology (Technology). Prices for the first EVs from the major auto manufactures range from the low $30,000's to mid $40,000's for purchase, or from $399 per month on up for lease (Frequently). EVs are also expected to have lower routine maintenance costs, since they have fewer moving parts that internal combustion engines, and don't require tune-ups or oil changes, but some EVs require battery pack replacements. With all the pollution from factories, homes, and automobiles the days of clear skies may be limited. With all the new technology that has come about on electric vehicles we will cut back on pollution in leaps and bounds. We all saw movies about cars from the future and thought they would run on electric and fly, well we might not see cars flying for some time yet but now we are seeing the electric car coming out of the movies and into real life

Acid Rain On Water

2009-10-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

Acid Rain On Water

The effects of acid rain are most clearly seen in the aquatic, or water, environments, such as streams, lakes, and marshes. Acid rain flows to streams, lakes, and marshes after falling on forests, fields, buildings, and roads. Acid rain also falls directly on aquatic habitats. Most lakes and streams have a pH between 6 and 8. However, some lakes are naturally acidic even without the effects of acid rain. Lakes and streams become acidic (pH value goes down) when the water itself and its surrounding soil cannot buffer the acid rain enough to neutralize it. In areas like the Northeastern United States where soil buffering is poor, some lakes now have a pH value of less than 5. One of the most acidic lakes reported is Little Echo Pond in Franklin, New York. Little Echo Pond has a pH of 4.2. Lakes and streams in the western United States are usually not acidic. Because of differences in emissions and wind patterns, levels of acid deposition are generally lower in the western United States than in the eastern United States. This chart shows that not all fish, shellfish, or their food insects can tolerate the same amount of acid: Generally, the young of most species are more sensitive than adults. Frogs may tolerate relatively high levels of acidity, but if they eat insects like the mayfly, they may be affected because part of their food supply may disappear. As lakes and streams become more acidic, the numbers and types of fish and other aquatic plants and animals that live in these waters decrease. Some types of plants and animals are able to tolerate acidic waters. Others, however, are acid-sensitive and will be lost as the pH declines. Some acid lakes have no fish. At pH 5, most fish eggs cannot hatch. At lower pH levels, some adult fish die. Toxic substances like aluminum that wash into the water from the soil may also kill fish. Together, biological organisms and the environment in which they live are called an ecosystem. The plants and animals living within an ecosystem are highly interdependent. For example, fish eat other fish and also other plants and animals that live in the lake or stream. If acid rain causes the loss of acid-sensitive plants and animals, then fish that rely on these organisms for food may also be affected.

Woman Secrets

2009-10-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

Woman Secrets

Contrary to popular belief intimacy and honesty doesn't mean you should tell all to your partner or potential partner. Sharing too much information can be destructive to a relationship. You might feel better if you spill your guts, but your partner most times ends up feeling much worse. Let's take a look at sexual secrets. Tell only on a need to know basis. You needn't tell your lover how many other partners you have had before he came along, and certainly don't give any details of past experiences. It won't help your relationship and if something happened that has profoundly affected you and/or will continue to have an impact on your life, you should tell your partner. He doesn't have to know that you have dated someone once or twice, but he should be told of a long term or otherwise serious relationship, especially if you were married or engaged before. Withholding information can hurt a relationship if there are serious or ongoing issues between you and your partner. Money is always a touchy subject for couples. Couples should talk with one another about money issues; there should be no secrets when it comes to finances within a serious relationship. When it comes to family secrets, you may want to tell all in a new relationship, but, don't tell how uncle Lou dresses up like Cinderella at the family New Years party after 2 drinks, and sings there's no place like home. The relationship between you and your partner might not last, and how would you like everyone in your Sociology class to know that about dear old Uncle Lou? Keep it to yourself until they are officially in the family. I know you want "no secrets" between you two from the start, but think first before you turn out your family. Only tell secrets that are pertinent to the situation at hand. Let's move on to personal secrets. If there are any secrets, he should hear them from you. You must use your own best judgment as to how much and how far back you should go when spilling those little secrets. Don't tell him secrets just to get them off your chest, which is not fair to him or yourself. If the secret is a life or death piece of information, he or she certainly has a right to know. If the secret is going to come out eventually, your partner should hear it from you. Revealing secrets can make the two of you closer, but do so slowly and with caution. Trust is something a couple builds over time.

AIDS

2009-10-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

AIDS

Being one of the most fatal viruses in the nation, AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is now a serious public health concern in most major U.S. cities and in countries worldwide. Since 1986 there have been impressive advances in understanding of the AIDS virus, its mechanisms, and its routes of transmission. Even though researchers have put in countless hours, and millions of dollars it has not led to a drug that can cure infection with the virus or to a vaccine that can prevent it. With AIDS being the leading cause of death among adults, individuals are now taking more precautions with sexual intercourse, and medical facilities are screening blood more thoroughly. Even though HIV ( Human Immunodeficieny Virus) can be transmitted through sharing of non sterilize needles and syringes, sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, and through most bodily fluids, it is not transmitted through casual contact or by biting or blood sucking insects. Development of the AIDS Epidemic The first case of AIDS were reported in 1982, epidemiologists at the Center of Disease Control immediately began tracking the disease back wards in time as well as forward. They determined that the first cases of AIDS in the United States probably occurred in 1977. By early 1982, 15 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 foreign countries had reports of AIDS cases, however the total remained low: 158 men and 1 woman. Surprising enough more then 90 percent of the men were homosexual or bisexual. Knowing this more then 70 percent of AIDS victims are homosexual or bisexual men, and less then 5 percent are heterosexual adults. Amazing enough by December of 1983 there were 3,000 cases of AIDS that had been reported in adults from 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and the disease had been recognized in 20 other countries. Recognizing the Extent of Infection The health of the general homosexual populations in the area with the largest number of cases of the new disease was getting looked at a lot closer by researchers. For many years physicians knew that homosexual men who reported large numbers of sexual partners had more episodes of venereal diseases and were at higher risk of hepatitis B virus infection than the rest of the population, but conicidentally with the appearance of AIDS,. other debilitating problems began to do appear more frequently. The most common was swollen glands, often accompanied by extreme fatigue, weight loss, fever, chronic diarrhea, decreased levels of blood platelets and fungal infections in the mouth. This condition was labeled ARC (AIDS Related complex). The isolation of HIV in 1983 and 1984 and the development of techniques to produce large quantities of the virus [paved the way for a battery of tests to determined the relationship between AIDS and ARC and the magnitude of the carrier problem. Using several different laboratory tests, scientists looked for antibodies against the HIV in the blood of AIDS and ARC patients. They found that almost 100 percent of those with AIDS or ARC had the antibodies-they were seriopostive. In contrast less then one percent of persons with no known risk factors were seropositive. Definition of AIDS AIDS is defined as a disease, at least moderately predictive of defects in cell- meditated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that disease. Such diseases include Kaposi's Sarcoma, Pneumocystis carnii pneumonia, and serious other opportunistic infections. After the discovery of HIV and the development of HIV-antibody test, the case definition of AIDS was updated to reflect the role of the virus in causing AIDS, but the scope of the definition remained almost the same. Transmission HIV is primarily a sexually transmitted disease, it is transmitted by both homosexual and bisexual and heterosexual activity. The first recognized case was among homosexual and bisexual men. Many numbers of studies have shown that men who have sexual partners and those who practice receptive anal intercourse are more likely to be infected with HIV than other homosexual men. Researchers found a strong connection between HIV infection and rectal trauma, enemas before sex, and physical signs of disruption of the tissue lining the rectum. Homosexual women tend to have a very low incidence of venereal disease in general, an AIDS is no exception. Female-to-female transmission is highly uncommon, however it has been reported in one case and suggested in another. In the reported case, traumatic sex practices apparently resulted in transmission of HIV from a woman who had acquired the virus through IV drug abuse to her non-drug- using sexual partner. 1983 was when the first heterosexual (Male to female; female to male) transmission was reported. In 1985, 1.7 percent of the adult cases of AIDS reported to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) were acquired through heterosexual activity; projections suggest that by 1991 the proportion will rise to 5 percent. Heterosexual contact is the only transmission category in which women outnumber men with AIDS. Heterosexual contacts accounts for 29 percent of AIDS cases among women in the United States, but for only 2 percent of cases among men. Estimates of the risk of HIV transmission in unprotected intercourse with a person known to be infected with HIV are 1 in 500 for a single sexual encounter and 2 in 3 for 500 sexual encounters. The use of a condom reduces these odds to 1 in 5,000 for a single encounter and to 1 in 11 for 500 encounters. Routes NOT Involved in Transmission of HIV A study of more than 400 family members of adult and pediatric AIDS patients demonstrate that the virus is not transmitted by any daily activity related to living with or caring for an AIDS patient. Basically meaning that personal interactions typical in family relationships, such as kissing on the cheek, kissing on the lips, and hugging, have not resulted in transmission of the virus. Patterns There are three different geographic patterns of AIDS transmission. The first one is characteristic of industrializing nations with large numbers of reported AIDS cases, such as the United States, Canada, countries in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Latin America. In these areas most AIDS cases have been attributed to homosexual or bisexual activity and intravenous drug abuse. The second pattern is seen in areas of central, eastern, and southern Africa and in some Caribbean countries. Unlike pattern one most AIDS cases in these areas occur among heterosexuals, and the male-to-female ratio approaches 1 to 1. The third pattern of transmission occurs in regions of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and most of the Pacific. It is believed that HIV was introduced to these areas in the early to mid-1980s. Any study associated with AIDS must begin with the understanding that AIDS is only one outcome of infection with HIV-1. People infected with the virus may be completely asymptomtic; they may have mildly debiliating symptoms; or they may have life-threatening conditions caused by progressive destruction of the immune system, the brain, or both. One of the first signs of HIV-1 infection in some patients is an acute fluelike disease. The condition lasts from a few days to several weeks and is associated with fever, sweats, exhaustion, loss of appetite, nausea, headaches, soar throat, diarrhea, swollen glands, and a rash on the torso. Some of the symptoms of the acute illness may result from HIV-1 invasion of the central nervous system. In some cases the clinical findings have correlated with the presence of HIV-1 in the cerebrospinal fluid. Symptoms disappear along with the rash and other sings of acute viral disease. When the blood test for HIV-1 antibodies become available, researchers demonstrated the lymphadenopathy was a frequent consequence of infection with the virus. Scientist do not know what causes the wasting syndrome, but some experts believe that it might result from the abnormal regulation of proteins called monokines. Between 5 and 10 percent of patients with AIDS and HIV-related conditions have bouts of acute aseptic meningtis. About two-thirds of AIDS patients have a degenerative brain disease called subacute encephalitis. HIV infection also have been associated with degeneration of the spinal cord and abnormalities of the peripheral nervous system. Symptoms include progressive loss of coordination and weakness. Involvement of the peripheral nervous system may result in shooting pains in the limbs or in numbness and partial paralysis. HIV destroys the body's defense capabilities, opening itself to whatever disease-producing agents are present in the environment. The diagnosis of secondary infection in AIDS patients and others with HIV infection is complicated because some of the standard diagnostic tests may not work. Often such tests detect the immune response to a disease-producing microorganism rather than the organism itself. The most common life threatening opportunistic infection in AIDS patients is Pneumocystis carinii Pneumonia, a parasitic infection previously seen almost exclusively in cancer and transplant patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs. The first signs of disorder are moderate to severe difficulty in breathing, dry cough, and fever. Infection Infection with HIV is a 2-step process consisting of binding and fusion. The larger protein, glycoprotein120, is responsible for the binding activity. Its target is a receptor molecule called CD4, found on the surface of some human cells. The tight complex formed by glycoprotein120, and CD4 receptor brings the viral envelope very close to membrane of the target cell. This allows the smaller envelope protein, glycoprotein41, to initiate a fusion reaction. The envelope of the virus actually fuses with the cell membrane, allowing the viral core direct access to the inner mechanisms of the human cell. Once the viral core is inside the cell, the viral RNA genome is reverse transcribed into DNA and then integrated into the host genome cells. Cells infected with HIV carry envelope proteins lodged in their membrane. These cell-bound proteins can bind to CD4 receptors on uninfected cell. Fusion of the two cell membranes allow partially formed viral particles to move from the infected cell to the uninfected cell. Thus, HIV theocratically could spread through the body without leaving host cells. Cell Death HIV infects many different cell types, but it preferentially kills the T4 lymphocyte. There have been suggestions the T4 cells are more vulnerable to HIV- induced cell death than other cells because they have a higher concerntration of CD4 receptors. There is speculation that cell death occurs when viral envelope proteins lodged in the membrane of an infected cell bind to CD4 receptors embedded in the same membrane. Multiple self fusion reactions could destabilize the cell membrane and kill the cell. The massive depletion of T4 cells involves the cell-to-cell fusion reaction described above. A single infected cell with a high concentration of viral envelope proteins on its surface can bind to hundreds of uninfected T4 cells. The fused cells form giant, mulitnucleated structures called syncytia, which are extremely unstable and die within a day. One cell with a productive viral infection can cause the death of up to 500 normal cells. Cell death might be related to the presence of free- floating viral envelope proteins in the bloodstream. These could bind to uninfected T4 cells, leading to their elimination by the immune system. Other autoimmune mechanisms also may play a roll in T-cell depletion. HIV infection also may directly or indirectly suppress the production of new T4 cells. Direct suppression would occur if HIV damaged T precursor cells in the bone marrow. Indirect suppression would result if HIV interfered with the production of specific growth factors. On the other hand, infected cells may secrete a toxin that shortens the lifespan of T4 cells or other cells required for their survival. Immune System The Immune response to HIV infection, does not appear to halt the progression of disease. Part of the explanation for this failure probably relates to the structure of the envelope proteins. The most effective way to stop HIV infection would be to block the binding reaction between the glycoprotein120 and the CD4 receptor. However, antibodies from infected patients rarely do this. Scientists speculate that 2 or 3 regions of the glycoprotein120 molecule involved in the binding reaction may form a recessed pocket. The inability of antibodies to get inside such a pocket could explain the lack of protective immune response. The envelope proteins also are heavily coated with sugar residues. The human immune system does not recognize the sugar residues as foreign because they are products of the host cell rather then the virus. The sugar residues form a protective barrier around sections of the glycoprotein120 that might otherwise elicit a strong immune response. Regulatory Genes There has been recent studies that indicate HIV's unusual regulatory genes contributing to its ability to evade the immune system. In the simplest retroviruses the replication rate is controlled by interactions between the host cell and elements in the viral LTR. The virus itself has no way of regulating when, here, or how much virus is produced. In contrast, the human immunodeficiency viruses have elaborate regulatory control mechanisms in the form of specific genes. Some of the genes permit explosive replication; other appear to inhibit production of virus. Mechanisms that suppress the production of certain viral proteins, such as the envelope proteins, may allow HIV to hide inside infected cells for long periods without eliciting antibodies or other host immune responses. Conclusion As stated above in the last few pages, AIDS is the leading cause of death in homosexual, and bisexual adult men. However, these statistics were from 1986, 11 years later it has grown to more, not just in homosexual and bisexual men, but also in heterosexual sexual intercourse. At this point in time there is no cure, nor is there a vaccination. However, there are ways to prevent HIV, some of those ways are: abstinence, condoms, not sharing needles used for IV drugs. Public concern is higher then it was 10 years ago, but that's because people are starting to realize that not everyone is immune to it, as of right now the only ones immune to the HIV virus are baboons.

Family Ties

2009-10-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Family Ties

All eyes were focused on me. This was it. The tension had been building up to this point, and I knew there was no way out. I had gotten myself into this predicament, and I was the only one that could get myself out of it. There was nobody to turn to, for they were all waiting for my final move. I had never felt so alone, so isolated.

I thumbed through my cards for the fourth consecutive time, and I could still not decide which one to throw. I glanced up from my cards and caught a glimpse of each player. I immediately felt the intensity of my brother's eyes glaring at me from across the table. He did not provide me with the support and reassurance I was looking for from my partner. I shifted my eyes to the right. My mother, having just discarded a five of clubs and seeing that it was of no use to me, was sipping coffee with a carefree grin of relief. Then I peered directly at the most intimidating canasta player I have ever encountered. Great Grandma Rose was calmly humming a tuneless tune which added to her enigma. As this crafty eighty-eight year old lady squinted at her cards through her bifocals, I knew that time was running out; I had to make my decision. The most obvious choice was to discard the king of spades for which I had no use, but I was afraid that she was waiting for this card. My alternative was to break up my meld and throw the six of clubs, a card which I felt somewhat safe in throwing.

In the midst of my despair, great grandma delivered the final blow. She stopped humming and uttered these dreaded words: "It only hurts for a minute."

She could not have dug a knife any deeper. My brother's eyes were flaring with tension, I had complete control over his fate, and I knew our team unity was riding on the outcome of my decision. I therefore decided to play defensively and throw the six of clubs. No sooner had my discard settled on top of the pile than my great grandmother's hand darted out to snatch up the stack of cards and my brother simultaneously belted out a scream. "The six of clubs? How could you throw the six of clubs!"

I wanted to ask him if the king of spades would have been any better, but I knew a rebuttal was useless. I knew he would get over it soon enough, and like Grandma Rose says, "It only hurts for a minute!"

After my great grandma laid down her meld and sorted her cards, the game continued (and so did her humming). Although we lost that particular hand, my brother and I miraculously came back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. As we reveled in our triumph (my brother had now forgiven me for discarding the six of clubs), I could not resist directing my newly acquired quote at our opponents, who were mulling over their defeat. "Well, I have only one thing to say." My smile was so big that I could feel my cheeks stretching. "It only hurts for a minute."

Although my great grandmother had no intention of being profound, this quote actually embodies an important concept. Many people spend so much time worrying about the infinite possibilities that may result from any decision they make that they actually never make a decision at all. Although it is necessary to weigh the options and consider various viewpoints, excessive deliberation can often be detrimental. From personal experience, I have found it is usually better to think about the choices and come to a firm decision rather than to prolong the problem and perhaps create a new one by avoiding a commitment one way or the other. The best course of action is to make the wisest choice possible with the available information and then to make the most out of your initial decision. Even if in retrospect you see a better alternative, you can always pursue a new direction based on what you have learned through this experience. Surprisingly, what may at first appear to be failure may often spark an unforeseen success. I have learned not to let undue hesitation hinder my ability to take advantage of opportunities. After all, as my great grandmother so eloquently remarked during those heated canasta games, "It only hurts for a minute!"

Electronic Banking

2009-10-26T08:25:00.002-07:00

Electronic Banking

The Electronic Banking Association (EBA) is a non-profit organization established to do one simple thing-help more people get started with electronic banking. Here's why. Who taught you how to write paper checks? Probably your parent's right? Well, who's going to teach you how to write electronic checks? Probably NOT your parents. That's where they come in. E-banking is so much more convenient and so much quicker that everyone should know about it. The EBA was established as an independent source of helpful information about electronic banking for consumers and businesses. Financial institutions, merchants, and other financial service firms actually provide financial e-commerce services, but the Electronic Banking Association (EBA) monitors progress in the financial e-commerce industry and provides information that will enable users of those services to become better informed and to locate providers of the services they seek. Everyone hates paying bills. It's time-consuming, frustrating, and you have to lick that awful envelope glue. But not with e-banking. You'll spend less time paying bills, and more time doing fun stuff. Here are some advantages to e-banking: - No more paper checks. Your computer remembers who you write checks to. You simply enter an amount then point-and-click. You'll never run out of checks again. - No more hassles. You can schedule your payments in advance, so they'll get paid while you're on vacation or away on business. Electronic payments are processed quickly, in as little as 24 hours to 5 days (unlike a paper check sent in the mail, which takes an average of 10 days to post). - No more envelopes to lick. No envelope glue. No paper cuts on your tongue. And you can stop writing your return address again, and again, and again. - No more writer's cramp. It takes forever to write checks and addresses every month. E-banking cuts that time to practically nothing. - No more stamps. With e-banking, there's no postage and your bills are processed quickly - whenever you want them paid. You can pay your bills online, so it only makes sense to receive them that way, too. This is called "Electronic Bill Presentment," and more and more businesses are going to offer it. - No more lost bills. Your dog can't eat electronic bills. Your kids can't misplace them. And you can't lose them under a stack of catalogs. - Pay bills when you want to. Not when the post office decides to deliver them. Click to see it. Click to pay it. Your bills appear right on your computer screen and look much like the printed bills you are used to getting. But the difference is you can pay them with just the click of a mouse. - Better record keeping. All your billing and payment information is kept in one convenient location, not in messy cardboard boxes or goodness only knows where else. You can pay your bills online, so it only makes sense to receive them that way, too. This is called "Electronic Bill Presentment," and more and more businesses are going to offer it. In addition to paying bills online, you can get current information any time you want it. So you can get up-to-date account balances, transfer funds, obtain information about check clearing; all sorts of things. You can import this information directly into today's popular financial management programs such as Quicken® without having to re-enter it. You buy things all the time with credit cards, right? Well then, those are electronic transactions just like these. Today's latest Web browsers have sophisticated encryption that's very secure. What's more, electronic checks are safer than having paper checks lying around where anyone can obtain and misuse your account information. Experts predict it would take a hacker over 2,000 years to crack 56-bit encryption. Yet many financial institutions today require a browser that supports 128-bit encryption, which would take about 12,710,204,652,610,000,000,000,000 years to crack. Now that's secure. (Source: Byte Magazine) When you're ready to open an e-banking account, you can receive more information on security, as well as a recent browser that supports 128-bit encryption, through your financial institution or at the Netscape and Microsoft Web sites. In the time it takes you to pay your bills the old-fashioned way, you can be up and running with e-banking. Best of all, once you enter who you pay bills to, you'll never have to re-enter that information. Your financial institution may offer e-banking via the Web or a personal financial manager or both. Web-based e-banking is generally easier and quicker to set up. All you'll need is a recent browser that supports U.S. encryption. To use your financial institution's personal finance manager, you'll need the software from that institution. How to set up an online account (You'll need a checking account established with the financial institution first.): 1. Have important information handy (account numbers, driver's license, social security number, credit card numbers, employer contact info, previous address). 2. Go to your financial institution's web site. 3. Click to the e-banking page of the site. 4. Fill out and submit the online e-banking enrollment form. 5. Within a few days your financial institution will send you a e-banking start-up package that will contain a user ID, password and web site address with instructions on how to begin e-banking. That's all there is to it! You'll be amazed how convenient e-banking is. Try it once, and you'll never go back.

E Commerce

2009-10-26T08:25:00.001-07:00

E Commerce

An e-commerce solution for a business is the incorporation of all aspects of the business operation into an electronic format. Many well-established businesses have been selling on-line for years. For example, Dell Computers Corp., has been selling computers directly to end-users for years. Currently, Dell is selling excessive of 1 million dollars worth of computers everyday on the World Wide Web (WWW). When a business has incorporated an e-commerce solution, the business will experience a lower operation cost while at the same time increasing its profit. The e-commerce solution will allow businesses to eliminate unnecessary paperwork. All paperwork and data can be transformed into an electronic format. Thus, it will eliminate valuable shelf space and data can be searched and accessed in matter of seconds. E-commerce will also automates the sales process. Customers can "point & click" on the products they wish to purchase, fill out the customer information, and the product will be shipped and received in a matter of few days. The administration department does not have to fill out any paperwork because the customer had done it already. Thus, the efficiency will be greatly improved. With an e-commerce solution, the business will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People from anywhere in the world with an Internet access will be able to visit the site at any time. They will not be restricted to the "normal" business operating hours. A "brick + mortar" business is normally limited to serving the customers in its local geographical location. With an e-commerce solution, that business will not be limited a geographical restriction, rather it opens itself to the global on-line market. Essentially, the business' market exposure will be greatly increased. In conducting my study, I have researched extensively on the Internet for resources. I chose the Internet as my primary research medium because e-commerce is still a fairly new technology. Since it is technology related, the Internet will provide the most recent data available. Printed publications will not be able to adapt to changes as fast and efficient as electronic publications. I researched many e-commerce related web sites along with some companies that conduct statistical studies. Some of the e-commerce web sites that I looked into are E-Commerce Times, eRetail, and eMarketer. The statistical research firms that I researched are Forrester Research and Jupiter Communication. Both firms provided valuable statistical data that shows the rise of consumers shopping on-line and the predicted dollar amount that will be spent in the coming years. Methods In conducting my study, I completed the following tasks: - I searched extensively on the Internet for sites that are e-commerce related. Upon visiting the sites, I evaluated each site for the contents, thoroughness, and objectiveness. There are literally hundreds of sites that are devoted to e-commerce. However, after my careful examination of most of them, I narrowed down to four sites that I will research for this report. - I have also researched many firms that conduct statistical researches. The two firms that I will be utilizing for this report are Forrester Research and Jupiter Communication. Both firms are known for their preciseness, non-objectiveness, and thoroughness. The statistical data I collected from these two firms will support my recommendation that every business should have an e-commerce solution implemented. Results From my research, I have developed fifteen reasons why every business should incorporate an e-commerce solution into the business operation. They are listed below. 1. To Establish A Presence There are approximately 70 million people worldwide that have access to the World Wide Web (WWW). No matter what industry or business one is in, one can not ignore 70 million people. To be part of that on-line community, one would need to be on the WWW for them. Because if one doe not do it, one's competitor definitely will. 2. To Network A lot of what passes for business is simply nothing more than making connections with other people. Every smart businessperson knows, it is not what one knows, it is whom one knows. Passing out one's business card is part of every good meeting and every businessperson can tell more than one story how a chance meeting turned into the big deal. Well, what if one could pass out the business card to thousands, maybe millions of potential clients and partners, saying this is what I do and if you are ever in need of my services, this is how you can reach me. One can, 24 hours a day, inexpensively and simply, on the WWW. 3. To Make Business Information Available What is basic business information? Think of a Yellow Pages ad. What are one's business hours? What does one do? How can someone contact the business? What method of payment does one take? Where is the business located? Now think of a Yellow Pages ad where one can have instant communication. What is today's special? Today's interest rate? Next week's parking lot sale information? If one could keep one's customer informed of every reason why they should do business with them; doesn't one think one could do more business? One can on the WWW. 4. To Serve the Customers Making business information available is one of the most important ways to serve the customers. But if one looks at serving the customer, one will find even more ways to use WWW technology. How about making forms available to pre-qualify for loans, or have one's staff do a search for that classic jazz record one's customer is looking for, without tying up one's staff on the phone to take down the information? Allow the customer to punch in sizes and check it against a database that tells him what color of jacket is available in one's store? All this can be done, simply and quickly, on the WWW. 5. To Heighten Public Interest One won't get Newsweek magazine to write up about one's local store opening, but one might get them to write up one's Web Page address if it is something new and interesting. Even if Newsweek would write about one's local store opening, one would not benefit from someone in a distant city reading about it, unless of course, they were coming to one's town sometime soon. With Web page information, anybody anywhere who can access the Internet and hears about one's site is a potential visitor to one's Web site and a potential customer for one's information there. 6. To Release Time Sensitive Material What if one's materials need to be released no earlier than midnight? The quarterly earnings statement, the grand prize winner, the press kit for the much-anticipated film, the merger news? Well, one sent out the materials to the press with "The-do-not-release-before-such-and-such-time" statement and hope for the best. Now the information can be made available at midnight or any time one specifies, with all related materials such as photographs, bios, etc. released at exactly the same time. Imagine the anticipation of "All materials will be made available on our Web site at 12:01 AM". The scoop goes to those that wait for the information to be posted not the one who releases one's information early. 7. To Sell Things Many people think that this is the number one thing to do with the World Wide Web. However, I have made it number seven to make it clear that I think one should consider selling things on the Internet and the World Wide Web after one has done all the things above. Why? Well, the answer is complex but the best way to put it is, does one consider the telephone the best place to sell things? Probably not. One probably considers the telephone as a tool that allows one to communicate with one's customer, which in turn helps one sell things. Well, that's how I think one should consider the WWW. The technology is different, but before people decide to become customers, they want to know about one, what one does and what one can do for them. Which one can do easily and inexpensively on the WWW? Then one might be able to turn them into customers. 8. To make picture, sound and video available What if one's widget is great, but people would really love it if they could see it in action? The album is great but with no airplay, nobody knows that it sounds great? A picture is worth a thousand words, but one does not have the space for a thousand words? The WWW allows one to add sound; pictures and short movie files to one's company's info if that will serve one's potential customers. No brochure will do that. 9. To Reach a Highly Desirable Demographic Market The demographic of the WWW user is probably the highest mass-market demographic available. Usually they are college-educated or being college educated, making a high salary or soon to make a high salary. It is no wonder that Wired magazine, the magazine of choice to the Internet community, has no problem getting Lexus and other high-end marketer's advertising. Even with the addition of the commercial on-line community, the demographic will remain high for many years to come. 10. To Answer Frequently Asked Questions Whoever answers the telephones in one's organization can tell one that their time is usually spent answering the same questions over and over again. These are the questions customers and potential customers want to know the answer to before they deal with one. Post them on a WWW page and one will have removed another barrier to doing business with one and freed up some time for that harried phone operator. 11. To Stay in Contact with Salespeople One's employees on the road may need up-to-the-minute information that will help them make the sale or pull together the deal. If one knows what that information is, one can keep it posted in complete privacy on the WWW. A quick local phone call can keep one's staff supplied with the most detailed information, without long distance phone bills and tying up the staff at the home office. 12. To Open International Market One may not be able to make sense of the mail, phone and regulation systems in All the potential international markets, but with an e-commerce solution, one can open up a dialogue with international markets as easily as with the company across the street. As a matter-of-fact, before one goes onto the Web, one should decide how one wants to handle the international business that will come one's way, because one's postings are certain to bring international opportunities to one's way, whether it is part of one's plan or not. Another added benefit; if one's company has offices overseas, they can access the home offices information for the price of a local phone call. 13. To Create a 24 Hour Service If one has ever remembered too late or too early to call the opposite coast, one knows the hassle. Not all businesses are on the same schedule. Business is worldwide but one's office hours aren't. Trying to reach Asia or Europe is even more frustrating. However, Web pages serve the client, customer and partner 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No overtime either. It can customize information to match needs and collect important information that will put one ahead of the competition, even before they get into the office. 14. To Make Changing Information Available Quickly Sometimes, information changes before it gets off the press. Now one has a pile of expensive, worthless paper. Electronic publishing changes with one's needs. No paper, no ink, no printer's bill. One can even attach one's web page to a database, which customizes the page's output to a database one can change as many times in a day as one needs. No printed piece can match that flexibility. 15. To Allow Feedback from Customers One passes out the brochure, the catalog, and the booklet. But it doesn't work. No sales, no calls, no leads. What went wrong? Wrong color, wrong price, wrong market? Keep testing, the marketing books say, and one will eventually find out what went wrong. That's great for the big boys with deep pockets, but who is paying the bills? One is and one doesn't have the time or the money to wait for the answer. With a Web page, one can ask for feedback and get it instantaneously with no extra cost. An instant e-mail response can be built into Web pages and can get the answer while its fresh in one's customer’s mind, without the cost and lack of response of business reply mail. Conclusion After detailed analyzing and studying of the effects and benefits of incorporating an e-commerce solution to an existing business, it is clear that an e-commerce solution will benefit the business in every aspect. The implementation of an e-commerce solution will generate a brand new revenue stream, expand the market exposure, and decrease the operation cost. Many Fortune 500 companies, such as Dell Computer Corp., have already adapted e-commerce into their business operation. As I have mentioned earlier, Dell Computer Corp. is currently generating over 1 million dollars in revenues from their web-site. Many well-known "brick & mortar" businesses are starting to establish their presence on the web. For example, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, the top book retailer in North America has just launched their web-site earlier this year following the success of Amazon.com. Amazon.com, the top book & music seller on the web, has been referred to have one of the most efficient business operation in the world today.

Gas And Electric Cars

2009-10-26T08:24:00.001-07:00

Gas And Electric Cars

As his car warmed up that morning, Alan Wilson stared with amazement at his gas gauge. “I can’t believe it’s on ‘EMPTY’ again,” he ranted. “I just spent twenty bucks last weekend!” Alan sped away from his home toward the gas station before he had to be at work that morning only to find out that the gas prices had been raised again. “Why don’t I just burn my money?” he said facetiously. Alan grabbed the nozzle and began the weekly task of filling up the gas tank on his 1970 Ford Maverick with a 302 and dual exhaust. “I need to go buy one of those new Styrofoam pieces of junk that get thirty miles to the gallon,” he mumbled to himself. Since the invention of the car, people have had to go through this ordeal because we have no choice. It has been over eighty years, and we are still using gasoline as the primary source of power for our vehicles. With all of the new technology created over these years, shouldn’t we have thought of something better by now? The truth is that we have. Electricity is a much cleaner, more efficient form of power that could be put to use, but it hasn’t (Bradley 444). Is there any particular reason? Of course! Somebody will lose money. The idea of an electric car has been embedded in the mind of people for countless years. Whether it be by a writer, an inventor, or a scientist, it has been thought about for some time. Not only would this idea be safer for the environment, it would save billions of people money. Unfortunately, gas companies haven’t preferred these ideas over losing millions of dollars in sales. Although it may not be true, many environmentalists believe that car manufacturers have been bought off by the gas companies in order to keep their millions flowing in (Sullivan 2). How could an idea perfected years ago not have caught on by now? The first working electric car was created in the 1800’s before the first gas-powered car. It wasn’t perfected until the 1970’s so gasoline took its place in the mean time and we haven’t changed back until now (Ramo 24). In the past month or two, a few car companies have begun to put half-electric half-gas powered cars on the market (Ramo 25). The work of fiction is slowly becoming a reality. This may be a form of compromise between the people of the world and the gasoline companies. These cars are well designed. The gasoline helps the cars get up to speed and with hills, while the numerous batteries keep the car going when they are up to speed and not on a hill. They run smoothly and the best part is that a car will get between eighty and ninety miles to the gallon (Sullivan 3). It is safe to say that most people would enjoy the idea of filling up their gas tanks once a month. Plus, Gasoline companies will not be put out of business for two reasons: they will still make money on the full gas-powered vehicles, and they will still get money from these new “electri-gas” cars (Ramo 25). What is wrong with a fully electric car though? For one, they only travel at a top speed of 65 MPH for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, the batteries need to be recharged. With the gas-electric cars, a special generator charges up the batteries while the car is using gas (Bradley 445). So every time the car is getting up to speed or pulling up a hill, the batteries are being charged by the generator. There is virtually no way to run out of power on these cars provided the gas tank is kept full, and with only needing to fill up the tank once a month, this should be no problem for the average person. To his amazement, Jerry looked down at his gas gauge and saw the needle almost to the ‘E.’ “Wow, I haven’t seen that in almost 5 months,” he smirked to his wife. The brand new blue electric gas car coasted into the local Chevron right next to a certain Ford Maverick. Alan could do nothing but stare with jealous eyes knowing exactly how great Jerry’s gas mileage had to be with that new car. Both men finished filling their tanks and left. They never saw each other again for obvious reasons. Imagine owning one of these gas electric vehicles, and think about how much easier it would be to pull up to that gas pump knowing that you will not be there again for at lease a couple months. Eighty miles to the gallon; sounds nice doesn’t it? In ten years or so, when these new vehicles are more common, almost everyone that goes to the gas station will no longer have anything to fear.

Internet And WWW

2009-10-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

Internet And WWW

The “Internet” and “World Wide Web” Defined In recent years the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) have become more and more popular as an information resource. Many people believe that the WWW is the same as the Internet. This is untrue. The Internet was designed in the late 60’s as a way for a few military computers to exchange research data. Today, the Internet has evolved into a loose association of thousands of networks and millions of computers around the world. These networks are connected together using high-speed communication lines. Primarily, the millions of computers that access these networks use slower speed data connections and telephone dial-up connections. The WWW is actually a program that runs on the Internet. It’s a collection of interlinked documents that work together using a special computer language called a protocol. This language allows millions of web documents, or “pages”, to be accessed instantly with a click of a button. These documents can include, text, color, sounds, pictures and even movies. The Internet is essentially the hardware that connects all of the computers together. It consists of special computers that’s sole purpose is to move data at high speeds between other computers. The World Wide Web is a piece of software that runs on the Internet. It’s the actual information that is available on the Internet. Essentially, The Internet can function without the Web, but the Web cannot function without the Internet.

Technology Application In 21 Century

2009-10-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

Technology Application In 21 Century

A quote I heard many times when I was in high school and which I now know traces back to Sir Francis Bacon, one of our earliest scientist or philosophers as they were then called, is the statement "Knowledge Is Power." Today, I believe that the fuller, more correct statement is to say, "the application of knowledge is power." The study of science, and technology subjects will broader our opportunities in life. As we continue to advance to the 21st century- now lesser than 30 days away-we are well aware that technology is possibly the hottest industrial commodity around the world today. In the years ahead, it will be an increasingly critical factor in determining the success or failure of businesses. It is the fuel many of us are looking at to help us win this race to the 21st century. To do that, we should make technology matter. In this paper I am going to share my technology forecasts. I try to focus on my new forecasts a decade into the future - the first decade of the 21st century, because that is how far most businesses need to be looking ahead. There has never been a neutral or value-free, technology. All technologies are power. They evoke economic and social consequences in direct proportion to their dislocation of the existing economy and its institutions. I believe that technologies such as: biotechnology and genetic engineering, intelligent materials, the miniaturization of electronics, and smart manufacturing systems, and controls, will be the hottest technologies in the next decade. I am going to put together a list of what I think as the top ten innovative products that will result from those technologies. Number one on the list is something we call genetic. There are pharmaceutical products that will come from the massive genetic research going on around the world today. In ten years, we will have new ways to treat many of our ills - from allergies to ADIS. We may see the discovery of new methods of treatment for various types of cancer, for multiple sclerosis, osteoporoses, Lou Gehrig's and Alzheimer's disease, to name just a few. The biotechnology frontier, especially developments in the field of genetic, promises- and to some degree has already archived - a revolution in agriculture and human health care. But proving the means to develop plant species that are more disease-and-pest-resistant, more tolerant of drought, and able to grow during extended periods of adverse conditions. These technologies will very likely provide future increasing in agricultural productivity. So far, these techniques have not add much to world food production; recent grow has come primarily from increasing acreage in production, in response to higher grain prices. However, further expansion of productive land is limited, and the increased application of fertilizer appears to be reaching a point of diminishing returns. Therefore, increased agricultural productivity from this new field could be essential to feed the growing population. The mapping of human and plant genomes, a process already well underway, will provide greatly increased knowledge of genetic processes and, to some extend, information about how to control them. For humans, this will provide the means to deal with diseases that have genetic origins or result from man functioning of genetic material in the body. These diseases include potentially: cancer, cystic fibrosis, Gaucher's, hemophilia, rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS, hypercholesterolemia, and many others. Furthermore, genome analysis of an individual can indicate propensity to diseases whose symptoms have not yet been manifested. Scientists believe that many psychological and behavior attributes can be genetically controlled and therefore subject to diagnosis and eventually, for aberrant conditions, corrected. Such uses of this technology, of courses, raise serious social and ethical questions that must be considered. Other applications of biotechnology might produce novel protein for food replacing meat, stimulate awareness and evaluation of microbial threats (including archaea, ancient bacteria, being perhaps more adaptable and potentially hazardous than was previous thought), and creation of plantation to produce and distribute biological products in the ocean. The process of cloning was perfected; evidence by the fact that in 1997 a sheep was successfully cloned in Scotland. Hence, biotechnology could eventually eliminate food shortages, improve health, and extend life expectancy. Number two on the list is the personalized computer. The personal computer now sitting on our desk will be replaced by a very powerful, personalized computer. It will be able to send and receive wireless data. It will recognize your voice and follow your voice commands. It will include a variety of security and service tools that will make the computer fit your own individual needs. When we turn on our personalized computer the intelligent agents built into it might automatically show us high-lights and stories from last night's football game. It could display the current stock report on your own portfolio and ask it you would like to make any changes. It would give us a traffic report for our normal commute to work and suggest an alternate, if necessary. Finally, it may let us know what the lunch specials are at our favorite restaurants and ask if we would like to make reservations. The third product on my list is the multi-fuel automobile. In ten years, our cars will have to meet even stricter requirements for emissions and efficiency. And to do that, we are going to see a gradual shift to other fuel and power sources. Barring a major oil crisis, we don't see a rapid shift to those alternatives. The internal combustion engine will still have a major place in ten years. But we will see an increase in vehicles running on energy sources like batteries, kinetic energy, fuel cells, and hybrid sources. At first, these will be used in low-weight vehicles that typically travel short distances. But as these alternative- powered vehicles are introduced into the general population, many of our experts believe that they will likely run on a combination of fuels - like reformulated gasoline, electricity, and compressed natural gas. The fourth product is the next generation television set. Ninety-nine percent of American homes have televisions, and over the next decade, we will be replacing them. These new television sets will be wide-screen, digital, high-definition models with extremely sharp clarity. Many will be so flat that we will hang them on the wall much like a large painting. Eventually, these televisions will merge with the personalized computer I mentioned earlier. Of course, we are going to have to pay for all these wonderful products, and we will probably be doing that will the fifth item on the list, electronic cash. We will be using electronic money for everything from buying soda in a vending machine to making an international transaction over our computer. In ten years, our pocket might not jingle, because credit-card-sized smart cards will have all but replaced our cash and keys. At colleges, we will developed a system that will allow students to pay their tuition, sign up for classes, download textbooks onto their computer, do their laundry, enter their dorm, and order a pizza, all with one smart card. That card, of course, will be directly linked to their parents' bank account! The next product on my list is the home health monitor. These devices will be inexpensive, simple-to-use, and non-invasive (which basically means they won't puncture our skin). We will use them to monitor our health conditions right at home. They will be able to track a variety of our physical functions - like liver, levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, hormones, water, salt, and potassium. Monitoring our total health will be as simple as keeping track of our weight today. The future industrial applications of biology and computing will allow more people than ever before to participate in creating imaginative service, to build new markets and to generate personal wealth. Number seven on the list is another one for our cars. It is smart maps and global positioning systems. Already, we can get a global positioning system in our cars, and it will show us where we are on a map and plot routes. But it won't give us any information about what's going on around us. That is what's going to be different in ten years. We will be combining global position system with the traffic management infrastructure to help manage traffic flow. So, our dashboard map will show us where traffic problems are, and it will plot the best rout around them. We will also be using global positioning systems to help stop crime by giving us the power to monitor the location of our cars and other valuables. And we will be able to follow the exact location of our most precious valuable. Parents will be able to follow the location of their children as they walk home from school. The eighth product on my list is also one we might have in our cars, and we might also have it our office buildings, pipelines, airplanes, and even our sports equipments. These are new, smart materials that will give off warnings when they detect excessive stress. Materials in bridges or airplanes, for instance, could send a signal to a central operator when they detect stress, and that operator could send a return signal for the materials to respond to the stress. Automobile parts could give us a similar warning when they are approaching the point of breakdown. What is really amazing is that these materials will be designed with sensors built into the molecular structure of material. And, not too far in the future, they will be inexpensive enough to be in products all around us. Ninth on my list are anti-aging and weight-control products. That is something we would like to see. Over the next decade, we will see the development of a host of high-tech weight-control and anti-aging products for all the aging baby boomers. Unfortunately, no Fountain of Youth is on the horizon. If it was, I would be back in the lab working on it myself. Nevertheless, new products will make aging a little less traumatic. In fact, we think technology will allow us to look forward to active and comfortable retirements well into our 80s. These new products may include: weight-control drugs that use the body's natural weight-control mechanism, wrinkle creams that actually work foods with enhanced nutrients, and an effective cure for baldness. The final item on my list is not technically a single, specific product. It is more a trend that will change the way we obtain many products, especially computers and major household appliances. Within the next decade, we will begin to lease these products rather than buy them. Already, some utilities are developing programs that would allow you to lease expensive appliances (like water heaters) that use their respective sources of power. The trend for utilities is that over the next several years they will transform into "comfort companies." Instead of selling you a furnace, for instance, they well sell you the comfort of maintaining the proper temperature in every room in your house. Those are my predictions. But what may be even more important are the lessons we have learned as we've put together the forecasts. Three of those lessons are particularly noteworthy. They apply to business decisions that leaders in any industry make in this race to the 21st century. The first lesson we learned is that we have to be more aggressive than ever in tracking technology. Technology is growing and spreading around the world faster than zebra muscles in the Great Lakes. Historically, the United States has taken the entrepreneurial lead in developing new technologies. Biotechnology is a good example. But today, that entrepreneurial spirit is spreading around the global, and hot new technologies are growing everywhere. But here is the problem: That makes our jobs even more challenging, because: one more technology means increased competitive pressure. And two more technology means it will become harder and harder and harder to identify and keep track of the specific developments they can make a real difference for us, or our competitor. I mention that the increased emphasis on time-to-market has been one of the big competitive change in the R & D (Research and Development) over the pass twenty years. We see it every day in the United States. Just recently, a new toothbrush was developed for Teledyne Waterpik five times faster than any other one of the market. Another example is Battlle company, developed the coating that was the key ingredient for the next-generation interactive globe. These were completely new developments, but the company had to take them from the idea stage to the store shelf in a year or less-and, of course, in time for the Christmas buying reason. Therefore, time-to-market is the key competitive factor. Of course, to get new products out on the market quickly, we have to be able to identify and acquire the key developments in today's widespread sea of technology. The second lesson is one that folks in Ames may be as familiar with as we are in Chicago: We'll go crazy trying to predict ISU-Illinois basketball games. In other words, stick to what you know - and team up with people who know the rest. Companies which have business in technology, especially technology in several key markets, are often comfortable making predictions. We cannot predict who is going to win Olympic medals, but we can forecast how technology will change the Olympic games over the next twenty years. Even thought my dorms sits practically across the street from ISU, and I can see Hilton Coliseum form my room window, there is no was I am going to try to predict what might happen when ISU meets up with Illinois. And with technology and global markets expanding in nearly every conceivable field, industry's facing a similar challenge. It's getting harder ad harder to know everything we need to know about every aspect of our business. Today, for more and more companies, the answer is the alliance. Companies are focusing their internal efforts on their own core competencies, and they are developing alliances with other organizations to bring in technology related to their business. Through these partnerships, they are gaining access to new technologies and world-class scientist and engineers - and at the same time reducing costs. Over the next ten to fifteen years, we are going to see business going one step further. This movement toward more technology alliances and partnerships is really just a transition. Basically, we are going to see the emergence of the virtual company and the total R & D alliance. A company might maintain a vice president of technology to manage a network of R & D alliances with supplies, universities, and R & D organizations. Maybe it would have a staff of its own scientists and engineers housed right in one or more of those other organizations. This type of setup could be the ultimate way for a company to focus its sources on its core business and still be able to access the latest technology at the least cost. That brings me to the third and final lesson about the race to the 21st century. So far, I've mentioned scanning for technology and building alliances. The third point refers to making technology matter. As I mentioned above, technology alone is not the fuel that can give us the lead in this race we are all in. There were many amazing technologies that did not make our top-ten list. They were fascinating to dream about. But that does not mean they would lead to valuable products. And it gets even more complex, because many of these technologies will merge and open up vast new areas for growth. For instance, when we cross biotechnology and advanced electronic, that opens up a whole new field of biologically based electronics. Will we be growing organic computer chips? Many, if not most, of tomorrow's top products will come from this merging of two or more technologies. Mastering this vast web of technology will be a necessary step in winning the race to the 21st century and beyond. But it won't be sufficient. The companies that will win that race are the companies that will be able to anticipate market forces and acquire incorporate the right technology into their business. We need to combine a savvy understanding of market forces with a through knowledge of available and potential technology. That combination will be the fuel that powers us to develop the hottest products of tomorrow. Innovative thinking, powered by advanced technology, fueled by consumer demand, driven by responsibility and common sense will allow us taking the lead on preserving the environment and keeping customer priorities front and center. But taking that type of initiative to link technology to the marketplace we can use technology to do more than just improve efficient. Our goal should be to capture and use technology to gain value-and grab a competitive edge. The story with Teledyne WaterPik's SenSonic toothbrush I mentioned earlier is one of the best recent examples of a company using that combination of market awareness and technology initiative to grab a competitive edge. They are using technology and market awareness to provide their customers with a more valuable product. And that is how they are working to win the race to the 21st century. I have made a lot of predictions about technology and about this race that we are all in. But still, there is really only one prediction that I can guarantee. It is that market and technology forces will continue to transform industry, and we will all have to keep up with them if we want to succeed. We will all have to be futurists. Each business will have to develop its own forecast of leading technology and market trends that will impact the company in the decade ahead. And, they will have to continually monitor and revise that forecast and their own technology strategies. Technology alone will not secure our success. But focusing on the future with on eye on the marketplace and the other on technology trends- that is what will put us in the fast lane to the 21st century.

ICE

2009-10-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

ICE

Book Response Proof Sheet Title: Ice Genre: adventure Plot: Chrissy always thought of her father as the greatest superhero on Earth. Unfortunately she hadn’t seen him for the last three years and since her mother refused to discuss anything about his disappearance Chrissy pretty much refused any contact with her mother. Not knowing what to do, Chrissy’s mother sends her out to the country to live with her grandmother, father’s mother, hoping that she’ll open up and start living normally. At first Chrissy hated the idea of having to go live away from New York where she’d grown up, but later on she took it as an opportunity to further explore her father’s mysterious disappearance. However, after living at grandma’s for a few days she realized that grandma wasn’t gonna be of any more help than her mom was. Therefore Chrissy decided to slowly explore the house and search for any clues to her destination. While living out in the country slowly she started to like the surroundings and even managed to meet a few friends, including a neighborhood guy she developed feelings for. She found letters and pictures that lead her to believe that her father was still alive but she never had any proof. Finally one day after almost losing her granddaughter, Chrissy’s grandma decided to spill the truth. In deed Chrissy’s dad was still alive, however he was in prison. Characters: Chrissy plays a role of a very quiet shy thirteen-year-old girl. Most of her insecurity came because she believed that her father leaving her was her fault. Ever since her dad left she’s been trying out new things that scared her, but she just though that maybe her dad would like her better if she was more risk-taking. She tries to understand her grandmother as much and she can and help her out with all the work in the country. Even though her father had recommended to Chrissy’s grandma never to take her to visit him at prison, Chrissy was able to convince grandma otherwise because she just needed to tell her dad all that she had though and concluded over the years he was gone. Mostly she wanted to let him know that no matter how much it hurts her that he just disappeared all of a sudden and never wrote to her, she still loves him. Chrissy’s grandma is a typical old-fashioned caring woman. She guides Chrissy through steps to becoming a responsible young girl who will make her life out to be better than her father’s. She creates rules for Chrissy to follow in the house and doesn’t ease up after a few complaints from her granddaughter. She always tried to do what she thought would hurt Chrissy the least but, in my opinion, she wasn’t right to keep the secret about Chrissy’s dad for that long from Chrissy. Even though grandma was in her retiring years, she helped out others and tried to get as much work done as she could handle. She went to church and donated as much as possible to he charity fund. Her awesome personality helped Chrissy open up and get back to normal life. Passage: “ Her first thought was “NO”, but then she remembered the look in dad’s eyes when she had mentioned to him how afraid she was of roller coasters. Compelling herself, Chrissy clutched her fists around the sled, closed her eyes tightly, and finally pushed her-self off the hill. Gliding thorough the air, even though scared to death, all that managed to go through her mind was, “ I wish daddy was here. I wish he could see me now, see that I’m not just a scared little girl, but that I can be brave if he wants me to.” This passage was one of the most touching in the whole book to me because it explains how much Chrissy misses her dad and at the same time blames herself for his disappearance. I can’t relate to her thoughts but I can remember that when I was younger my mission in life was to make mommy and daddy proud of me. I can’t imagine how hard it is for kids to grow up without both parents. This passage just helped me understand the character’s personality better and helped me feel what she felt. Response: I thought the book was interesting because it kept me in suspense until the end. I loved the way the author described the surrounding out in the country it made me relate and relive some memories I had while living in the same type of environment. This wasn’t the greatest book I’ve ever read but it was one of the good ones.

Choosing Destiny

2009-10-26T08:13:00.002-07:00

Choosing Destiny

Throughout life, one will encounter many ups, downs, highs and lows. It's quite obvious that some will handle the downs and lows better than others. These problems can range anywhere from something serious such as family conflicts, or it may be something foolish like laundry issues. Others find that their lows in life are due to the fact that they face the same daily obstacles, and tend to get annoyed with the repetition behind them. Life all of a sudden seems to have no particular meaning, and a person begins to feel worthless. Life in itself is repetitive, however a person can only take so much until they begin to need a serious modification. The concept stated above is demonstrated in A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence and The Book of Eve by Constance Beresford-Howe. In A Jest of God, Rachel is deprived of a fulfilling lifestyle mainly because of the limits she is placed under by her mother. Day in, and day out, Rachel is living a confined life and feels there is no possibility of changing it. Her sister Stacey has married and moved away and Rachel is the only support her mother has. Rachel feels obliged to provide and care for her. After her affair with Nick Kazlik, Rachel begins to have a different outlook on life and therefore decides to change it drastically. In The Book of Eve, Eve is restricted to some of life's simple things such as going out for walks. Her husband Burt is afraid of fire and resents being left alone even for short intervals. After Eva decides to leave, she experiences a whole new lifestyle. Eva now has enough time to go out for strolls, 'shop', and is still left with too much time in which to contemplate her situation. In each novel it's evident that the protagonists are getting fed up with their lives and are taking matters into their own hands. In A Jest of God the protagonist is Rachel, a thin, tall, lanky teacher in the town of Manawaka. Rachel lives with, supports and cares for her mother despite her somewhat negative feelings towards her. Rachel's sister Stacey does not care to visit her mother, and clearly does not have any intentions of attending to her medical needs. Therefore, Rachel is left with an awfully irritating mother who criticizes and controls her life wherever, and whenever she gets the opportunity to do so. At the age of thirty-four, Rachel is unmarried and living with her mother. Her life revolves mainly around her grade one class at the school she teaches, and her wonderful mother. She doesn't exactly associate with many people except for Calla, a teacher at her school and Willard Sidley, the principal of the institution. Rachel rarely goes out except for the occasional movie with Calla. Calla frequents a local Tabernacle, and quite often invites Rachel to go along. However, she does not feel comfortable attending such a place and rarely agrees to going. Willard also invites Rachel to dinner with his wife and a friend, but Rachel doesn't necessarily appreciate their company and declines the offer. As a result of her ordinary life, Rachel begins to long for something different, particularly a husband. The person to thank for Rachel's change is Nick Klazik. He comes into her life as a wake up call! As Rachel's sexual affair with Nick becomes more intense, the reader notices a significant change in Rachel's outlook on life. Until Nick came along, she kept more to herself and thought of nothing more than living a day to day humble life. However, Nick brought out the best in her and it's clear that Rachel's ideas about her future begin to change drastically, particularly regarding children. Rachel mentions quite often her studies of babies and their mothers. Rachel will speak of a baby and automatically give reference to a book she read regarding the same topic. For the first time, Rachel feels loved and begins to consider marriage and a family. For Rachel, the only family she has is her mother. She has no sense of having something of her 'own', such as a husband and children. Nick has been the change in Rachel's life. He was the one responsible for taking Rachel out of her daily routines. Nick was the source of amusement for Rachel. Rachel changed mainly after her close encounter with motherhood. Regardless of what society would think of her, Rachel was willing to keep her child. For Rachel it would be an escape from her present life. This baby is just what Rachel needed, someone she could love and care for, someone that was part of her. After Rachel discovered that she wasn't pregnant but actually had a tumor, she took 'her' life into 'her' hands. Until then it had been partially or almost fully controlled by her mother, but things were just about to change. Life had to change for Rachel. The whole concept of living in the same small town, with the same people was getting to her. Rachel was watching everyone else grow up, except herself. She barely recognized students she had taught in grade one because they had obviously changed. However, her students recognized her, same old Miss Cameron! That's exactly why things were getting out of hand. Rachel was getting older and nothing was changing. That's why she decided to move, because it was time. For once, Rachel did not consider her mother's suggestion to stay in Manawaka. She insisted on leaving and that would be the final say. A new city would bring a new job, new friends, and hopefully, a whole new lifestyle. In A Jest of God, the reader is guided through Rachel's problem throughout the novel as the plot unfolds. The reader only finds out how Rachel intends to deal with her dilemma at the end of the book. In The Book of Eve the novel begins with 'the' drastic change and we get to live through Eva's different lifestyle with her. Every so often she mentions what caused her to leave, and so we are not informed all at once of her reasons for leaving, but gradually throughout the story. In The Book of Eve, Eva is getting frustrated because her sick husband is treating her as a servant. Eva finds herself following a very strict lifestyle due to Burt and she therefore runs away. She runs not only from the servitude of nursing Burt, but also from running the house, shopping, cleaning up and that dull routine. It's actually quite selfish of Eva to leave Burt after being devoted to him for forty years, however, she had to act quickly because her life was slowly being consumed. Eva has changed in order to accommodate to her needs. In this case, her needs are nice and simple. What Eva needs is solitude; she needs time to be with herself. Now that Burt is no longer a burden to her, she can lead her own life and make her own decisions without the constant worry of his harassment. Due to Eve's spontaneous departure from home, she had to begin a new way of living. Now Eva is not as financially stable as she was with Burt, yet she still manages. She deprives herself of some things that would've been essential to her in any other situation, in order to save money. She eats soups and other foods that are cheaper, but not necessarily healthier for her. Eva declines money that her son Neil offers to her. Since Eva was the one to leave Burt, she feels that it's in her best interest not to depend on any money from him or from her son. If Eva did receive any donations from her son, it would be as if she had lost her battle. If she accepted them, it would be like saying that yes she couldn't support herself. One of Eve's quests was to be able to take care of herself and therefore she was not susceptible to any offerings. All the suffering and economizing that Eva goes through is basically to prove not only to others, but mainly to herself, that she doesn't have to put up with other people's problems. In this case, since the problem is her husband, it makes it that much more difficult to restrain herself from returning home. Eva must have complete dedication to herself and to her goals to allow for such heartless behaviour towards others. Eva is better off in the sense that she has her solitude, yet she still has friends. Not only does Eva have friends, but she also still has a sex life. Leaving Burt did not mean Eva was now going to become a nobody, and she made sure of that. Over the course of the novel, Eva did change considerably. Change isn't possibly the best word, but rather recognition. The most important outcome of Eve's escape was discovering more about herself. Had she not been so incredibly courageous to leave Burt, she wouldn't have been able to learn from her life experiences. When comparing Rachel's character to Eve's, it's ridiculous to assume they were under the same circumstances. Eve's life and Rachel's were two completely different sagas. However when seriously thought out, they are both pursuing the same thing. Both women were indeed struggling to achieve their own wants and needs when surely these needs were in conflict with other family members. Life is like a movie. When the movie comes to the end, it's rewound and everything starts all over again. Every day in life can be compared to a movie quite easily. Day after day, the same routine tends to occur. Whether or not one wishes to modify that routine, is based on their strength, courage, determination and physical and mental capacity.

World War I

2009-10-26T08:13:00.001-07:00

World War I

The name commonly given to the war of 1914-1918, which began in Europe and was fought principally on that continent but eventually involved all the continents of the world. While the wars between Great Britain and France from 1689 to 1815 had been extended to North America, Africa, and Asia, they remained wars between European governments. The term "world war" is properly applied to the conflict of 1914-1918 because the various parts of the British Empire in all continents as well as many countries in Asia and North and South America participated in it. For the first time, all the great powers of the world were engaged: Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia in Europe; Japan in Asia; and the United States in North America. It is estimated that by the end of the war about 93 percent of the population of the world was in greater or less degree involved. The two opposing sides in the war were; The Allies Or Entente Powers Britain, France, Russia (left December 1917), Italy (entered May 1915), Serbia, Belgium, Romania (entered August 1916), USA (entered April 1917) The Central Powers Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey (entered November 1914), Bulgaria (entered 1915) THE ENTERY OF THE USA TO THE WORLD WAR I The United States was never neutral throughout The Great War, despite the President Woodrow Wilson's declaration of neutrality, and a direct declaration of war against the Central Powers was an inescapable occurrence. When war was come into existence in Europe in 1914, it was impossible for the United States, an emerging world power, to avoid conflict despite its efforts to. President Wilson immediately issued a declaration of neutrality because entering into a war would be against the prevalent progressive spirit of the time and America had a tradition of avoiding European conflicts whenever possible. Nevertheless, The United States remained completely neutral from 1914-1917. " Continued interruption of trade and travel on the seas by both the allies and central powers, especially attacks by German submarines, which was the main reason for the United States to enter the war in 1917." Great Britain's powerful navy quickly took control of the Atlantic and set up a blockade, cutting off American trade with Germany. Germany, on the other hand, attacked British supply lines with their new invention, the U-boat. The United States accepted Great Britain's blockade and stopped trade with Germany, although a demand by the United States that free trade allowed surely have been agreed to. On the other hand, instead of accepting Germany's attempt to stop American shipping to the Allies, Wilson demanded that Germany stop all attacks on American ships, but accepted nearly the same thing when perpetrated by the British. The population of America, although against involvement in the war, supported the Allied cause. This was due to both the cultural similarities and roots shared between the United States and Great Britain and the large scale British propaganda campaign in America, in an attempt to get the United States involved in the war. The propaganda along with German practices of sinking ships without giving passengers a chance to escape and attacking the neutral country of Belgium (both of which violated international law) led to an intense Anti-German sentiment throughout the population. America was clearly not a neutral country, but Americans did not wish to become directly involved in the war. German U-boats had taken many American lives with their attacks on merchant ships, including the Lusitania where 128 Americans were killed, which lead to America demanding an end to the U-boat attacks. The Germans responded by temporally ceasing submarine warfare in 1916 under the Sussex Pledge until 1917 when Germany announced the continuation of submarine warfare and ended diplomatic relations with the United States. In an attempt to eliminate the threat of American involvement in Europe, Foreign Minister Alfred Zimmerman of Germany attempted to provoke Mexico into attacking the United States with the promising her Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in return. The British decoded a message containing Zimmerman's intent and sent to the US, further swaying Americans to action. Berlin, January 19, 1917 "On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America. If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement.... You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan. Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months. Zimmerman (Secretary of State) These actions by Germany left America with little recourse other then to declare war. Furthermore, On April second, 1917, President Wilson asked for a declaration of war against Germany. " The world must be safe for democracy," he said, as he insisted the Americans to fight for peace and safety to make the world truly free. The Americans had hesitated about siding with the autocratic Russian government, but the overthrow of the tsar in the March revolution removed this obstacle and on April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and began mobilisation and they were now fighting for France, Great Britain, and Russia, resulting in an Allied victory by November 1918. CONCLUSION The U.S.A involvement in the war helped turn the tide and played a major role in the eventual defeat of Germany. The U.S made an important contribution to the Allied victory, supplying Britain and France food, merchant ships and credit, though actual military help came slowly. Most important was the psychological boost which the American potential in resources of men and materials gave the Allies and corresponding blow it gave to Germany morale. it came down to us standing up to Germany, and showing the world that the U.S. is a new world power, and major player in world affairs. That is what we did by joining the war and setting the stage, for future global power structures. Despite the fact the war was fought in Europe and U.S. casualties and property loss were far less than that of the allies, the war had a significant impact economically, politically, and socially on the United States. While the mobilisation effort brought great economic prosperity to the country from the production of wartime goods, postwar demobilisation ought about widespread unemployment, increased labour problem, racial hatred, and poverty. Propaganda campaigns, designed to create support for the war effort,resulted in strong anti-foreign and anti-Communist feelings, which led to violence and the violation of civil rights for many Americans.

Women In World War II

2009-10-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

Women In World War II

World War II marked a retreat from the existing notions of women's capabilities and proper roles. With the men gone at war, women had to take over the work force. Government propaganda encouraged women to do their patriotic duty by leaving their homes and entering the workplace. At the wartime peak in July 1944, 19 million women were employed. This was an increase of 47% over the level in March of 1940. For the first time, married women outnumbered single women in the work force. Women over thirty-five made up 60% of the increase in the labor force. Girls between 14 and 19 added another 17.3% to the total (Anderson 4). Women took over the common jobs of building ships and planes, becoming lumberjacks, train conductors, steelworkers, and drill press operators (Rappaport 224). Patriotism was only one of the many motivations for women to sign up for work. Economic necessity, the excitement and challenge of work, the need to cope with the loneliness and anxiety caused by having their husbands and sons overseas, a disaffection from housework, a desire for more social independence, the sense of purpose accompanying productive work, and other such personal considerations complemented the desire to help in the war effort. Seattle City bus driver, Josephine Bucklin said, "' We do feel we're doing something concrete for the war effort. Besides, it's thrilling work, and exciting, and something women have never been allowed to do before"'(Anderson 26-28). Not only did the war bring large numbers of newcomers to the labor force, it also provided a wonderful opportunity for upward mobility for millions of women who had previous work experience. The wartime system of labor priorities enabled women to escape the low-paying female - dominated fields of domestic and personal service. Women could now obtain jobs in the burgeoning war industries or in the government. Between 1940 and 1944, the number of women employed in manufacturing increased 141 percent, while those in domestic service declined by 20 percent (de Pauw 144). Wartime imperatives were therefore undermining the sex - segregated labor market and the ideas that preserved it. This got rid of a long impediment to economic advancement for women. Some long - standing iniquities were also disappearing. In 1942 the National War Labor Board established an equal pay principle when it decided that same rates should be paid to women when the work they did was the same as the work done by men. Union contracts containing inequitable pay were allowed to remain in force. Pay scales for jobs traditionally performed by women were presumed to be acceptable and pay differentials were allowed in some cases. Despite these loopholes, some firms did pay women equally, and the differences between men and women's average earnings slightly narrowed during the war years. This was primarily because of the increased demand for women in the workplace (5-6). Much prejudice existed in the workplace against women, though. Many employers persisted in discriminatory practices, even in the face of unmet labor requirements. Many still refused to hire women. The belief that men should be the primary breadwinners in the family was especially significant in limiting women's job opportunities as long as unemployed men were still available to fill labor needs. In January 1942, the Seattle Times editorialized against any immediate hiring of women, because "'it is fairly obvious that the chance of a man to get a job may be delayed if a woman gets it first.'" A letter to the Seattle Star supported this position, adding, "' I don't want my wife to take a man's job as long as I am still able to work for our living."' Another letter said, "' I never let my wife work, and I know she is a far sweeter woman than many women who have been coarsened by having to get out in the business world. I say, let's keep the women out of the industry and out of the war."' Hampered by these conventional attitudes, women found their competitive disadvantages in the labor market further increased because most of the job openings were in employment classifications traditionally reserved to men (23-25). The critical labor shortage created by the war did not mean all discriminatory barriers had been broken down. Discrimination against black women proved to be one of the most unyielding. Even employers who were willing to hire black men and white women refused to change their practices to include black women. Employment officials continued to refer black women for service jobs. Many war plants which refused to hire them, employed them for only limited kinds of work, and/or segregated them on the job. Employers believed and feared that the entrance of blacks would provoke resistance on the part of white workers. Despite the persistence of discrimination, urban work opportunities improved considerably during the war years for blacks (Rooke 33-35). Problems had arisen from the vastly growing numbers of females in the work force. Many people had problems with the idea of working mothers. Public resistance to the idea of working mothers held down the labor force participation rate of women from age 25 to age 34. Paul Mcnutt stated, "'no women responsible for the care of young children should be encouraged or compelled to seek employment which deprives their children of essential care until all other sources of supply are exhausted."' Even in major war production areas, where labor shortage was most severe and the increases of female employment was even greater than the national average, the number of working mothers was surprisingly low (Anderson 3-4). The drastic increase in the number of women in the work force, especially those with family responsibilities, focused national attention on the special problems faced by women workers ( de Pauw122). This prompted some public programs designed to assist them. The most important and controversial of these was the federally subsidized child care system which began under the provisions of the Lanham Act. Although at its peak the program cared for 130,000 children in 3,000 centers, it did not begin to meet the need created by the vast employment of mothers. If the child care system was inadequate, other programs to provide community services to women workers were nonexistent for practical reasons. Eleanor Straub had said, "the federal government never created a policy to deal with the mobilization of large numbers of women, relying instead on a mosaic of experiments, make - shifts, and temporary expedients" (Anderson 6-7). The changes in women's roles created a considerable amount of anxiety about the stability and durability of the family. Working mothers were blamed for a rising divorce rate, child neglect, an increasing rate of juvenile delinquency, and many more problems that were brought along with their newly acquired independence (Norton 224-225). The failure of the federal government to deal with its implications of the increased employment of women reflected its perception of the war as a temporary, emergency situation from which significant changes were neither expected nor wanted. Many of the changes created by the war became permanent fixtures once the nation had readjusted to peacetime living, though (Degler 420). Another problem with the war was the unbalanced ratio of women to men. Men became a scarce and valued commodity for many young women. The growing popularity of going steady among teenagers, the rise in teenage marriages, and the revisions of standards of sexual conduct among younger women were all cultural expressions of this wartime phenomenon. In a marriage - oriented but male - scarce society, getting and retaining male attention and approval became an even greater preoccupation for many girls and women than it had been before the war. The desperation of many women to find a man was displayed in their outrageous attempts. For example, Seattle served as a servicemen's center. Because the large number of military personnel in the area offered a solution to the male shortage in the resident population, the area became a magnet for young girls seeking relationships. They were often runaways who had arrived penniless. Marriage thus remained an important focus for women's aspirations during the war years, despite the demographic and labor force changes that were occurring (Coles28-22). The long - awaited American victory was finally accomplished in August 1945. People took to the streets in celebration, but the stresses of returning to peacetime living hampered their joys. The imperatives of wartime had created vast changes in American Society. With the dismantling of the war machine came the very real possibility of limited job opportunities and a substantial decline in the standard of living for many Americans. The postwar period was especially important for women, who had experienced vast changes in their daily lives as a consequence of the war. The position of women in the postwar economy was further undermined by the widespread belief that working women would quietly and willingly withdraw from the labor force to make way for male job seekers. Irene Murphy, Secretary of the Detroit Day Care Committee, said "'Americans continue to cling to the fantasy that women can always be dispossessed of their jobs - that they don't need to work"' Some women had planned to quit the work force once the war was over, and had only worked for patriotic reasons. A survey by the Women's Bureau revealed, though, that 75 percent of the women employed in 1944-1945 planned to continue working (Anderson 159-164). Despite the temporary gains of the war years, women's status within the labor force was not much better than it had been before the war. Employers reestablished prewar employment barriers. Returning veterans, who had risked their lives for their country, felt entitled to once more be employed at their old jobs. Trade unions agreed. Women were fired or demoted to poorer - paying jobs that were simpler and required little skill. Women were forced to move back to their previous jobs of nursing, office work, teaching, and social work (Rappaport 230). Women who voluntarily left their jobs in the postwar period received approbation from the press because they had made more room for males (Anderson 172). In conclusion, the greater emphasis on family life in the postwar era could also be considered a part of the legacy of the war experience. The disruptions of family life during the war, including the deferral of marriage, and childbearing, had caused family life to be more highly valued. Despite the changes brought by war, conventional attitudes regarding the role of women within the family retained their appeal. The gap between normal expectations and actual behavior had considerably widened during the years of the war. In the words of Simone de Beauvoir, the women of postwar America were, "'torn between the past and the future"' (178).

War Strategies

2009-10-26T08:10:00.001-07:00

War Strategies

"Classical set-piece wars between states seem to be a thing of the past, replaced by Intra-wars, insurgency and counter-insurgency wars of one kind or another. These developments give us reason to re-think all our theories of war and peace. We need new theories about violence in world politics." Discuss this claim. War has been a major focal point in international relations for the past 300 years. The moral, legal, humans and strategic nature of war has, and will continue to command attention of all followers of world affairs. War is a changing phenomena, taking on new characteristics as its surroundings change, diplomatic practitioners and academic experts regarded as one that it is fought between states but now this premise is being challenged. The theories developed by predominately by the realist paradigm are becoming anachronistic in its conception of war, a changing world means the realist notion of war is not relevant to emerging situations in the peripheral nations. War as an instrument of state policy is a relatively new phenomena, early wars were often though for more medieval objectives, for example the spread of Christendom. War in Europe only became largely politically based after the 17th century, and the main purpose of the exercise of military power shifted to hold the advancement and protection of the state as its primary concern. Despite its negativity war exists because of its vital role in politics, the two are inter-linked, "war is a continuation of politics by other means". War is a vehicle of conflict resolution, generally undertaken when diplomatic measures have been exhausted, war causes an outcome, therefore a rational if not morally defensible means to a known end. History since the thirty years war (1648) has seen a process of state building by the European powers. Centralising monarchies by the 18th century has slowly gained a monopoly of force within there own territories and began to establish themselves as sovereign states. The concept of sovereignty was underpinned by the supreme authority of dynastic rule, that provided the residing monarch unshakeable authority. War altered with the advent of napoleon and his imperialistic ideals. War turned from a limited exercise to a waged campaign of annihilation. Napoleons political ambitions preceded those of the previous century in its intensity, and the cost in life and money spurred an attempt to curb wars effects. The Congress of Vienna is the first diplomatic attempt to limit the effects and causes of war between states, still the great powers continued their nation building until the first world war. The great war shattered a period of relative peace, its terrible consequences causing a shift in public opinion against war-fare. Increasing restraints were imposed upon the use of war as a means of furthering political ambition, the Kellogg Braind pact of 1928 compelled its signatories to exhaust diplomatic proceduer before violence. Those who violated the pact were guilty of 'crimes against humanity'. This demonstrates the appeal of the 'strong state' to developing nations , and that war between states continued despite attempts to curb it. This culminated eventually in the 'Cold war', the ultimate State versus state stand off, the vast military resources and the human consequence nuclear weapons made the nations impotent by virtue of the destructive capability they possessed. This history generally supports the Clausewitzen definition of war, that it remains a means of serving the state. In the second half of this century the use of force remains a distinct possibility in the interactions of nations. State security remains a priority on governmental agendas, and even with the emergence of the UN no member relies comprehensively on its forces. The great powers of the previous century dominated the development of international theory, the balance of power theory provided the realist solution to war by mutual deterrence. These great powers had secure boundaries, a highly developed infrastructure both social and political yet it was on the virtue of their military resources that they were perceived as 'Great'. The theory of power runs synonymous with the phenonoma of war. In the new world order conflict between states Is rare, most war now occurs in the middle east, south east Asia and central America. Since 1945 the great powers have generally had to respond to wars in what modern commentaries term a 'weak state'. "the anarchy within states rather than between states is the fundamental condition that explains the prevalence of war since 1945". A strong state is founded on the inter-relation between its physical attributes i.e. its territory, population, resources and its underpinning cultural base of affections and ideology. The paramount criteria that causes the gulf between assorting and a weak state is legitimacy, having legitimacy is quite simply the division between the states that succeed and fail. For legitimacy to exist a state must satisfy the following characteristics; the physical basis including, effective sovereignty, and a international consensus on territory. Supported by an implicit social contract and a consensus on the concept of the state. It is exactly the failure to meet these dimensions that lead to the perils of the weak state, there are several causal factors to why periphery nations have difficulty achieving legitimacy. It stems from the nations development, many of which emerged from colonialism. The colonial legacy has very negative consequences for the developing nation, principally because the social and political institutions left to the new nation hinders it rather than helps. The political institutions were founded on a western premise, political participation, accountability and constitutionalism are not always the suitable basis for development, it is as if the new nation has to set itself against a western template. The bureaucratic structure was inherently elitist, decisions made in the capital were often resented in the country. Colonial authorities sustained cultural elite's to rule over their inferiors, this was exactly the case in Rwanda. "In a number of instances ..the allocation by the state of differential rights of access was based on a normative scale according to which groups were seen as superior to others, and at times these normative evaluations were projected into the collective images which Africans formed of themselves." Colonialism also left organised military and police forces, often used as instruments of coercion. In a deteriorating state they become a law unto themselves, selling themselves as mercenaries to wealthy independents. For the few states that do develop most descend into civil war, rebellion, wars of succession and political corruption, "between 1958 and 1985, there has been 65 forcible changes of government in Africa alone." It would be inaccurate to presume that Europe is spared these problems but the Intra-war in ex-Yugoslavia shattered this illusion. A feature of the war in Yugoslavia was ethnicity, ethnic hostilities hidden under the silencing hand of communism were emerging. Experts on ethnicity such as Ted Gurr suggests that ethnic hatreds and affinities can be products of the weak state, they are not primordial but arise in particular political, social and economic conditions. The state can often be seen as exploiting ethnic grievances for their own political ends. Emerging peripheral nations have been unable to cope with the pressure of rapid economic modernisation and the legacy of colonialism, the tensions that arise cause stress on the basic foundations of the developing nation leading to a decent into revolutionary violence. This alternative strategy of war fare is becoming increasingly prolific. the last major state confrontation could be viewed as the cold war and the nuclear stalemate that ensued, since the advent of nuclear weapons inter-state war has become obsolete because of the threat of total annihilation that is posed. The new form of war-fare is Intra-state war and insurgency. " in the last eight years alone there have been no less that 164 internationally significant out breaks of revolutionary violence" . The terms insurgency and revolutionary war-fare are largely inter-changeable, they refer to a particular variety of revolutionary activity that involves a protracted struggle using irregular military tactics. Tactics involve psychological and political operations in addition to conventional military strategies. The goal is generally to form a new system or political structure from within the state. Insurgency is markedly different to conventional war, T.E Elliot defines it as "an influence, an idea, a thing intangible, without front or back, drifting like a gas." Conventional war focuses its attention on military considerations were insurgency is a multifaceted activity in which conflict takes on many different dimensions. Revolutionary warfare extends the battle front, the war is fought in a political, cultural, socio-economic and ideology. Military operations have an intimate relationship with politics, this view espoused by those such as Mao claims that all conflict must have a distinct political direction to succeed. Like the NLF in Vietnam and MIN YUEN organisation in Malaya, insurgents see the population as key to the struggle the battle becomes on for hearts and minds. "the defeat of the military enemy, the overthrow of the government are secondary tasks, the primary effort of revolutionary warfare is to mobilise the population, without which no government can stand for a day. (Mao). Revolutionary warfare can been seen to have had varying rates of success. China, indo-china, Algeria, Cuba, Nicaragua were all notable victories whilst failures resided In Greece, Kenya, Peru and Bolivia. The existence of internal instability and grievances coupled with favourable terrain and the open availability of arms from outside, means that revolutionary warfare will continue as a feature of Intra-state war-fare. It is a potent instrument that can force change. Insurgency is clearly a more tactically sound method of conducting warfare, for ideological reasons it is alleged that the USA used the CIA to organise and conduct military insurgencies into target states there is an allegation that the USA secretly committed US ground forces in Cuba, naturally the USA deny this. For the past 200 years theories have emerged on warfare; game theory, deterrence , balance of power theory, all product of the realist paradigm. 'Great Powers ' feature prominently from the balance of power era to the BI-polar cold war, a theme through out is that lesser powers were relegated to objects of the stronger states rivalry , subordinating them as less than self directed actors. Modern theory should concentrate on the major sources of war that will continue to derive less from the character of relations between states and than what goes on within them. The focus of international politics must shift from the activities of the great powers to a concern with what we have traditionally considered peripheral actors, such as the developing nuclear confrontational stance of India and Pakistan. The nature of war has changed, technology now presents the west a mobile platform from which to militarily threaten those collide with our ideals. Air raids continue presently over Kosovo, indicating how Nato can wield military muscle without the risk of committing troops and bogging down in a land war, conflict without much risk. As for the prospects for peace, it is now the UN's duty to sustain and resuscitate weak states to best serve its peace keeping ideals, Rwanda was a catastrophe that must not be repeated, it must get better. Bibliography Just and unjust wars, Walzer 1997. Contemporary strategy, Baylis, Booth, Williams. 1997. Internet sources CNN "Rwanda" Article, World politics kegley and Wittkopf International war Melvin Small, J David Singer 1996 "Classical set-piece wars between states seem to be a thing of the past, replaced by Intra-wars, insurgency and counter-insurgency wars of one kind or another. These developments give us reason to re-think all our theories of war and peace. We need new theories about violence in world politics." Discuss this claim. War has been a major focal point in international relations for the past 300 years. The moral, legal, humans and strategic nature of war has, and will continue to command attention of all followers of world affairs. War is a changing phenomena, taking on new characteristics as its surroundings change, diplomatic practitioners and academic experts regarded as one that it is fought between states but now this premise is being challenged. The theories developed by predominately by the realist paradigm are becoming anachronistic in its conception of war, a changing world means the realist notion of war is not relevant to emerging situations in the peripheral nations. War as an instrument of state policy is a relatively new phenomena, early wars were often though for more medieval objectives, for example the spread of Christendom. War in Europe only became largely politically based after the 17th century, and the main purpose of the exercise of military power shifted to hold the advancement and protection of the state as its primary concern. Despite its negativity war exists because of its vital role in politics, the two are inter-linked, "war is a continuation of politics by other means". War is a vehicle of conflict resolution, generally undertaken when diplomatic measures have been exhausted, war causes an outcome, therefore a rational if not morally defensible means to a known end. History since the thirty years war (1648) has seen a process of state building by the European powers. Centralising monarchies by the 18th century has slowly gained a monopoly of force within there own territories and began to establish themselves as sovereign states. The concept of sovereignty was underpinned by the supreme authority of dynastic rule, that provided the residing monarch unshakeable authority. War altered with the advent of napoleon and his imperialistic ideals. War turned from a limited exercise to a waged campaign of annihilation. Napoleons political ambitions preceded those of the previous century in its intensity, and the cost in life and money spurred an attempt to curb wars effects. The Congress of Vienna is the first diplomatic attempt to limit the effects and causes of war between states, still the great powers continued their nation building until the first world war. The great war shattered a period of relative peace, its terrible consequences causing a shift in public opinion against war-fare. Increasing restraints were imposed upon the use of war as a means of furthering political ambition, the Kellogg Braind pact of 1928 compelled its signatories to exhaust diplomatic proceduer before violence. Those who violated the pact were guilty of 'crimes against humanity'. This demonstrates the appeal of the 'strong state' to developing nations , and that war between states continued despite attempts to curb it. This culminated eventually in the 'Cold war', the ultimate State versus state stand off, the vast military resources and the human consequence nuclear weapons made the nations impotent by virtue of the destructive capability they possessed. This history generally supports the Clausewitzen definition of war, that it remains a means of serving the state. In the second half of this century the use of force remains a distinct possibility in the interactions of nations. State security remains a priority on governmental agendas, and even with the emergence of the UN no member relies comprehensively on its forces. The great powers of the previous century dominated the development of international theory, the balance of power theory provided the realist solution to war by mutual deterrence. These great powers had secure boundaries, a highly developed infrastructure both social and political yet it was on the virtue of their military resources that they were perceived as 'Great'. The theory of power runs synonymous with the phenonoma of war. In the new world order conflict between states Is rare, most war now occurs in the middle east, south east Asia and central America. Since 1945 the great powers have generally had to respond to wars in what modern commentaries term a 'weak state'. "the anarchy within states rather than between states is the fundamental condition that explains the prevalence of war since 1945". A strong state is founded on the inter-relation between its physical attributes i.e. its territory, population, resources and its underpinning cultural base of affections and ideology. The paramount criteria that causes the gulf between assorting and a weak state is legitimacy, having legitimacy is quite simply the division between the states that succeed and fail. For legitimacy to exist a state must satisfy the following characteristics; the physical basis including, effective sovereignty, and a international consensus on territory. Supported by an implicit social contract and a consensus on the concept of the state. It is exactly the failure to meet these dimensions that lead to the perils of the weak state, there are several causal factors to why periphery nations have difficulty achieving legitimacy. It stems from the nations development, many of which emerged from colonialism. The colonial legacy has very negative consequences for the developing nation, principally because the social and political institutions left to the new nation hinders it rather than helps. The political institutions were founded on a western premise, political participation, accountability and constitutionalism are not always the suitable basis for development, it is as if the new nation has to set itself against a western template. The bureaucratic structure was inherently elitist, decisions made in the capital were often resented in the country. Colonial authorities sustained cultural elite's to rule over their inferiors, this was exactly the case in Rwanda. "In a number of instances ..the allocation by the state of differential rights of access was based on a normative scale according to which groups were seen as superior to others, and at times these normative evaluations were projected into the collective images which Africans formed of themselves." Colonialism also left organised military and police forces, often used as instruments of coercion. In a deteriorating state they become a law unto themselves, selling themselves as mercenaries to wealthy independents. For the few states that do develop most descend into civil war, rebellion, wars of succession and political corruption, "between 1958 and 1985, there has been 65 forcible changes of government in Africa alone." It would be inaccurate to presume that Europe is spared these problems but the Intra-war in ex-Yugoslavia shattered this illusion. A feature of the war in Yugoslavia was ethnicity, ethnic hostilities hidden under the silencing hand of communism were emerging. Experts on ethnicity such as Ted Gurr suggests that ethnic hatreds and affinities can be products of the weak state, they are not primordial but arise in particular political, social and economic conditions. The state can often be seen as exploiting ethnic grievances for their own political ends. Emerging peripheral nations have been unable to cope with the pressure of rapid economic modernisation and the legacy of colonialism, the tensions that arise cause stress on the basic foundations of the developing nation leading to a decent into revolutionary violence. This alternative strategy of war fare is becoming increasingly prolific. the last major state confrontation could be viewed as the cold war and the nuclear stalemate that ensued, since the advent of nuclear weapons inter-state war has become obsolete because of the threat of total annihilation that is posed. The new form of war-fare is Intra-state war and insurgency. " in the last eight years alone there have been no less that 164 internationally significant out breaks of revolutionary violence" . The terms insurgency and revolutionary war-fare are largely inter-changeable, they refer to a particular variety of revolutionary activity that involves a protracted struggle using irregular military tactics. Tactics involve psychological and political operations in addition to conventional military strategies. The goal is generally to form a new system or political structure from within the state. Insurgency is markedly different to conventional war, T.E Elliot defines it as "an influence, an idea, a thing intangible, without front or back, drifting like a gas." Conventional war focuses its attention on military considerations were insurgency is a multifaceted activity in which conflict takes on many different dimensions. Revolutionary warfare extends the battle front, the war is fought in a political, cultural, socio-economic and ideology. Military operations have an intimate relationship with politics, this view espoused by those such as Mao claims that all conflict must have a distinct political direction to succeed. Like the NLF in Vietnam and MIN YUEN organisation in Malaya, insurgents see the population as key to the struggle the battle becomes on for hearts and minds. "the defeat of the military enemy, the overthrow of the government are secondary tasks, the primary effort of revolutionary warfare is to mobilise the population, without which no government can stand for a day. (Mao). Revolutionary warfare can been seen to have had varying rates of success. China, indo-china, Algeria, Cuba, Nicaragua were all notable victories whilst failures resided In Greece, Kenya, Peru and Bolivia. The existence of internal instability and grievances coupled with favourable terrain and the open availability of arms from outside, means that revolutionary warfare will continue as a feature of Intra-state war-fare. It is a potent instrument that can force change. Insurgency is clearly a more tactically sound method of conducting warfare, for ideological reasons it is alleged that the USA used the CIA to organise and conduct military insurgencies into target states there is an allegation that the USA secretly committed US ground forces in Cuba, naturally the USA deny this. For the past 200 years theories have emerged on warfare; game theory, deterrence , balance of power theory, all product of the realist paradigm. 'Great Powers ' feature prominently from the balance of power era to the BI-polar cold war, a theme through out is that lesser powers were relegated to objects of the stronger states rivalry , subordinating them as less than self directed actors. Modern theory should concentrate on the major sources of war that will continue to derive less from the character of relations between states and than what goes on within them. The focus of international politics must shift from the activities of the great powers to a concern with what we have traditionally considered peripheral actors, such as the developing nuclear confrontational stance of India and Pakistan. The nature of war has changed, technology now presents the west a mobile platform from which to militarily threaten those collide with our ideals. Air raids continue presently over Kosovo, indicating how Nato can wield military muscle without the risk of committing troops and bogging down in a land war, conflict without much risk. As for the prospects for peace, it is now the UN's duty to sustain and resuscitate weak states to best serve its peace keeping ideals, Rwanda was a catastrophe that must not be repeated, it must get better.

Cell Phones

2009-10-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Cell Phones

What Causes Cell Phone Radiation and How Does it Effect Your Body? What is so popular with young teenagers today? Cell phones. Walking around on campus to walking around at the mall with your cell phone may seem fashionable and trendy, but did you now that it might be causing you to get a cancer? Ninety percent of cell phone holders do not realize it and it should be something everyone should be aware of. It may seem a bit unusually how a cell phone can cause a child or an adult to get cancer, but it is true. New evidence is growing fast about health risks from mobile phones – electromagnetic radiation. These devices can be used to make telephone calls from almost anywhere. Symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, burning sensations on the skin were more common among those who make longer phone calls. At the same time there are a growing number of unconfirmed reports of individuals whose health has been affected after chronic, frequent use of mobile phones, presumably from radiation effects on cell. There are two types of phones, one has the antenna mounted on the handset and the other has the antenna mounted on a separate transmitter or, if the telephone is installed in a vehicle, mounted on the roof or rear window. Communication between a mobile telephone and the nearest base station is achieved by the microwave emissions from the antenna. Concerns have been raised about the type of mobile telephone that has the antenna in the handset. In this case, the antenna is very close to the user's head during normal use of the telephone and there is concern about the level of microwave emissions to which the brain is being exposed. Those telephones that have the antenna mounted elsewhere are of no concern, since exposure levels decrease rapidly with increasing distance from the antenna. Cordless telephones, which need to be operated within about 20 meters of a base unit that is connected directly to the telephone system do not have any health concerns associated with their use because exposure levels are very low. . Media reports have claimed that up to 70 percent of the microwave emissions from hand- held mobile telephones may be absorbed in the user's head. This is not supported by the evidence, but nevertheless leads to speculation that hot spots may be created in the user's brain, thereby raising concerns that the telephones may be a health risk. Other reports have indicated that mobile telephone users suffer localized headaches when they use their telephone. At this stage, it is difficult to evaluate the evidence supporting these reports, since they have not been published. This work on human subjects follows other phone studies in animals suggesting that radiation from mobiles may cause brain tumors, cancer, anxiety, memory loss and serious birth defects. An Australian study found that mice exposed to pulsed digital phone radiation over 18 months had twice the risk of developing cancers. An American study found that learning and short term memory were impaired after 45 minutes exposure to radiation from phones in rats. And other studies of electromagnetic radiation on pregnant mice suggest that high exposure can affect intra-uterine development, confirmed recently in chicks. The effects in humans are unknown. In Britain a 27 year old woman with a brain tumor is taking a mobile phone manufacturer to court who she blames for her tumor. A biologist, Roger Coghill has also been given permission to bring a case against a provider of mobile phone equipment for failing to warn people of radiation hazards. A wide variety of electrical devices contribute to electro smog, ranging from computers, to phones, TV sets, radar transmitter and transformers. However mobile phone radiation is certainly intense, as evidenced by the effects on aircraft navigation systems, or more obviously on a nearby conventional telephone or a music system The brain cancer reports originated in the USA where a number of lawsuits have been lodged against mobile telephone manufacturers and suppliers. These claims for damages allege that the microwave emissions from mobile telephones used by the claimants caused their brain cancers. Those few cases that have been tried have been dismissed for lack of supporting evidence. Microwaves are but one type of electromagnetic field of the ways that these fields are described is by specifying their frequency. The range of frequencies that are useful for telecommunications include microwaves. Some public concern about mobile telephones is erroneously based on media attention to the possibility of adverse effects from exposure to power-line electromagnetic fields, which have a much lower frequency than the microwaves emitted by mobile telephones. The physical properties and biological effects of these fields are very different from microwaves and it is meaningless to extrapolate the results of those studies to the subject of this Information Bulletin. The current Australian exposure Standard is based on the well-established thermal effects of exposure to microwaves. That is, when tissue is exposed to sufficiently high levels of microwaves, the tissue is heated and damage may occur. The exposure limits are set well below levels where any significant heating occurs. The Standard also sets limits for pulsed radiation that are intended to eliminate possible effects where heating is not evident. All mobile telephones marketed in Australia must satisfy the regulatory requirements of Austel the Australian Telecommunications Authority, as well as that part of the Australian Standard that sets limits on the power output of a mobile telephone. Therefore, use of a mobile telephone is not expected to cause significant heating in any part of the body, including the brain. Some research has indicated that non-thermal effects resulting from low-level microwave exposure also occur. However, the existence of these effects has not been sufficiently established to allow for them in the Standard. A few animal studies suggest that exposure to weak microwave fields can accelerate the development of cancer. Further studies are required to establish their reproducibility and the existence or otherwise of a dose-response relationship. Whether these results are relevant to users of mobile telephones is not clear. In any event, these results cannot be dismissed at this stage. The very few studies that have been conducted on human populations epidemiological studies do not provide any direct information on possible mobile telephone hazards and hence are of limited value. The results of these studies are difficult to interpret because exposure levels were either not measured or impossible to determine from the data provided. In general, however, this type of study will be useful in identifying possible links between mobile telephone use and cancer risk. Complementary cellular and animal research is required to establish any cause-and-effect relationship and the biological mechanisms involved. The Australian Radiation Laboratory continues to closely monitor the research being conducted in this area. On the specific issue of brain cancer occurring in users of these telephones, it is important to note that such cancers existed before the introduction of mobile telephones. It is simply not possible to identify the cause of any single case of cancer. Long-term studies to investigate whether mobile telephone users have a greater incidence of, say, brain cancer than the general population have not been completed. The Commonwealth Government has established the Electromagnetic Energy Public Health Issues Committee to examine and advise on the adequacy of health exposure standards, compliance procedures, local and overseas research results and the potential for further research, all with respect to mobile telephone use, among other things. The Committee includes representatives from the Department of Health and Family Services, the Department of Communications and the Arts and the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Mobile telephone companies and service providers are not represented. Late in 1996, the Commonwealth Government announced that $4.5mil would be provided for an Australian research and public information program over the next 4-5 years. The National Health and Medical Research Council will manage this research program. There is no evidence that microwave exposure from mobile telephones causes cancer, and inconclusive evidence that such exposure accelerates the growth of an already-existing cancer. More research on this issue needs to be carried out. Users concerned about the possibility of health effects can minimize their using a mobile telephone which does not have the antenna in the handset or using a 'hands-free' attachment. There is no clear evidence in the existing scientific literature that the use of digital or analogue mobile telephones poses a long-term public health hazard There are five ways to reduce the risk of radiation going in your body. One is to have shorter conversation. Try to avoid speaking for long periods on the cell phone; furthermore, try to plan your calls in such a way that you use ordinary phones for long conversations. Second, don’t sit in the car. Speak as little as possible inside the car because it amplifies the radiation. If you have to speak a lot from the care, get a roof antenna. Third, protect your baby. Don’t place a turned-on mobile phone in the baby carriage. The mobile phone produces microwaves even if you don’t speak in it. Fourth, avoid waist. Don’t carry the cell phone in the belt round the waist. It is unnecessary to expose the deposits of bone marrow in the hips, and the testicles to the microwaves. Earlier there have been warnings against placing the phone next to the heart. This is now regarded as being less dangerous, unless you have a pacemaker. The best place to carry the phone is in a military trousers leg pocket. And finally, direct the antenna. Always pull out the antenna when you use the phone and direct it away from the head, not upright in parallel with the head. It may be a marginal difference, but it reduces the radiation into the head somewhat.

The Pepsi-Cola Story

2009-10-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

The Pepsi-Cola Story

Summer of 1898, a young pharmacist Caleb Bradham looking for ways to attract people to his pharmacy invented the beverage now known around the world as Pepsi-Cola. After the first advertisement the sales of the new soft drink began to go up. Knowing the importance of good distribution system Pepsi was one of the first to switch from horse drawn transport to motor vehicles. Throughout its existence Pepsi adjusted its marketing strategies trying to keep up with the social and economic conditions of its consumers. During the Great Depression and continuing into the World War II Pepsi emphasized the low prices of the drink knowing that people had narrowed their budgets. In the mid. 1950s the emphasis fell on Pepsi being a lifestyle accompaniment. The breakthrough move by Pepsi was made in the late 1950s to capture the market of new generation of baby boomers. Its best known advertisement slogans such as “You’re in the Pepsi Generation”, “Have a Pepsi day” or “You’ve got a lot to live, Pepsi’s got a lot to give” set a new standard for advertising. To dominate in a soft drink category Pepsi, after 65 years of selling only Pepsi-Cola, introduced new products: “Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi.” To capture the completely new market of X-ers, throughout 1980s and 1990s Pepsi’s commercials featured superstars, supermodels, actors and sport stars. In the mid. 1980s Pepsi-Cola declared a victory in the cola wars.
Keeping Pepsi-Cola as its cash cow presidents of Pepsi-Cola decided to back up their positions by investing in a fast food restaurants and snack industry. In 1965 the new PepsiCo resulted from the merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito Lay’s, Inc.. Pepsi-Cola stuff knew that in order to survive in the direct competition with giants like Coca-Cola they will have to come up with more innovative products. Pepsi-Cola Company now accounts for 25% of the world’s soft drinks with more than 70% of its sales coming from North America. In the beverage category Pepsi-Cola Company had some losses but are thinking of restructuring their strategies to create a new and even more dominant beverage company. Frito-Lay Company is the most successful snack chip company on Earth with 5 of its products leading the world snack chip market. Frito-Lay leads the market with a greatest margin of lead from the closest competitor. By 1996 Frito-Lay operated in 39 countries what means that there is a long way to go. With over 30,000 restaurants, PepsiCo has more restaurants than any other company in the world. Today the new PepsiCo has grown to be one of the largest consumer products companies in the world with its best known brands such as “Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Frito Lay and Lay’s Potato Chips.”
Knowing how important innovations are to the constantly changing environment in which consumers become more spoiled than ever, PepsiCo as always chooses the right strategy. Starting in the mid 1960s when Pepsi-Cola came up with its “Mountain Dew” the company saw the birth of an additional cash cow whose benefits it still enjoys. To appeal to the enormous variety of tastes in the early 1990s, Pepsi-Cola came up with the caffeine free versions of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew. Later they introduced the “Slice” to expand Pepsi’s soft drink portfolio. Through a partnership with the Thomas J. Lipton Company, Pepsi is the leading marketer of ready-to-drink iced teas. To get its leading share in the single serve juice market Pepsi created partnership with the Ocean Spray. Today, producing a wide variety of beverages Pepsi-Cola Company continues to come up with new products to satisfy the needs of its customers around the world. In France for example, Pepsi-Cola changes the taste of its main brand of cola and repackages the product with new design. (Advertising Age) In the US Pepsi-Cola is currently introducing its “Aquafina” brand of bottled water. The idea of bottled water came up when the researchers found that the baby-boomers are changing their preferences from sweet, carbonated drinks. Discovering that the company might lose its share of $3.6 billion from the domestic bottled water market Pepsi-Cola speeded up the introduction of their brand to beat Coca-Cola’s late reaction to invade the bottled water market. (USA Today) Also finding out that customers seek some changes in the products they are used to, Pepsi-Cola Company is looking forward to changing the can graphics on some of its products. (Product Alert)
In the snack business Frito-Lay, which formerly produced only one category of snacks, now makes and markets snack foods for every style and snacking preference. To react to the latest researches, Frito-Lay is introducing more varieties of its “Doritos sandwich crackers” in a ready to eat packages of six. The latest was the “Nacho Cheesier” kind. Also they are introducing more varieties of “Chee-tos Sandwich Crackers”, their “Peter Pan Sandwich Crackers” with cheese peanut butter and Big Grab Potato Chips with Pepper Grill Tangy BBQ. (Product Alert)
PepsiCo’s president believes that the size will help them provide very reasonable prices through mass production. The economies of scale is and has always been one of the most important factors why big companies are able to better satisfy their customers. During the Great Depression and continuing into World War II Pepsi-Cola managed to stay in business only after they introduced the new Pepsi’s pricing advantage “Twice as much for a nickel” which later was adopted by all the major cola companies. To be able to provide the “twice as much” deal Pepsi bought sugar plantations in Cuba. To offer the best prices to its consumers Pepsi-Cola engaged into practice of buying the bottling companies, the latest were bought in Vaipur and Bangalore with the outstanding production speed. The latest move by Pepsi-Cola to cut their costs and to transfer savings to its customers was their tasting along with some other big manufacturers of the new “Scan Based Trading System.” The new system is supposed to drastically cut the transportation and storing charges and eliminate the chances of selling outdated products. (Supermarket News)
Keeping in mind the importance of the excellent distribution system, Pepsi had been one of the first companies in the United States to switch from horse drawn transport to motor vehicles. Currently Pepsi is one of the best, with serving over a million retail customers. Even though Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay have a good distribution system they are currently in the process of testing the new “Scan Based Trading System” which is a new model for handling direct store delivered products. The system is expected to cut supply costs and build sales trough improved stock positioning. (Supermarket News)
PepsiCo is considered one of the world’s premier marketers. Their advertising is legendary. Throughout the years Pepsi’s presidents believed that advertising could be the cornerstone of soft drink marketing. In 1938 Pepsi’s “twice as much for a nickel” deal was presented in a first ever advertising jingle. The jingle played and was heard coast to coast on network radio, making broadcast and advertising history. Later Pepsi-Cola captured the new generation of baby-boomers by calling them “The Pepsi Generation.”
And finally Pepsi-Cola reached the so-called generation X by featuring Superstar Michael Jackson, supermodel Cindy Crawford and the big basketball star Shaquille O’Neal. A good example for the 1996 was the Pepsi Stuff promotion that helped Pepsi-Cola to outperform its competitors during the summer and the company’s Olympics Sponsorship that reminded people that the old Pepsi is still there. Advertising has always been the primary element for Pepsi and today the big investment that they are making is a cross-promotion of the big Japanese re-release of Star Wars movie trilogy. Also the pepsi.com, the official web site of the PepsiCo Inc. will promote the new movie “The Peacemaker” that is expected to be a big hit. (Adweek Southwest) Least but not last one of the latest decisions made by Pepsi’s marketers is to sponsor the new B3 games for Extreme Sports created by ESPN. The product to be advertised during those games will be the “AllSport” drink. (Advertising Age)
To run the restaurant chain PepsiCo are creating Tricon Global Restaurants. The estimated revenue of Tricon is expected to reach 10 billion dollars and it will become the second largest company in the world.

NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

In 1996, the American nonalcoholic beverage marked totaled approximately $78 billions in retail sales, up healthy 6 % from last year's level. According to Beverage world magazine, leading the growth in absolute terms was the soft drinks category, which added $52.14 billion in sales.(Foods & Non-Alcoholic Beverages, p.12) The fastest growing product category were fruit beverages, represented by Coke's Sprite, Pepsi's Mountain Dew, and Cadbury Schweppes' Seven-UP The market share of various non-alcoholic beverages in 1996 were as follows:

In 1996, Coke was again the overall leader in the global and US markets, accounted for more than 42 % of sales domestically, followed by PepsiCo with 31 %. These companies are fully taking advantage of higher growth in non-cola drinks. In addition to Sprite, Coke is planning to introduce Surge, a "fully loaded citrus cola".(Sanborn, p. 1538) Surge will be positioned as a direct competitor of Mountain Dew with above-average caffeine level and will be marketed at the 12 to 21-year-old market.
Growth in new products, so-called "alternative beverages", has slowed. The largest of these, by far, are the ready-to-drink teas. But, while Snapple is dramatically losing its market share, Pepsi's Lipton Brisk and Coke's Nestea have been showing healthy gains for two years in a row. Among sports beverages, Quaker Oats' Gatorade is still a clear leader, but both Pepsi with All Sport and Coke with POWERaDe have strong positions too. (Sanborn, p.1538)
What drives demand for non-alcoholic beverages as well as snack foods, lion share of which is made by PepsiCo?
1. Population. With population growth in the United Stets rising at an annual rate only about 1 %, the American market is quite mature. However, the different picture is seen overseas. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the world's developing countries will grow much more rapidly in the future than developed countries. In 1990, 80 % of world's population was located in so-called "Third World", and by 2002 the number is expected to advance to 85 %. No wonder that the American companies have made rapid expansions abroad in recent years. (U.S. Dept. Of Commerce Website).
2. Economy. The robust U.S. economy, which resulted in higher disposable income levels, has helped branded beverages to gain market share at the expense of lower priced private-labeled drinks that were popular during last recession.
3. Innovative marketing. Food and beverage companies create excitement for their products by adding or emphasizing each products benefits, such as healthiness in the cases
of diet and caffeine-free drinks, snacks.
4. Global political environment. Sweeping political changes in former Eastern Block nations opened enormous markets for the U.S. beverage and food companies. For the first time in history, Coke was able to sell its soda in the former USSR and now have equal with PepsiCo market share in these countries. PepsiCo Europe is a market leader in snack sales, leaving behind such powerhouses as Nestle and Cadbury.
It's worth mentioning here, that the industry enjoy positive image in public opinion, thanks in part to its very effective response to environmental concerns. According to the American Soft Drink Industry Association, soft drink containers are by far the most recycled package in the country due to effective, broad-based recycling infrastructure supported by a network of approximately 6,000 curbside recycling programs, an even greater number of neighborhood "drop-off" recycling centers and buy-back locations scattered throughout the country. (The NSDA Website) Soft drink companies sponsor many charitable organizations, such as United Way and United Negro College Fund, making sure the public is informed about their good deeds.

INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS

PepsiCo, one of the leading global marketers, derives nearly 30 % of its sales from overseas. It is clearly a market leader in snack foods in China, South America, and Eastern Europe. (Pepsico Profile at Baseline Website). The company demonstrated the ability to open new market even behind the "Iron Curtain", when it agreed to exchange is soft drinks for Russian Vodka, the largest barter operation in World's trade history. PepsiCo is known for its adaptability to local cultures and tastes. The good example here is the company's acquisition of Polish confectionery and snack giant Wedel, where it left almost all top positions for experienced local executives, hired Warsaw ad agency, and never attempted to drastically change Wedel's product portfolio. Instead, PepsiCo has chosen to gradually introduced some packaging innovations, so that Polish consumers would still be able to recognize and accept Wedel's products as their own. This strategy help Pepsi to become the number 1 in this market, beating the behemoth Nestle in its own backyard.
All said, in 1996, for the first time in many years the results of Pepsi's international operations were in red ink. What happened? Because of the economic decline in South and Latin America, particularly in Mexico, sales volume of PepsiCo products have declined dramatically. Eternal competitor Coca-Cola launched full-fledge assault on Pepsi's leadership position in former Soviet Block, grabbed even more market share in China and India. Restaurant operations, which are being spined-off-off this year, were losing money almost everywhere due to fierce competition from McDonald's and other global fast-food chains. (PepsiCo Annual Report)
Historically PepsiCo was much more financially involved in international bottling and production than Coke and as a result took dramatic losses as many of its partners have had financial problems in South America and South Africa. In addition, the long-time Pepsi bottler in Venezuela unexpectedly switched to Coca-Cola. (PepsiCo Website).
In aggregate, during 1996, PepsiCo had to write down the carrying value of more than $400 milling in foreign distribution assets.

PESICO: LOOKING AHEAD

Despite somewhat mixed results on international arena and slowing growth in the U.S., PepsiCo's outlook for the future remains bright due to comprehensive restructuring program and continuing favorable gemographic and economic trends around the globe.
The company's management intends to achieve sustainable, consistent 15% growth in profits.
This strategy include spin-off of low-margin and marketing intensive restaurant business.
This is being done to sharply focus financial and management resources on core businesses: soda and snacks. In beverages, for example, the lions share of Pepsi's marketing dollars and management attention will go to high-potential markets where no company dominates like China, India and Russia and to markets where Pepsi lead or is a strong number two. This goes as far as complete discontinuation of marketing efforts in countries like South Africa and Venezuela.
This will enable PepsiCo to streamline manufacturing, selling and distribution, infrastructure development; and marketing and new product research and development. The power of the entire corporation be behind a few very big initiatives that can really add to the bottom line. Numerically, these restructuring moves are designed to reduce operating costs by more than $100 millions a year. (PesiCo Annual Report).
Also, PepsiCo goes after Coke's distribution model by making their bottling operations a separate division. This lead to speculation that eventually bottling will be spin off creating a company similar to Coca-Cola Enterprises. (WSJ Press Digest).
PepsiCo is strengthening its marketing efforts on international as well as domestic arenas. It was just announced that it will become a global supplier of Time Warner Theaters and the global sponsor of Russian and Polish soccer teams. (Kommersant, p.A5, PepsiCo Website)
All these steps do look very promising. And, assuming flawless execution of them, the prospects for PepsiCo beverage and snacks operation are bright.

Robert Frost

2009-10-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

Robert Frost

"Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no
path and leave a trail."
-Robert Frost
Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map
of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that
leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the
original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem,
"The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different
interpretations. It is oneÿs past, present and the attitude with which
he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light that he
will see the poem in. In any case however, this poem clearly
demonstrates Frostÿs belief that it is the road that one chooses that
makes him the man who he is.
"And sorry I could not travel both..." It is always difficult to
make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the
opportunity cost, what will be missed out on. There is a strong sense of
regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge that
in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path. In an
attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I
could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any
choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the road
stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where
it is going to lead. It is the way that he chooses here that sets him
off on his journey and decides where he is going.
"Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the
better claim." What made it have the better claim is that "it was grassy
and wanted wear." It was something that was obviously not for everyone
because it seemed that the majority of people took the other path
therefore he calls it "the road less travelled by". The fact that the
traveler took this path over the more popular, secure one indicates the
type of personality he has, one that does not want to necessarily follow
the crowd but do more of what has never been done, what is new and
different.
"And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden
black." The leaves had covered the ground and since the time they had
fallen no one had yet to pass by on this road. Perhaps Frost does this
because each time a person comes to the point where they have to make a
choice, it is new to them, somewhere they have never been and they tend
to feel as though no one else had ever been there either. "I kept the
first for another day!" The desire to travel down both paths is
expressed and is not unusual, but "knowing how way leads on to way", the
speaker of this poem realizes that the decision is not just a temporary
one and he "doubted if I should ever come back." This is his common
sense speaking and acknowledging that what he chooses now will affect
every other choice he makes afterward. Once you have performed an act or
spoken a word that crystalizes who you are, there is no turning back, it
cannot be undone.
Once again at the end of the poem the regret hangs over the
traveler like a heavy cloud about to burst. He realizes that at the end
of his life, "somewhere ages and ages hence", he will have regrets about
having never gone back and traveling down the roads he did not take. Yet
he remains proud of his decision and he recognizes that it was this path
that he chose that made him turn out the way and he did and live his
life the way in which he lived. "I took the road less trvaeled by and
that had made all the difference." To this man, what was most important,
what really made the difference, is that he did what he wanted, even if
it meant taking the road less traveled. If he hadnÿt, he wouldnÿt be the
same man he is now.
There are many equally valid meanings to this poem and Robert
Frost may have intended this. He may have been trying to achieve a
universal understanding. In other words, there is no judgement, no
specificity, no moral. There is simply a narrator who makes a decision
in his life that had changed the direction of his life from what it may
ahve otherwise been. It allows all readers from all different
experiences to relate to the poem.

Holiday Story

2009-10-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

Holiday Story

I awakened. There was a smell of a celebration just waiting to happen. As I leaped out of bed, I examined the clock; 6:30 A.M. I knew that if I waited long enough, I would only have to wake up my parents once. Christmas was in the air.
The clock tolled seven times; my parents had rested long enough. I was a bullet as I zoomed into my parent's fantastic room. I knew the faster I went, the faster I could explore the luxurious living room to behold the secrets hidden there. The patterned quilt of little gray flowers is one of the best I've ever seen. Brown carpet blended my brother' feet . . . MY BROTHERS FEET??? When I exposed the light of the hallway upon my parents' bed, I discovered them already roused, just pulling themselves from their dreams, preparing for a new day. My eyes burned as I saw by treacherous brother standing over them with an evil smirk on his face. I know then that if I had infiltrated the chamber only minutes earlier, I would have the infinite honor of the new title, "The Guy Who Woke Up Our Parents and Took All the Blame for it Last Christmas." I reflected upon these facts in the light of a holiday, though, and Christmas spirit won over my melancholy feeling that I lost a very important race.
The air whistled past my ears as my brother and I bolted past our parents like a freight train passing a bum, all the way to the stairs. The taboo that parents must be first down was the only thing that kept us waiting. My heart ready to explode, I loathed my parents for this reason alone, and only for the few seconds (or were they hours?) that it takes the rest of my family to reach the apex of the journey.
Now the finale begins. My parents in front, we walk down the stairs at a tedious rate, and slowly make out way into the darkness that marks the gateway into the wonderful world of a Christmas morning. As I peer into the shadows of the frosty room, I see the gleam of polished metal. The shaft of white light emanating from the small lamp revealed Bicycles! I was happier than a slave gone free, and soon I would be riding the skyline and beyond.
That bicycle was one of the greatest gifts I have ever gotten from Santa. The jolly old man who goes, "Ho, Ho, Ho!" would make a great friend, being so generous and all. I had hoped for it the whole night, and my heart belonged to Santa Claus himself for the rest of that glorious day.

Hurcules

2009-10-23T03:36:00.001-07:00

Hurcules

During his life Hurcules, a great hero of Greek mythology, performed many great feats. He was very intelligent and very powerful, Greeks in general honored and admired him. Nothing that lived in the air, sea, or land ever defeated him. Hercules, a super hero figure in Greek mythology known for his unworldly strength, accomplished many great feats.
He was born in Thebes and for a long time Hercules was thought to be the son of Amphytiron, a distinguishes general, but in reality his father was Zeus. Zeus took the form of Amphytiron while he was away at war and visited Alcimenes, Hercules' mother. In earlier years Hercules was called Alcides, and had a half brother named Iphicles. The two children were clearly of different descent and it was shown by the was they stood in the face of danger. One night after their mother had given them a bath and fed them she laid them in their bed and sang a lullaby to them until they were asleep. After everyone in the house was fast asleep Hera, who despised Hercules because he was Zeus's son, sent two large snakes into the house to kill Hercules. When the snakes rose above the edge of the crib the children woke. Iphicles was terrified and tried to get out of the bed, but mighty young Hercules took a snake in each hand and held on tight. The snakes twisted and turned and wound their coils around his body, but Hercules held on to their necks until he had choked the life out of them. The children's mother had heard Iphicles screaming and yelled to their father. When they finally got in the room, Hercules was sitting in the bed, laughing, with two very large dead snakes in his hands. He happily gave the dead snakes to Amphityron. From that point on everyone knew that Hercules was destined to do great things(Hamilton 161).
When Hercules was a little older he went to school. Great care was taken by the teachers who educated him, because teaching him what he did not want to learn was dangerous business. He seems to not have liked music, or his teacher for that subject, because one day he was angry with is music teacher and he beat him to death with his lute. This was the first time that he had ever accidentally killed someone, and he was very sorry, but it would not stop him from doing it again many times. The other subjects he was taught were fencing, wrestling, and driving. When Hercules was eighteen and full grown, he want to the woods of Cithaeron and he killed the great Thespian lion by himself(Hamilton 162).
Hercules met his next wife, Princess Megara, while he was conquering the Minyans who had been causing trouble with Thebes. The citizens gave him their princess as a reward(Hamilton 162). Hercules and Megara had three sons together. They lived very happily for a while until Hera sent a madness upon Hercules That made him kill his wife and three sons. When Hercules came back to sanity after the killings he looked around the bloodstained room and realized what he had done. He was on his way to get revenge for the death of his family and children, by killing himself when Thesus stopped him. They had a short conversation where Thesus convinced Hercules not to kill himself. A short time passes and Hercules went to see the oracle at Delphi, who told him to go see his cousin Eutystheus, King of Mycenae, and submit to everything he wanted Hercules to do. After the priestess told Hercules that Eurystheus would purify him, he went willingly. This was very humiliating for him because Eurystheus occupied the throne that would have been his if Hera had not deceived Zeus(Tripp 278-279).
Eurystheus was a very bright individual, and when the strongest man in the world came to him humbly prepared to be his slave, he came up with a series of penances which from a viewpoint of difficulty could not be improved upon. The tasks Eurystheus gave hem are called "the Labors of Hercules." There were twelve of them and each one was almost impossible(Hamilton 164).
The first labor that Eurystheus imposed upon his new slave was to kill the Nemean loin. This lion was no ordinary cat, it was very large and invulnerable to his arrows. When Hercules realized this, he blocked off one entrance to the lion's cave, which had two mouths, and walked into the other entrance, cornered the lion, and strangled it. He then threw the large beast over his back and took it back to Mycenae. Eurystheus was terrified when he saw Hercules coming and went to hide in a large underground storage jar made of bronze. He send the herald Corpreus to tell Hercules that his trophies would be displayed at the city gates, and all future orders would be given to him by Corpeus rather than Eurystheus. Since Eurystheus did not want the lion, Hercules skinned it and dressed himself in the pelt(Tripp 279).
The second labor that Eurystheus want Hercules to do was far harder than the first. This labor was to kill the Hydra of Lerna. This terrible many-headed monster was half sister to the Neman lion and some say this monster had been nourished by Hera out of hatred for Hercules. The Hydra lived near the spring Amymone, in Lerna, with its devoted friend, a large crab. Hercules boldly approached the Hydra's lair and forced it into the open with a flight of burning arrows. This Hydra had nine headst and Hercules very quickly found out that one head was immortal and when he cut off the other eight two more grew back in the place of the one that he cut off. To make things worse the crab was out of the swamp and was biting his foot. Hercules would not admit defeat but he knew that he could not handle this enemy alone. He called to Iolaüs, his half brother's son, for help. Iolaüs brought burning brands and as Hercules cut a head off Iolaüs seared its neck so the head could not grow back. Then all of the heads were finally severed and the immortal one hacked off at the neck, Hercules buried it under a large stone beside the road that lead from Lerna to Elaeüs and dipped his arrows in the deadly venom in this monster's gall. This poison was in future years to destroy many of him enemies and finally Hercules himself(Tripp 280).
For the third labor Hercules was to capture a golden-horned stag sacred to Artemis. In order for him to take the animal alive he pursued it for an entire year and finally ran it down near Arcadia beside the river Ladon. Some say that he caught the creature in nets, others that he crept up on the animal while it slept(Tripp 280).
Eurystheus immedately sent Hercules back to arcadia to capture alive the Erymanthian boar for his fourth labor. This huge beast ranged over Mt. Erymanthus and ravaged the country near Psophis. Hercules this animal by trapping it deep in the snow and brought it back to Eurystheus who again hid in his jar(Tripp 281).
During this task Hercules heard that Hason was gathering all of the bravest men in Greece to make the dangerous journey to Colchis to get the Golden Fleece. Hercules could not be left out, so he went to join Jason to make the journey to get the Golden Fleece.
Eurystheus perhaps angry with Hercules for taking time away gave him as his fifth labor the mose humiliating assignment of his career. This was to clean all of the dung from the Augeian stables in one day. Augeias, King of Elis, owned many herds of cattle, and their dung had become deposited so thickly on the land that it was no longer tillable. To accomplish this Hercules broke down the walls of the corral and diverted the waters from two rivers through the stables until all of the dung was washed away(Hamilton 164).
For his sixth labor Hercules returned to Arcadia to chase away the Stymphalian birds who had taken refuge on lake Stymphalus to get away from wolves. These birds were so great in numbers taht they caused a plague on the people that lived near the lake. Hercules was helped by Athena who drove them into the air so he could shoot them with his arrows(Hamilton 164).
Until now Hercules' labors had been in Peloponnesus. The King may have hoped that sending Hercules to distant lands would be more dangerous, or mabye he just wanted more time between visits from this seemingly invincible man.
For his seventh labor Eurystheus sent Hercules to Crete to capture, alive, and bring the Cretan bull, the father of the Minotaur. Hercules traveled to Crete found the bull, subdued it and took it back to Mycenae(Tripp 283).
His eighth labor was to capture the flesh eating mared of Diemedes. While on his way to Thrace, Hercules was entertained by his friend Admetus, King of Pherae. The king was in mourning for the death of his wife, but told Hercules that it was no one that he knew . Hercules was eating one night while the King was at the funeral and had a little too much wine with his meal. One of King Admetus' servants noticed this and asked Hercules how he could do that when the lady of the house had just died. Hercules realizint that Admetus was being hospitable by not telling him that his wife was dead, and he was very sad. After hearing this, Hercules went to the underworld and made a deal with Hades to let Admetus' wife return to Earth. Hercules returned to Earth with his friends wife and gave her to a very grateful husband. After this he went on his way to capture the flesh eating mares(Grant 224). To accomplish this task without being eaten he fed the horses thier master so they would not be hungry and took them to Mycenae to show them to Eurystheus. He then released the them and they were later eaten by wild animals on Mt. Olympus(Tripp 283).
The ninth labor of Hercules was to get Hyppolyte's golden belt. Hyppolyte was quen of the Amazons, a warlike tribe of women who lived on the southern shore of the Black Sea. When Hercules reached the cuty where the Amazons lived, he asked Hippolyte to come aboard hes ship. They talked alone for a while and Hippolyte agreed to give the belt to Hercules without a fight. Hera was infuriated when she heard that this labor was going to be accomplished with suck ease, so she disguised herself as an Amazon. Hera entered the Amazon city and told the people that Hercules was going to kidnap their queen. When Hera convinced the women of this, they attacked Hercules and hed men. What would have been a peaceful talk changed to a bloody battle that ended with Hercules killing the Queen and taking her belt back to Eurystheus(Tripp
His tenth labor called for Hercules to bring back to Mycenae the cattle of Geryon. These cattle were huge beasts with three heads. Hercules made the trip to the far away land where the cattle ewre kept and stole them. On his way back to Mycenae, Hercules set up two greats stones to commemorate hes labors, these stones are now known as the Rock of Gibralter and Jebel Musa. Hercules drove the cattle back to Mycenae and awaited orders for his next labor(Tripp 285-286).
The eleventh labor Eurystheus gave Hercules was to bring back he Golden apples of Hesperides, with could have been the hardest labor so far because he did not know where to find these apples. Hercules went to Atlas, Hesperides' father, and asked him to get the apples for him. Atlas quickly realizing that this was his chance to get rid of the burden of holding the heavens gladly agreed. Atlat went and got the golden apples for Hercules and returned. He told Hercules that take the apples to Eurystheus hemself. Hercules, having only his with to trust because all of his strength was used holding the heavens, asked Atlas to take the heavens back to he could get a pad to ease the pressure. When Atlat took the heavens back Hercules took the apples and went happily on his way back to Mycenae(Hamilton 165).
The Twelfth and last labor was the worst of all. this one sent him to the underwould to bring Cerebus, the three-headed dog, to Earth. Hercules asked Hades for permission and he consented as long as Hercules did not use any weapons to evercome him. He could only use his hands. Hercules forced this monster to submit to him and carried the dog to Mycenae. Eurystheus saw Cerebus and then told Hercules to take it back down to the underworld. This was his last task.
Hercules went on to have many more adventures and finally remarried again. One day when he and his new wife were crossing a river the Centaur Neccus tried to rape Hercules' wife. He became infuriated and shot Neccus with an arrow. Before Neccus died he told the lady, "If you ever become angry with Hercules take some of my blood and put it on something that will make contact with his skin." She did as she was told and took some of the Centaurs blood. Years later she found out that Hercules was with another woman, so she put some of the blood on Hercules' robe. When Hercules put this robe on it burned his skin so bad that he wanted to die, but death would not come to him so he went to death. A great funeral pyre was built for him and he went and laid down on it like someone would lay down on their couch.
Hercules was a great man and a great hero who did many things for mankind. His tasks should be remembered as some of the greatest accomplishments of any time ancient or modern.

Elizabeth I

2009-10-23T03:30:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth I

Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
I. Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
I. Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
I. Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth I Essay

In this Essay I will write about the actions taken by Elizabeth I. Because of Elizabeth's move toward Protestantism, she faced a serious threat from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. The Catholic monarchs of Europe and her own Catholic subjects considered Elizabeth illegitimate and felt that Mary was the lawful queen of England, especially since she was Roman Catholic. She became the focus of many conspiracies and Elizabeth had her imprisoned. She was held captive for many years until Elizabeth ordered to have her executed in 1587, after her Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham discovered the Babington Conspiracy in 1586, a plot to have Elizabeth assassinated and Mary put on the throne.
The execution solved the problem of Mary, but it also created another problem. Philip II of Spain had already been furious with England for the raids on his colonial possessions and shipping lanes. Because he was a Catholic, Mary's death gave him an added incentive to promote the war with England that had been going on since 1585 and so he sent a fleet to invade in 1588, hoping to stop the raids and restore Catholicism. However, the Spanish Armada was no match for the English and it suffered a terrible defeat in a naval battle in the English Channel, giving England Spain's place as the great colonizer of the New World. Elizabeth had another problem to face throughout her reign. Her single status often raised political concern. People wanted her to marry a strong man for guidance and so there would be an heir to the throne. Parliament even petitioned her several times to marry, but she refused replying that she intended to live and die a virgin. That she did and she became known as the Virgin Queen, and had the Colony Virginia named after her. However, she did have a number of suitors, many of whom she courted when it was her diplomatic advantage to do so. Overcoming these problems of the economy, religion, war, and public pressures, Elizabeth led England into a golden age known as the Elizabethan era. This is an age celebrated for its theater, music, literature, and natural sciences. It was also a time of expanded sea power, rising prosperity, religious tolerance, and rapid industrial growth.
Towards the end of her reign, Elizabeth's popularity declined because of heavy expenditures and abuse of royal power. Also her politics weakened, with less able advisors than her earlier ones, and there was a revolt in Ireland. Elizabeth spent the last years of her life unhappy and lonely. She died in London on March 23, 1603 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. She had no children of her own and there were no other descendants of Henry VIII, so Mary Stuart's son, James VI of Scotland, became king. This is what happened during the time of Elizabeth I.

The Dinosaurs died in the flood

2009-10-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

The Dinosaurs died in the flood.

1. Why did the dinosaurs die?
A. Meteorite impact
B. Small mammals ate their eggs
C. They could not handle the environment
D. World-wide flood
2. The dinosaurs died in the flood

3. Could some of the dinosaurs survived the flood

The extinction of the dinosaurs has become a never-ending discussion among people. Scientists have fought for many years about the reasons and theories on how the dinosaurs disappeared. Some of the reasons for the extinction of the dinosaurs are that they died in a meteorite impact, small mammals ate their eggs, a world-wide flood wiped them out. They could not cope with their environment, and they might have had slipped disks. There have been at least 55 theories that have been suggested and thrown out because of problems. Whenever a scientist comes up with a theory, he must be able to prove or explain how it happened. A theory that works for large animals usually does not work for the small animals or sea creatures. Scientists agree that whatever happened to the dinosaurs must have effected the whole world. When the birth rate fails to keep up with the death rate, we get extinction. Paleontologists divide extinction into two types: background extinction and mass extenuation. Background extinction is when isolated species disappear due to a variety of causes such as out competition, climate change, and depletion of their resources. Mass extinction is when large numbers of spices go extinct, when many types of spices go extinct, it effects the entire earth, and it all happened in a short time. Some scientists think the dinosaurs disappeared about 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. Biblical records show that the earth is about 5,000 years old. The timeline of how old people think the earth is and how old the Bible says it is are different. The latest theory suggests that the dinosaurs were killed by a meteorite impact, a collision like that would throw enough dust into the air to block out the sun and cause the temperature to drop. All animals and dinosaurs that are dependent on the sun and warm temperatures would probably die off. Some scientists believe that the meteorite that struck the earth would have caused the sun to be blocked out for three months, when the meteorite hit, it would cause a tremendous amount of heat to be released and might have caused the temperature to rise as much as 30 degrees centigrade for as long as 30 days, so much heat must have been released to cause fires to break out all over the world. A meteorite impact might have caused acid rain from all the hot water vapor and rock materials thrown up in the air by the impact. Scientists have found meteorite craters all over the world in different places, which might support the theory that the dinosaurs died in a meteorite impact. Volcanoes were active during this time and could have also killed the dinosaurs. Iridium is usually what makes up meteorites and volcanic eruptions. Scientists have found high levels of iridium in some layers of clay that might prove that a meteorite impact might have caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. The theory of a meteorite impact does not explain everything. There are some problems with the theory-like why did the dinosaurs only become extinct; why did it not wipe out all life on earth and should not have all the plants died because of the lack of sunlight. One scientist tried to re-enact the meteorite impact on his computer and found out that one meteorite could not have wiped out every kind of dinosaurs. Volcanic eruptions would have caused a lot of volcanic dust to be thrown into the atmosphere and caused the temperature to drop. It would cause the same effects as a meteorite impact.
Some other reasons for the extinction of the dinosaurs are that little mammals ate all the dinosaur's eggs. If little mammals ate all the dinosaur eggs, we should be able to find an animal with a dinosaur embryo in its mouth. To eat all the dinosaur's eggs you would have to get throughout the mother dinosaurs who protect their eggs from predators and other animals much bigger and stronger than the little mammals.
Another theory is that the brain of the dinosaur eventually made them obsolete. Being overweight could have caused them to get slipped disks in their spine and caused them to become crippled, so they could not get their food and would die. That idea would not work because not all dinosaurs were overweight
One theory suggests that a change in temperature could have caused them to go extinct. The temperature change could have caused some places to freeze and other places to turn into deserts. The dinosaurs adjust to the change in temperature so they died. Some people think that the dinosaurs became extinct because of bad luck and others think the dinosaurs became extinct because their time was up, and they need to be gone for man to come bought. This theory could not be true because scientists have found human skeletons on the same level as the dinosaur's fossils. That must prove that they lived during the same time as the dinosaurs did
Scientists have suggested many theories on how the dinosaurs disappeared and only one of the theories could work, there was world-wide flood. The other theories never complete the process to the end and there is always parts of them that does not make sense. In Genesis 6-9, the Bible tells about a world-wide flood and how God destroyed every living on earth except those that were on the Ark or lived in the ocean. The Bible does not list every creature on the Ark. The Ark had plenty of room for all the animals including the dinosaurs. We do not know how many kinds of animals were alive during Noah’s day, but today there are less than 20,000 types of animals, not counting those that lived in the ocean. Noah’s Ark could hold 50,000 animals with room to spare, so God probably included the basic types of dinosaurs; young dinosaurs would be smaller and easier to care for. When God brought two animals of every kind into the Ark, the dinosaurs must have been included too. God did not bring full-grown animals into the Ark. After the flood, the temperature and climate changed and many parts of the world became harsh for the dinosaurs to live in, no longer did the earth have great forests. It was probably hard for the dinosaurs to find food to eat. The dinosaurs probably could not adjust to the climate changes so they died, but there was probably a few of the dinosaurs that survived. Quick flood burial would be the only way that so many dinosaurs and other things could have become fossilized in the way scientists have found them. Animals and plants will only fossilize if they are buried quickly before predators, decay and weather can destroy them. If the flood really happened, you should be able to find a number of key things: many cultural stories of the flood, thousand of feet of flood deposition sedimentary rock layers covering most of the earth’s, evidence of many creatures that have become extinct by a disaster, buried remains of all forms of life mixed up in sedimentary layers, and the discovery of skeletons at many different depths in the flood-produced rocks. If the flood obliterated everything on earth about 5,000 years ago, then it would stand to reason that the oldest records of civilization would go back that far. Advanced cultures on earth seemed to appear suddenly at about that time. Most ancient advanced cultures began without a trace of primitive generations leading up to them. The dinosaurs are not the only ones that died off since the flood. Great numbers of creatures have become extinct since then. Today one or more species of plant and animals may be lost every day, most of them caused by us. Scientists are still discovering unknown species every year. Man has often been responsible for killing the last animals of a kind. The mammoth and mastodons were wiped out by hunters. It could be that in ancient time's people also killed dinosaurs for meat or because of problems these animals caused, or they could have killed them just for fun. Today, many animals are being saved by zoos. Dinosaurs became extinct before we cared about saving animals from extinction. As much as we know of the world today, there are many parts of the world that have never been explored. There are a few scientists who believe that there are probably some dinosaurs living today in the depths of the sea and in dense unexplored parts of the rain forest in Africa and South America. There are a lot of stories and different parts of the world about dinosaurs. Scientists agree that legends are usually based on fact, not just imagination. In the heart of Africa, the native pygmy’s tell of strange encounters with giant-like reptiles in modern times and in the Highlands of northern Scotland people have reported a gigantic swimming “beast." From the biblical perspective, there is no reason why some of the dinosaurs could survive in the depths of the sea since the flood. There is some evidence that a few dinosaurs and great marine reptiles could still be alive, on the edge of extinction. In all parts of the world, ships have reports of giant animals like a Plesiosaurs and other types of creature like this.
In my research of the disappearance of the dinosaurs I found out that not all dinosaurs died in the flood and that the flood really happened. Some of the dinosaurs were taken on the Ark and after the flood was over some of them could not cope with the change in the climate so they died. Most of the theories could not fit together so they must not be true. Some parts of the theories could have happened but are not the main reasons for their extinction.

Computer Security in Business

2009-10-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Computer Security in Business

It is 1994, a Russian hacker named Vladimir Levin and a group of accomplices are siting at a desk of a computer office somewhere in St. Petersburg. There, Levin electronically transfers $11 million from Citibank’s New York-based mainframes to Finland, Israel, and California. This all occurred under the watch of one of Citibank’s top information officers in charge of security, Colin Crook. This frightening occurrence is not a rare event; many businesses are finding that their computer system’s security is being bypassed and that their private files are being invaded. As Businesses begin to rely more heavily on the Internet for information exchange and sales, these events are only likely to increase.
Just a few companies which have fallen victim to these malevolent hackers are AOL, Boeing, Intel, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and ironically enough the Pentagon which just a few decades early had made the Internet for military use. In a recent survey of Corporations, it was found that these Businesses are not alone and that approximately 53% of 428 U.S. Corporations fell victims to viruses and 42% had had some unauthorized use of their systems. (These figures may also be small due to the fact that some Corporations do not want information about their company’s files being intruded upon because it could cause some uneasiness in their clients and stock holders). It is also estimated that the cost to U.S. corporations each year exceeds $63 billion and that one half of these attacks comes from the outside, normally through the Internet.
Companies like the Bank of Montreal, Toronto Dominion, Master Card, and Visa

who wish to take advantages of the Internet and their clients and potential clients who would use the services provided by these companies must do to something to aid in the defense of their files. It is literally warfare. “We need the equivalent of the Manhattan Project to help us harden our data infrastructures against attack,” says U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick at last February’s National Security in the Information Age Conference.
Companies are implementing firewalls which they hope will be their equivalent of the Manhattan Project. These firewalls act as gatekeepers that check the passwords and identification of anyone trying to gain access to a network. However, firewalls are not entirely effective against the malicious attempts of hackers. They rely primarily on passwords to determine who has access to what files and often the users choose very simple passwords like a date of birth or a child or some loved ones name. These passwords alone are fairly easy to guess but more complex passwords can also be bypassed. In one situation, a hacker used a program which simply ran through every permutation of characters until the system let him in. Hackers may also send e-mail to a network which will install malignant coding which may shut down the network or allow them to gain access at a later time. Most good firewalls do not allow the e-mail systems to touch the rest of the network and in this manner they eliminate the risk. Another, more practical downfall of a firewall is that they are very expensive; often they run around

$15,000 per site. It is also important to remember that Firewalls should be placed at all critical and vulnerable junctures in a system. An analogy made by Mr. Lipsett in December of 1996's issue of Client/Server World on page 9 states the importance of the use of firewalls with other security programs:
“A firewall is like the lock on the front door. But if I had important information in my desk, I’d also lock the door to my suite, my office door, and my desk drawer. If it’s very valuable, I’d probably have alarms in case someone broke in through the windows. I might also use night watchmen and motion detectors.”

Encryption is often the next line of defense against the hacker. Firewalls simply block out certain files for certain users and their passwords while encryption changes these files to encoded text and no one can read them unless they have the correct encryption program and the correct key to unlock those files. Encryption has proven itself to be useful to Master Card and Visa who wish to allow their customers to use their services on the Internet. “If encryption were universally used, it wouldn’t matter how secure Firewalls, browsers, or Java were. Nobody would be able to read what they stole,” says Information Security’s Matchett.

Encryption also has some serious historical downfalls. During the American Civil War the Union had a very unique encryption system but not complex enough to stop the Confederates from decoding it and learning their plans which turned out to be deadly for the Union. As well, during the Second World War the Germans had an encryption code which the English called Enigma which was eventually broken and German plans were revealed. These can be used as examples for the encryption industry which serve as reminders that no system is invulnerable.
The biggest threat to some corporations is the dishonest employee who may be disgruntled and becomes a prime target for use by other corporations in corporate spying.
You may have the best encryption and firewall systems but they can do you no good if an authorized user turns coat. (An example of such a treachery is available in PC World Online’s magazine in their November 1996 issue on pages four and five which states that William Gaede, a disgruntled Intel supervisor who a couple of years ago was intent on stealing the blueprints for the Pentium chip and selling them to the competition. He attempted to do say but was caught).
Often an important point of view is neglected, that of the hacker’s. From my point of view they are contemptible malcontents who do not deserve a place in society. However, they see themselves in a considerably different light. Here is a quote taken from an article I found online in November at http://www.acilink.net/~pmazuc/txt/hack_em.txt (if you wanted to visit the page).

“Welcome to the world of hacking! We, the people who live outside of the normal rules, and have been scorned and even arrested by those from the ‘civilized world’, are becoming scarcer every day. This is due to the greater fear of what a good hacker (skill wise, no moral judgements here) can do nowadays, thus causing anti-hacker sentiment in the masses. Also, few hackers seem to actually know about the computer systems they hack, or what equipment they will run into on the front end, or what they could do wrong on a system to alert the ‘higher’ authorities who monitor the system.”

He goes on to outline the how-to’s of hacking VAXs and Networks. Hackers seem to hold themselves in high regard and believe that they have the ‘right’ to do what they do. Some of their actions include stealing or destroying data, disabling protection systems and shutting down networks. They may often just break into system to get
passwords to sell to other hackers. More benign hacking can include personalization and use of computers in a manner that they are not meant to be used.
Compounding the problem of hacking is often the unwillingness of business to prepare themselves properly. This may seem illogical at first but when all factors are considered for some business it is the only possible course of action. The cost of a good security system can be phenomenal. Here is a price list taken from a November of 1996 issue of PC World Online (no author indicated):
- $1 250 — Smart Card-based password system.
- $ 5 000 — Anti-virus software, $100 per workstation.
- $ 15 000 — Firewall to protect the internal network and e-mail and Internet connections.
- $ 75 000 — Encryption Hardware and software-usually a card, but sometimes a standalone box, at $ 1 500 per workstation.

$ 96 250 TOTAL PRICE FOR SECURITY SYSTEM
Plus additional costs to maintain the system.

In the future, electronic commerce will gradually play a more and more important part in our lives. Several trends will emerge such as “the integration of functionality into monolithic programs that do everything imaginable” as stated by V-ONE Electronic Commerce & Security. As well, in a few years you will be able to perform bank
transactions, edit files, and send e-mail using a common interface and the security market will most likely become massive (again, as stated by V-ONE Securities).
It becomes clear that the computer systems of businesses are vulnerable structures. They require considerable improvement to keep out the hacker whose sole intent is to cause harm. We have made some significant advances in Computers to date. However, our methods of securing these systems from prying eyes are still catching up. I am confident that we will eventually reach a point of relative security but it is important to remember that there are always imperfections in any system and there are always people lurking in the shadows who would exploit these deficiencies. Only in preparing ourselves for the worst is it possible to feel secure.

Bibliography

Glen, Ron. “Firewalls: The Perimeter Defense”. Client/Server World. December 1996. pp. 8-9 & 12-13.

Imrryr, Elric. “The Basics of Hacking: Intro”. The Basics of Hacking. Http://www.acilink.net/~pmazuc/txt/hack_em.txt (November 1996).

Rothfeder, Jeffrey. “Hacked! Are Your Company’s Files Safe?”. PC World Online. http://www.pcworld.com/s...nov96/1411p1/va.html. November 1996, pp. 1-7.

Unstated. “Show Report: Firewalls, Web and Internet Security Conference”. PC World Online. http://www.pcworld.com/s...nov96/1411p1/va.html. November 1996, pp. 1&2.

Communism vs. Democracy

2009-10-22T02:41:00.000-07:00

Communism vs. Democracy

The United States of America is a country that believes in democracy and has unfavorable ties with communist countries. The United States has tried for decades to improve relations with the countries that don’t practice democracy. History shows disagreements between the United States and dictators of these irreverent countries, disagreements that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The most recent of these confrontations involved three countries. United States of America, Cuba and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR).
Fidel Castro is a Cuban revolutionary, who took control of Cuba in 1959 and established a Communist dictatorship. Castro, who was born in Mayari, became the leader of an underground, anti-government faction. In 1956, he led a rebellion that won increasing popular support. Eventually Castro forced Batista y Zaldivar, who was the premier of Cuba to flee the country. Once in power Castro executed and imprisoned thousands of political opponents, nationalized industry, collectivized agriculture, and established a one-party socialist state. In the early 1960’s Castro openly embraced Communism and formed close ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), relying on Soviet economic and military aid approving limited economic reforms that legalized some free enterprise.

In Cuba, an estimated $1 billion in U.S.-owned properties were seized in 1960. The Castro government seized oil refineries, sugar mills, and electric utilities owned by the United States. When the Castro government expropriated in 1960, the U.S. government responded by imposing a trade embargo. A complete break in diplomatic relations occurred in 1961. On April 17 of that year, anti-Castro exiles supported and trained by the United States government, landed an invasion force in the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. Ninety of the invaders were killed, and some 1200 were captured. President Castro announced May 17 that Cuba would exchange prisoners taken at the Bay of Pigs for 500 U.S. bulldozers. Negotiations broke down June 30, and Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist on December 2. He announced formation of a united party to bring communism to Cuba.
Relations between the United States and Cuba grew still more perilous in the fall of 1962, when the United States discovered Soviet-supplied missile installations in Cuba. United States President, John F. Kennedy announced a naval blockade of the island.
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, Soviet Communist leader, who was first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party from 1953 to 1964 and president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1958 to 1964. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, Khrushchev became the head of the Communist Party of the USSR. In 1961, relations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) grew increasingly hostile. President Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev had a strained meeting in Vienna, Austria. Later that year, the Communists in East Germany ordered a wall be built on the border between East and West Berlin. This would prevent East Germans from fleeing their country via West Berlin, which was under the control of the United States, France, and Great Britain. When East German soldiers began blocking the allied route through East Germany into Berlin, Kennedy sent in a force of 1500 soldiers, ending Communist interference.
Relations with the United States were tense because Khrushchev favored nuclear weapons over conventional armies. These tensions culminated during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The Cuban missile crisis in October produced a tense nuclear confrontation between Washington and Moscow. U.S. aerial surveillance discovered Soviet offensive missile and bomber bases in Cuba. President Kennedy ordered an air and sea “quarantine” of Cuba to prevent shipment of arms to Fidel Castro. President
Kennedy met with Soviet ambassador Dobrynin at his embassy and learned Moscow would agree to withdraw the missiles with their atomic warheads from Cuba if U.S. nuclear missiles are withdrawn from Turkey. President Kennedy rejected the deal when President Khrushchev offered it publicly, but U.S. General Lauris J. Norstad (who opposed quick removal of the 15 obsolescent Jupiter rockets from Turkey) was unexpectedly retired from his post as NATO commander. After several strained days, Khrushchev lost support from the KGB and the conservative members of the Communist Party when he denounced Stalin. He alienated the military by advocating defense based on nuclear weapons. Finally, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the Cuban missile sites and remove them. Soon after the Cuban blockade ended, and the U.S. missiles in Turkey were quietly removed.
The United States also supported an unsuccessful attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro in 1961. Their plan was to move inland and join with anti-Castro forces to stage a revolt, but Castro's forces defeated the exiles and took the survivors as prisoners. Castro demanded money for their release. Kennedy refused to negotiate directly with Castro, but at Kennedy's urging businesses and private citizens reached an agreement with Castro. In 1962, 1113 prisoners were released in exchange for food and medical supplies valued at approximately $53 million.
Throughout the year’s there have been many conflicts between democratic policy makers and totalitarian communist ran countries. Conflicts that might have brought the world to an end. By far the Cuban Missile Crisis was the world's closest approach to nuclear war.

THE AMAZING HALF-EATEN APPLE-CLUE!!

2009-10-22T02:38:00.000-07:00

THE AMAZING HALF-EATEN APPLE-CLUE!!

Once up on a time there was a robber who had ascaped from prison
and there was a jeweller who was robbed.
The robber always jused to put something who was his left in the store he robbed.
When the police got the message about the robbery they ran out to their cars and drove over.
The investigator examined the floor the roof the walls and even the jewellery who was left.
Right were the jewllery were placed , there now was a «half-eaten-apple».
The investigator took the apple into a little bag and they drove down to the station.
They planed to do something wich they never had done before.
They took a impression of the «teethprints» and went down to the
dentist for some questions.

When they came down to the dentist, the police asked if they had an impression who looked
the same as they had taken.
He had to look in to the archives if there was any , and he had to call all the other tentists to,
and tell them to look into their archives if they can find any , so the police had to wait.
The next day the dentist called the police and told them there was a dentist in another
town who had found a impression who matched with the polices impression.
They got the address to the robber drove over to him, surprised him, arrested him,
and brought him to the station.
In the trial the police introduced the evidens against him , but unfortunately the judge said:
I`m sorry but this aint not enough to go to trial whit , we have to let him go.

The day after, another store was robbed. And they found the robbers «fingerprints»
this time. Now as the police got the fingerprints and the teethprints, they could captivate him.
A few hours later , he was behind bars

He had just got him self locked in behind the walls for another fifteen years.