Overpopulation Essays (1229 words) - Transport, Land Transport

Overpopulation How many times have you been sitting in traffic with your engine running and on the right you see a factory letting off pollutants into the air? Well every time you do this and the company does this you and them are polluting are air and water, and leading to the destruction of the Bay Area. Unless we the people of the Bay Area and the factories do something to improve the pollution we are letting off then the Bay Area is in serious danger of losing the beauty of city. When is an area overpopulated? When its population can't be maintained without rapidly depleting nonrenewable resources (or converting renewable resources into nonrenewable ones) and without degrading the capacity of the environment to support the population. (Schuster 27) So is the Bay Area overpopulated? If you interpret overpopulation by Schusters quote then yes the Bay Area is overpopulated. The Bay Area's population has been proven to adversely affect the environment. In recent years the Bay's water has become so polluted that the fish aren't even fit for human consumption and most of the Bay Area's air, still does not attain to the State ozone standard. (Duffy) The pollution is mostly caused by large factories waste and commuters coming into the Bay Area. California needs to come up with a plan on how to control the population before it becomes way out of hand. If the current population trend keeps up the Bay Area won't be able to support the needs of everyone. Overpopulation will always entail human judgments and value laden statements. (Carnell 22) It is the people of the Bay Area that are responsible for this problem of overpopulation and we need to take responsibility before it gets out of hand. Overpopulation will eventually cause the destru ction of the Bay Area's quality of life unless measures are taken to control the population. Water pollution in the Bay Area has recently hit a high due to the economic growth and population of the Bay Area . With the economic growth in the Bay Area this is causing many more people to commute resulting in dioxins polluting are waters. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1999 added 30 Bay Area creeks to the list of polluted lakes and rivers. Some of the rivers that were on that list were the Alameda river, San Leandro river and the Walnut river. In the case of dioxins, scientists say minute concentrations escape from autos and factories in particles of smoke during combustion and float down and settle on land and the Bay. (Kay) Commuters that wait in traffic and keep there engines idling and large factories are the main reason for this problem. Dioxins are the main pollutants, polluting our waters. Two years ago in announcement made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, they declared that dioxins, solvent furans and dioxin like PCB's were at too high of levels and caused the fish in the Bay to become unsafe for human consumption. Short term, the EPA decision ups the priority for controlling dioxin (EPA). Long term it's a step toward controlling dioxin releases at the source. The goal is to make the Bay fish able so that people can fish the Bay for food in health (Kay). EPA also said , Dioxins bind DNA and disrupt enzymes, hormones and growth, leading to cancer, developmental and reproductive damage, diabetes and immune system impairment. (Kay) These dioxins are very harmful to humans and can cause sicknesses. If we lose all of our local lakes and rivers then we will be losing a valuable resource, which is fish. The Bay Area's lakes and rivers are becoming rapidly polluted and if these trends continue then the majority of the Bay Area's water will be unsafe. Some actions that the Bay Area should focus on to control the pollution are make carpool lanes more selective, to force more people to carpool, encourage companies to offer a monitory incentive for carpooling, increase affordability and availability of public transportation, and control immigration to California. In order to control the pollution, the Bay Area should focus on making all carpool lanes require three people, instead of two. If the Bay Area was to do this

Superheroes Essays

Superheroes Essays Superheroes Essay Superheroes Essay Essay Topic: Batman Lately I’ve been pondering the subject of superheroes. Everyone has their favorite – mine is Batman – and I think everyone at some time has fantasized about being one. I know I have. Of course, unlike Batman, who uses cunning, strength, battle expertise and a bizarre psychological makeup to his advantage, I’m thinking that having superpowers might be one of the prerequisites of the job. Unfortunately, most of the powers that are of interest to me, especially the ability to bend space and time and invisibility, have been taken. What’s a fledging superhero to do?I flirted with shape shifting or the ability to manipulate the weather. I thought about being able to communicate with animals, but other than being very Dr. Doolittle-ish, how would that come in handy when trying to save the world? It wouldn’t. No, it would have to something formidable. So, after much thought, I’ve decided that I want to be able to transform myself into any element, which I think would really come in handy as a superhero. It could also cause some problems, which is OK, because most superheroes are flawed in some way and their powers can often be a curse to them.Being able to change into any element would not only be a cool power to show off, but it would be extremely practical too. If someone is shooting at me, I can turn myself to iron and not only repel the bullets but bounce them back. If I’m being chased I can quite conveniently turn to steam and drift away. Ditto if I want to sneak into a room. I’d just turn to smoke and go through the keyhole. And if I need to escape a sticky situation I can stand above a sewer grate and turn to water, reconstituting when I hit the pool below. There are no limits to how useful a tool this could be.Being able to transform myself like this makes me near invincible. Which could be a problem. It may be too perfect. My powers would have to have a flaw. For instance, maybe I can only retain my transformation for a certain amount of time, say five minutes. Perhaps my character frequently finds that messy circumstances only get messier because he can’t retain his powers, making a quick and efficient escape of the essence. I would eventually learn that, like the Force of Star Wars fame, my powers could grow through time, practice and training.Like any dedicated student, my character would constantly be working at skills he doesn’t quite understand. Maybe I would find a Yoda-like mentor to help me control and strengthen my powers. I also need to take into consideration just how many elements I could transform into. It may be interesting to be able to run the gambit of the Periodic Table; it could fun to turn into germanium or meitnerium, although the latter would mean I would have a half-life of only 720 milliseconds, which sounds problematic. But it would certainly add to the fabric of my character.I may never have to turn to samarium, but I could if I wanted to. Practicality states that it would have to be a solid element and nothing colorless, odorless or tasteless; what good is it to become hydrogen? At first glance one might also think there would be no practical reason to transform into halogens or any of the noble gasses. But, come to think of it, if I wanted to illuminate a dark passageway I could just turn to neon. Of course, I don’t actually turn to neon. Maybe my body just starts to glow brightly.Of course, my character would have to have a back story. I would have to explain how I discover my powers. You just don’t wake up one day made of scandium. Perhaps I’m a physicist. Maybe it’s night and I’m working in the lab alone. Maybe there’s an accident and an explosion releases a white-hot fireball that’s heading right towards me. Unable to move in time I instinctively turn to iron, saving me from the flames rushing harmlessly by. In the aftermath I lie on the floor, gazing in amazement and disbelief at my metallic body.This is interesting, I think before I quickly reconstitute back to my human form, which is, of course, naked, since my clothes have been burned off. But I’m shook at what just happened, not comprehending whether it actually really happened. Later, when realizing that I actually had turned to metal, I decide to test my newfound powers, perhaps by thinking of helium. Curiously, my body doesn’t inflate like a balloon, but begins to levitate, gently lifting me exhilaratingly skyward until I am level with the ceiling. Then the powers suddenly vanish and I crash to the floor below.

Macbeth Quotes Explained

'Macbeth' Quotes Explained Macbeth, William Shakespeares bloodiest play, is one of the most quoted dramatic works in the English language. Memorable lines from the tragedy explore themes like reality and illusion, ambition and power, and guilt and remorse. Famous quotations from Macbeth are still recited (and sometimes spoofed) today in movies, TV shows, commercials, and even the daily news. Quotes About Reality and Illusion Fair is foul, and foul is fair:Hover through the fog and filthy air.(Act I, Scene 1) The Tragedy of Macbeth opens with an eerie, supernatural scene. Amidst thunder and lightening, three witches moan into the wind. They tell us that nothing is as it seems. Whats good (fair) is evil (foul). Whats evil is good. Everything is strangely reversed. The witches- also called weird sisters- are odd and unnatural. They speak in sing-song rhymes, but describe filth and evil. Theres an unexpected rhythm to their words. Most of  Shakespeares characters speak in iambs, with the emphasis falling on the second syllable: da-dum, da-dum. Shakespeares witches, however, chant in  trochees. The emphasis falls on the first syllable: Fair is foul, and foul is fair. This particular quote is also a paradox. By pairing opposites, the witches disrupt the natural order. Macbeth aligns himself with their twisted thinking when he echoes their words in Act I, Scene 3: So foul and fair a day I have not seen[.] Shakespeares witches are fascinating because they force us to question the natural order of things, as well as our notions about fate and free will. Appearing at key moments in Macbeth, they chant prophesies, spark Macbeths lust for the throne, and manipulate his thinking. Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? Or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?(Act II, Scene 1) The witches also set the tone for moral confusion and hallucinatory scenes like Macbeths encounter with a floating dagger. Here, Macbeth is preparing to murder the king when delivers this haunting soliloquy. His tortured imagination (heat-oppressed brain) conjures the illusion of the murder weapon. His soliloquy becomes a chilling apostrophe in which he speaks directly to the dagger: Come, let me clutch thee. The dagger, of course, cannot respond. Like many things in Macbeths distorted vision, its not even real. Quotes About Ambition and Power Stars, hide your fires;Let not light see my black and deep desires.(Act I, Scene 4) Macbeth is a complex and conflicted character. His comrades call him brave and worthy, but the witches prophecy has awakened a secret longing for power. These lines, spoken by Macbeth as an aside, reveal the  black and deep desires he struggles to hide. Lusting for the crown, Macbeth plots to kill the king. But, on reflection, he questions the practicality of such an action. I have no spurTo prick the sides of my intent, but onlyVaulting ambition, which oerleaps itselfAnd falls on the other.(Act I, Scene 7) Here, Macbeth acknowledges that ambition is his only motivation (spur) to commit murder. Like a horse spurred to leap too high, this much ambition can only result in downfall. Ambition is Macbeths tragic flaw, and its possible that nothing could have saved him from his fate. However, much of the blame can be placed on his wife. Power-hungry and manipulative, Lady Macbeth vows to do whatever it takes to advance her husbands murderous plan. †¦Come, you spiritsThat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,And fill me from the crown to the toe top-fullOf direst cruelty! make thick my blood;Stop up the access and passage to remorse,That no compunctious visitings of natureShake my fell purpose, nor keep peace betweenThe effect and it! Come to my womans breasts,And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,Wherever in your sightless substancesYou wait on natures mischief!(Act I, Scene 5) In this soliloquy, Lady Macbeth braces herself for murder. She rejects Elizabethan notions of womanhood (unsex me), and begs to be rid of soft emotions and female visitings of nature (menstruation). She asks the spirits to fill her breasts with poison (gall). Womens milk is a recurring motif in Shakespeares play, representing the soft, nurturing qualities Lady Macbeth renounces. She believes that her husband is too full o the milk of human kindness (Act I, Scene 5) to kill the king. When he waffles, she tells him that she would rather murder her own infant than abandon their murderous plan. †¦I have given suck, and knowHow tender tis to love the babe that milks me:I would, while it was smiling in my face,Have pluckd my nipple from his boneless gums,And dashd the brains out, had I so sworn as youHave done to this.(Act I, Scene 7) In this shocking rebuke, Lady Macbeth attacks her husbands manhood. She implies that he must be weak- weaker than his wife, weaker than a nursing mother- if he cannot keep his vow to take the throne. Elizabethan audiences would have been repulsed by Lady Macbeths raw ambition and reversal of traditional sex roles. Just as her husband crossed moral boundaries, Lady Macbeth defied her place in society. In the 1600s, she may have appeared as weird and unnatural as the witches with their eerie incantations. Todays attitudes are very different, yet ambitious and powerful women still arouse suspicion. Critics and conspiracy theorists have used the name Lady Macbeth to deride public figures like Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard. Quotes AboutGuilt and Remorse Methought I heard a voice cry Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep.†¦What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand? No, this my hand will ratherThe multitudinous seas in incarnadine,Making the green one red.(Act II, Scene 2) Macbeth speaks these lines immediately after murdering the king. To murder sleep has a double meaning. Macbeth has killed a sleeping man, and hes also killed his own serenity. Macbeth knows that because of this action, he will never be able to rest peacefully.   The guilt Macbeth feels stirs hallucinations and gruesome visions of blood. Hes shocked by the sight of his murderous hands. (They pluck out mine eyes.) In his tormented mind, his hands are soaked with so much blood, they would turn the ocean red.   Lady Macbeth shares Macbeths crime, but does not immediately show guilt.  She coldly returns the daggers to the crime scene and smears blood on the kings sleeping grooms so that they will be blamed. Seemly unruffled, she tells her husband, A little water clears us of this deed (Act II, Scene 2). Out, damned spot! out, I say! - One: two: why,then, tis time to dot. - Hell is murky! - Fie, mylord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need wefear who knows it, when none can call our power toaccount? - Yet who would have thought the old manto have had so much blood in him.†¦.The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? - What, will these hands neer be clean? - No more othat, my lord, no more o that: you mar all withthis starting.†¦Heres the smell of the blood still: all theperfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this littlehand. Oh, oh, oh!†¦Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not sopale. - I tell you yet again, Banquos buried; hecannot come out ons grave.†¦To bed, to bed! theres knocking at the gate:come, come, come, come, give me your hand. Whatsdone cannot be undone. - To bed, to bed, to bed! (Act V, Scene 1) The king is only one of many killings during Macbeths bloody reign. To hold onto his ill-gotten crown, he orders the slaughter of his friend Banquo and the entire household of Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Macbeth suffers fits of hysteria and hallucinates Banquos ghost with blood-clotted hair. But its the hard-hearted Lady Macbeth who eventually collapses under the weight of guilt, and she is the one who gives this monologue. Sleepwalking, she wrings her hands and babbles about the stain of so much spilled blood.   The phrase Out, damned spot! can seem comical to modern readers. Lady Macbeths distraught words have been used in advertisements for products ranging from household cleaners to acne medicines. But this is the raving of a woman who teeters on the brink of madness.   Parts of Lady Macbeths monologue, like the incantation of the witches, depart from the traditional iambic pentameter. In a metrical pattern called a spondee, she strings together syllables that have equal weight: Out-damned-spot-out. Since each one-syllable word is equally stressed, the emotional tension is heightened. Readers (or listeners) are more likely to feel the impact of each word. The words themselves seem nonsensical. They are non sequiturs, jumping from thought to thought. Lady Macbeth is reliving all the crimes, remembering sounds, smells, and images. One after the other, she names murder victims: the king (the old man), Macduffs wife, and Banquo. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.(Act V, Scene 5) Unable to recover from her guilt, Lady Macbeth kills herself. When this news reaches Macbeth, hes already in deep despair. Abandoned by his noblemen and knowing his own days are numbered, he delivers one of the most desolate soliloquies in the English language. In this extended metaphor, Macbeth compares life to a theatrical performance. Days on earth are as short-lived as the candles that illuminate the Elizabethan stage. Each person is nothing more than a shadow cast by that flickering light, a silly actor who struts about and then vanishes when the candle is snuffed. In this metaphor, nothing is real and nothing matters. Life is a tale told by an idiot†¦ signifying nothing. American author William Faulkner titled his novel The Sound and the Fury  after a line from Macbeths soliloquy. Poet Robert Frost borrowed a phrase for his poem, Out, Out - . Even the cartoon Simpson family embraced the metaphor with a melodramatic rendition by Homer Simpson. Ironically, Shakespeares tragedy ends soon after this somber speech. Its easy to imagine audiences blinking from the theater, wondering, Whats real? Whats illusion? Are we part of the play? Sources Garber, Marjorie. â€Å"Shakespeare and Modern Culture, Chapter One.† 10 Dec. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/books/chapters/chapter-shakespeare.html. Excerpted from the book, Pantheon Publishers.Liner, Elaine. â€Å"Out, Damned Spot!: The Best Pop Culture References That Came from Macbeth.† 26 Sept. 2012, www.dallasobserver.com/arts/out-damned-spot-the-best-pop-culture-references-that-came-from-macbeth-7097037.Macbeth. Folger Shakespeare Library, www.folger.edu/macbeth.Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Arden. Read online at shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/index.htmlThemes in Macbeth. Royal Shakespeare Company, cdn2.rsc.org.uk/sitefinity/education-pdfs/themes-resources/edu-macbeth-themes.pdf?sfvrsn4.Wojczuk, Tana. The Good Wife – Hillary Clinton as Lady Macbeth. Guernica, 19 Jan. 2016. www.guernicamag.com/tana-wojczuk-the-good-wife-hillary-clinton-as-lady-macbeth/.

Hospitality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hospitality - Essay Example Although some hotel rooms may offer two or double rooms, timeshares offer queen or king beds set up in private rooms. Hotels only offer television sets in rooms while for timeshares, television is found in bedroom and living areas. Other amenities offered by timeshares but not offered by hotels include Jacuzzi tub in bathroom, fully equipped kitchen and washer suites. Customers may consider investment initial investment involved in buying a timeshare. Although this could be high, with time, they become cheaper. Six types of timeshares are available for buyers in the market in relation to their tastes, affordability, time and period of ownership, capacity, luxury, and availability. During their early days of invention, most developers provided a fixed one-week unit annually meaning the buyer could only occupy the unit once a week every year. However, many developments and modifications have come into place and flexibility in the product has been rising with increased demand and customer tastes. Until recently, developers did not spend enough time and money in making the structures. It is worth noting, â€Å"Most early timeshare resorts were conversions of old hotels, motels, rental-apartment complexes, or unsold condominiums† (Schreier 3). She further stresses that conversion typically undergo extensive renovation, and they may involve adaptive reuse of historic structures. Today, more time and resources are spent on constructing structures for timesharing purposes. Deeded timeshares gives the customer freedom of owning and using the property until the time of passing to the next party. This means that a title deed is issued to the owner to prove ownership of the property which could also be handed down to an heir if the owner so wishes. Life property timeshares allows the buyer to use the property every year for the rest of his life from the date of ownership. The disadvantage is that their benefits end at the time of death of the owner,

Why did Radical Republicans Abandoned Women Seeking Rights after the Essay

Why did Radical Republicans Abandoned Women Seeking Rights after the Civil War - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the reasoning and events that took place that drove radical Republicans from acknowledging women's rights and why women in general stopped supporting the Republican Party. As Anna Yeatman (1993) explains it, "the dominant discourses of modern citizenship are predicated on systemic exclusions of those who are othered by these discourses" (quoted in Kingfisher, 1998, p. 128). When "woman" is added to the previously mentioned descriptors, another layer of exclusion is added. For example, the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, enacted after the Civil War, granted suffrage rights to black men, but excluded women of all races.i The famous line from the Constitution that "All men are created equal" was written completely literally; this line did not include women or slaves as they were considered property. The founding fathers did not think twice when it came to denying the freedoms they had fought for to others, and it has been a long struggle since then to reclaim equal rights for all. Even with constitutional amendments making discrimination based on sex or skin color illegal, it still seems as though the white men in their suits have some sort of advantage over everyone not exactly like them. This undoubtedly is one of the reasons why Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have seemed like such a breath of fresh air in this year's political landscape. Of course, with this year's main democratic candidates being a black man and a white women running for president, it's easy to forget that it was President Lincoln's Republican Party that emancipated the slaves and supported women's rights. So why exactly were the slaves freed in 1865 and women weren't given the right to vote until 1920 The women's rights movement and the abolition movement were conjoined before the Civil War, but afterwards, the Republican Party that had been given so much support by women in the abolition movement promptly dropped their support for equal rights for women. To begin explaining how all of this took place, it is necessary to go back one hundred years before the emancipation of the slaves to obtain a more complete story. The society of 1750's was still highly centered on the farm. Since there was so much work required to be done around a farm, men and women had to invest there full time into the work required. As factories began to become more prominent, many of the traditional jobs delegated to women began to change. These factories took the place of many jobs, such spinning and weaving, and this left women with much more time on their hands. With this extra time, they searched for ways to be more productive. They formed different organizations, some social, and these organizations became the foundations of many women's rights groupsii. The accepted notion of the time was that men and women belonged to different "spheres" of work and socializing, and that it was inappropriate for either men or women to cross the boundaries of these spheres. Men were supposed to work and engage in politics, while women were supposed cook, clean, and take care of the children. It is important to remember that at this time men thought that women should remain submissive. They were thought to have weak constitutions and needed men to take care of them. Throughout the history of the women's rights movement, this attitude was so prevalent that some women even spoke out against being given the right to vote, thinking that it gave too much responsibility. After being told that they were inferior for so long, they apparently began to think that the way they were treated was fair. It took a lot of courage for a woman during this time period

Hollywood Science & Disaster Cinema Essay Example for Free

Hollywood Science Disaster Cinema Essay To some extent, all fiction attempts to bend factual truths in the service of the narrative. In some cases, this is done for purposes of pure function, such as heightening the stakes of narrative or preventing the dramatic momentum from grinding to a complete halt. In other cases, it is done to express a particular authorial viewpoint – perhaps a political perspective or an observation about society – which is more often than not, contingent on the thematic integrity of the narrative. In the case of cinematic fiction, Hollywood has always had a special affinity for a liberal interpretation of the truth. In the 90s disaster classic, Armageddon, screenwriters Jonathan Hensleigh and J. J. Abrams presuppose that it is impossible to communicate drilling experience to well-trained astronauts in order to justify sending up an oil rig crew with no astronautical experience to save the world by dropping hydrogen bombs into a geologic mass the size of Texas – which is roughly analogous to trying to split an apple with a needle. The 2003 film, The Core operates from a complete non-premise in which an inactive magnetic field puts Earth at risk from incineration by space-based microwaves – which more accurately, pose no threat and are affected little by magnetic forces let alone the Earth’s magnetic field. One could say that Hollywood does not merely bend the truth. Rather, truth is made to stretch, contort and mold itself into incredulous shapes as if it were so much Play-Doh. The film The Day After Tomorrow, which had been marketed heavily as an ostensibly cautionary tale about the potential perils of climate change, is certainly no exception to this Hollywood tradition. Directed by German-born Roland Emmerich, the apocalypse porn auteur of such films as Independence Day and Godzilla decides to unleash his cathartic urges on a larger, planetary scale (with New York remaining his primary canvas of destruction). The Day After Tomorrow focuses on one paleoclimatologist – an eight-syllable term for ‘guy who studies prehistoric weather conditions’ – and his futile attempts to convince world leaders of the disastrous implications of climate change. While many of the scientific premises he puts forth are true, it is when they reach their tipping point and send the Earth into an Ice Age far sooner than he had predicted that the film enters the realm of fantasy. At the very least, The Day After Tomorrow does the honorable thing to scientists and tries not to make them look like idiots to viewers who know a thing or two about science. Jack Hall, the aforementioned paleoclimatologist played by Dennis Quaid, maintains a coherent view of science that is above par for most Hollywood scientists. He articulates the film’s core premise, which is that melting polar ice will have a negative effect on the Gulf Stream that will severely disrupt the natural thermal flows causing severe weather changes. However, he projects that this will happen over the course of decades or centuries. Therefore, the mechanics of climate change articulated by Hall are sound. (Duke University, 2004; McKibben, 2004) It is the rate at which climate change occurs within the film that is unrealistic, as well as the near-mystical forecasting abilities of Hall’s computer simulations. The notion that no one other than Hall can transplant present day meteorological data, as gathered by his colleague Terry Rapson, played by Ian Holm, and his co-workers at the Hedland Climate Center, into a paleoclimatological scenario is utterly discombobulating, as if to suggest they are the only experts who could foresee this. To screenwriters’ Jerry Rachmanoff and Roland Emmerich credit, they remain fully aware of the level to which they have exaggerated these matters. The climate tipping point sends the Global North into a series of weather disasters: Tornados wreak havoc on the Hollywood sign (as if to foreshadow the film’s ultimate rejection of a Hollywood ending solution), hurricanes sending automobiles flying all over Los Angeles, and sub-zero temperatures freezing airborne helicopters over Scotland. All the while, the hero-scientists, such as hurricane specialist Janet Tokada, point out plainly how nigh-impossible this accelerated pace of disaster is. It’s almost as if their secondary role was to remind viewers that these are all the exaggerations of fictional conceit. Unlike The Core, The Day After Tomorrow does not disrespect the professional integrity of the science professions by presenting a fabricated non-problem. Furthermore, The Day After Tomorrow does not propose that blue-collar derring do, when equipped with enough magical high technology can combine to form the â€Å"silver bullet† solutions which undo everything. However, by presenting the climate change problem on such incredulous terms, The Day After Tomorrow risks undermining the very message it is attempting to get across, despite the fact that it has the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration director telling a dismissive Vice President who vaguely resembles Dick Cheney, that if policy makers â€Å"had listened to the scientists, you would have had a different policy to begin with! † While popular culture may have a limited influence on policy making, it most definitely affects popular perceptions of key issues such as nuclear weaponry and bioterrorism. (Schollmeyer, 2005) The filmmakers of The Day After Tomorrow have often stated that one of their goals to draw increased attention and spur greater action towards addressing the threats of climate change. However, because many scientists on both sides of the climate change debate have taken issue with the scientific accuracy of the events depicted in the film, it risks muddying this goal further. This means that The Day After Tomorrow’s lack of scientific accuracy makes it easier for climate change skeptics to continue to dismiss the threat of climate change by suggesting that the film is built on the foundations of propagandist and alarmist science, while the climate change Cassandras will remains Cassandras as they become forced to debunk a film that represents their own concerns. REFERENCES McKibben, B. (2004, May 4) â€Å"The Big Picture. † Grist. Retrieved online on December 6, 2008 from: http://www. grist. org/comments/soapbox/2004/05/04/mckibben-climate/ Duke University (2004, May 13). â€Å"Disaster Flick Exaggerates Speed Of Ice Age. † ScienceDaily. Retrieved online on December 6, 2008, from: http://www. sciencedaily. com ¬ /releases/2004/05/040512044611. htm Schollmeyer, J. (2005, May-June) â€Å"Lights, camera, Armageddon. † Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 61. Retrieved online on December 6, 2008 from: http://www. illinoiswaters. net/heartland/phpBB2/viewtopic. php? t=9007

Dell Incorporated :: essays research papers

The computer industry has benefited from the explosion of home computer usage and has become one of the most competitive industries in the world. With technology growing at amazing paces, many of the computer companies have fallen behind and even out of the industry since the development of the computer. Only the strongest companies have been able to be profitable and efficient. Dell Inc. is one of the few corporations to be able to remain at the top of the market. Dell began as the vision of Michael Dell. The company began in 1984 with a simple business concept to build computers to order and to sell directly to customers. Dell has a history of achieving double-digit increases in annual sales. To maintain this growth, Dell is faced with many challenges in maintaining it’s distinctive capabilities and using objective analysis to ascertain it’s strength’s, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. â€Å"Dell's vision is to work closely with our development partners to provide 100% perceived availability to the application environment.† "Dell's mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in markets we serve.† In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of: highest quality, leading technology, competitive pricing, financial stability, and individual and company accountability. From the nine essential components of a mission statement, Dell’s mission statement includes: products or services, markets, technology, and concern for survival, growth, and profitability. The most important value to Dell is to satisfy their customers and the second most important value is to be profitable. Dell has three distinctive capabilities which consist of: 1) selling products directly to consumer’s which eliminates the markups of resellers 2) build products as they are order, which eliminates overstocked products and 3) having the ability to respond quickly to customers who experience problems with their products.

Personal Theory Paper

Personality Theory Paper Sherry Richards PSYCH 504 April 8, 2013 Shawn Davis Ph. D. Personality Theory Paper The film Rudy is about a young man from a blue-collar family who wants to play football for Notre Dame, with less than stellar grades, and no money for college Rudy goes to work at the steel mill where his father works. Then things all changed when his best friend was killed in an explosion, Rudy decides to follow his dream. That dream of attending Notre Dame and playing on the football team of the Fighting Irish. He fails to get admitted after leaving for the campus of Notre Dame.He obtains the assistance and sponsorship from a local priest and starts at a small junior college called Holy Cross College; this is to get grades good enough to allow for a transfer so he hopes. After befriending a graduate student and the teaching assistant at the junior college D-Bob, they strike a deal that Rudy will help him meet girls in exchange for the toutoring that he will provided. D-Bob has Rudy tested and find out that dyslexia which was a big part of the learning issues and Rudy then learns how to overcome this disability and becomes a better student.Rudy continues to bomb out with setting up D-Bob until a girl set him up with Elsa. At Christmas when Rudy goes home, the family mocks him and his ambition to get into the college and play football. Once back at school when finally receives the approval for the transfer to Notre Dame, from the junior college, he runs home to tell the family. His father tells everyone via the loudspeaker at the steel mill. Rudy goes to the stadium groundskeeper and offers to work at no charge after not accepted into the college. Since Rudy has no other place, he utilizes the office cot.By using the window to come and go until the groundskeeper realizes this and eventually comes around to liking Rudy and even gives him his own key, Rudy returns once he is accepted into Notre Dame on the last semester transfer. Even though he walks on t he field as a non-scholarship player for the team, the coach tells Rudy that even the scholarship players will not make the dress roster of the players who are on the field during the football games. One thing that the coach notices is that Rudy has more drive than many of the other members of the team that are there on scholarship.Coach Parseghian agrees to allow Rudy to dress for one home game, as it is senior year, so his family and friends can see him on the team. There was a change in coaches and then Rudy was not on the roster for the next to last game so he quit the team. The groundskeeper whose name is Fortune tells Rudy that he will regret it as he will never have the chance again. Therefore, this convinces him to return to the team. The team captain and a senior stand up for Rudy and request that Rudy be allowed to dress for the final game and many say that he can wear their number, as they will not play so he can.The result is the final game that is at home when he will b e allowed to play. Rudy gets to lead the team out of the tunnel and onto the field and he gets onto the official roster of the Notre Dame Football team. Rudy is in for the final play, he tackles the other teams quarterback, and the team carries him off the field on their shoulders. Karen Horney psychoanalytical social theory believes that the childhood experiences are the biggest social and cultural conditions that shape the personality. In this situation, I feel that Rudy would be neurotic search for glory. He is determined to be on the team and be on the field.This to me is a dream yes, but also wanting to search for pride and glory. Horney stressed culture and that it cannot be ignored when working with people. According to the western culture as she saw it that the society demand for success and achievement are almost endless so that normal people have new, additional goals put to them all the time and that with hard work and effort with no regard to the social position, competi tiveness of others or genetics. She believes that childhood is where the majority of the neurotic problems come from. And that without the genuine warmth and affection there are debilitating personal problems.The drive that Rudy shows according to her is due to a neurosis, just because he wants this does not mean that he was not treated right as a child it is a dream and he ended up making it real. Abraham Maslow suggested a hierarchy of needs that illustrate a process of attaining self-actuation through fulfillment of a succession of needs from basic psychobiological needs to important psychological needs (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). The sixteen-personality factor model developed by Cattell, was developed utilizing the work of previous scientists in the field. The esire to have descriptors of low range and high range which then gave the primary factor. The primary factors for Rudy I believe would be social boldness as he wants what he wants and works to find a way to get in the high r ange and high side of self-reliance. He wants to play for the Notre Dame team in his senior year. He with the help of his sponsor start out in a junior college and make it to the college he wishes to be at, then he works to overcome obstacles which are his size and weight to be on the team. He through help of other teammates gets into the last home game of the season and has several accomplishments.The first he leads the team onto the field at the beginning of the game so that his friends and family see him in the Notre Dame uniform, then he sacks the quarterback in the last play of the game and the teammates carry him off the field on their shoulders in celebration. The factors that drive Rudy I feel is the dream he seeks to make real and he does that regardless of obstacles that are there for him, such as poor academics, height, and weight. Works Cited Bohart, D. A. (2013, March 16). Legal, Ethical, and professional Issues in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. Retrieved from academ yprojects. org: http://www. cademyprojects. org/alternatives. htm Cervone, & Pervin. (2010). Personality: Theory and research (11th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. DeSouse, A. (2011). Freudian theory and consciousness: A concptual analysis. Brain, Mind and Consciousness: An International, Interdisciplinary Perspective, 210-217. helpguide. (2013, March 25). phobias and fears: symptoms, treatment, and self-help. Retrieved from helpguide. org: www. helpguide. org/mental/phobia_symptoms_types_treatment. htm Institute of Medicine (US). (2006). Committee on Assessing Interactions Among Social, Behavior, and genetic Factors in Health. Washingtonm D. C. , US.

Relativist Morality Is Unfair Discuss

Relativist Morality is unfair discuss Relativist morality could be seen as unfair, when looked at closely and seen from critics’ point of view it becomes clear that it is easy to question perhaps because of its weakness as a moral system. The weakness could somewhat be perceived as making Relativist morality unfair. A relativist cannot pass judgement but yet to be true to their name ‘relativist’ they would be practising ‘do not pass judgement’ thus they are preaching to others that they should not do something in order for others to follow relativism. This concludes that relativism is self – refuting because a concept of relativism has been broken in order to follow it. This could be seen as unfair because to put relativist morality into practice would involve relativists telling an individual what to do, regarding personal idea raises the question ‘ if being relativist means you are able to break a rule you live by, then it is not fair in terms of my attitudes to ethical understanding. However it could be said that it’s not unfair as its one thing that relativists ask people to do in order to consider living from a relativist’s point of view. In real life relativism would be extremely hard to live by in all situations, and again the idea of unfairness can be applied. If for example a relativist lived in a society that refuses to punish an individual that kills a child, then they are entitled to not like this as it is their opinion but but  they are not obliged to judge the abusers actions as unjust. It is apparent that killing a child is unjust and wrong but yet a relativist has no right to declare the murderer as guilty of wrongdoing, this rise a question ‘If we are certain that murder of a child is wrong, then how can relativism exists? ’ How can it be fair to not be able to label something seen as cruel , as unjust and thus wrong how can it be possible to not see this as unjust? And how is this fair on the victim? That their death was in fact not wrong and not unjust because the actions were committed subject to the perpetrator’s moral understanding of what is right and good or because their society claims that this is right and good. Relativists see no universal absolutes so nothing is universally bad or is it universally good thus this means that blame and praise would become nonexistent because praise comes from doing something good but without good this would be virtually impossible because good would not be judged and therefore it could not be praised in a moral sense. This again could be seen s unfair because it could an act of kindness but yet there is no absolute good in the act for example helping an elderly person with their shopping this is neither seen as good or bad and therefore no praise could come of doing what is believed to be good. Relativists can’t make charges of unfairness, despite what they may feel personally, say the relativist thought that it was unfair for Nazi Germany to slaughter many Jews , but Germany thought these actions to be correct because it is relative to their society then Germanys would say they were being fair and thus must the Relativist. Many individuals will question this because these people that were slaughtered were innocent but yet a relativist would have see these acts as fair, it does not seem fair to have an opinion that these acts were unfair but have to agree that they were fair. How is this view fair for the millions of innocent Jews that were slaughtered?. There would be no prison if moral relativism was to be put into practise because if there is not universal good or bad, then no law would be in place because nobody can decipher the truth thus punishment would be nonexistent because there is no need for anybody to be punished if no one has the right to pass judgement on whether their actions are right or wrong and the reason for imprisonment is because someone has committed crime thus there is no reason for prison to exists however then how would society function, in a recognizable fair way for example the idea of shoplifting this would not be controlled neither would happenings such as rape. This would not be fair because individuals could hurt or steal because it was their moral understanding of good etc so harm would not be seen as bad and neither would theft and the country would therefore not be able to run because people would live how they pleased subject to their moral understanding. This type of life for people would not be fair with no guidelines people would be free do what they like causing pain to other psychically and emotionally and this would not be fair. In conclusion it can be said that relativist morality would not be fair because of the complications it would have when followed correctly and how difficult it would be followed properly. It would cause many problems in reality that would not be fair on individuals.

Signs, Symbols and Portents Essay Example

Signs, Symbols and Portents Essay Example Signs, Symbols and Portents Essay Signs, Symbols and Portents Essay Essay Topic: Literature Signs and symbols can be seen in all kinds of literature. Simply put, they are a concrete representation of an abstract concept. What they represent is not always obvious: they can have one or several meanings, and their meaning can change throughout the story. Sometimes, they are used by the author to foreshadow an event. Interpreting signs and symbols can be a challenge for a reader, but it is a rewarding one: it makes for a more profound and interesting reading. In this essay, I will discuss the role of signs and symbols in the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter was first published in 1850. It is set in Boston, in the 17th century. It is the story of a woman, Hester Prynne, who has been punished by society because of her adultery. She has been forced to wear a scarlet A on her chest as a reminder of the sin she has committed. This scarlet letter, a written sign, is the novels main subject: it is also its main symbol. Charles Feidelson writes: The symbolistic method is inherent in the subject, just as the subject of symbolism is inherent in the method (Feidelson 1953: 13). Hawthorne also uses the main characters as symbols, pointing out the ways in which the scarlet letter affects them. Hester Prynne is condemned to wear the scarlet letter for the rest of her life because she has given birth to a child, Pearl, who is not her husbands. The fact that she has been punished in such a way tells us much about Puritan society: people were generally very pious and prude, and adultery was considered to be a great sin (Durst Johnson 1995). Hester could easily have fled from Boston and thrown away her scarlet letter, but she chooses to stay put and serve her punishment. The red A represents her sin, but it also symbolises the features of human nature that are not socially acceptable in Puritan America, such as passion (Feidelson 1953, Durst Johnson 1995). By continuing to wear it, even when she is told that she is allowed to take it off, she is making a statement. She is showing that she does not intend to change, and that she believes that the society around her should change, instead. She makes no excuses for her behaviour and devotes herself to humanitarian work. Eventually, people see her under a different light: the red A that they used to associate with something devilish acquires a much more positive meaning. Hester is now seen as an Angel, or as Able. Soon after her condemnation, Hester embroiders the scarlet letter with golden thread. Doing so could mean two things: either she is mocking her punishment, or she could be trying to embellish the truth. She does not want to accept her passionate nature. This is very Puritanistic of her: the 19th century was the Age of the Euphemism (Durst Johnson 1995: ix) in America. People did not die, they passed away; a man was not drunk, he was unwell. Though Hester appears to accept her punishment, it can sometimes becomes a hard cross to bear. Hester herself is a symbol: she represents human nature. She is passionate, not infallible, and acknowledges it. At the same time, the way she has been raised has shaped her personality. It sometimes keeps her from fully embracing the aspects of her character that society finds objectionable. Nevertheless, her punishment has made her stronger, and more understanding of humanity. Her charitable work is a proof of this. Hester is a survivor. Dimmesdale, Pearls father, is a young minister in the community. The red A on Hesters chest could stand for Arthur, his first name. He also has a scarlet letter on his heart, a psychosomatic mark (Feidelson 1953: 11), but refuses to acknowledge it. He is a pious man who believes that there should be no room in his life for passion, but his scarlet letter is a permanent reminder that he cannot escape this trait of his personality. The letter tortures him, and he constantly seeks to punish himself. His health deteriorates throughout the novel. He refuses to acknowledge Pearl as his daughter until the very end, and when he does, he proclaims himself to be the one sinner of the world (Hawthorne 2002). He dies minutes after having shown his scarlet letter to the world. Dimmesdale is a symbol of Puritan society and its unwillingness to accept all aspects of human nature. Pearl, Hester and Dimmesdales daughter, has a symbolic role until the very end of the novel. She is an uncontrollable and mischievous child, and she is described as an demon offspring by the narrator. Comparisons between Pearl and the scarlet letter are numerous and obvious. Feidelson writes: Pearl, as Hawthorne reiterates at tiresome length, is the scarlet letter both physically and mentally (1953: 11). Pearl is obsessed with her mothers scarlet letter. In Chapter XV, she makes a green A out of eelgrass and puts it on her own chest. To Pearl, the letter is natural, and does not represent anything evil. She seeks the truth about it, and is constantly asking her mother questions, something that makes Hester uncomfortable. She is also the hardest truth-sayer in the novel (Durst Johnson 1995: 6), and knows the truth about Dimmesdale instinctively. Until he confesses to being her father, she calls him Mr. Black and refuses to kiss him. Throughout the novel, there is an intense connection between Pearl and truth. This indicates that the scarlet letter, which is symbolised by Pearl, represents the whole truth about human nature. Hawthorne writes: Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred! (Hawthorne 2002: 269). By using the scarlet letter and his characters as symbols, Hawthorne is urging people to acknowledge every aspect of their own humanity (Durst Johnson 1995). Moby-Dick was published in 1851. Its author, Herman Melville, dedicated the novel to Nathaniel Hawthorne, who he admired greatly. In his tale of a whaling expedition gone wrong, Melville makes extensive use of signs and symbols. Ishmael, a member of the ships crew and the storys narrator, is a visionary (Feidelson 1953). He transforms the physical world into a symbolic world for the reader. The symbols used in Moby-Dick are most often more complex and ambiguous than the ones used in The Scarlet Letter. One of the major symbols in Moby-Dick is the whaling ship, the Pequod. It has been painted black, and is decorated with bones and teeth that have dissected out of dead whales. In addition to this, it has been named after an extinct Native American tribe. Though Ishmael seems to be very satisfied with the Pequod, the way he describes it makes it sound spooky. The Pequods appearance symbolises death, and its name makes the reader realise that the ship is doomed to sink. Ishmael says of the ship that it is a cannibal of a craft (Melville 1998: 61): much of the components of the ship are taken from whale parts, and it is a ship whose main purpose is killing whales. He is pointing out how men use nature for their own ends, and have no moral qualms about using a whale to kill another whale. The crew of the Pequod is made up of a variety of people from all over the world. Ishmael notes that most of the crew is made up of men who were born outside of America, but that the officer positions are generally occupied by Americans. He says: the native American liberally provides the brain, the rest of the world generously supplying the muscles (Melville 1998: 106). Melville could be commenting on social class differences between Whites and Blacks in the United States, or even on slavery. Though Ishmael seems to believe that the rest of the world is generously providing the muscles, it is probably fair to speculate that many of them would rather be given the chance to use their brains. Moby-Dick was published just ten years before the American Civil War broke out, and racial issues were extremely relevant. In spite of all this, the members of the crew seem to be getting along, and work well as a team. This could represent the American melting pot: people from every corner of the world having come to build a country and pulling together to make it happen. Melville had great hopes for American democracy, and this is one of the reasons why he wrote Moby-Dick (Selby 1998). Ahab, the ships captain, embodies an extreme version of a classic American type: the monomaniac, who has only one interest and devotes all his energy to it (Brodhead 1986). He dedicates his ship and his whole crew to his own personal mission: killing the great white whale, Moby Dick. He does not care whether lives are lost in the process, and he rules his ship like a tyrannical dictator would. D. H. Lawrence said of the sinking of the Pequod that it was the sinking of the white American soul (Selby 1998). By making Ahabs plan fail, Melville is showing the public what can happen when a monomaniac type such as Ahab goes too far. Moby Dick is central in Melvilles novel. It is a white whale of an extraordinary size: it is the most solid of physical things and the most meaningful of symbols (Feidelson 1953: 184). Moby Dick means something different to every character in the novel. To Starbuck, the first mate, it is just another whale, though a very dangerous one. He is irritated at the vendetta Ahab has against it, and wishes that the crew could work on its true mission, which is to hunt whales for their oil. Ishmael is fascinated by the whale, and terrified by its whiteness, as white is the visible absence of color, and at the same time the concrete of all colors (Melville 1998: 175). Ishmael does not know whether the whale is just a meaningless big fish colorless or a mystical being full of complex meanings, at once good and evil. To the rest of the crew, tales about the white whale are a diversion from their dangerous jobs, and a way to confront their own fears. Finally, to Ahab, it is the ultimate symbol of evil in this world. Moby Dick is the reason why he has lost a leg, and he is determined to seek revenge. D. H. Lawrence has suggested that the white whale could be some kind of a phallic symbol (Selby 1998). The whale has such strength and power that Ahabs desire to kill the whale could be a quest for acquiring absolute potency (Brodhead 1986). Ahab never succeeds in killing Moby Dick: instead, it is Moby Dick that sinks the ship. It is the revenge of nature over men, who keep trying to destroy it. After discussing the role of symbols and signs in The Scarlet Letter and Moby-Dick, I must agree with Nick Selby, who writes that symbolism, and the loose romanticism upon which it depends, is the key expressive tool of the American Renaissance' (1998: 55). There is more symbolism in these two literary works than in any other works I have studied this year. The symbols are rich in meaning and are given great importance. Spending time to interpret them is essential to a proper understanding of the text.

Raptorex - Facts and Figures

Raptorex - Facts and Figures Name: Raptorex (Greek for thief king); pronounced RAP-toe-rex Habitat: Woodlands of central Asia Historical Period: Early Cretaceous (130 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 10 feet long and 150 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; stunted hands and arms About Raptorex Discovered in inner Mongolia by the famous paleontologist Paul Sereno, Raptorex lived about 60 million years before its more famous descendant Tyrannosaurus Rexbut this dinosaur already had the basic tyrannosaur body plan (big head, powerful legs, stunted arms), albeit in a diminutive package of only 150 pounds or so. (Based on an analysis of its bones, the sole specimen of Raptorex appears to have been a full-grown adult six years of age). Analogizing from other early tyrannosaurslike the Asian DilongRaptorex may have been covered with feathers, though as yet theres no definitive proof for this. A recent study of Raptorexs type fossil has cast some doubt on the conclusions reached by Sereno. Another team of paleontologists claims that the sediments Raptorex was found in have been dated incorrectly, and that this dinosaur was actually a juvenile of the late Cretaceous tyrannosaur Tarbosaurus! (The giveaway is that the fossil of a prehistoric fish uncovered alongside Raptorex was misidentified, and it fact belonged to a genus that plied the rivers of Mongolia during the late rather than early Cretaceous period.)

Philosophy of Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Philosophy of Law - Essay Example In this context, principles can be interpreted differently, under the influence of the personal perceptions of the individual involved, while no such option is available in the case of rules (Raitio 294). The differentiation between rules and principles is made clear when referring to their use by judges. Indeed, in such case, as Dworkin states, rules apply ‘in all or nothing fashion’ (Culver 144), meaning that a rule can either be applied in a specific case or not, there is no intermediate status (Culver 144). On the contrary, principles, even if judges use them, do not oblige the judge involved to take a specific decision. For this reason, Dworkin notes that principles only ‘contribute in judges’ decision’ (Culver 144); principles cannot define the content of a court decision just to influence the reasoning of the judge in regard to the case involved (Culver 144); also, the judge decides whether he will use a principle, and at what level, when devel oping a decision. Peczenik (2009) refers to another differentiation of rules and principles, as described by Dworkin. Rules and principles are based on different criteria of validity. ... This means that principles cannot introduce ideas or set obligations, which are differentiated to the beliefs of individuals, at an average level, in regard to law and ethics. Also, principles cannot introduce ideas, which are in opposition with the statutes or the case law, as developed in the country involved (Peczenik 246). In legal rules, the existence of the above conditions is not examined. It is sufficient for a legal rule to have been verified by a competent institution, as explained above, in order to be considered as valid. The above terms of differentiation between rules and principles have been introduced by Dworkin and are valuable for understanding the conditions under which rules and principles are used in practice. The potential use of the view of Dworkin on rules and principles for explaining the decision of the court in the case Riggs v Palmer is examined in the study of Siltala (2000). According to the above researcher, the case Riggs v Palmer sets a critical dilem ma: when, in the context of a case, a conflict is developed between a rule and a principle, which should be the decision of judge? He should uphold the rule or use the principle for developing a decision in regard to the specific case? In such cases, Dworkin ‘used to redefine the normative conflict’ (Siltala 46); in this way, ‘the weight of the two principles’ (Siltala 46) should be taken into consideration for deciding which of these principles should be preferred. The differences between legal rules and principles, as Dworkin has highlighted these differences, are clear in the case of Riggs v Palmer (1889). More specifically: in the above case, the following dilemma appears: