Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Architecture in Puritan Era essays

Architecture in Puritan Era essays Starting as nothing but vast frontier land, and followed shortly later when the United States developed into a nation, the U.S. was heavily influenced by the styles of art and architecture of European societies. Colonial Architecture reflects that of European nation, those that had to adapt to the dangers and harsh weather conditions of the vast wildernesses. If the weather conditions were dominantly rain then the homes would be equipped to disperse large amounts of water. If the conditions in the land called for wind protection because of windstorms or just large gusting periods during the day then the shelters would be built with strong materials so the shelters would not be blown over. In the western part of the colonies Spanish influences prevailed more heavily and were shown in the structures that the early Spanish colonists built, while English styles, and some French predominated in the east. When the colonists came to the U.S. they only brought knowledge of their countries bu ilding styles so in order to invent newer styles they had to start out with basic homes until they could design their own newer upscale homes to display their talents. This early period they called Saltbox architecture. A typical home during the first few years in the colonies was a log home or a cape cod, which was about one room deep, or if the house called for and the owners had enough money the home had a chimney. With the Saltbox era coming to an end the architects looked to styles from their homelands. Many of the architects coming from Europe adopted their styles into American society and started to build homes that resembled some back in Europe. The late 1700s and early 1800s the Spanish colonists of the southwest encountered a native building tradition in adobe, which used readily available materials suited to their climate and would be reflected in the building structure. Adobe building structures were show...

Saturday, November 23, 2019

How to Conjugate the Verb Leggere in Italian

How to Conjugate the Verb Leggere in Italian Conjugate and use the Italian verb leggere, which means to read, through conjugation tables and examples. It’s an irregular verb, so it does not follow the typical -ere verb ending pattern.It’s a transitive verb, so it takes a direct object.The infinito is â€Å"leggere.†The participio passato is â€Å"letto.The gerund form is â€Å"leggendo.†The past gerund form is â€Å"avendo letto.† Indicativo/Indicative Il presente io leggo noi leggiamo tu leggi voi leggete lui, lei, Lei legge essi, Loro leggono Esempi: Martina legge molto. - Martina reads a lot.Tutti gli alunni di terza leggono autonomamente. - All third grade students read independently. Il passato prossimo io ho letto noi abbiamo letto tu hai letto voi avete letto lui, lei, Lei, ha letto essi, Loro hanno letto Esempi: Ho letto su Repubblica che domani ci sar un grande sciopero. - I read on Repubblica that tomorrow there will be a big strike.Avete gi letto il menà ¹? - Have you already read the menu? L’imperfetto io leggevo noi leggevamo tu leggevi voi leggevate lui, lei, Lei leggeva essi, Loro leggevano Ad esempio: Mi ricordo quando ero piccolo e mi leggevi le storie della buonanotte. - I remember when I was little, and you used to read me bedtime stories.Gli studenti leggevano un capitolo della Divina Commedia al giorno. - Students used to read one chapter from the Divina Commedia per day. Il trapassato prossimo io avevo letto noi avevamo letto tu avevi letto voi avevate letto lui, lei, Lei aveva letto essi, Loro avevano letto Ad esempio: Avevo letto tutti i libri di Harry Potter prima dei 10 anni. - I had read all the Harry Potter’s book before I turned 10.Giulia aveva letto un’ottima recensione su questo posto. - Giulia had read a really good review about this place. Il passato remoto io lessi noi leggemmo tu leggesti voi leggeste lui, lei, Lei lesse essi, Loro lessero Ad esempio: A: Ti ricordi quando leggemmo quelle storie dell’orrore? - Do you remember when we read those horror stories?B: Si, mi ricordo! Io lessi la pià ¹ spaventosa. - Yes, I do remember! I read the scariest. Il trapassato remoto io ebbi letto noi avemmo letto tu avesti letto voi aveste letto lui, lei, Lei ebbe letto essi, Loro ebbero letto Tip This tense is rarely used, so don’t worry too much about mastering it. You’ll find it in very sophisticated writing. Il futuro semplice io leggerà ² noi leggeremo tu leggerai voi leggerete lui, lei, Lei legger essi, Loro leggeranno Ad esempio: Leggerai il biglietto che ti ho lasciato? - Will you read the card I left you?Alla fine della recita i bambini leggeranno una poesia di Rodari. - At the end of the recital, our kids are going to read a poem by Rodari. Il futuro anteriore io avrà ² letto noi avremo letto tu avrai letto voi avrete letto lui, lei, Lei avr letto essi, Loro avranno letto Ad esempio: Avranno letto le istruzioni prima di montare il tavolo? - Will they have read the instructions before putting the table together ? Congiuntivo/Subjunctive Il presente che io legga che noi leggiamo che tu legga che voi leggiate che lui, lei, Lei legga che essi, Loro leggano Ad esempio: Spero che tu legga molto nella tua vita, imparerai un sacco di cose! - I hope you read a lot in your life, you’ll learn many things. Il passato io abbia letto noi abbiamo letto tu abbia letto voi abbiate letto lui, lei, egli abbia letto essi, Loro abbiano letto Ad esempio: È molto scossa. Credo che abbia letto qualcosa di brutto! - She’s really upset. I think she read something bad! L’imperfetto io leggessi noi leggessimo tu leggessi voi leggeste lui, lei, egli leggesse essi, Loro leggessero Ad esempio: Ho sempre sperato che tu leggessi la mia lettera d’amore. - I’ve always wished you read my love letter. Il trapassato prossimo io avessi letto noi avessimo letto tu avessi letto voi aveste letto lui, lei, Lei avesse letto essi, Loro avessero letto Ad esempio: Avrei comprato quel vestito se solo avessi letto il prezzo!! - I would have bought that dress if only I had read the price!! CONDIZIONALE/CONDITIONAL Il presente io leggerei noi leggeremmo tu leggeresti voi leggereste lui, lei, Lei leggerebbe essi, Loro leggerebbero Ad esempio: Leggerei se non fossi cosà ¬ stanco! - I would read if I weren’t so tired! Il passato io avrei letto noi avremmo letto tu avresti letto voi avreste letto lui, lei, egli avrebbe letto essi, Loro avrebbero letto Ad esempio: Se l’avessimo saputo prima avremmo letto il programma. - If we had known it before, we would have read the program.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

E-government Program of Saudi Arabia Dissertation

E-government Program of Saudi Arabia - Dissertation Example In conclusion, the implementation of the Yesser program will allow technology to be used as a way of further refining existing processes in order to eventually promote economic growth. As such, most countries nowadays have their own e-government program which they use to achieve their own ends. Table 14. Frequency and percentage breakdown: The countrys economy would improve upon the implementation of the Yesser program, in the aspect that investors would find it easier to transact with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (government employees). Table 21. Frequency and percentage breakdown: The implementation of the e-government program would allow a better medium for sharing knowledge and information within government agencies (government employees). On a global scale, governments have placed high importance on the adoption of a new program referred to as e-government, as it resembles a fundamental change in the structure of any nations public sector and cultivation of culture (Silcock 2001; Lofstedt, 2005). In addition, it is also beneficial in the process of conducting business through the utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in government agencies. Prior to the introduction of such a concept, public sectors mainly focused on internal automation through the utilization of data processing machines as a means to gain efficiency in processing e-government services. The Saudi government has adopted an e-government program for political, economic, social and technological reasons.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Antigone by Sophocles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Antigone by Sophocles - Essay Example The ancient Greek play Antigone, written around 442 BC by the famous dramatist Sophocles, has become one of the world’s classics and has been widely published, performed and adapted in many languages and formats across the world. It is a memorable play, characterized by a background of death and destruction, and the strong figures of Antigone and Creon, who are locked in opposition over what is to be done with the dead body of Antigone’s brother Polyneices. Major themes like the duty of a statesman (Creon) to protect his citizens against traitors, the duty of a woman (Antigone) to honor her relatives with a decent burial, and the duty of all to respect the gods are developed in the play. The various characters are depicted taking up positions which demonstrate a number of different heroic qualities. In the opening scene Ismene appears to be timid and she hides behind her gender to avoid facing up to the conflict that is presented to her by Antigone: â€Å"We must remember that by birth we’re women,/and as such, we shouldn’t fight with men† Ismene realizes that she has a duty to bury her brother, but her approach is to back away from that and rely on the mercy of the gods and the dead: â€Å"So I’ll ask those underground for pardon†. Ismene is concerned above all with her image as a woman, and she is very aware of how her actions will make her appear to other people. She wants to be seen as a perfect woman, meek and obedient: â€Å"But I can’t act against the state.... Ismene cannot face up to life alone, and so she speaks out of weakness, and a desire to suffer death in order to spare herself still more suffering later. The lowly Guard is the character who most clearly operates solely in his own best interests. He is afraid of Creon, with good reason, because he knows that he has failed in his duty to watch over the corpse of Polyneices and could face very severe consequences, even death, if he does not make good his error. He has news for Creon, but makes sure that he communicates his concern about his own fate first: â€Å"Guard: I want to tell you first about myself./ I did not do it. And I didn’t see/the one who did. So it would be unjust/if I should come to grief.† (Antigone, lines 275- 277). This pleading makes him look like an unruly child, trying to explain away his conduct in front of an angry father. He also tries to spread the blame amongst his colleagues saying â€Å"Every one of us was responsible./but none of us was cl early in the wrong.† (Antigone, lines 301-302). He did not volunteer to be the bringer of bad news, but was chosen by â€Å"the luck of the draw† (Antigone, line 317) which shows that he is at the mercy of fate, and just following what he has to do, rather than making a moral decision about it. The first instinct that he has is to run away from his job and save his own life. He is not particularly loyal to his employer, but just wants to save his own skin. In the end he sees a chance to redeem himself, and keep his job, by offering up the woman he has caught in the act of burying the corpse. The way that he keeps changing his mind shows that he is willing to act opportunistically, based on whatever

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Sport and Society in Ancient Greece Essay Example for Free

Sport and Society in Ancient Greece Essay Ancient Greece is one of the most ancient civilizations in history and some historians say it is one of the greatest. They have survived many invasions and attacks from barbarians and Persians as well. The Greeks those times were divided into city states and they don’t have any form of alliance with each other. They don’t help each other on wars they except for times that they don’t have a choice. The Greek society is basically unique. Greece had never been united under one sole ruler. And even the city states are fought among each other on whom or which city-state should rule Greece. These qualities of the Greece made the Greek history interesting. Mark Golden’s book, Sport and Society in Ancient Greece, had elaborated the key points of the Greek society subjected on common theme. The book uses the Greek sport and games to give very good description of the Greek society. It expressively explained the sport as very important part of the society of Greece. In addition to this, he related the Greek sport to religion, social status, gender, age and other things that constitute to study of its society. Golden uses the sports arena to surface the differences among individuals and groups of the Greek society. The fact that it is theme-oriented made the book readers friendly. Most history professor uses this book as a very good guide to teach history. The themes use in the Golden’s book made it reader friendly. Identifying the themes of the book would be relatively easy. One of the themes he used is the Greek sport. In fact, it unites all ideas in the book. He used the Greek sport as a standpoint of the differences of the Greeks. He explained it using various events in the competitions and its competitors. He explained why most explained that in every event there is a kind of group that can participate. He also expressly give emphasize the difference of participants in the athletic events to the equestrian events. In virtue of this, he elaborated the tension between to the two types of contest. He explained that he sees the difference on the participants of the said events reflect on how the Greek society was comprised. Another theme he used in his book was the stories of Iliad and Odyssey. He uses explain the start of the games and the religious beliefs of the Greek society. The stories of Iliad and Odyssey was widely use in their religious activities. The fact that most of the games was done in tribute to the Gods of Greece. They do this by reliving the great stories of both Homer’s epic novel. They believe that Homer’s epic novel were very accurate about the Gods activities. They had lived with this belief with so many years. The next theme which Mark Golden used in the book was the historical background of Greece. He stated several historical events in Greece that influences the Greek culture and the games. He had explained briefly how some games had started and the changes that the Greeks had implemented to the games. He had emphasized the importance of these historical events to the Greek society. The last theme that I will list here is the relation of the social status to events a Greek can participate. He uses this theme through out the book. He basically discusses the social hierarchy the Greek have in their society as times came by. The book clearly differentiated the differences on how a group of Greeks or an individual can participate in the sport or the games. Golden stated that in the equestrian events slaves can only win as jockeys and other rules they applied in this event. The social discrimination in the Greek society was highlighted in the book. The themes he uses simply put the book in position that it is easy to read, can be use as teaching material because of its reliability, and its distinct use of other literatures of other historians. With this book, I could relive the moment the games had begun and gone on until today. I lived in Athens during the time Olympics had been established. It was a glorious moment for the Greeks. Everyone believed that these games can unite the whole of Greece where it could fight and function as one whole country. The start of the game signaled a turn in the history of the Greeks. The feeling of this glorious moment is very pleasing to me and to other Greeks as well. Imagine that a Greek won’t face another Greek in the battlefield again. I would join the games to prove the dominance of Athens over other city states. Joining the games as an Athenian is a privilege and a great honor for me. And befriending other Greek is as not bad as it looks in the past. Being at war with other Greek is pain that a soldier must overcome. Being a soldier, killing other Greeks is the most painful thing to do. It is as if it was killing your own brother. Nowadays that pain is nothing but a pigment of the past. I’m glad that my sons would not feel that pain that anymore. They will not go up against other Greeks except at the games. And it is for the gods after all. They had blessed us of something great. I thank our Gods that they found a way to stop the quarreling between city states of great Greece. After reading the book, I’ve come to think that the Greek games and sports are done to unify Greece and for entertainment. The world had mimic the Greek games and created Olympics. It symbolizes the unity of the nations participating in the Olympic Games. The fact that culture of Greek is carry out by the nations in the Olympics. It raises a sense of pride among the Greeks. Another thing is a realization that sports does come from religion. The games were held in religious festival in ancient times. The sports today are said to have a purpose of camaraderie, enjoyment, and battle of skills. It is shocking to know that it came from religion. The showing of facts in the book of Mark Golden had convinced me that sports started as tribute to the Gods. And that the relation of the religion and sports is undeniable. He presented reliable evidences that strengthened a claim made by a priest. The idea of classifying the participants that participate in an event was a shocking revelation. I thought at first that the classification of participants was done only to make the games fair. And that is invented after the world wars. It is shocking to know that these classifications were really done due to social status in ancient Greece. The structure of the games from those times to these days is very different. But to know that they have the same purpose is quite a relief. The most important idea that occurred to after reading Mark Golden’s book is that literature has something to do with sports. If you look at sports and literature at plain logic, they are very different because literature uses mental capabilities while the sports and games use physical abilities. The connection of literature and sports was established clearly in Mark Golden’s book. He clearly stated the relation of the two. The realization of the relation between the two is quite interesting and mind bugling. Mark Golden’s book clearly is one of a kind. Historians who read his book were very enthusiastic to discuss Greek history to his class. The reliability of the book make more convincing to historians or even to non-historians. The book is really a must read to people to who likes Greek history. Works Cited Golden, Mark. Sport and Society in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Friday, November 15, 2019

A Description of My Room: The Comfortable Chill Room :: descriptive essay, personal narrative,

My room is what everyone calls â€Å"The Chill Room†. In this room there are all kinds of items that been collected throughout the years. There are several black lights, posters, and a bumping stereo. And even though my room is small it easily holds everything to make it comfortable and chill. At night the black lights engulf the whole ceiling with light. The light includes a tinge of blue which emitted by one of the black lights. This light is a 42 inch double fixture which was painted fluorescent blue. The light from the two tubes hits the blue coloring, giving the blue to everything in the room. The other black light has an all black fixture that emits no color except the color it all ready produces and measured the same as the other black light (42†). There are few items in this room that are black light sensitive; from posters to glass material the room has many highlight glowing. The black light gives a lot of character to the room in the sense of whoever enters the room, suddenly changes color. Clothes go from white to light purple and the color of the clothes sometimes changes. Different lighting effects are also used to help give the room more of a relaxing and chill environment. A small light covered in blue plastic wrap sit in place inside my closet. Thi s light is bright enough only to light just the closet, yet it does not impede on the acquired blue tinge. A dark blue lava lamp which is on day and night is placed near my television, which also gives the room a unique look to it. A large variety of posters fill every wall that represents few interests. The majority of the posters consist of ICP (Insane Clown Posse). These posters were collected through the internet, and some were given by friends. Anyone who walks into the room can tell what type of music is preferred by looking at some the posters on the walls. Such artists as SPM (South Park Mexicans) from Huston, Tx. the whole crew from Metallica, and an almost life size picture of a pit-bull, it all gives the room a nice touch of style. You can see a few pictures of cars on the walls: Ferraris, BMW, racing cars and customized cars. Last but not least the stereo system. This SONY three disk CD player is capable of producing 500watts of sound.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

How effective are backbench MPs? Essay

‘How effective are backbench MPs?’ 40 marks Backbench MPs are critical for UK democracy. They allow for high standard scrutiny of the government which holds them accountable for their actions to the people. They help in representing the electorate. However there are some circumstances in which backbench MPs have little control, for example an elective dictatorship or because of the UK party system which is enforced by party whips. Firstly back bench MPs are a good way of promoting presentation in terms of their constituency boundary as they have been voted in by their electorate and so therefore should have a sound understanding of what the people need and want. However the majority of MPs are white males between their 40s and 50s. Out of 650 House of Common MPs, only 147 of them are female, which is disproportionate to the number of females in the UK. Also less than 25% of MPs are from a multicultural background so it cannot be 100% representative. Secondly backbench MP s allow the current government to be made accountable to the electorate. Backbenchers can take part in scrutinising opposition, or even their own parties, during events such as the Prime Minister’s Question Time, where, for an allocated time, the PM is asked questions concerning anything. Select committees can also be used to scrutinise. For example the head of the Public Bills committee is always headed by a member of the opposition, currently Margaret Hodge. This is to ensure that they are effective and non-corrupted. Although MPs have the power to dissolve the current government, through a vote of no confidence (last one in 1979), MPs that standalone against their party by having controversial or independent thoughts on an issue, then they are brought into line by party whips which could result in having an MP who does not represent you adequately. It shows that MPs achieve more together. Due to first past the post leading to majority governments, except for 2010 general election, it is very difficult to oppose bills, this led to something Lord Hailsham coined as ‘elective dictatorship’ meaning that when a government has a majority in the House of Commons, it can pass bills with minimal opposition for its entire term in office. This was the case for Labour in 1997 when they won a landslide majority of 418 seats in the House of Commons. Another reason why backbenchers are effective is through their use of debates, as it allows them to express their opinion and show their constituency, as well as their party where they stand on certain issues,  like the EU, for example. However there are limits to their effectiveness. Debates have to be requested, and the chances are that the current government will only pick topics that they feel comfortable discussing or ones that won’t embarrass them too much. This means that controversial issues everyone would want to know about may not be discussed, for example the Iraq war. Backbench MPs also have a lot less media coverage than high profile, frontbenchers. This allows the frontbenchers to make their views more known and make them a more of a familiar face during current issues. An example of this would be having frontbenchers on the BBC question time every Thursday. However backbenchers are still members of parliament, and because parliament is sovereign and the supreme law making authority, they are less pressured to ‘tow the party line’ and therefore can stand more for their constituencies than the party they represent. To conclude, although MPs have a lot of constraints on their power and what they can do, through scrutiny and select committees, there are still opportunities in which backbenchers can become a lot more effective. Whether this is through fully representing their electorate, to embracing new technologies an d using social media to communicate with their public.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Existentialism: Does Life Have Meaning? Essay

Most people would like to think that their life has some kind of meaning or purpose. However how this meaning in life is obtained can cause some differing views. One may believe that they were born with a purpose in life and the other may believe that it is their own responsibility to give their own life meaning. While the first belief may be the preferred option, it doesn’t seem very practical. Existentialists believe that one must give meaning to their own life, which in all reality seems to be the truth. In the novels Their Eyes Were Watching God, Crime and Punishment, The Awakening, The Stranger, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the existential view that the individual is responsible for giving their own life meaning is confirmed through the character’s actions, pressures of society, and the overall meanings of the works. The behaviors of the characters in these various novels help explain their search for meaning in life. In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Nora Zeal Hurston, the main character Janie is on a search for her true purpose in life. She spent her whole life being controlled by her grandmother and her first two husbands, and now that she is living her life with her third husband Teacakes, she is beginning to discover her true potential. Janie is always trying to serve the men in her life so much to the point that she belittles herself into having no meaning to her own life. Janie began to try to find her own meaning in life early in the novel. In chapter two it states, â€Å"Janie was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid. † At this point Janie realizes that it is her own responsibility to create her own purpose in life and she sets out to do so. By the end of the novel, Janie realizes that she can only depend on herself to be happy and she must put her own needs before the needs of others, thus finding her meaning of life. The actions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, seem to be a constant search for the meaning of life. In Act Three, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have a conversation after they realize that their mission they were sent on is now useless. They say, â€Å"Guildenstern: We’ve travelled too far, and our momentum has taken over; we move idly towards eternity, without possibility of reprieve or hope of explanation. Rosencrantz: Be happy—if you’re not even happy what’s so good about surviving? We’ll be all right. I suppose we just go on. † Guildenstern has clearly determined that life has no meaning to it at all and that he is just waiting for death. However, Rosencrantz recognizes that they must make their own meaning of life. Rosencrantz indicates that the fact that life as a whole does not have any obvious meaning does not mean that it is impossible for any individual life to have meaning. Rosencrantz’s response is an attempt to find meaning and purpose on precisely this individual level. When faced with the chaos of life, Rosencrantz decides that his personal purpose will be to seek pleasure for himself. They begin to realize that they must make their life meaningful on their own rather than by the expectations of others, supporting the existential view. Societal expectations play a big part on one’s quest to find the meaning of life. In the The Stranger by Albert Camus and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the main characters are conflicted by the pressures of society and doing what they want to do. In The Stranger, Meursault kills a man on the beach and is going through a trial, where he is eventually sentenced to the death penalty. Meursault knows that society is against him and wants him to be put to death. However, Meursault doesn’t want to die. Like all people, Meursault comes to realize that he has been born, will die, and will have no further importance. Only after Meursault reaches this seemingly dismal realization is he able to attain happiness. When he fully comes to terms with the inevitability of death, he understands that it does not matter whether he dies by execution or lives to die a natural death at an old age. This understanding enables Meursault to put aside his fantasies of escaping execution by filing a successful legal appeal. Meursault sees that his hope for sustained life has been a burden. His liberation from this false hope of not being executed means he is free to live life for what it is, and to make the most of his remaining days. With this, Meursault discovers the existential view that it was his own responsibility to give his life meaning and he should stop worrying about societal pressures. Raskolnikov, the main character in Crime and Punishment, finds himself in a similar situation to Meursault. He murders two women and is now debating on whether to turn himself into the police or not. This ultimately leads to Raskolnikov’s existential crisis: to live or to die. In the novel Raskolnikov says â€Å"Where is it I’ve read that someone condemned to death says or think, an hour before his death, that if he had to live on some high rock, on such a narrow ledge that he’d only room to stand, and the ocean, everlasting darkness, everlasting solitude, everlasting tempest around him, if he had to remain standing on a square yard of space all his life, a thousand years, eternity, it were better to live so than to die at once! Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be! † This shows that by the end of the novel, Raskolnikov understands that he must make his life meaningful in order for him to want to live. He knows that he was born into this world with no meaning and he has to give himself a purpose in life to strive towards, no matter what society says. Society wants Raskolnikov to just get executed, but he decides to serve his time in person so that he could still make meaning in his life after he got out of prison. Raskolnikov came to understand that only he could fulfill his purpose in life and he must live in order to do so. In the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the overall meaning of trying to find one’s true self helps support the existential belief of the responsibility of creating one’s purpose in life. Edna Pontellier is unhappy with her life and she begins to try to find a way out. â€Å"In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her. † She has this â€Å"awakening† where she realizes that she needs to stop living for everyone else and instead live for herself. Towards the end of the novel she says, â€Å"†I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me. † She has discovered that her meaning in life was not to be the perfect wife or mom, but to live for what is best for her. Edna knows that she needs to create her own meaning for her life so she decides to leave her old life behind and set out to do so. By the end of the novel, Edna commits suicide because she realizes that the only way she can escape her life that she is living for everyone else is just to end her life all together. All in all, the existential belief that one must create their own meaning in life is supported in the novels through the characters’ actions, societal pressures, and the overall meanings of the works. Many of the characters can teach the readers a lesson on how to live for oneself and not be influenced by the wants of others. One only has a single life, so they must make the most of it and create their own purpose in life in order to actually live. If one doesn’t live for their own meaning and purpose in life, then what is the point of living? It’s your choice, but just remember, you only live once.

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Twin Towers Collapse Explained

The Twin Towers Collapse Explained In the years since the terrorist attacks in New York City, individual engineers and committees of experts have studied the crumpling of the World Trade Center twin towers. By examining the buildings destruction step-by-step, experts are learning how buildings fail and discovering ways to build stronger structures by answering the question: What caused the twin towers to fall? Aircraft Impact When hijacked commercial jets piloted by terrorists struck the twin towers, some 10,000 gallons (38 kiloliters) of jet fuel fed an enormous fireball. But the impact of the Boeing 767-200ER series aircraft and the burst of flames did not make the towers collapse right away. Like most buildings, the twin towers had a redundant design, which means that when one system fails, another carries the load. Each of the twin towers had 244 columns around a central core that housed the elevators, stairwells, mechanical systems, and utilities. In this tubular design system, when some columns became damaged, others could still support the building. Following the impact, floor loads originally supported by the exterior columns in compression were successfully transferred to other load paths, wrote examiners for the official Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report. Most of the load supported by the failed columns is believed to have transferred to adjacent perimeter columns through Vierendeel behavior of the exterior wall frame. Belgian civil engineer Arthur Vierendeel (1852-1940) is known for inventing a vertical rectangular metal framework that shifts shear differently than diagonal triangular methods. The impact of the aircraft and other flying objects: Compromised the insulation that protected the steel from high heatDamaged the sprinkler system of the buildingSliced and cut many of the interior columns and damaged othersShifted and redistributed the building load among columns that were not immediately damaged The shift put some of the columns under elevated states of stress. Heat From Fires Even if the sprinklers had been working, they could not have maintained enough pressure to stop the fire. Fed by the spray of jet fuel, the heat became intense. It is no comfort to realize that each aircraft carried less than half of its full capacity of 23,980  U.S. gallons of fuel. Jet fuel burns at 800 to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is not hot enough to melt structural steel. But engineers say that for the World Trade Center towers to collapse, its steel frames didnt need to melt- they just had to lose some of their structural strength from the intense heat. Steel will lose about half its strength at 1,200 Fahrenheit. Steel also becomes distorted and will buckle when heat is not a uniform temperature. The exterior temperature was much cooler than the burning jet fuel inside. Videos of both buildings showed inward bowing of perimeter columns resulting from sagging of heated trusses on many floors. Collapsing Floors Most fires start in one area and then spread. Because the aircraft hit the buildings at an angle, the fires from impact covered several floors almost instantly. As the weakened floors began to bow and then collapse, they pancaked. This means that upper floors crashed down on lower floors with increasing weight and momentum, crushing each successive floor below. Once movement began, the entire portion of the building above the area of impact fell in a unit, pushing a cushion of air below it, wrote researchers of the official FEMA report. As this cushion of air pushed through the impact area, the fires were fed by new oxygen and pushed outward, creating the illusion of a secondary explosion. With the weight of the plunging floors building force, the exterior walls buckled. Researchers estimate that the air ejected from the building by gravitational collapse must have attained, near the ground, the speed of almost 500 mph. Loud booms were heard during the collapse. They were caused by airspeed fluctuations reaching the speed of sound. Why They Flattened Before the terrorist attack, the twin towers were 110 stories tall. Constructed of lightweight steel around a central core, the World Trade Center towers were about 95 percent air. After they collapsed, the hollow core was gone. The remaining rubble was only a few stories high. April 2005 Presentation by Lead Investigator Shyam Sunder, NIST. Stephen Chernin/Getty Images (cropped) Strong Enough? The twin towers were built between 1966 and 1973. No building constructed at that time would have been able to withstand the impact of the terrorist attacks in 2001. We can, however, learn from the collapse of the skyscrapers and take steps to construct safer buildings and minimize the number of casualties in future disasters. When the twin towers were constructed, the builders were granted some exemptions from New Yorks building codes. The exemptions allowed the builders to use lightweight materials so the skyscrapers could achieve great heights. According to Charles Harris, author of Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases, fewer people would have died on 9/11 if the twin towers had used the type of fireproofing required by older building codes. Others say the architectural design actually saved lives. These skyscrapers were designed with redundancies- anticipating that a small plane could accidentally penetrate the skyscraper skin and the building would not fall from that type of accident. Both buildings withstood the immediate impact of the two large aircraft bound for the West Coast on 9/11. The north tower was hit at 8:46 a.m. ET, between floors 94 and 98- it did not collapse until 10:29 a.m., which gave most people one hour and 43 minutes to evacuate. Even the south tower was able to stand for a remarkable 56 minutes after being hit at 9:03 a.m. ET. The second jet hit the south tower on lower floors, between floors 78 and 84, which structurally compromised the skyscraper earlier than the north tower. Most of the south tower occupants, however, began evacuating when the north tower was hit. The towers could not have been designed any better or stronger. Nobody anticipated the deliberate actions of an aircraft filled with thousands of gallons of jet fuel. 9/11 Truth Movement Conspiracy theories often accompany horrific and tragic events. Some occurrences in life are so shockingly incomprehensible that some people begin to doubt theories. They might reinterpret evidence and offer explanations based on their prior knowledge. Passionate people fabricate what becomes alternative logical reasoning. The clearinghouse for 9/11 conspiracies became 911Truth.org. The mission of the 9/11 Truth Movement is to reveal what it believes to be the United States covert involvement in the attacks. When the buildings collapsed, some thought it had all of the characteristics of a controlled demolition. The scene in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 was nightmarish, and in the chaos, people drew on past experiences to determine what was happening. Some people believe that the twin towers were brought down by explosives, although others find no evidence for this belief. Writing in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics ASCE, researchers have shown the allegations of controlled demolition to be absurd and that the towers failed due to gravity-driven progressive collapse triggered by the effects of fire. Engineers examine evidence and create conclusions based on observations. On the other hand, the Movement seeks the suppressed realities of September 11th that will support their mission. Conspiracy theories tend to continue in spite of evidence. Legacy on Building While architects strive to design safe buildings, developers dont always want to pay for over-redundancies to mitigate outcomes of events that are unlikely to happen. The legacy of 9/11 is that new construction in the United States must now adhere to more demanding building codes. Tall office buildings are required to have more durable fireproofing, extra emergency exits, and many other fire safety features.The events of 9/11 changed the way we build, at local, state, and international levels. Sources National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1. September 2005. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). World Trade Center Building Performance Study, FEMA 403 September 2002. Bazant, Zdenek P.; Le, Jia-Liang; Greening, Frank R.; Benson, David B.  What Did and Did not Cause Collapse of WTC Twin Towers in New York. Journal of Engineering Mechanics ASCE, Vol. 134 (2008), p. 15.Griffin, Dr. David Ray. The Destruction of the World Trade Center: Why the Official Account Cannot Be True. January 26, 2006.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The Bad Old Days - Porridge

The Bad Old Days - Porridge From the Hoax: In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while -hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. The Facts In peasant cottages, there was no kitchen in which to cook. The poorest families had only one room where they cooked, ate, worked, and slept. It is also possible that most of these extremely poor families owned only one kettle. Poor town-dwellers usually didnt even have that, and obtained most of their meals ready-made from shops and street vendors in the Medieval version of fast-food.1 Those who lived on the edge of starvation had to make use of every edible item they could find, and just about everything could go into the pot (often a footed kettle that rested in the fire rather than over it) for the evening meal.2 This included beans, grains, vegetables, and sometimes meat often bacon. Using a little meat in this manner would make it go further as sustenance. The resulting stew was called pottage, and it was the basic element of the peasant diet. And yes, sometimes the remains of one days cooking would be used in the next days fare. (This is true in some modern peasant stew recipes.) But it was not common for food to remain there for nine days or for more than two or three days, for that matter. People living on the edge of starvation were not likely to leave food on their plates or in the pot. Contaminating the carefully-gathered ingredients of a nights supper with rotting nine-day-old remains, thus risking illness, is even more unlikely. What is likely is that leftovers from the evening meal were incorporated into a breakfast that would sustain the hard-working peasant family for much of the day. We have not been able to discover the origin of the peas porridge hot rhyme. It is unlikely to spring from 16th-century life since, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word porridge did not come into use until the 17th century. Addendum: Lauren Henry writes: A source is The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, edited by Iona and Peter Opie, published by Oxford University Press, 1997, pages 406-409. According to that, the rhyme made fun of a hawkers cry at Bartholomews Fair in the 18th century, documented in a description written by G.A. Stevens in 1762. Notes 1. Carlin, Martha, Fast Food and Urban Living Standards in Medieval England, in Carlin, Martha, and Rosenthal, Joel T., eds., Food and Eating in Medieval Europe (The Hambledon Press, 1998), pp. 27-51. 2. Gies, Frances Gies, Joseph, Life in a Medieval Village (HarperPerennial, 1991), p. 96. The text of this document is copyright  ©2005 Melissa Snell. You may download or print this document for personal or school use, as long as the URL below is included. Permission is  not  granted to reproduce this document on another website. The URL for this document is: www.thoughtco.com/porridge-in-medieval-times-1788710

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Bitcoin - IT professional and society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bitcoin - IT professional and society - Essay Example It is supported by the network and created as a part of reward for any work to be processed. Furthermore, it is created by users that can offer their computing power for record and verify payments. Most of the transaction and buying are done by the help of credit or debit card. The use of credit card via online is insecure and never supposed to be used by the online users. The transaction done through Bitcoin does not require providing any secret information. People who are the victim of using credit card for online transaction are trying to use Bitcoin as a solution. Bitcoin is safe and required two keys such as private one and public key. Private Key is secret and is not revealed to any users. Public key is the actual Bitcoin address. One of the biggest retailers, Overstick.com is accepting the use of Bitcoin. Lot of major organizations and companies are taking the notice of making transaction secure and trying to implement the use of digital currency, Bitcoin. The introduction of Bitcoin has been one of the debated topics and buzzwords around the world. The effect of Bitcoin on Ecommerce is immense. It is mainly due to the fact that, there are no transaction fees for consumers on the currency. Moreover, the implementation of Bitcoin is secure and low transaction fess required. In addition, transaction can be possible in areas where it is not possible for any option of payment. The potential growth of implementation of Bitcoin is huge and can revolutionize the use of online transaction. The introduction of Satoshi Nakamoto has been for many years now. But it is finally taking its prime position to be on the main stage. The revolutionary currency idea has been a late arrival in the United States. Many other countries have utilized the use of Bitcoin as a potential future payment system. A vacation home can be bought with the help of Bitcoin in Argentina. Dentists in Finland have approved the use of

Friday, November 1, 2019

Plot summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Plot summary - Essay Example This occurs when an action by the protagonist produces an effect that contravenes the expected effect. For instance, in Oedipus Rex, the reversal occurs when Oedipus hears about Polybus’ death and this seems to be good news, but it is disastrous in actual sense. The second principal part of the plot according to Aristotle is the recognition also known as the anagnorisis. It is at this point of the play that a character learns about certain facts, which prompt him to hate or love another character. For instance, Oedipus unknowingly kills the king of Thebes only to learn later that he is his real father. The third element of a tragic play is the final suffering or pathos. This is a destructive act that leaves the hero of the tragedy in pain. In Oedipus Rex, the protagonist removes his eyes; a rather painful process. There are other elements of the plot like the two stages, that is, the unraveling and the complication. The latter encompasses every aspect of the play up to the point where the main character encounters positive or negative fortune. In contrast, the unraveling takes place from the turning point to the play’s