Personal and professional development Essay

In essence, a team may be defined as two or more people who co-operate together with a common aim. A Team focuses towards common goals and clear purpose (park, 1990). The purpose of this report is to reflect on my experience on working in groups, effectiveness of group work, presentation skills, and reflect on the presentation skills. Effectiveness of the group work: The most popular and common model which explains the effectiveness of the team work is Tuckman (1965) the five stages group development model. According to Tuckman (1965) there are five stages of group development and these stages include: forming, storming, norming, preforming, and adjourning. The first stage of group development is forming stage, under this stage the team members are selected, and get to know each other, objectives are well defined, and tasks are identified. Group members try to identify a group leader and the other roles, and they try to find out what behaviors are acceptable to work in group. The second stage of group development is storming, this stage often characterized as conflict stage, where member tends to disagree on leadership, objectives and the rules. In addition, some members may feel dissatisfied with his or her group. The third stage of group development is norming, at this stage the group manages to have one objective goal and come to a common plan for the team. Some may have to give up their own ideas and agree with others to make the team function. In this stage, all team members take the responsibility and have the ambition to work for the success of the team’s objective goals. The fourth stage of group development is preforming, at this stage team members performed at the best of their abilities, and the project will be completed effectively and all the problems will be resolved at this stage. The last stage of group development is adjourning, at this stage the members will be happy due to team achievements of their group at the same time they might feel sad because they will be losing close friends when the project comes to the end. Belbin (1981) has researched and analysed effective group performance and recommends a new team model of nine different roles. These roles include: the coordinator, the shaper, the implementor, the monitor evaluator, the plant, the resource investigator, the team worker, the completer and the specialist. The coordinator is a person who has skills to organize, harmonize and control the team very well. The shaper is a person who makes things happens and encourages the team to action. The implemantor is the person who is hard working who like clear objectives and directions. The monitor evaluator is a person who solves the problems and evaluates the suggestions and the ideas. The planet is innovator, creator and inventor. The resource investigators are likeable, enthusiastic, creative and innovative, excelling under pressure through the improvisation. The team workers are the ones who improve the communications between the team members and foster team spirit. The completer is the person who Have all the necessary or appropriate parts and ensures about the targets and deadlines. The specialist contributes technical skills and he is self-motivated, committed and professional in his tasks. Belbin (1981) claims that if the team is incomplete in a team role, or has too many of the same types of role, it would be less effective team. Reflection on Group Work: To some extent our team follows Tuckman (1965) five stage of development but we removed the second stage which is storming. The team consists of four people and we are all friends we know each other’s from the beginning of the semester. . The purpose of the team is to write a report on Melaka trip. We divided the task each member is given a particular task and team leader assume the overall supervision role. These tasks include conducting interview, taking picture, and managing. Each member adopts different team roles based on our skills so as to ensure effectiveness of our team work. For instance, I assume the role of the monitor evaluator and specialist. I have technical skills of taking picture and also am good in analyzing problems and providing good suggestions. Indeed, our team managed to succeed because of our strong relationship, Since member are familiar to each other, the atmosphere was joyful, we were very happy to work together as team, we trust each other and we had achieved an excellent work together. Presentation Skills: According to Carlile and Hensley ( 2005) effective presentation includes planning and writing the presentation, effective use of visual benefits, overcoming nervousness, confidence in delivering and competent answering questions. For instance, presenter needs to understand the aim and purpose of the presentation that he or she will present, prepare well in advance, master the content and research on the audience in order to tailor the content to meet the expectation and understanding of the listeners. Moreover, Students who have a good foundation in literacy skills, with reading, writing and oral communication skills have bigger opportunities to experience the success as active fellow of society. Equally students, who have limited literacy skills, will find it difficult to make successful move from high school, to university. In addition, the success of leadership, teamwork and work place depends on communication skills (New London Group, 1996). Reflection on presentation skills: Before the presentation I was worried about what I well do and how I will speak but after I done my presentation I relaxed because I did a great job the tutor comments was good. Therefore, I have learnt many lessons from individual and group presentations and the tutor feedback that i will try to follow in my next presentations. Now am aware that oral communications skill is a way for successful life after university. I have weakness regarding to my presentation skills, and my weaknesses are: nervousness and weak preparation. Therefore, in order to succeed in presentations I will work harder in my future presentations and try to master the presentations skills. Conclusion: To sum up, I have learned many lessons during this semester and, this group and individual work that I have done so far. I have also learnt many skills and these include social skills, presentation skills, interpersonal skills and spirit of working together as team for mutual goals. Moreover, I have learnt how to communicate and work effectively with people even if I disagree with their ideas.

Beyond Good and Evil Essay

UPPOSING that Truth is a woman—what then? Is there not ground for suspecting that all philosophers, in so far as they have been dogmatists, have failed to understand women—that the terrible seriousness and clumsy importunity with which they have usually paid their addresses to Truth, have been unskilled and unseemly methods for winning a woman? Certainly she has never allowed herself to be won; and at present every kind of dogma stands with sad and discouraged mien—IF, indeed, it stands at all! For there are scoffers who maintain that it has fallen, that all dogma lies on the ground—nay more, that it is at its last gasp. But to speak seriously, there are good grounds for hoping that all dogmatizing in philosophy, whatever solemn, whatever conclusive and decided airs it has assumed, may have been only a noble puerilism and tyronism; and probably the time is at hand when it will be once and again understood WHAT has actually sufficed for the basis of such imposing and absolute philosophical edifices as the dogmatists have hitherto reared: perhaps some popular superstition of immemorial time (such as the soul-superstition, which, in the form of subject- and ego-superstition, has not yet ceased doing mischief): perhaps some play upon words, a deception on the part of grammar, or an audacious generalization of very restricted, very personal, very human—all-too-human facts. Beyond Good and Evil S The philosophy of the dogmatists, it is to be hoped, was only a promise for thousands of years afterwards, as was astrology in still earlier times, in the service of which probably more labour, gold, acuteness, and patience have been spent than on any actual science hitherto: we owe to it, and to its ‘super- terrestrial’ pretensions in Asia and Egypt, the grand style of architecture. It seems that in order to inscribe themselves upon the heart of humanity with everlasting claims, all great things have first to wander about the earth as enormous and awe- inspiring caricatures: dogmatic philosophy has been a caricature of this kind—for instance, the Vedanta doctrine in Asia, and Platonism in Europe. Let us not be ungrateful to it, although it must certainly be confessed that the worst, the most tiresome, and the most dangerous of errors hitherto has been a dogmatist error—namely, Plato’s invention of Pure Spirit and the Good in Itself. But now when it has been surmounted, when Europe, rid of this nightmare, can again draw breath freely and at least enjoy a healthier—sleep, we, WHOSE DUTY IS WAKEFULNESS ITSELF, are the heirs of all the strength which the struggle against this error has fostered. It amounted to the very inversion of truth, and the denial of the PERSPECTIVE— the fundamental condition—of life, to speak of Spirit and the Good as Plato spoke of them; indeed one might ask, as a physician: ‘How did such a malady attack that finest product of antiquity, Plato? Had the wicked Socrates really corrupted him? Was Socrates after all a corrupter of youths, and deserved his hemlock? ’ But the struggle against Plato, or—to speak plainer, and for the ‘people’—the strugFree eBooks at Planet eBook. comgle against the ecclesiastical oppression of millenniums of Christianity (FOR CHRISITIANITY IS PLATONISM FOR THE ‘PEOPLE’), produced in Europe a magnificent tension of soul, such as had not existed anywhere previously; with such a tensely strained bow one can now aim at the furthest goals. As a matter of fact, the European feels this tension as a state of distress, and twice attempts have been made in grand style to unbend the bow: once by means of Jesuitism, and the second time by means of democratic enlightenment—which, with the aid of liberty of the press and newspaper-reading, might, in fact, bring it about that the spirit would not so easily find itself in ‘distress’! (The Germans invented gunpowder-all credit to them! but they again made things square—they invented printing. ) But we, who are neither Jesuits, nor democrats, nor even sufficiently Germans, we GOOD EUROPEANS, and free, VERY free spirits—we have it still, all the distress of spirit and all the tension of its bow! And perhaps also the arrow, the duty, and, who knows? THE GOAL TO AIM AT†¦. Sils Maria Upper Engadine, JUNE, 1885.Beyond Good and Evil CHAPTER I: PREJUDICES OF PHILOSOPHERS 1. The Will to Truth, which is to tempt us to many a hazardous enterprise, the famous Truthfulness of which all philosophers have hitherto spoken with respect, what questions has this Will to Truth not laid before us! What strange, perplexing, questionable questions! It is already a long story; yet it seems as if it were hardly commenced. Is it any wonder if we at last grow distrustful, lose patience, and turn impatiently away? That this Sphinx teaches us at last to ask questions ourselves? WHO is it really that puts questions to us here? WHAT really is this ‘Will to Truth’ in us? In fact we made a long halt at the question as to the origin of this Will—until at last we came to an absolute standstill before a yet more fundamental question. We inquired about the VALUE of this Will. Granted that we want the truth: WHY NOT RATHER untruth? And uncertainty? Even ignorance? The problem of the value of truth presented itself before us—or was it we who presented ourselves before the problem? Which of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, Free eBooks at Planet eBook. com .and RISK RAISING it? For there is risk in raising it, perhaps there is no greater risk. 2. ‘HOW COULD anything originate out of its opposite? For example, truth out of error? or the Will to Truth out of the will to deception? or the generous deed out of selfishness? or the pure sun-bright vision of the wise man out of covetousness? Such genesis is impossible; whoever dreams of it is a fool, nay, worse than a fool; things of the highest value must have a different origin, an origin of THEIR own—in this transitory, seductive, illusory, paltry world, in this turmoil of delusion and cupidity, they cannot have their source. But rather in the lap of Being, in the intransitory, in the concealed God, in the ‘Thing-in-itself— THERE must be their source, and nowhere else! ’ —This mode of reasoning discloses the typical prejudice by which metaphysicians of all times can be recognized, this mode of valuation is at the back of all their logical procedure; through this ‘belief’ of theirs, they exert themselves for their ‘knowledge,’ for something that is in the end solemnly christened ‘the Truth. ’ The fundamental belief of metaphysicians is THE BELIEF IN ANTITHESES OF VALUES. It never occurred even to the wariest of them to doubt here on the very threshold (where doubt, however, was most necessary); though they had made a solemn vow, ‘DE OMNIBUS DUBITANDUM. ’ For it may be doubted, firstly, whether antitheses exist at all; and secondly, whether the popular valuations and antitheses of value upon which metaphysicians have set their seal, are not perhaps merely superficial estimates, merely provi Beyond Good and Evil sional perspectives, besides being probably made from some corner, perhaps from below—‘frog perspectives,’ as it were, to borrow an expression current among painters. In spite of all the value which may belong to the true, the positive, and the unselfish, it might be possible that a higher and more fundamental value for life generally should be assigned to pretence, to the will to delusion, to selfishness, and cupidity. It might even be possible that WHAT constitutes the value of those good and respected things, consists precisely in their being insidiously related, knotted, and crocheted to these evil and apparently opposed things—perhaps even in being essentially identical with them. Perhaps! But who wishes to concern himself with such dangerous ‘Perhapses’! For that investigation one must await the advent of a new order of philosophers, such as will have other tastes and inclinations, the reverse of those hitherto prevalent—philosophers of the dangerous ‘Perhaps’ in every sense of the term. And to speak in all seriousness, I see such new philosophers beginning to appear. 3. Having kept a sharp eye on philosophers, and having read between their lines long enough, I now say to myself that the greater part of conscious thinking must be counted among the instinctive functions, and it is so even in the case of philosophical thinking; one has here to learn anew, as one learned anew about heredity and ‘innateness. ’ As little as the act of birth comes into consideration in the whole process and procedure of heredity, just as little is ‘being-conscious’ OPPOSED to the instinctive in any decisive Free eBooks at Planet eBook. comsense; the greater part of the conscious thinking of a philosopher is secretly influenced by his instincts, and forced into definite channels. And behind all logic and its seeming sovereignty of movement, there are valuations, or to speak more plainly, physiological demands, for the maintenance of a definite mode of life For example, that the certain is worth more than the uncertain, that illusion is less valuable than ‘truth’ such valuations, in spite of their regulative importance for US, might notwithstanding be only superficial valuations, special kinds of maiserie, such as may be necessary for the maintenance of beings such as ourselves. Supposing, in effect, that man is not just the ‘measure of things. ’ 4. The falseness of an opinion is not for us any objection to it: it is here, perhaps, that our new language sounds most strangely. The question is, how far an opinion is lifefurthering, life- preserving, species-preserving, perhaps species-rearing, and we are fundamentally inclined to maintain that the falsest opinions (to which the synthetic judgments a priori belong), are the most indispensable to us, that without a recognition of logical fictions, without a comparison of reality with the purely IMAGINED world of the absolute and immutable, without a constant counterfeiting of the world by means of numbers, man could not live—that the renunciation of false opinions would be a renunciation of life, a negation of life. TO RECOGNISE UNTRUTH AS A CONDITION OF LIFE; that is certainly to impugn the traditional ideas of value in a dangerous manner, and a phi Beyond Good and Evil losophy which ventures to do so, has thereby alone placed itself beyond good and evil. 5. That which causes philosophers to be regarded halfdistrustfully and half-mockingly, is not the oft-repeated discovery how innocent they are—how often and easily they make mistakes and lose their way, in short, how childish and childlike they are,—but that there is not enough honest dealing with them, whereas they all raise a loud and virtuous outcry when the problem of truthfulness is even hinted at in the remotest manner. They all pose as though their real opinions had been discovered and attained through the self-evolving of a cold, pure, divinely indifferent dialectic (in contrast to all sorts of mystics, who, fairer and foolisher, talk of ‘inspiration’), whereas, in fact, a prejudiced proposition, idea, or ‘suggestion,’ which is generally their heart’s desire abstracted and refined, is defended by them with arguments sought out after the event. They are all advocates who do not wish to be regarded as such, generally astute defenders, also, of their prejudices, which they dub ‘truths,’— and VERY far from having the conscience which bravely admits this to itself, very far from having the good taste of the courage which goes so far as to let this be understood, perhaps to warn friend or foe, or in cheerful confidence and self-ridicule. The spectacle of the Tartuffery of old Kant, equally stiff and decent, with which he entices us into the dialectic by-ways that lead (more correctly mislead) to his ‘categorical imperative’— makes us fastidious ones smile, we who find no small amusement in spying out Free eBooks at Planet eBook. comthe subtle tricks of old moralists and ethical preachers. Or, still more so, the hocus-pocus in mathematical form, by means of which Spinoza has, as it were, clad his philosophy in mail and mask—in fact, the ‘love of HIS wisdom,’ to translate the term fairly and squarely—in order thereby to strike terror at once into the heart of the assailant who should dare to cast a glance on that invincible maiden, that Pallas Athene:—how much of personal timidity and vulnerability does this masquerade of a sickly recluse betray! 6. It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of—namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious auto-biography; and moreover that the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the true vital germ out of which the entire plant has always grown. Indeed, to understand how the abstrusest metaphysical assertions of a philosopher have been arrived at, it is always well (and wise) to first ask oneself: ‘What morality do they (or does he) aim at? ’ Accordingly, I do not believe that an ‘impulse to knowledge’ is the father of philosophy; but that another impulse, here as elsewhere, has only made use of knowledge (and mistaken knowledge! ) as an instrument. But whoever considers the fundamental impulses of man with a view to determining how far they may have here acted as INSPIRING GENII (or as demons and cobolds), will find that they have all practiced philosophy at one time or another, and that each one of them would have been only too glad to look upon itself as the ultimate end of existence 10 Beyond Good and Evil and the legitimate LORD over all the other impulses. For every impulse is imperious, and as SUCH, attempts to philosophize. To be sure, in the case of scholars, in the case of really scientific men, it may be otherwise—‘better,’ if you will; there there may really be such a thing as an ‘impulse to knowledge,’ some kind of small, independent clock-work, which, when well wound up, works away industriously to that end, WITHOUT the rest of the scholarly impulses taking any material part therein. The actual ‘interests’ of the scholar, therefore, are generally in quite another direction— in the family, perhaps, or in money-making, or in politics; it is, in fact, almost indifferent at what point of research his little machine is placed, and whether the hopeful young worker becomes a good philologist, a mushroom specialist, or a chemist; he is not CHARACTERISED by becoming this or that. In the philosopher, on the contrary, there is absolutely nothing impersonal; and above all, his morality furnishes a decided and decisive testimony as to WHO HE IS,—that is to say, in what order the deepest impulses of his nature stand to each other. 7. How malicious philosophers can be! I know of nothing more stinging than the joke Epicurus took the liberty of making on Plato and the Platonists; he called them Dionysiokolakes. In its original sense, and on the face of it, the word signifies ‘Flatterers of Dionysius’—consequently, tyrants’ accessories and lick-spittles; besides this, however, it is as much as to say, ‘They are all ACTORS, there is nothing genuine about them’ (for Dionysiokolax was a popular Free eBooks at Planet eBook. com 11 name for an actor). And the latter is really the malignant reproach that Epicurus cast upon Plato: he was annoyed by the grandiose manner, the mise en scene style of which Plato and his scholars were masters—of which Epicurus was not a master! He, the old school-teacher of Samos, who sat concealed in his little garden at Athens, and wrote three hundred books, perhaps out of rage and ambitious envy of Plato, who knows! Greece took a hundred years to find out who the garden-god Epicurus really was. Did she ever find out? 8. There is a point in every philosophy at which the ‘conviction’ of the philosopher appears on the scene; or, to put it in the words of an ancient mystery: Adventavit asinus, Pulcher et fortissimus. 9. You desire to LIVE ‘according to Nature’? Oh, you noble Stoics, what fraud of words! Imagine to yourselves a being like Nature, boundlessly extravagant, boundlessly indifferent, without purpose or consideration, without pity or justice, at once fruitful and barren and uncertain: imagine to yourselves INDIFFERENCE as a power—how COULD you live in accordance with such indifference? To live—is not that just endeavouring to be otherwise than this Nature? Is not living valuing, preferring, being unjust, being limited, endeavouring to be different? And granted that your imperative, ‘living according to Nature,’ means actu1 Beyond Good and Evil ally the same as ‘living according to life’—how could you do DIFFERENTLY? Why should you make a principle out of what you yourselves are, and must be? In reality, however, it is quite otherwise with you: while you pretend to read with rapture the canon of your law in Nature, you want something quite the contrary, you extraordinary stage-players and self-deluders! In your pride you wish to dictate your morals and ideals to Nature, to Nature herself, and to incorporate them therein; you insist that it shall be Nature ‘according to the Stoa,’ and would like everything to be made after your own image, as a vast, eternal glorification and generalism of Stoicism! With all your love for truth, you have forced yourselves so long, so persistently, and with such hypnotic rigidity to see Nature FALSELY, that is to say, Stoically, that you are no longer able to see it otherwise— and to crown all, some unfathomable superciliousness gives you the Bedlamite hope that BECAUSE you are able to tyrannize over yourselves—Stoicism is self-tyranny—Nature will also allow herself to be tyrannized over: is not the Stoic a PART of Nature? †¦ But this is an old and everlasting story: what happened in old times with the Stoics still happens today, as soon as ever a philosophy begins to believe in itself. It always creates the world in its own image; it cannot do otherwise; philosophy is this tyrannical impulse itself, the most spiritual Will to Power, the will to ‘creation of the world,’ the will to the causa prima. 10. The eagerness and subtlety, I should even say craftiness, with which the problem of ‘the real and the apparent world’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook. com 1 is dealt with at present throughout Europe, furnishes food for thought and attention; and he who hears only a ‘Will to Truth’ in the background, and nothing else, cannot certainly boast of the sharpest ears. In rare and isolated cases, it may really have happened that such a Will to Truth—a certain extravagant and adventurous pluck, a metaphysician’s ambition of the forlorn hope—has participated therein: that which in the end always prefers a handful of ‘certainty’ to a whole cartload of beautiful possibilities; there may even be puritanical fanatics of conscience, who prefer to put their last trust in a sure nothing, rather than in an uncertain something. But that is Nihilism, and the sign of a despairing, mortally wearied soul, notwithstanding the courageous bearing such a virtue may display. It seems, however, to be otherwise with stronger and livelier thinkers who are still eager for life. In that they side AGAINST appearance, and speak superciliously of ‘perspective,’ in that they rank the credibility of their own bodies about as low as the credibility of the ocular evidence that ‘the earth stands still,’ and thus, apparently, allowing with complacency their securest possession to escape (for what does one at present believe in more firmly than in one’s body? ),—who knows if they are not really trying to win back something which was formerly an even securer possession, something of the old domain of the faith of former times, perhaps the ‘immortal soul,’ perhaps ‘the old God,’ in short, ideas by which they could live better, that is to say, more vigorously and more joyously, than by ‘modern ideas’? There is DISTRUST of these modern ideas in this mode of looking at things, a 1 Beyond Good and Evil disbelief in all that has been constructed yesterday and today; there is perhaps some slight admixture of satiety and scorn, which can no longer endure the BRIC-A-BRAC of ideas of the most varied origin, such as so-called Positivism at present throws on the market; a disgust of the more refined taste at the village-fair motleyness and patchiness of all these reality-philosophasters, in whom there is nothing either new or true, except this motleyness. Therein it seems to me that we should agree with those skeptical anti-realists and knowledge-microscopists of the present day; their instinct, which repels them from MODERN reality, is unrefuted †¦ what do their retrograde by-paths concern us! The main thing about them is NOT that they wish to go ‘back,’ but that they wish to get AWAY therefrom. A little MORE strength, swing, courage, and artistic power, and they would be OFF—and not back! 11. It seems to me that there is everywhere an attempt at present to divert attention from the actual influence which Kant exercised on German philosophy, and especially to ignore prudently the value which he set upon himself. Kant was first and foremost proud of his Table of Categories; with it in his hand he said: ‘This is the most difficult thing that could ever be undertaken on behalf of metaphysics. ’ Let us only understand this ‘could be’! He was proud of having DISCOVERED a new faculty in man, the faculty of synthetic judgment a priori. Granting that he deceived himself in this matter; the development and rapid flourishing of German philosophy depended nevertheless on his pride, and on the Free eBooks at Planet eBook. com 1 eager rivalry of the younger generation to discover if possible something—at all events ‘new faculties’—of which to be still prouder! —But let us reflect for a moment—it is high time to do so. ‘How are synthetic judgments a priori POSSIBLE? ’ Kant asks himself—and what is really his answer? ‘BY MEANS OF A MEANS (faculty)’—but unfortunately not in five words, but so circumstantially, imposingly, and with such display of German profundity and verbal flourishes, that one altogether loses sight of the comical niaiserie allemande involved in such an answer. People were beside themselves with delight over this new faculty, and the jubilation reached its climax when Kant further discovered a moral faculty in man—for at that time Germans were still moral, not yet dabbling in the ‘Politics of hard fact. ’ Then came the honeymoon of German philosophy. All the young theologians of the Tubingen institution went immediately into the groves—all seeking for ‘faculties. ’ And what did they not find—in that innocent, rich, and still youthful period of the German spirit, to which Romanticism, the malicious fairy, piped and sang, when one could not yet distinguish between ‘finding’ and ‘inventing’! Above all a faculty for the ‘transcendental†; Schelling christened it, intellectual intuition, and thereby gratified the most earnest longings of the naturally pious-inclined Germans. One can do no greater wrong to the whole of this exuberant and eccentric movement (which was really youthfulness, notwithstanding that it disguised itself so boldly, in hoary and senile conceptions), than to take it seriously, or even treat it with moral indignation. Enough, however—the world 1 Beyond Good and Evil grew older, and the dream vanished. A time came when people rubbed their foreheads, and they still rub them today. People had been dreaming, and first and foremost—old Kant. ‘By means of a means (faculty)’—he had said, or at least meant to say. But, is that—an answer? An explanation? Or is it not rather merely a repetition of the question? How does opium induce sleep? ‘By means of a means (faculty), ‘namely the virtus dormitiva, replies the doctor in Moliere, Quia est in eo virtus dormitiva, Cujus est natura sensus assoupire. But such replies belong to the realm of comedy, and it is high time to replace the Kantian question, ‘How are synthetic judgments a PRIORI possible? ’ by another question, ‘Why is belief in such judgments necessary? ’—in effect, it is high time that we should understand that such judgments must be believed to be true, for the sake of the preservation of creatures like ourselves; though they still might naturally be false judgments! Or, more plainly spoken, and roughly and readily—synthetic judgments a priori should not ‘be possible’ at all; we have no right to them; in our mouths they are nothing but false judgments. Only, of course, the belief in their truth is necessary, as plausible belief and ocular evidence belonging to the perspective view of life. And finally, to call to mind the enormous influence which ‘German philosophy’—I hope you understand its right to inverted commas (goosefeet)? —has Free eBooks at Planet eBook. com 1 exercised throughout the whole of Europe, there is no doubt that a certain VIRTUS DORMITIVA had a share in it; thanks to German philosophy, it was a delight to the noble idlers, the virtuous, the mystics, the artiste, the three-fourths Christians, and the political obscurantists of all nations, to find an antidote to the still overwhelming sensualism which overflowed from the last century into this, in short—‘sensus assoupire. ’ †¦ 12. As regards materialistic atomism, it is one of the best- refuted theories that have been advanced, and in Europe there is now perhaps no one in the learned world so unscholarly as to attach serious signification to it, except for convenient everyday use (as an abbreviation of the means of expression)— thanks chiefly to the Pole Boscovich: he and the Pole Copernicus have hitherto been the greatest and most successful opponents of ocular evidence. For while Copernicus has persuaded us to believe, contrary to all the senses, that the earth does NOT stand fast, Boscovich has taught us to abjure the belief in the last thing that ‘stood fast’ of the earth—the belief in ‘substance,’ in ‘matter,’ in the earth-residuum, and particle- atom: it is the greatest triumph over the senses that has hitherto been gained on earth. One must, however, go still further, and also declare war, relentless war to the knife, against the ‘atomistic requirements’ which still lead a dangerous after-life in places where no one suspects them, like the more celebrated ‘metaphysical requirements†: one must also above all give the finishing stroke to that other and more portentous atomism which Christianity has 1 Beyond Good and Evil taught best and longest, the SOUL- ATOMISM. Let it be permitted to designate by this expression the belief which regards the soul as something indestructible, eternal, indivisible, as a monad, as an atomon: this belief ought to be expelled from science! Between ourselves, it is not at all necessary to get rid of ‘the soul’ thereby, and thus renounce one of the oldest and most venerated hypotheses—as happens frequently to the clumsiness of naturalists, who can hardly touch on the soul without immediately losing it. But the way is open for new acceptations and refinements of the soul-hypothesis; and such conceptions as ‘mortal soul,’ and ‘soul of subjective multiplicity,’ and ‘soul as social structure of the instincts and passions,’ want henceforth to have legitimate rights in science. In that the NEW psychologist is about to put an end to the superstitions which have hitherto flourished with almost tropical luxuriance around the idea of the soul, he is really, as it were, thrusting himself into a new desert and a new distrust—it is possible that the older psychologists had a merrier and more comfortable time of it; eventually, however, he finds that precisely thereby he is also condemned to INVENT—and, who knows? perhaps to DISCOVER the new. 13. Psychologists should bethink themselves before putting down the instinct of self-preservation as the cardinal instinct of an organic being. A living thing seeks above all to DISCHARGE its strength—life itself is WILL TO POWER; self-preservation is only one of the indirect and most frequent RESULTS thereof. In short, here, as everywhere else, Free eBooks at Planet eBook. com 1 let us beware of SUPERFLUOUS teleological principles! — one of which is the instinct of self- preservation (we owe it to Spinoza’s inconsistency). It is thus, in effect, that method ordains, which must be essentially economy of principles. 14. It is perhaps just dawning on five or six minds that natural philosophy is only a world-exposition and worldarrangement (according to us, if I may say so! ) and NOT a world-explanation; but in so far as it is based on belief in the senses, it is regarded as more, and for a long time to come must be regarded as more—namely, as an explanation. It has eyes and fingers of its own, it has ocular evidence and palpableness of its own: this operates fascinatingly, persuasively, and CONVINCINGLY upon an age with fundamentally plebeian tastes—in fact, it follows instinctively the canon of truth of eternal popular sensualism. What is clear, what is ‘explained’? Only that which can be seen and felt—one must pursue every problem thus far. Obversely, however, the charm of the Platonic mode of thought, which was an ARISTOCRATIC mode, consisted precisely in RESISTANCE to obvious sense-evidence—perhaps among men who enjoyed even stronger and more fastidious senses than our contemporaries, but who knew how to find a higher triumph in remaining masters of them: and this by means of pale, cold, grey conceptional networks which they threw over the motley whirl of the senses—the mob of the senses, as Plato said. In this overcoming of the world, and interpreting of the world in the manner of Plato, there was an ENJOYMENT different from that which the physicists 0 Beyond Good and Evil of today offer us—and likewise the Darwinists and antiteleologists among the physiological workers, with their principle of the ‘smallest possible effort,’ and the greatest possible blunder. ‘Where there is nothing more to see or to grasp, there is also nothing more for men to do’—that is certainly an imperative different from the Platonic one, but it may notwithstanding be the right imperative for a hardy, laborious race of machinists and bridge- builders of the future, who have nothing but ROUGH work to perform. 15. To study physiology with a clear conscience, one must insist on the fact that the sense-organs are not phenomena in the sense of the idealistic philosophy; as such they certainly could not be causes! Sensualism, therefore, at least as regulative hypothesis, if not as heuristic principle. What? And others say even that the external world is the work of our organs? But then our body, as a part of this external world, would be the work of our organs! But then our organs themselves would be the work of our organs! It seems to me that this is a complete REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM, if the conception CAUSA SUI is something fundamentally absurd. Consequently, the external world is NOT the work of our organs—? 16. There are still harmless self-observers who believe that there are ‘immediate certainties†; for instance, ‘I think,’ or as the superstition of Schopenhauer puts it, ‘I will†; as though cognition here got hold of its object purely and simply as ‘the thing in itself,’ without any falsification taking place eiFree eBooks at Planet eBook. com 1 ther on the part of the subject or the object. I would repeat it, however, a hundred times, that ‘immediate certainty,’ as well as ‘absolute knowledge’ and the ‘thing in itself,’ involve a CONTRADICTIO IN ADJECTO; we really ought to free ourselves from the misleading significance of words! The people on their part may think that cognition is knowing all about things, but the philosopher must say to himself: ‘When I analyze the process that is expressed in the sentence, ‘I think,’ I find a whole series of daring assertions, the argumentative proof of which would be difficult, perhaps impossible: for instance, that it is I who think, that there must necessarily be something that thinks, that thinking is an activity and operation on the part of a being who is thought of as a cause, that there is an ‘ego,’ and finally, that it is already determined what is to be designated by thinking—that I KNOW what thinking is. For if I had not already decided within myself what it is, by what standard could I determine whether that which is just happening is not perhaps ‘willing’ or ‘feeling’?

My Accounting Career Goals Essay

Everyone has a dream about future. The picture coming to my mind about my future is so fantastic. I dress up in a professional way and go to my own office in a big company. I am an accounting manager of the company whose employees have paid vacations and many other benefits as well. This dream really attracts me. I graduated from a Chinese college with an accounting major. I’ve worked for many years as an accountant and accounting manager. I have a medium level professional certificate of accounting in China. see more:how to write an essay about your future goals Now I wanted to do the same professional job in the U. S as in China. To chase my dream, I knew that first I needed to improve my English skills. I attend an ESL (English as second language) school to build my English foundation. I studied very hard and tried to improve my English. After two years of study, I successfully completed the ESL courses and received an award for outstanding. Then I finished my associate’s degree in Applied Science in Accounting at St. Louis Community College. I applied and was accepted for the undergraduate program in accounting at University of Missouri in St. Louis for next year. After I get my bachelor’s degree, I will look for a job in accounting field. I would like to work at a big company as accountant or accounting analyst. I will use my skills and my passion to help my company in seeking to maximize profit. I have excellent academic record and rich experiences which makes me a good candidate for the Edward Junes internship. I reached 3. 95 GPA at St.  Louis Community College. I was named to the dean’s list for both summer2010 and spring 2011. I completed 12 credit hours in the honor’s program and I received some awards such as honor’s scholar, award for academic excellence of honors program for 2011, Phi Theta kappa honors award and Who’s who among students in American universities & colleges. I was a volunteer of IRS income tax assistance in St. Louis Community College at Meramec campus. This program offered free tax help for taxpayers who qualify. I learned how to communicate with taxpayers and how to help people to do their tax returns. This was a great experience to me focus on income tax. I worked as an accountant for a Non- Profit Organization called IRAQI Student Project. I set up the new book for the organization in QuickBooks system. I adjusted some accounts that had errors. I recorded every transaction in QuickBooks. I build monthly financial statements for board meetings. This experience strengthened my accounting skills in the U. S.  I am working as a treasurer of Student Government Association and a vice president of finance of PTK at St. Louis Community College. During my work, I communicated with a great number of people and I enjoyed it a lot. Those are very good experiences that enhanced my leadership and communication skills. Chasing my dream will motivate my academic work at University of Missouri in St. Louis and help me finally reach my big career goal. I am not a perfect person, but I always pursuit to be perfect at every roles of my life.

The Lost Symbol Chapter 127-128

CHAPTER 127 The breeze felt cold outside CIA headquarters in Langley. Nola Kaye was shivering as she followed sys-sec Rick Parrish across the agency's moonlit central courtyard. Where is Rick taking me? The crisis of the Masonic video had been averted, thank God, but Nola still felt uneasy. The redacted file on the CIA director's partition remained a mystery, and it was nagging at her. She and Sato would debrief in the morning, and Nola wanted all the facts. Finally, she had called Rick Parrish and demanded his help. Now, as she followed Rick to some unknown location outside, Nola could not push the bizarre phrases from her memory: Secret location underground where the . . . somewhere in Washington, D.C., the coordinates . . . uncovered an ancient portal that led . . . warning the pyramid holds dangerous . . . decipher this engraved symbolon to unveil . . . â€Å"You and I agree,† Parrish said as they walked, â€Å"that the hacker who spidered those keywords was definitely searching for information about the Masonic Pyramid.† Obviously, Nola thought. â€Å"It turns out, though, the hacker stumbled onto a facet of the Masonic mystery I don't think he expected.† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"Nola, you know how the CIA director sponsors an internal discussion forum for Agency employees to share their ideas about all kinds of things?† â€Å"Of course.† The forums provided Agency personnel a safe place to chat online about various topics and gave the director a kind of virtual gateway to his staff. â€Å"The director's forums are hosted on his private partition, and yet in order to provide access to employees of all clearance levels, they're located outside the director's classified firewall.† â€Å"What are you getting at?† she demanded as they rounded a corner near the Agency cafeteria. â€Å"In a word . . .† Parrish pointed into the darkness. â€Å"That.† Nola glanced up. Across the plaza in front of them was a massive metal sculpture glimmering in the moonlight. In an agency that boasted over five hundred pieces of original art, this sculpture–titled Kryptos–was by far the most famous. Greek for â€Å"hidden,† Kryptos was the work of American artist James Sanborn and had become something of a legend here at the CIA. The work consisted of a massive S-shaped panel of copper, set on its edge like a curling metal wall. Engraved into the expansive surface of the wall were nearly two thousand letters . . . organized into a baffling code. As if this were not enigmatic enough, positioned carefully in the area around the encrypted S-wall were numerous other sculptural elements–granite slabs at odd angles, a compass rose, a magnetic lodestone, and even a message in Morse code that referenced â€Å"lucid memory† and â€Å"shadow forces.† Most fans believed that these pieces were clues that would reveal how to decipher the sculpture. Kryptos was art . . . but it was also an enigma. Attempting to decipher its encoded secret had become an obsession for cryptologists both inside and outside the CIA. Finally, a few years back, a portion of the code had been broken, and it became national news. Although much of Kryptos's code remained unsolved to this day, the sections that had been deciphered were so bizarre that they made the sculpture only more mysterious. It referenced secret underground locations, portals that led into ancient tombs, longitudes and latitudes . . . Nola could still recall bits and pieces of the deciphered sections: The information was gathered and transmitted underground to an unknown location . . . It was totally invisible . . . hows that possible . . . they used the earths magnetic field . . . Nola had never paid much attention to the sculpture or cared if it was ever fully deciphered. At the moment, however, she wanted answers. â€Å"Why are you showing me Kryptos?† Parrish gave her a conspiratorial smile and dramatically extracted a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. â€Å"Voila, the mysterious redacted document you were so concerned about. I accessed the complete text.† Nola jumped. â€Å"You snooped the director's classified partition?† â€Å"No. That's what I was getting at earlier. Have a look.† He handed her the file. Nola seized the page and unfolded it. When she saw the standard Agency headers at the top of the page, she cocked her head in surprise. This document was not classified. Not even close. EMPLOYEE DISCUSSION BOARD: KRYPTOS COMPRESSED STORAGE: THREAD #2456282.5 Nola found herself looking at a series of postings that had been compressed into a single page for more efficient storage. â€Å"Your keyword document,† Rick said, â€Å"is some cipher-punks rambling about Kryptos.† Nola scanned down the document until she spotted a sentence containing a familiar set of keywords. Jim, the sculpture says it was transmitted to a secret location UNDERGROUND where the info was hidden. â€Å"This text is from the director's online Kryptos forum,† Rick explained. â€Å"The forum's been going for years. There are literally thousands of postings. I'm not surprised one of them happened to contain all the keywords.† Nola kept scanning down until she spotted another posting containing keywords. Even though Mark said the code's lat/long headings point somewhere in WASHINGTON, D.C., the coordinates he used were off by one degree–Kryptos basically points back to itself. Parrish walked over to the statue and ran his palm across the cryptic sea of letters. â€Å"A lot of this code has yet to be deciphered, and there are plenty of people who think the message might actually relate to ancient Masonic secrets.† Nola now recalled murmurs of a Masonic/Kryptos link, but she tended to ignore the lunatic fringe. Then again, looking around at the various pieces of the sculpture arranged around the plaza, she realized that it was a code in pieces–a symbolon–just like the Masonic Pyramid. Odd. For a moment, Nola could almost see Kryptos as a modern Masonic Pyramid–a code in many pieces, made of different materials, each playing a role. â€Å"Do you think there's any way Kryptos and the Masonic Pyramid might be hiding the same secret?† â€Å"Who knows?† Parrish shot Kryptos a frustrated look. â€Å"I doubt we'll ever know the whole message. That is, unless someone can convince the director to unlock his safe and sneak a peek at the solution.† Nola nodded. It was all coming back to her now. When Kryptos was installed, it arrived with a sealed envelope containing a complete decryption of the sculpture's codes. The sealed solution was entrusted to then – CIA director William Webster, who locked it in his office safe. The document was allegedly still there, having been transferred from director to director over the years. Strangely, Nola's thoughts of William Webster sparked her memory, bringing back yet another portion of Kryptos's deciphered text: IT'S BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION? ONLY WW. Although nobody knew exactly what was buried out there, most people believed the WW was a reference to William Webster. Nola had heard whispers once that it referred in fact to a man named William Whiston–a Royal Society theologian–although she had never bothered to give it much thought. Rick was talking again. â€Å"I've got to admit, I'm not really into artists, but I think this guy Sanborn's a serious genius. I was just looking online at his Cyrillic Projector project? It shines giant Russian letters from a KGB document on mind control. Freaky.† Nola was no longer listening. She was examining the paper, where she had found the third key phrase in another posting. Right, that whole section is verbatim from some famous archaeologist's diary, telling about the moment he dug down and uncovered an ANCIENT PORTAL that led to the tomb of Tutankhamen. The archaeologist who was quoted on Kryptos, Nola knew, was in fact famed Egyptologist Howard Carter. The next posting referenced him by name. I just skimmed the rest of Carter's field notes online, and it sounds like he found a clay tablet warning the PYRAMID holds dangerous consequences for anyone who disturbs the peace of the pharaoh. A curse! Should we be worried? 🙂 Nola scowled. â€Å"Rick, for God's sake, this idiot's pyramid reference isn't even right. Tutankhamen wasn't buried in a pyramid. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Don't cryptologists watch the Discovery Channel?† Parrish shrugged. â€Å"Techies.† Nola now saw the final key phrase. Guys, you know I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but Jim and Dave had better decipher this ENGRAVED SYMBOLON to unveil its final secret before the world ends in 2012 . . . Ciao. â€Å"Anyhow,† Parrish said, â€Å"I figured you'd want to know about the Kryptos forum before you accused the CIA director of harboring classified documentation about an ancient Masonic legend. Somehow, I doubt a man as powerful as the CIA director has time for that sort of thing.† Nola pictured the Masonic video and its images of all the influential men participating in an ancient rite. If Rick had any idea . . . In the end, she knew, whatever Kryptos ultimately revealed, the message definitely had mystical undertones. She gazed up at the gleaming piece of art–a three-dimensional code standing silently at the heart of one of the nation's premier intelligence agencies–and she wondered if it would ever give up its final secret. As she and Rick headed back inside, Nola had to smile. It's buried out there somewhere. CHAPTER 128 This is crazy. Blindfolded, Robert Langdon could see nothing as the Escalade sped southward along the deserted streets. On the seat beside him, Peter Solomon remained silent. Where is he taking me? Langdon's curiosity was a mix of intrigue and apprehension, his imagination in overdrive as it tried desperately to put the pieces together. Peter had not wavered from his claim. The Lost Word? Buried at the bottom of a staircase that's covered by a massive, engraved stone? It all seemed impossible. The stone's alleged engraving was still lodged in Langdon's memory . . . and yet the seven symbols, as far as he could tell, made no sense together at all. The Stonemason's Square: the symbol of honesty and being â€Å"true.† The letters Au: the scientific abbreviation for the element gold. The Sigma: the Greek letter S, the mathematical symbol for the sum of all parts. The Pyramid: the Egyptian symbol of man reaching heavenward. The Delta: the Greek letter D, the mathematical symbol for change. Mercury: as depicted by its most ancient alchemical symbol. The Ouroboros: the symbol of wholeness and at-one-ment. Solomon still insisted these seven symbols were a â€Å"message.† But if this was true, then it was a message Langdon had no idea how to read. The Escalade slowed suddenly and turned sharply right, onto a different surface, as if into a driveway or access road. Langdon perked up, listening intently for clues as to their whereabouts. They'd been driving for less than ten minutes, and although Langdon had tried to follow in his mind, he had lost his bearings quickly. For all he knew, they were now pulling back into the House of the Temple. The Escalade came to a stop, and Langdon heard the window roll down. â€Å"Agent Simkins, CIA,† their driver announced. â€Å"I believe you're expecting us.† â€Å"Yes, sir,† a sharp military voice replied. â€Å"Director Sato phoned ahead. One moment while I move the security barricade.† Langdon listened with rising confusion, now sensing they were entering a military base. As the car began moving again, along an unusually smooth stretch of pavement, he turned his head blindly toward Solomon. â€Å"Where are we, Peter?† he demanded. â€Å"Do not remove your blindfold.† Peter's voice was stern. The vehicle continued a short distance and again slowed to a stop. Simkins killed the engine. More voices. Military. Someone asked for Simkins's identification. The agent got out and spoke to the men in hushed tones. Langdon's door was suddenly being opened, and powerful hands assisted him out of the car. The air felt cold. It was windy. Solomon was beside him. â€Å"Robert, just let Agent Simkins lead you inside.† Langdon heard metal keys in a lock . . . and then the creak of a heavy iron door swinging open. It sounded like an ancient bulkhead. Where the hell are they taking me?! Simkins's hands guided Langdon in the direction of the metal door. They stepped over a threshold. â€Å"Straight ahead, Professor.† It was suddenly quiet. Dead. Deserted. The air inside smelled sterile and processed. Simkins and Solomon flanked Langdon now, guiding him blindly down a reverberating corridor. The floor felt like stone beneath his loafers. Behind them, the metal door slammed loudly, and Langdon jumped. The locks turned. He was sweating now beneath his blindfold. He wanted only to tear it off. They stopped walking now. Simkins let go of Langdon's arm, and there was a series of electronic beeps followed by an unexpected rumble in front of them, which Langdon imagined had to be a security door sliding open automatically. â€Å"Mr. Solomon, you and Mr. Langdon continue on alone. I'll wait for you here,† Simkins said. â€Å"Take my flashlight.† â€Å"Thank you,† Solomon said. â€Å"We won't be long.† Flashlight?! Langdon's heart was pounding wildly now. Peter took Langdon's arm in his own and inched forward. â€Å"Walk with me, Robert.† They moved slowly together across another threshold, and the security door rumbled shut behind them. Peter stopped short. â€Å"Is something wrong?† Langdon was suddenly feeling queasy and off balance. â€Å"I think I just need to take off this blindfold.† â€Å"Not yet, we're almost there.† â€Å"Almost where?† Langdon felt a growing heaviness in the pit of his stomach. â€Å"I told you–I'm taking you to see the staircase that descends to the Lost Word.† â€Å"Peter, this isn't funny!† â€Å"It's not meant to be. It's meant to open your mind, Robert. It's meant to remind you that there are mysteries in this world that even you have yet to lay eyes upon. And before I take one more step with you, I want you to do something for me. I want you to believe . . . just for an instant . . . believe in the legend. Believe that you are about to peer down a winding staircase that plunges hundreds of feet to one of humankind's greatest lost treasures.† Langdon felt dizzy. As much as he wanted to believe his dear friend, he could not. â€Å"Is it much farther?† His velvet hoodwink was drenched in sweat. â€Å"No. Only a few more steps, actually. Through one last door. I'll open it now.† Solomon let go of him for a moment, and as he did so, Langdon swayed, feeling light-headed. Unsteady, he reached out for stability, and Peter was quickly back at his side. The sound of a heavy automatic door rumbled in front of them. Peter took Langdon's arm and they moved forward again. â€Å"This way.† They inched across another threshold, and the door slid closed behind them. Silence. Cold. Langdon immediately sensed that this place, whatever it was, had nothing to do with the world on the other side of the security doors. The air was dank and chilly, like a tomb. The acoustics felt dull and cramped. He felt an irrational bout of claustrophobia settling in. â€Å"A few more steps.† Solomon guided him blindly around a corner and positioned him precisely. Finally, he said, â€Å"Take off your blindfold.† Langdon seized the velvet hoodwink and tore it from his face. He looked all around to find out where he was, but he was still blind. He rubbed his eyes. Nothing. â€Å"Peter, it's pitch-black!† â€Å"Yes, I know. Reach in front of you. There's a railing. Grasp it.† Langdon groped in the darkness and found an iron railing. â€Å"Now watch.† He could hear Peter fumbling with something, and suddenly a blazing flashlight beam pierced the darkness. It was pointed at the floor, and before Langdon could take in his surroundings, Solomon directed the flashlight out over the railing and pointed the beam straight down. Langdon was suddenly staring into a bottomless shaft . . . an endless winding staircase that plunged deep into the earth. My God! His knees nearly buckled, and he gripped the railing for support. The staircase was a traditional square spiral, and he could see at least thirty landings descending into the earth before the flashlight faded to nothing. I can't even see the bottom! â€Å"Peter . . .† he stammered. â€Å"What is this place!† â€Å"I'll take you to the bottom of the staircase in a moment, but before I do, you need to see something else.† Too overwhelmed to protest, Langdon let Peter guide him away from the stairwell and across the strange little chamber. Peter kept the flashlight trained on the worn stone floor beneath their feet, and Langdon could get no real sense of the space around them . . . except that it was small. A tiny stone chamber. They arrived quickly at the room's opposite wall, in which was embedded a rectangle of glass. Langdon thought it might be a window into a room beyond, and yet from where he stood, he saw only darkness on the other side. â€Å"Go ahead,† Peter said. â€Å"Have a look.† â€Å"What's in there?† Langdon flashed for an instant on the Chamber of Reflection beneath the Capitol Building, and how he had believed, for a moment, that it might contain a portal to some giant underground cavern. â€Å"Just look, Robert.† Solomon inched him forward. â€Å"And brace yourself, because the sight will shock you.† Having no idea what to expect, Langdon moved toward the glass. As he neared the portal, Peter turned out the flashlight, plunging the tiny chamber into total darkness. As his eyes adjusted, Langdon groped in front of him, his hands finding the wall, finding the glass, his face moving closer to the transparent portal. Still only darkness beyond. He leaned closer . . . pressing his face to the glass. Then he saw it. The wave of shock and disorientation that tore through Langdon's body reached down inside and spun his internal compass upside down. He nearly fell backward as his mind strained to accept the utterly unanticipated sight that was before him. In his wildest dreams, Robert Langdon would never have guessed what lay on the other side of this glass. The vision was a glorious sight. There in the darkness, a brilliant white light shone like a gleaming jewel. Langdon now understood it all–the barricade on the access road . . . the guards at the main entrance . . . the heavy metal door outside . . . the automatic doors that rumbled open and closed . . . the heaviness in his stomach . . . the lightness in his head . . . and now this tiny stone chamber. â€Å"Robert,† Peter whispered behind him, â€Å"sometimes a change of perspective is all it takes to see the light.† Speechless, Langdon stared out through the window. His gaze traveled into the darkness of the night, traversing more than a mile of empty space, dropping lower . . . lower . . . through the darkness . . . until it came to rest atop the brilliantly illuminated, stark white dome of the U.S. Capitol Building. Langdon had never seen the Capitol from this perspective–hovering 555 feet in the air atop America's great Egyptian obelisk. Tonight, for the first time in his life, he had ridden the elevator up to the tiny viewing chamber . . . at the pinnacle of the Washington Monument.

Treating Animals with the Same Respect as Humans

Treating animals with the same respect as humans In 2012 there were 35 000 animal cruelty cases reported in the media all over the world. What is more, there are many atrocious videos posted on the internet in which animals are being ill-treated or killed. Statistically, one fifth of all domestic animals are not well treated. These facts arouse the question: ‘Should animals be treated with the same respect as humans? ’. In spite of the fact that animals are not conscious thinking creatures, they should be treated as humans because they are biologically similar to us and they are our companions.First and foremost, animals are biologically similar to humans. Their genetic code is similar to ours because it is made of the same nucleotides that encode amino acids. DNA is the carrier of genetic information in which our behaviour, appearance and genetic predispositions are encoded. Human and animals’ structure of DNA is almost the same. The best example is the DNA of th e great apes which is in 95 percent similar to the human. Even though many people can say that animals do not feel anything, animals are able to feel pain, happiness or anger owing to the developed nervous system.The typical examples of that are a dog which howls when it feels pain and a cat which purrs when it is being stroked. Many experiments were held in which e. g. chimpanzees were learnt how to count fruits shown on the screen and with the right answer they were getting a reward, and they were able to learn it which is the clear proof that they are able to learn certain conducts in the course of time. Furthermore, many species of animals are human companions. Choicely trained dogs are used to help blind people function in the world. Jack is one of the many people who without his dog would only have to stay at home and be dependent on his family.However, it is not the life that those people want to live and dogs are the unbeatable mean of helping them in their day-to-day activi ties. Secondly, enormously keen sense of smell that sniffer dogs have is most useful in rescuing people who have been trapped under the rubble because they can smell the scent of human in the places where the sight of rescue team is limited. Cats or hamsters are bred because of the very simple reason – they are ideal for children. Most of them are tame and they like being stroked. On the other hand, opponents say that animals should not be treated as humans because they are not conscious thinking creatures.The only way of communication between them is using primitive codes, not developed language e. g. bees are dancing in order to communicate something to others or elephants are making sounds that are not audible for humans. What is more, these codes are only used by them in order to survive their assemblage. All in all, no matter what opponents may say, animals should be treated with the same respect as humans. They are biologically similar to humans at the DNA level and the y are perfect human companions used in order to help people and beguile their free time. They should not be treated as if they did not feel anything.

Part Two Chapter III

III Gavin cooked for Kay at his house that evening, opening tins and crushing garlic with a sense of ill-usage. After a row, you had to say certain things to secure a truce: those were the rules, everyone knew that. Gavin had telephoned Kay from his car on the way back from Barry's burial and told her that he wished she had been there, that the whole day had been horrible and that he hoped he could see her that night. He considered these humble admissions no more or less than the price he had to pay for an evening of undemanding companionship. But Kay seemed to consider them more in the light of a down payment on a renegotiated contract. You missed me. You needed me when you were upset. You're sorry we didn't go as a couple. Well, let's not make that mistake again. There had been a certain complacency about the way she had treated him since; a briskness, a sense of renewed expectation. He was making spaghetti Bolognese tonight; he had deliberately omitted to buy a pudding or to lay the table in advance; he was at pains to show her that he had not made much of an effort. Kay seemed oblivious, even determined to take this casual attitude as a compliment. She sat at his small kitchen table, talking to him over the pitter-patter of rain on the skylight, her eyes wandering over the fixtures and fittings. She had not often been here. ‘I suppose Lisa chose this yellow, did she?' She was doing it again: breaking taboos, as though they had recently passed to a deeper level of intimacy. Gavin preferred not to talk about Lisa if he could avoid it; surely she knew that by now? He shook oregano onto the mince in his frying pan and said, ‘No, this was all the previous owner. I haven't got round to changing it yet.' ‘Oh,' she said, sipping wine. ‘Well, it's quite nice. A bit bland.' This rankled with Gavin, as, in his opinion, the interior of the Smithy was superior in every way to that of Ten Hope Street. He watched the pasta bubbling, keeping his back to her. ‘Guess what?' she said. ‘I met Samantha Mollison this afternoon.' Gavin wheeled around; how did Kay even know what Samantha Mollison looked like? ‘Just outside the deli in the Square; I was on my way in to get this,' said Kay, clinking the wine bottle beside her with a flick of her nail. ‘She asked me whether I was Gavin's girlfriend.' Kay said it archly, but actually she had been heartened by Samantha's choice of words, relieved to think that this was how Gavin described her to his friends. ‘And what did you say?' ‘I said – I said yes.' Her expression was crestfallen. Gavin had not meant to ask the question quite so aggressively. He would have given a lot to prevent Kay and Samantha ever meeting. ‘Anyway,' Kay proceeded with a slight edge to her voice, ‘she's asked us for dinner next Friday. Week today.' ‘Oh, bloody hell,' said Gavin crossly. A lot of Kay's cheerfulness deserted her. ‘What's the problem?' ‘Nothing. It's – nothing,' he said, prodding the bubbling spaghetti. ‘It's just that I see enough of Miles during work hours, to be honest.' It was what he had dreaded all along: that she would worm her way in and they would become Gavin-and-Kay, with a shared social circle, so that it would become progressively more difficult to excise her from his life. How had he let this happen? Why had he allowed her to move down here? Fury at himself mutated easily into anger with her. Why couldn't she realize how little he wanted her, and take herself off without forcing him to do the dirty? He drained the spaghetti in the sink, swearing under his breath as he speckled himself with boiling water. ‘You'd better call Miles and Samantha and tell them â€Å"no†, then,' said Kay. Her voice had hardened. As was Gavin's deeply ingrained habit, he sought to deflect an imminent conflict and hoped that the future would look after itself. ‘No, no,' he said, dabbing at his wet shirt with a tea towel. ‘We'll go. It's fine. We'll go.' But in his undisguised lack of enthusiasm, he sought to put down a marker to which he could refer, retrospectively. You knew I didn't want to go. No, I didn't enjoy it. No, I don't want it to happen again. They ate for several minutes in silence. Gavin was afraid that there would be another row, and that Kay would force him to discuss underlying issues again. He cast around for something to say, and so started telling her about Mary Fairbrother and the life insurance company. ‘They're being real bastards,' he said. ‘He was heavily insured, but their lawyers are looking for a way not to pay out. They're trying to make out he didn't make a full disclosure.' ‘In what way?' ‘Well, an uncle died of an aneurysm, too. Mary swears Barry told the insurance agent that when he signed the policy, but it's nowhere in the notes. Presumably the bloke didn't realize it can be a genetic thing. I don't know that Barry did, come to †¦' Gavin's voice broke. Horrified and embarrassed, he bowed his flushing face over his plate. There was a hard chunk of grief in his throat and he couldn't shift it. Kay's chair legs scraped on the floor; he hoped that she was off to the bathroom, but then felt her arms around his shoulders, drawing him to her. Without thinking, he put a single arm around her, too. It was so good to be held. If only their relationship could be distilled into simple, wordless gestures of comfort. Why had humans ever learned to talk? He had dribbled snot onto the back of her top. ‘Sorry,' he said thickly, wiping it away with his napkin. He withdrew from her and blew his nose. She dragged her chair to sit beside him and put a hand on his arm. He liked her so much better when she was silent, and her face was soft and concerned, as it was now. ‘I still can't †¦ he was a good bloke,' he said. ‘Barry. He was a good bloke.' ‘Yes, everyone says that about him,' said Kay. She had never been allowed to meet this famous Barry Fairbrother, but she was intrigued by the show of emotion from Gavin, and by the person who had caused it. ‘Was he funny?' she asked, because she could imagine Gavin in thrall to a comedian, to a rowdy ringleader, propping up the bar. ‘Yeah, I s'pose. Well, not particularly. Normal. He liked a laugh †¦ but he was just such a †¦ such a nice bloke. He liked people, you know?' She waited, but Gavin did not seem able to elucidate further on the niceness of Barry. ‘And the kids †¦ and Mary †¦ poor Mary †¦ God, you've got no idea.' Kay continued to pat his arm gently, but her sympathy had chilled a little. No idea, she thought, what it was to be alone? No idea how hard it was to be left in sole charge of a family? Where was his pity for her, Kay? ‘They were really happy,' said Gavin, in a cracked voice. ‘She's in pieces.' Wordlessly, Kay stroked his arm, reflecting that she had never been able to afford to go to pieces. ‘I'm all right,' he said, wiping his nose on his napkin and picking up his fork. By the smallest of twitches, he indicated that she should remove her hand.

Americas involvement or lack of during the holocaust Essay

Americas involvement or lack of during the holocaust - Essay Example This German policy led to the massacre of millions of Jews during the 1930s. Yet the U.S remained aloof from the situation in Eastern Europe. Several views have been highlighted to defend the role of US in the holocaust. Some state that the country was adhering to its foreign policy rules. Many suggest that it was ignorance or simply denial of the original facts. Many also state that the anti Semitism was behind the non involvement of the US in the European affairs. In this paper I aim to discuss the various theories behind the non involvement attitude of the US towards the holocaust. I shall explore every theory with different angles thus highlighting the underlying factors behind the lack of involvement of the United States in the Eastern European affairs during the holocaust. The paper will highlight the motives which led one of the most influential nations of the world from keeping away from the international affairs of other countries. The Americans did not involve themselves in rescuing the Jews from the German persecution partly because they had adopted the policy of isolationism which stated that they would not get involved in other countries international and domestic issues. Although many claim that the US was unaware of the mass scale killing of the Jews, still some information was provided to the government. The government however decided not to interfere in the matter. According to the online holocaust encyclopedia, in August 1942, the US State department received a cable which confirmed the Nazi plan of killing all the European Jews. The report was sent by Gerhard Reigner, a representative of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva. A copy of it was also sent to an American Rabbi, Stephen Wise, who was asked by the government not to raise an issue about it. The report was also not shared with the other government officials (Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2008). In another incident a Polish courier Jan Karski

Lost Woods Tent and Caravan Camping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lost Woods Tent and Caravan Camping - Essay Example Most customers will not be aware of the quality service to be provided for them unless extensive marketing is done which is through this fan page. On an everyday basis, I will have information about the deals and services available be posted on the page and this links should be posted on other groups and pages in Facebook, blogs, and other sites. In another view the fan page will be inclusive of the photos of the tents, caravans and camping sites available within their localities, this will include costs and details of this goods and services. This will give further insights of the activities that can be conducted there, since details can be limited in other spheres of the organization the fan page will be inclusive of a link to the Organisations main website. This fan page will also provide a platform for our clients to engage in discussions about the tents, the caravans, and the camping experience. Since the company has quality services and do not expect much criticisms this fan page will be a selling point. Any experience of criticism will be used as an analysis reference point of the changes required to meet the customers’ needs. The Lost Woods fan page will increase the sales of tents, caravans and more visits to the camping sites. In conclusion, Lost Woods Tents and Caravans Camping fan page will promote the services of the organization by marketing the Organisation intensively and extensively. It will also promote client customer interactions which will be instrumental in business activities.

The Importance of Cultural Ties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Importance of Cultural Ties - Essay Example It's vital that people who find themselves in this position find new ways to cope with that loss, maintain a sense of their cultural heritage, and create some form of identity with their country of birth. Cross culture adoption, a trend that has become more popular in recent years, points to the child's need to maintain close cultural ties with their birth country. In a recent study of Asian American adoptions it was found that while growing up, the children often considered themselves white. As they reached adulthood, that trend had reversed and most considered themselves Asian American (Dong). As adults they would seek out ways to connect to their country of birth through language, art, and ethnic organizations. Many of the adoptees in the survey reported lifelong feelings of alienation and isolation. Nancy Ng, member on the board of the Palo Alto group Families Adopting in Response (FAIR) asserts the importance of "the need to honor the birth country and raise them with knowledge of their birth culture" (Dong), Developing a cultural awareness and close ties to your ethnic heritage is more than just the curiosity to discover who you are. Lacking the knowledge of ones background can lead to more serious issues and manifest in an identity crises.

Key Stylistic and Spatial Elements of Inigo Jones Interior Essay

Key Stylistic and Spatial Elements of Inigo Jones Interior - Essay Example Jones was educated in an environment that made him learn new drawing techniques that did not exist in Germany of his time. Due to the diversity in the background of various architects, their outputs have a significant variance. This essay seeks to present an evaluation of Inigo Jones’ work by focusing on spatial elements of his masterpieces. The analysis will be supported by the use of relevant examples. Inigo Jones Inigo Jones was the first Briton architect who contributed immensely to the architectural history. In most of his architectural designs he employed rules of proportionality and symmetry. This enabled him to be unique among his fellow architects, as his work was outstanding and revolutionary. Examples of buildings that he designed and supervised include Whitehall and Banqueting House, which are very important in tracing the history of changing trends in architecture (Worsley & Jones, 2007; Gerbino, Johnston, University of Oxford., & Yale Center for British Art, 2009 ). His passion in architecture was motivated by tours he made traveling around Italy where he studied Ruins of Roman buildings and Andrea Palladio’s works that contributed immensely to his understanding of architecture (Fazio et al., 2003). Palladio Design Palladio architectural style was named after the architect who contributed greatly to Roman architecture. ... Loggia’s ground floor was used for activities such as food preparation, laundry and storage. The left and right sections of this house comprised of symmetrical rooms, which could be used for studying, and official activities, as the owner deemed appropriate. The rooms varied in sizes and shapes, while the main shapes were rectangular and square. The middle part of the house contained the main living space that could be used by house owners and guests. The Palladio design facilitated implementation of security measures by house owners. In this case, it provided a design that did not partition the open loggia from enclosed rooms, thereby making it inaccessible to unauthorized outsiders. There was a wall that kept off authorized intruders from accessing specific areas that were used for storage of small things in the house. Moreover, these areas included rooms that offered accommodation rooms to servants, among other professions. The remaining areas of the compound were utilized for gardens, fishponds and orchards (Fazio et al., 2003). In Palladio design, all design elements had to be considered and at the same time to ensure their proportionality; in fact, these design shapes were kept as simple as possible. This was aimed at reducing error margins in his work, thus enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. As such, the output was very precise and thus provided ultimate satisfactions to clients. In ensuring the shapes and symmetry are adhered to, the shape of the land, position of water channels and roads were dictated. Orientation of the building also determined interior design, especially positioning of various rooms that were used for various activities. For instance, the

Content Analysis of a Recent Film Compared to 1934 Production Code Essay

Content Analysis of a Recent Film Compared to 1934 Production Code - Essay Example In addition, the Hollywood Production Codes state that any form of dress that is indecent and is aimed at revealing the private parts of individuals to make have sedate looks are prohibited in the filming industry. These are cases that should not be included in the films since they depict negative pictures to the society. In addition, such films associated with violence, nudity as well as sensations may instill negative habits, lessons and behaviors in the society. The â€Å"Twilight: Breaking Dawn† is one of the most recent films in the American filming industry that contradicts the Hollywood Production Codes of filming in the American society. The film â€Å"Twilight: Breaking Dawn† is one of the films that was introduced in theaters on 16th November 2012. The film was written by Melissa Rosenberg and Stephen Meyer, directed by Bill Condon and produced by Wyck Godfrey, Stephen Meyer as well as Karen Rosenfelt (Doherty, 25). Following the contents of the film, it has been rated a PG-13 due to several reasons. The film â€Å"Twilight: Breaking Dawn† has three biggest problems with regards to the provisions of the Film Production Codes. Some of these include several sequences and series of violence as well as disturbing images. Moreover, the film is known for its contents of sensuality (Black, 47). The other problem is the partial nudity photos associated with the film. These have seen the film rated as PG-13. The film introduces several captions associate with sensual passions coupled with sexual arousal. The character Bella is seen to engage in sexually suggestive acts with Edward in the film. This is associated with increased sexual and emotional arousal in the minds of the viewers. Such situations also depict negative lessons to the minds of the youngsters who may be curios to experiment what they saw in such films. This is strongly prohibited by the

Database systems-Entity-Relationship modelling Essay

Database systems-Entity-Relationship modelling - Essay Example A database will help to make the report generation process faster with the use of correct report generating programs. The management will have the option of having up-to-date information when it comes to decision making in Lanchester Liners. Since all the data is retrieved from a central database, the consistency of the data is guaranteed. It becomes a clear advantage of a database, since the manual file systems are vulnerable to duplicated data. The security of data can also be enhanced with the implementation of a database using passwords and other security protocols. For this company, a computerized database will make the data available to remote locations such as to a ship in the middle of a journey by the using modern communication technology. The transition from a manual file system to a database system will make the company concentrate on staff training, spending on hardware and software. The company also has employee new team of professional to maintain the technical aspects of the database. These two factors can be considered as the drawback occurring from the implementation of a database. The Business rules of the system Following Business rules have been identified according to the interview conducted with Lanchester Liners Company. 1. ... 4. Many employees are assigned to ship at a time and an employee works in a one particular ship at a time. 5. A passenger may book several excursions and a particular excursion may be booked by several passengers. 6. A Passenger may be in many cruises from time to time. A cruise takes many passengers. 7. An itinerary consists of several excursions and an itinerary may share several excursions. 8. Excursion consists of many attractions. An attraction is limited to only one excursion. 9. Some passengers may also do lecture to other passengers. ER – Model of Lanchester Liners Primary key - Foreign key - Non-prime attributes – In Red The list of Entities, Attributes, and Relationships of the system Entity Attributes Primary Key Foreign keys SHIP Ship _No - Ship Number Ship _Name Ship _No ------------- ITINERARY It_ID - Itinerary ID It_ID Sh _It * Dep _Port – Departing port Arri _Port – Arriving port Ship _No - Ship Number It_ID - Itinerary ID Ship _No It_ID Sh ip _No It_ID CRUISE Cruise_ID – Cruise ID Days of tour – Week days of the tour Tour _Operator – Tour operator’s name Cruise_ID ------------- Cr _It * Cruise_ID It_ID Cruise_ID It_ID Cruise_ID It_ID PASSENGER Pas_ID – Passenger ID Pas_Contact – Passenger contact details Pas_Name – Passenger Name Pas_ID ------------- P Assigned to Cruise_ID Pas_ID Pas_satis – Passenger satisfaction Cruise_ID Pas_ID Cruise_ID Pas_ID EXCURSION Exc_ID – Excursion ID Exc_ID -------------- Booking Exc_ID Pas_ID Exc_ID Pas_ID Exc_ID Pas_ID ATTRACTION Att ­_ID – Attraction ID Att_desc - Attraction Description Exc_ID Att ­_ID Exc_ID It _Ex * Exc_ID port_name It_ID It_ID Exc_ID It_ID Exc_ID EMPLOYEE ** Emp_Name - Employee Name Emp_ID - Employee ID Emp_phn –

Career plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Career plan - Assignment Example Bob Bridges introduced him to the world of financial markets. Gardner was taken to major financial firms like Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter Reynolds and Smith Barney. The main factor attributable to his success is the immense passion he had for the career. Gradually he stopped attending his sales calls and spent more time in meeting and networking with managers. Even at this time he was at the height of personal problems including break off with live-in girl friend, homelessness, imprisonment for 12 days etc. He started as a trainee at E.F. Hutton. He quit his job and joined for a full time training program in stock broking. But due to some unfortunate incidents he could not be hired as a permanent employee. He then enrolled for a training program at Dean Witter Reynolds where he worked with dedication to make maximum sales calls for a very low stipend. After completion of the training he was hired as a full time employee in the company. He was later on recrui ted by Bear Stearns & Company. His success took another step when he established his brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Company which was specialized in the trading of debt, equity and derivative products. Thereafter, there were no bounds in his life, both professionally and personally. My career path A well planned career path is essential for being successful in the desired career. The following career path will be the best option to be a successful stock market investor and trader. Keep track of current events: Being aware of the current events and the ability to assume the future based on it is the primary requirement to be successful in stock markets. This can be achieved only if we keep our eyes and ears open. At least 2 hours in a day should be spent on reading general and business newspapers, business magazines like ‘The Economist’ etc. Keeping track of the events this way will help us to feel the market and its complexities. The stock market is very sensitive to th e happenings around the world. The happenings can be business, social, environmental, political and so on. Watching business news every day is essential for this career. This step is not a process. This is an activity that has to be continued at every level of the career path. Enroll as a management trainee: Enrolling as a management trainee is the first step. At first, a good company should be chosen for pursuing the training. Considering that the company chooses the candidate as a management trainee, every next moment should be an investment for the future. As a management trainee one should be made to sit on the trading terminal. In other words management trainees should be considered as share traders. As share traders, one should not be confined to just punching the orders based on the customer requirements. Even as a trader, strategic thinking should begin. Effort should be made to analyze the market and scrip movements based on the knowledge of the market happenings. Spending at least one year as a share trader will give a good hands on experience on the markets. Acquire certifications and licenses: Acquiring certifications and licenses is very important for getting recognized in the system. While continuing as a trader, preparation should start for Series 7 exam. Series 7 is the primary exam to be given by a stock trader. This exam can be taken only through a firm sponsorship. The company where we are employed as trader will be the

Safety in high rise buildings role of a project manager Essay

Safety in high rise buildings role of a project manager - Essay Example Fay (2007), Craighead (2008) and Adler (1993) generally define high-rise buildings as structures that extend higher than the maximum reach of available fire-fighting equipment. More specifically, these are the structures whose heights fall between 75 feet (23 meters) and 100 feet (30 meters) or approximately seven to ten stories, depending on the height between the floors (Fay, 2007). Security, on the other hand, coming from the Latin word securus, means freedom from danger or risk (Fay, 2007). This term has become relatively synonymous with safety, which also connotes one’s freedom from danger (Fay, 2007). Having recognized these terms then, the researcher then discusses the common problems being experienced by workers who participate in the construction of high rise buildings that often pose threats to their safety and security. The issue with regard to the safety and security of workers in high rise building construction sites has often been a subject of many researches. In fact, the construction industry has been considered to be one of the most dangerous sectors due to the number of accidents being experienced by the workers while they are working on their projects, most especially, the high rise buildings (Rowlinson 2004). The industry, because of the abovementioned has then also produced the worst safety record all over the world. One of the most common problems experienced by workers in the construction of high rise buildings that threaten their safety and security has something to do with the climate. Apparently, the current temperature in the area where a certain worker is employed tends to affect the building materials, especially those that is being handled or walked on (Oliver, 2005). It is then for this reason that Oliver (2005) deems it important that a worker or most importantly, the climate manager, be informed of the

Character Analysis of Beowulf Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Character Analysis of Beowulf - Research Paper Example The poem â€Å"Beowulf† is itself a trajectory and the poem depicts a journey. The journey of Beowulf’s life can be regarded as the line of action along which this Old Anglo Saxon epic poem proceeds. And it is through the development of the plot of the epic that the development of the character of Beowulf takes place. The poem is actually exploration and exultation of the chivalry and heroism of the protagonist. The character of Beowulf can be analysed from two perspectives and these perspectives divide the poem also into two neat divisions. Beowulf can be analysed from his actions at youth and his actions at a senior age. These actions are again divided into a tripartite pattern of conflicts, first with Grendel, second with Grendel’s mother and the finally with the Dragon. All these conflicts are viewed as display of heroic code by various critics. The two neat phases in Beowulf’s life is separated by a gap of fifty years. In both the phases of Beowulf’s life, he is the undoubted hero. His actions at youth and his actions at age are again marked distinctively by his youthful heroism through the display of unfettered warrior and his actions at age can be viewed as matured heroism displayed through the role of a reliable and a matured king. The poem is all about the transition of the protagonist from one phase of his life to another and while drawing the character sketch of Beowulf, it is necessary to mention that at two separate phases of Beowulf’s life, there are two distinct models of virtue operating. The understanding of these models separately and comparison of the respective models will easily launch us to a realm where the portrait of the protagonist will not have any missing link and shall attain the perfect fulfilment: Beowulf was a marvellous warrior in his youth. He was full of youth, vigour and vitality. Also, he possessed tremendous strength and

Economic Improvements in California Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economic Improvements in California - Essay Example Marois and Pei differentiate between opinion and facts. The article is full of statistical evidence from cited reports published by acknowledged institutions such as World Bank, U.S. Census Bureau, and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp (Marois and Pei 2015). It is difficult to identify any political bias in the article because of the use of numerous statistical findings. However, a likely political bias in the article is Marois and Pei ‘s observation that Brown’s â€Å"proposed state budget show the gains† is purely personal (Marois and Pei 2015). The writers offer no evidence for this observation, which adds more suspicion to the fact that the revise figures will not be available until June 2015 yet this article was published in January. From this perspective, one can easily question why the writers did not wait for the revised figures to observe Brown’s â€Å"gains,† which brews a republican agenda when discussing big governments (Ma rois and Pei 2015). The economic development and related political figures are very important to California. This importance shows the results of efforts made to improve infrastructure and alleviate unemployment and poverty. More specifically, living standards in California are high in comparison to other states. Californians living on and below the poverty threshold might not be thought of as poor in states such as Seattle and Texas.

The Goophered Grapevine. Charles Chestnutt Essay

The Goophered Grapevine. Charles Chestnutt - Essay Example The term defines the way African Americans see themselves as individuals and as a group, but not just through their own eyes. They see themselves through the lens of the Other, the dominant culture. Du Bois says it is "always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity" (Du Bois). This produces what Du Bois calls a "twoness,--an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body† (Du Bois). Understandably, being constantly aware of others’ perception and confounding, exploiting, and denying that view causes conflict within a person. Sometimes action may not be exactly ethical like the actions of the characters in â€Å"The Goophered Grapevine.† The conflict within African Americans occurs because the white American disrespected, humiliated, and dehumanized them. â€Å"Double consciousness† describes the Afri can Americans’ desire to contribute and participate in all the country has to offer; yet knowing that the wealth denied them was gained by the sweat of the brow of their ancestors. African Americans want to be both black and American, true to their culture and their country. However, even after Emancipation, it took more effort with much less return. Some deterrent is always thrown into the path of African American advancement—segregation, bussing, prejudice, unemployment. Charles Chestnutt’s story illustrates this double consciousness which influences every contact black Americans have outside their own culture. The story’s structure reveals the way the dominant culture views African Americans, narrated by the vineyard owner recounting Uncle Julius’s story. The vineyard owner shares it with the world seemingly without Uncle Julius’ permission. Of course, Uncle Julius asked the indulgence (read: permission) of the vineyard owner and his wife to share the story with them. â€Å"I wouldn' spec' fer you ter b'lieve me 'less you know all 'bout de fac's. But ef you en young miss dere doan' min' lis'n'in' ter a ole nigger run on a minute er two w'ile you er restin', I kin 'splain to yer how it all happen'" (Chestnutt). Uncle Julius prefaces his tale with his doubt that the vineyard owner will believe him, a result of the double consciousness. Uncle Julius expects his tale will be treated with derision and disbelief. Hearing the story, readers wonder why the slaves did not feel threatened enough by Dugal to avoid his vineyard, and the grapes continue to disappear. Apparently the slaves do not fall into Dugal’s traps. They know he cannot do much to them because if he punishes them too severely, the slaves may not work hard to harvest his grapes. Not only that, since they are the ones who do the work to make the grapes profitable, surely a few grapes are their due. This way the double consciousness serves them well. But it also backfires because Dugal knows what frightens them: the slaves believe the grapes are hexed. Dugal pays Aunt Peggy to hex them even though he does not believe they are truly bewitched. Otherwise, Dugal would not sell the scuppernong grapes and cause the death of anybody who ate them. He would be allowing people to die and killing off his own customers. Dugal’s purpose in â€Å"goophering† the grapes was that he knew the slaves believed in the conjuring. If they believed that the grapes were cursed, they would not eat them. The spell worked except for Henry who ate them without knowing of Aunt Peggy’s spell, which actually turned out fortunate for Dugal. Dugal thinks he is clever. The $10 he paid Aunt Peggy was a wise investment, especially since it provides income