Essay On Social Work - 1415 Words

â€Å"Social work is the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to this goal (Kirst-Ashman 2017)†. â€Å"Social welfare is a national system of programs, benefits, and services that help people meet the social, economic, educational, and health needs fundamental to the maintenance of society (Kirst-Ashman 2017)†. Many people agree that social welfare and social work is very important, but there are some who do not understand their purpose or what they do. This leads to a lot of confusion and uncertainty, and it shows with how people treat social workers. One major issue the U.S. is facing is abortion. There’s two sides to†¦show more content†¦I proceeded to ask him if he would be fine if I could interview him for my paper and he said â€Å"go for it†. Then I proceeded to ask him the first question which was â€Å"What comes to mind when you think of welfare†? and Malcolm said â€Å"Poverty comes to mind and people needing jobs†. Then I added if he knew any services or programs but he said â€Å"I don’t know of any†. Then I proceeded to the next question which was â€Å"What do welfare services seek to accomplish†? and he response was â€Å"To help out the people, who can’t help themselves at the time†. The third question I asked was â€Å"For whom does welfare exist†? and his response was â€Å"For people who do not have jobs†. The fourth question I asked was â€Å"Should social welfare programs be eliminated†? and his response was â€Å"No†! The final question I asked him was â€Å"What do you know about the social work profession†? and his response was that he knew â€Å"nothing†! I added another question which was â€Å"do you know what the term social welfare meant† and he said â€Å"Nope, no id ea†. He explained that he has heard the term used before but hasn’t looked into the literal meaning and what it actually does. Malcolm’s view wasn’t far off from the textbook, but there was some confusion in his voice when he answered the questions. The second interviewee is a Caucasian male by the age of 18 named Taylor Lucas. He is undecided at the moment but he isShow MoreRelated Social Work Essay1632 Words   |  7 PagesThis essay will discuss social divisions; social exclusion and social inclusion, of which there are many definitions and interpretations. Social divisions and Social exclusion has been around for many years. Social exclusion was first noticed in France in 1970s in relation to people who fell outside the range of the social insurance system, such as disabled people, lone parents and the young unemployed (Townsend and Kennedy, 2004). Before 1997 Social exclusion was referred to as ‘poverty’, whichRead MoreEssay On Social Work1897 Words   |  8 PagesSocial work in modern day society is faced with an array of challenges making the profession a difficult and testing one at times. This essay will hold a focus upon social work practice in the Adult Services field. This field includes, but is not l imited to, working with individuals with disabilities (physical or mental) those with alcohol or substance addictions, people experiencing psychological distress, those facing financial distress, victims of abuse, those convicted of crimes and people withRead MoreEssay On Social Work733 Words   |  3 PagesSocial work is all about understanding and making a difference in people’s lives. I am very passionate about actively helping people overcome their problems and have the best quality of life they possible can. I understand that social work is a challenging occupation; however, I believe I have the skills and determination to pursue a career in social work. My main curricular interests are in social subjects such as geography and history. I enjoy finding out about the world and the people. ThisRead MoreEssay On Social Work1637 Words   |  7 PagesA social worker is someone who engages with people to address their life challenges and improve their wellbeing. They are reliable for defending the values and principles of the social work definition. The principles and values of social work are â€Å"respect for the inherent worth and dignity of human beings, doing no harm, respect for diversity and upholding human rights and social justice† (Global Definition of Social Work). Social work goes by the first, second, and third generation rights. TheseRead MoreEssay On Social Work1512 Words   |  7 PagesThe key life experiences that have led me to choose social work as my major was because I enjoy making a difference in the lives of others. I had many years of experience working in Behavioral Health and had the privilege working with children, adolescents, as well as adults with physical and mental disabilities. I believe I have sharp knowledge of behavioral and development issues. I am a mental health specialist and would like to be a social worker. I also want to be more involved with patientRead MoreEssay On Social Work1561 Words   |  7 PagesSocial work is my second decision. I had been going to Henry Ford Community College for four years and was not sure what University I wanted to attend. I always knew the profession, I chose would primarily be focused on helping others. I thought about going to culinary arts school. However, I kept hearing the Lord lead me to social work, I was sure that helping young people has always been my calling. Social specialists don t just enable individuals to utilize their assets and insight to individualsRead MoreEssay On Social Work1365 Words   |  6 Pagescontinue to educate m yself so I can better serve those around me. I offer assurance to let others know they are not alone and that I will help them. I feel all these person values are very consistent with social work. The core values of social work are service which I do daily in my volunteerism. Social Justice which I also fight for daily as an advocate for special education students in my towns schools, when confronted with ignorance. I feel I combine dignity and worth of the person with the importanceRead More Social Work Essay1900 Words   |  8 PagesSocial Work Social work is located within some of the most complex problems and perplexing areas of human experience, and for this reason, social work is, and has to be, a highly skilled activity.† (Trevithick, 2000,p.1) Explain the meaning of this statement, and consider whether it is an adequate definition of the nature of social work. The aim of this assignment is toRead MoreSocial Work Law Essay2162 Words   |  9 PagesSocial Work Law This assignment involves a case study where Ralph, a fourteen year old boy, is currently in foster care because his mother; Kerry, felt she was unable to control him due to his behaviour. However, Kerry has now expressed that she is unhappy with this foster placement and has requested that her son be returned to live with her and his two younger brothers. The scenario becomes more complex owing to the fact that Ralph has disclosed that his mother had regularly hit him with a walkingRead MoreCalled To Social Work Essay1502 Words   |  7 Pagesone on, one must remember all the values that he or she was taught. Values play a key role in deciding which career to choose. Social work as a career one must remember the values and rules they learn. Social worker has the ability to determine their personal value system, and how it fits with social work values and ethics, which determine the role of being a great social worker. First of all, before one can consider their career path one must have some types of values to keep them grounded. As

The Great Depression By Franklin D. Roosevelt s New Deal...

What do you think about when you hear The Great Depression? Some might say the worst economic time in the United States of America. The Great Depression was one of the longest and innermost economic downturn in the world of history between the years of 1929 and 1939. Also, The Great Depression led to the Federal Government having a more involved role in America s economy, this was done through the creation of Franklin D. Roosevelt s New Deal Legislation, which turned out to be effective because, he helped the American people find more jobs, he created social security, and many more beneficial acts. On the other hand, The Great Depression had many issues and conditions. For example the concentration of overproduction and the over†¦show more content†¦Many Americans went wild investing beyond their needs. They were investing with money they didn’t have. Investors had to pay ten percent of the total value of stocks at the time of buying. The rest they could pay in insta llments. The stock market could not be stabilized. There were huge amount of money being borrowed out of the stock market. There were huge number of new banks that were cropping up every single day. They didn’t have any rules telling them the amount of reserves that was allowed to be loaned out. They also didn’t have any regulations to determine the minimum capital required to start up a bank. The banks were closing faster than they were opening. The situations became worse when the stock market crashed in 1929. It loss around fourteen billion dollars of wealth. After the crash, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up. The purpose of the SEC was to protect investors from dangerous or illegal financial practices or fraud, by requiring full and accurate financial disclosure by companies offering stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other securities to the public. After the crash there were temporary improvement in the market. The 1929 stock market crash was l ike a petty crash that led to a bigger market crash in 1932. Another cause of The Great Depression was drought conditions. The first sign that warned them was in the agricultural sector. Farm prices dropped because of production. Technology was

Cezannes Apple Notes and Quotes free essay sample

Schapiro’s psychoanalytic approach, that is, his search for the underlying meaning and relevance to the painting, * Thesis: While Schapiro’s argument shows a well-considered analysis of the artist’s life as a source of interpretation of Cezanne’s work, much of it is based on suggestion and fantasy. As in all historical interpretation, Cezanne’s work should be viewed within the context of the artist’s historical and biographical framework, but with a formalist analysis of the works that enables the viewer to interpreted not only their personal value, but their intended communication. riticism of Cezannes art cannot and, I believe, should not be limited by critical schools of thought. Also, though perhaps it has been the nature of critics to make vastly differentiating interpretations of Cezanne’s work, both forms of analysis add to the richness of the dialogue that can expand one’s preconceived notions of the work and widen the scope of understanding and perspective. Contrary to views of critics such as Roger Fry whose formalist analysis deduces Cezanne’s works as only a problem of form and color, Schapiro seeks more symbolist meaning within the subject matter chosen by the artist. * Schapiro argues that the objects placed within the still-life display â€Å"a game of an introverted personality who has found for his art of representation an objective sphere in which he feels self-sufficient, masterful, free from disturbing other spheres. Schapiro believes that fruit is never the theme, rather, they are a symbol of his emotion and personal concerns. * Schapiro makes the case against a purely formal interpretation: â€Å"It might be supposed that in still-life painting the meaning of the work is merely the sum of the denotation of the separate parts, yet there may be connotations and a comprehensive quality arising from the combined objects and made more visible and moving through the artistic conception. (i. e. black clock 1870, still w. compotier 79-82, blue vase 83-85, still w. cupid 95, or pples and oranges 95) There is in still like a unity of things like the unity of a scene of action, one must recognize the context of the objects in reality, their connection with a mood or interest or type of occasion. (24) * Cannot look at these as purely sexual, an element in a painting serves more than one function. Apples could be chosen means of emotional detachment and self-control, the fruit providing an objective field of colors, and sensuous richness lacking in his earlier passionate art and not fully realized in his later nude pa intings. Sexual displacement could be an unconscious factor. Certainly, Cezanne has a strange relationship with the human figure in his earlier works. In his early works, sexual gratification is directly displayed or implied. A modern Olympia (1873), Bacchanal, and his other pictures of the nudes show that he could not convey his feeling for women without anxiety. In his painting of the nude woman, where he does not produce an old work, he is most often constrained or violent. there is no middle ground of simple enjoyment. In Leda and the Swan, the writer argues that it is a striking instance of the defusing of a sexual theme through replacement of a figure by still-life objects. Cezannes fruit is not yet fully part of human life. Suspended between nature and use, it exists as if for contemplation alone. (25) In Cezannes painting of landscape, too, and sometimes of the human being, we recognize the same distinctive distance from action and desire. He seems to realize a philosophers concept of aesthetic perception as a pure will-less knowing. * The still-life objects bring to awareness the complexity of the phenomenal and the subtle interplay of perception and artifice in representation. (19) Still-life engages the painter in a st eady looking that discloses new and elusive aspects of the stable object. At first commonplace, it may becomes in the course of that contemplation a mystery, a source of metaphysical wonder. (20) Still-life calls out a response to an implied human presence. The represented objects, in their relation to us, acquire meanings from the desires they satisfy as well as from their analogies and relations to the human body They are a symbol or heraldry of a way of life. (23) * Yet, though the nature of the Apples seems to deserve far richer analysis of simple line and form, the use of apples as a restraint of Cezanne’s â€Å"morbid fantasies† (29), seems to evoke some fantastical properties of its own. * Apple as a displaced erotic interest? Apple has erotic sensesymbol of love, an attribute of Venus and a ritual object in marriage ceremonies. The apple is a natural analogue of ripe human beauty (6). Philostatus, Greek writer of 200 AD, describes a painting of Cupids gathering apples in a garden of Venus, which serve as the source of Titians painting of the cult of Venus, and indirectly Rubens picture of putti carrying a parland of the fruit. * Apples (1875) For Cezanne, the apple is equivalent to the human figure. He could project typical relations of human beings as well as qualities of the larger visible worldsolitude, contact, accord, conflict, serenity, abundance and luxuryand even states of elation and enjoyment. * In passing from the painting of fantasies to the discipline of observation, Cezanne made of colorthe principle of art allied to sensuality and pathos in romantic painting but underdeveloped in his own early pictures of passionthe beautiful substance of stable, solid object-forms and a deeply coherent structure of the composition. It is extremely doubtful that he could have reached his goal had he followed Delacroix in his choice of subjects. But in the self-chastening process, the painting of still-lifeas latent symbol and intimate tangible realitywas, perhaps more than his other themes, a bridge between his earlier and his later art. (33)

Scenic Shadows and Loop-de-loops free essay sample

Comment on an experience that helped you define a value you hold. A peek into mylife and the person Ive become would reveal something between a mountain meadowand roller coaster. The mountain meadow would be my inborn ability to be at easewith whatever comes my way, and the amusement ride my sense of adventure. Butlife hasnt always been full of vistas and fun it took a drastic turn sophomoreyear. Amidst the hormones and homework, it took a girl to change what I thinkabout life and how much I value it. From conception to freshman, I was byno means a Romeo or a Fabio; my personality was closer to a box of Cheerios(minus the beaming child on the front). Quiet and shy, I spent most of my timealone, closed off to others and their friendships. High school broadened myperceptions and I started opening up, but it took a trip to a third-world countryto drive home the importance of having someone who is truly worth investing everyounce of myself into. We will write a custom essay sample on Scenic Shadows and Loop-de-loops or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the spring of sophomore year I went to Mexicowith 14 other teens. Thirty hours in a packed van allows passengers to get toknow each very well. In my case, I was squeezed in the back seat next to Melanie.Long blond hair, beautifully soft features, and a view of the world around herthat excluded negativity, Melanie was not the type to put much thought into howothers think she should act; she let her actions come naturally. She prodded meinto conversation, and for the first time ever, a human of the female persuasionwas talking to me and getting to know me. But as far as I was concerned, myfantasies would remain the stuff that daydreams are made of since she was twogrades ahead of me. When the trip was over we returned to our rival schooldistricts (dont worry, no Shakespearean allusions here). In early summer I heardthat Melanie had been in a car accident. She was in a coma and incredibly luckyto be alive, her car having been broadsided. This was the first timeanything like this had happened to anyone I knew, and I realized how fragile lifereally is. I was overcome by a need to visit her and help her in any way I could.Several phone calls later I learned that she was in the intensive care unit andno one but family could visit. I waited weeks before I could see her, all thetime sitting in the waiting room next to the ICU for hours, thinking. During thenext month all I could do was watch and talk to her with no response, for she wasstill in a coma. In August I went on a two-week backpacking trip andreturned with a teddy bear and high expectations for Melanie. Lo and behold, shespoke, not much at first, but enough to say that she had missed me. In thefollowing months, she slowly recovered. A bond formed between us during thosehours in the hospital room, and listening to her and accompanying her to therapysessions, have been invaluable for me. During the last year I havetransformed from computer geek to seminormal. Melanies friendship was the matchthat lit the tinder. Now I have no trouble being myself in large group or talkingwith strangers. My passion for schoolwork and life itself has in-creased tenfold.I guess Melanie was what it took to get me to hurdle the walls between me and theoutside world.

Zulu essays

Zulu essays The kinship system is bases upon two things the dynamic principles and the resultant social phenomena in three different categories. The categories are the territorial kinship, the descent group kinship, and the terminological kinship. For the territorial kinship the main goal was for exploitation of the land coalescence of houses. This formed the segmentation of kinship groups . The individual families which emerged as the basic kinship units were organized into descent groups, mainly of minor order. The determinants of the descant rank determined the rank , status, position, descent-group headship. This was together with the primogeniture which determined the succession, inheritance, settlement of disputes. Then there was the terminological aspect which was the classificatory principle that took care of the terminology and associated domestic rights and obligations. The rights and obligations of the terminological system were and are effective within the territorial framewo rk of the descent-group system. In this terminological aspect common reciprocal rights and obligations associated with the kinship class for similar positions. A man classifies not only his father, but all his fathers brothers by the same and different mothers, under the class-term BABA. In different positions He classifies not only his fathers brothers but also his mothers sisters husbands as BABA. The Zulus traditional religion was centered on ancestor worship. According to Zulu religion, the spirits of the ancestors (called Amadlozi) guided their daily lives and sacrifices therefore made to appease these spirits. They believed that the ancestors could only be seen in dreams and that soothsayers (called sangomas) which were generally females, were the only ones who had the power to communicate with them. People consulted the sangoma if their own sacrifice did not have the desired results. The sangomas were called to...

The Role of Bells Theorem in Quantum Physics

The Role of Bells Theorem in Quantum Physics Bells Theorem was devised by Irish physicist John Stewart Bell (1928-1990) as a means of testing whether or not particles connected through quantum entanglement communicate information faster than the speed of light. Specifically, the theorem says that no theory of local hidden variables can account for all of the predictions of quantum mechanics. Bell proves this theorem through the creation of Bell inequalities, which are shown by experiment to be violated in quantum physics systems, thus proving that some idea at the heart of local hidden variables theories has to be false. The property which usually takes the fall is locality - the idea that no physical effects move faster than the ​speed of light. Quantum Entanglement In a situation where you have two particles, A and B, which are connected through quantum entanglement, then the properties of A and B are correlated. For example, the spin of A may be 1/2 and the spin of B may be -1/2, or vice versa. Quantum physics tells us that until a measurement is made, these particles are in a superposition of possible states. The spin of A is both 1/2 and -1/2. (See our article on the Schroedingers Cat thought experiment for more on this idea. This particular example with particles A and B is a variant of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, often called the EPR Paradox.) However, once you measure the spin of A, you know for sure the value of Bs spin without ever having to measure it directly. (If A has spin 1/2, then Bs spin has to be -1/2. If A has spin -1/2, then Bs spin has to be 1/2. There are no other alternatives.) The riddle at the heart of Bells Theorem is how that information gets communicated from particle A to particle B. Bells Theorem at Work John Stewart Bell originally proposed the idea for Bells Theorem in his 1964 paper On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paradox. In his analysis, he derived formulas called the Bell inequalities, which are probabilistic statements about how often the spin of particle A and particle B should correlate with each other if normal probability (as opposed to quantum entanglement) were working. These Bell inequalities are violated by quantum physics experiments, which means that one of his basic assumptions had to be false, and there were only two assumptions that fit the bill - either physical reality or locality was failing. To understand what this means, go back to the experiment described above. You measure particle As spin. There are two situations that could be the result - either particle B immediately has the opposite spin, or particle B is still in a superposition of states. If particle B is affected immediately by the measurement of particle A, then this means that the assumption of locality is violated. In other words, somehow a message got from particle A to particle B instantaneously, even though they can be separated by a great distance. This would mean that quantum mechanics displays the property of non-locality. If this instantaneous message (i.e., non-locality) doesnt take place, then the only other option is that particle B is still in a superposition of states. The measurement of particle Bs spin should, therefore, be completely independent of the measurement of particle A, and the Bell inequalities represent the percent of the time when the spins of A and B should be correlated in this situation. Experiments have overwhelmingly shown that the Bell inequalities are violated. The most common interpretation of this result is that the message between A and B is instantaneous. (The alternative would be to invalidate the physical reality of Bs spin.) Therefore, quantum mechanics seems to display non-locality. Note: This non-locality in quantum mechanics only relates to the specific information that is entangled between the two particles - the spin in the above example. The measurement of A cannot be used to instantly transmit any sort of other information to B at great distances, and no one observing B will be able to tell independently whether or not A was measured. Under the vast majority of interpretations by respected physicists, this does not allow communication faster than the speed of light.

The impact of internet marketing in retailing Essay

The impact of internet marketing in retailing - Essay Example The information would be sent to the grocery shop through Internet and the grocery would be delivered at our doorsteps. The concept of E- com goes even beyond this; various firms would float their needs, projects and tenders through Internet web. The management consultant, vendors, engineering consultants and other business groups would come online to discuss various aspects of the project. All mandatory information relating to costing, engineering details calculations, and prices would also be shared here on- line. The orders would be discussed and then placed on-line. And the executions would also be done through Internet. The various aspects of information transfer would involve management and engineering information then all types of text, graphics, tables and figures. The process of E-com is getting a big momentum in global industry as a whole unit after globalization. Currently, the most serious application of Internet is in the area of internet marketing. E-mail services are v ery cheap and are used by businessmen and individuals worldwide for information transfer. ... ng the creation of a national information backbone, which would be used for national information infrastructure and for the promotion of Internet services. We must get out of the agricultural age and must jump on to information technology bandwagon. The possibilities on Internet marketing are endless. For example, it would be possible to have marketing through voice transmission via Internet. All the major national streams—defense, industry, software development and exports, international trading, bilateral agreements, information exchange and information needs for daily usage—would benefit from this latest technological marvel (Cotter, 2002). Today, there is a lack of a good data transmission networks. According to a survey, there is likely to be a demand of 50, 00,000 Internet connections in the metropolises. Internet Marketing Strategies The major strategies used for internet marketing is as follows: Web design First of all we must have a good web site where we shoul d display the articles to sell. Since there are billions of web pages are there in internet, one should design his web site to catch attention from the customers. The customer should be able to know the various features of the product he wants to know. So, one should be able to display the web site well in style to catch good customers (Armistead & Keily, 2003). Free publicity As internet is a plat form where all the buyers and sellers meet, it offers ample scope to market his products and services. So we can use all social marketing tools for the same. We have face book, twitter and a number of web related plat forms are there to interact with the customers and buyers. Sending effective e- mails is the powerful tool as far as the internet marketing is concerned (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). SEO Search

Social media has negatively changed our culture Essay

Social media has negatively changed our culture - Essay Example The aim of this paper is to examine some of the popular accusations of social media and explain that the positive consequences of social media for the culture outweigh the suggested threats. At present, the world of social media is broad and presented by the variety of widely available networking sites that provide opportunities for socialization. The most popular among them can be considered Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other actively used by people across generations and social groups. All together they created the new digital arena for maintaining relationships, communicating, making business, or sharing news. (Sawyer, 2011) Obviously, such extensive popularity and influence which social media managed to gain in relatively short period of time could not leave one ignorant of the possible consequences of the tendency to spend time online instead of the real-life alternatives. As a result, the possibility of both positive and negative outcomes of social media is recognized. Both sides have elaborated particular set of arguments that seemingly contain the grain of truth and common sense, therefore, they need to be closely and thoroughly examined in order to formulate a personal position in this regard. The base of arguments of people who are trying to prove that social media represents a destructive force for a culture is the long one, but, to my mind, includes issues that can be prevented by careful use and conscious approach to social media. Among such negative claims can be mentioned disregard of privacy and sharing too much personal information that can be used for inappropriate goals. Also, much is being said about cyberbullying, online harassment that make people feel insecure and treat peace in the society. ("Technology can have,") Apart from that, social media is often blamed for promoting the culture of narcissism – excessive interest in oneself and one’s appearance. ("Technology can have,") All

Evening News Essay Example for Free

Evening News Essay News is information or a presentation about current events and is reported by a variety of means such as newspapers, periodicals, radio, television and websites on the Internet. The reporting of news falls into the field of journalism, which are typically written or broadcast in news style. Most news is investigated and presented by journalists and can be distributed to various sites via news agencies. On the other hand, according to a web encyclopedia, â€Å"Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.†(par. 1). A blog is a mixture of a persons experiences in life and what is happening on the Web. It is like a kind of a personal diary-cum-guide site. There are unique types of people, thus, there are as many unique types of blogs as well. In another case, a blog is also a web site that contains dated entries in reverse chronological order (most recent first) about a particular topic. Functioning as an online newsletter, blogs can be written by one person or a group of contributors. Entries contain commentary and links to other Web sites, and images as well as a search facility is also included. Most blogs also invite feedback and comments from visitors and Internet newsgroup discussions, which tend to be more question-and-answer oriented. People have already maintained blogs before but it only gained momentum in 1999 when automated published systems were introduced. Nowadays, thousands of people use web site blog hosting services to simplify and accelerate the publishing process. The template-based software makes it easy to create an online blog and continuously allows you to add entries. Similarly like news, a blog   is a form of media. However, news is considered a traditional media while blog is connoted as internet type of media. It is a platform to communicate what anyone may wish to let anyone know within reach of an internet connection. In traditional media, you are first defined by your medium. There is some constraint on how the contents are delivered physically or digitally which is determined by your medium. According to Maverick blog article, â€Å"There is a cost versus time versus interest versus access series of constraints that determines who your audience is, how you reach them and what they expect of you. Over time, those constraints have evolved our media into very defined roles†(par. 3). Blogs are different. There is no cost constraint. It costs nothing to create a blog. There are time constraints, but much less than traditional media. Bloggers are not pressured   to publish or create an article on a schedule. Blogging is basically personal and this is where the paths of blogging and traditional media diverge. Traditional media is business, thus it has become exclusively corporate while blogging remains almost exclusively personal. However, some bloggers have started to make money from their blogs but what they put in their blogs is all up to them which gives them satisfaction.   Members of traditional media are employees. They get hired for a specific job and they have to do that job. They get hired by a corporation that is most likely public, which means that their employers are concerned in getting their stock price up above all else. Thus, they write news and articles that is dictated by subjects perceived to make more money.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In comparison to mainstream media, blog gives anyone the freedom to write about anything. They can write opinion. They can report facts. They can ask questions. They can write any topics they want. Individual Web surfers post their own eclectic and varied thoughts. Still, others such as known political parties, religious and professional groups, businesses, and media organizations have created their own blog sites too. A report by Snow states that, â€Å"audience for blogs in general is more than 3.5 million strong, and growing. One group that surveys political blogs believes between 20,000 and 25,000 people are regularly talking about political topics on Weblogs. These days people from every corner of the country are finding each other on screen. The impact of all this dialogue is hard to gauge, but it is clearly shaping politics and media coverage†(par. 16-18). Wright also presented that â€Å"Blogging grew from the ground up as a grassroots effort. What started as a few people conversing about common interests via real-time Internet postings has become a continuous conversation among millions of   bloggers and readers. With millions of bloggers expressing their thoughts, experiences, and information they’ve learned in their fields of interest, this medium has become a worldwide forum†(3). Another interesting development of blog in comparison to traditional media is that even news agencies have created their own section termed newsblogs. Auty argues that â€Å"newsblogs supplement and work alongside traditional news media by filtering and reporting news. She praises the growth of personal diaries and eyewitness accounts (such as those that sprung up after 9/ 11) but overall sees blogs as being a new way of distributing and collecting the news rather than a new source of news itself†(341). The rapid pace of technology is changing the nature of blogs as well. The popularity of digital audio players such as the iPod has spurred the growth of blogs with audio content. People can download a wide range of audio files like music and listen to them at their convenience using a PC or a portable media player. The rapid adoption in the use of cell phones with built-in digital cameras and wireless Internet connections is also changing the face and pace of blogging. Bloggers armed with these tools can snap a picture, writes a short caption and then post it on a moblog or mobile log, regardless of time and place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, with these conveniences brought about by blogging and the personal satisfaction they give on people, it is not surprising that future generations will no longer subscribe to traditional media. As Wright argues, â€Å"blogs have the power to create businesses, change the course of political history, and transform the way the mainstream or traditional media looks at itself.†(2). BIBLIOGRAPHY Auty, Caroline(Editor). Politics and Government in the Age of the Internet. Bradford, , UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2005. p 341. Blogging Vs. Traditional Media. Blog Maverick Website. May 13, 2006. 27 Oct. 2006http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/05/13/ Snow, Kate. The Power of the Blog. ABC News website. Sept. 26, 2004. 27 Oct. 2006http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2004/story?id=123452page=2 Webopedia. The No. 1 Online Encyclopedia dedicated to Computer Technology. 26 Oct. 2006http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/b/blog.html Wright, Jeremy. Blog Marketing. Blacklick, OH, USA: McGraw-Hill Companies, The, 2005. p 2-3.

Martin Luther King Jr. :: essays research papers

Martin Luther King Jr. The reformation began within the Catholic Church . On Oct. 31, 1517 , Martin Luther a professor and a monk of theology, posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany . This theses were series that attacked the sale of indulgences . Luther criticized what he considered other abuses in the church . Luther taught that God justifies human beings . What Luther meant was that God makes them righteous through His kindness to the people . In Jan. 1521, Pope leo X excommunicated Luther and declared him a heretic . Emperor Charles V and the members of the imperial diet ordered Luther to appear before the diet in the Worms, Germany .In May 1521 , the emperor signed the Edict of the Worms , a document which declared Luther to be an outlaw whom anyone could kill without protest . Frederick the Wise protected Luther. Luther continued to the Protestant movement until his death in 1546. Reformation Reformation was a religious movement of the 1500's that led to Protestantism . This movement had an impact on social, political, and economic life . Before the reformation , Europe had been held together by the universalism of the Catholic Church and the claim of the Holy Roman emperor . After the reformation Europe had several large Prostant churches and smaller Protestant religious groups . From the result of the Reformation ,Europe was divided btwn the Catholic counties of the south and the Protestant countries of the north. This diversity of religious life created a mood of religious toleration and the respect for the importance of individual conscience . The Reformation also stimulated many reforms within the Catholic Church . Martin Luther believed that he can change something that he believed in .

Yellowstone Volcano

Introduction: â€Å"I don’t think visitors appreciate that they’re standing directly on top of the largest, most dynamic magmatic system on the planet,† says geologist Daniel Dzurisin. Yellowstone is easily one of the biggest volcanoes in the world, and one of the few super volcanoes on continental crust. The extreme ways of this volcano, is what makes it unique. Because of its tectonic setting, there are many hazards involved, as well as potential for damage. The history of this volcano explains that, and other super volcanoes help explain what could potentially happen when Yellowstone finally does erupt.Tectonic Setting: To begin, the tectonic setting of north western Wyoming explains a lot about Yellowstone. The crust underneath Yellowstone is restless. There are some major faults along the Teton, Madison and Gallatin Ranges that pass through Yellowstone; these all existed before the volcano was there. The North American plate is the biggest plate that Yellows tone is interacting with. There is a divergent boundary along where Yellowstone and the North American plate meet.The most apparent faults in Yellowstone are as follows; the Minor Plateau Faults younger section, Post – Lava Creek faults in North Western Yellowstone, Mallard Lake resurgent dome faults, Elephant Back fault zone, and Sour Creek dome faults. Main Hazard: Equally important, Yellowstone has many main hazards. Yellowstone is a super volcano. The difference between a normal volcano and a super volcano is not very obvious until you look at the inside structure. A normal volcano typically has a single column of magma that comes from within the earth.It breaks through the top of the mountain and spews out the entire column. A super volcano is quite a bit different though. A super volcano begins with a column of magma, but instead of breaking through the surface it stays underground. The magma then starts heating the crust and slowly begins to mix with it. This makes the magma really thick. Since the magma is trapped under the earth’s surface, the volcanic gases are also on lock. The pressure of the gasses and magma under the surface of the earth is colossal and continues to build over thousands of years.When the earth’s crust cannot take the pressure anymore, it breaks. The volcano erupts and the blast is hundreds of times more powerful than that of a normal volcano. Yellowstone happens to be really big too. It is 2,805m tall and rises at a rate of about 7cm/year. Risks Associated with Main Hazard: Fires: There are many risks associated with Yellowstone. To begin, fires are a pretty common thing in Yellowstone. The weather in Yellowstone is pretty interesting. There is lots of rain, and where there is rain there is lighting. The poor soil in Yellowstone results in the plants being pretty dry.When the rainstorms happen, the lighting usually hits something and causes fires. Earthquakes: Another example of a risk is earthquakes. Earthqu akes are a pretty regular thing in Yellowstone. Not all of the earthquakes are devastating but many happen all the time. In February 2012, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, recorded 34 earthquakes. The largest of those earthquakes was a 1. 6 magnitude. The biggest recorded earthquake recorded in Yellowstone was a 7. 5 magnitude in 1959. Deadly Gasses: Equally important, deadly gasses are extremely hazardous in Yellowstone.Most of the gasses in Yellowstone are released in geysers. Two thirds of the world’s geysers are in Yellowstone national park (Secret). Because of the extreme climates in Yellowstone, animals typically seek warmth by the volcano. The volcanic gasses that come from Yellowstone are heavy and stay low to the ground. This usually results in animals seeking warmth followed by basically inhaling poison, which causes them to die. Ash Fall: To continue, ash fall is extremely dangerous in the case of Yellowstone. Yellowstone’s ash fall covers a huge radius.If Yellowstone were to erupt right now, the ash would shoot up into the atmosphere and travel around the earth in a cloud several times before settling. The eruption that occurred 650,000 years ago shot ash into the stratosphere (Secret). The Great Plains of the United States would also be covered almost immediately. Potential for Property Damage: In addition, potential for property damage is something incredibly difficult for some people to realize. Let us say, for example, that Yellowstone was to erupt today; who would be affected, and how badly would it affect them?Well, to begin, Wyoming and its surrounding states would be incinerated instantly (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? ). After one gets past the fact that Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska will be gone, it is to wonder what will come next. Potential for Loss of Life: Following this, potential for loss of life is a very scary thing for some people. The Great Plains have been called â€Å"The Bread Basket of the World†. So without it, many people would go hungry. If Yellowstone was to erupt today, ash would cover the entire United States, including the Great Plains.The hard part is one cannot save the crops when they are covered in inches and feet of ash. A plentiful amount of people will go hungry. If this is not enough to realize the effects of Yellowstone, all the gasses that will be released with the eruption will help clear it up a little better. Yellowstone will release many harmful gasses into the stratosphere. The one of the more plentiful gasses is sulfur dioxide. When sulfur dioxide gets into the stratosphere it will turn into sulfuric acid aerosols. Basically, this means that earth’s climate will change drastically and will be affected for years.This could affect the farming season, which would make growing food nearly impossible. Not only that, but based on other volcanos and historical occurr ences, Yellowstone could easily wipe out the entire population of the world. Historical Occurrences: To continue, Yellowstone has had some cataclysmic eruptions in the past. These eruptions have occurred only three times; 2, 1. 3, and . 6 million years ago. Each of these eruptions have altered the earth forever. When a super volcano erupts, a huge crater, or caldera, is formed. These can be many miles wide and hundreds of meters deep.To give you a better idea of how big this really is, the first eruption that occured about 2 million years ago, left a depression in the ground bigger than Rhode Island. The three eruptions that Yellowstone had, were more powerful than any other eruptions in recorded history (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? ). The eruption that occured roughly 650,000 years ago was one of the biggest eruptions ever recorded in history. Ash, pumice, and gasses from the volcano basically swept across more than 3,000 square miles. The amount of ash that fell was enough to cover the entire United States with 5 inches, or all of Wyoming with 13 feet.Ash deposits from Yellowstone’s 650,000 year ago eruption are still being found in the Gulf of Mexico (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? ). Similar Events in Other Locations Around The World: On the other hand, a similar, but different super volcano Yellowstone can be compared to, is Toba. Toba is located on the island of Sumeria in Indonesia. Toba is also on the same type of boundary that Yellowstone is on. The only difference is Toba is a way smaller super volcano, and it erupted about 70,000 years ago. When Toba erupted, only about 5 or 10 thousand people survived. (Yellowstone is a Super Volcano? . Another volcano Yellowstone can be compared to, is Mount. St. Helens. In 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted. The explosion from Yellowstone 650,000 years ago was 1,000 times greater than that eruption in 1980. Potential for Occurrence in The Next 50 Years: However, there is a pretty good possibility Yellowston e will erupt in the next 50 years. Scientists have predicted that Yellowstone is subject to erupt every 600,000 years. The last eruption occurred about 650,000 years ago. This means Yellowstone is 50,000 years overdue. Not only that, but as of 2008, the magma was less 10km below the caldera.If Yellowstone is rising at a rate of 7 or more centimeters a year, Yellowstone will be erupting in no time at all (Thanks). Conclusion: Clearly, Yellowstone is extremely dangerous to the populace. The entire world will be affected if Yellowstone were to erupt today. Because of the tectonic, as well as the geological setting, each and every inch of the world will experience changes to the climate, food, and life as it is today. Yellowstone, being one of the few super volcanoes above sea level, is incredibly dangerous, and will be outrageously tragic. Work CitedMarshal, Jessica. â€Å"Pulse reveals breathing heart of a super volcano. † New Scientist 189. 2541 (2006): 11. Gale Student Resour ces In Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . Moravianhawk. â€Å"What kind of fault does Yellowstone Caldera have?. † Yahoo Answers. Yahoo, 2012. Web. 3 Mar 2012. . Secret Yellowstone. Dir. Brian Armstrong. National Geographic. 2007. â€Å"Thanks for the lift. † American Scientist 96. 1 (2008): 27. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . Topinka, Lyn. â€Å"CVO Website – Yellowstone Caldera, Wyoming. † USGS cascades Volcano Observitory (CVO). N. p. 25 June 2009. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Wyoming Quaternary Faults. † USGS. U. S. Department of the Interior, 2012. Web. 3 Mar 2012. . â€Å"Yellowstone National Park Earthquakes. † Yellowstone Net – Yellowstone National Park Lodging, Hotel, Wildlife Information and More. Bruce Gourley, Russ Finley, & Tim Gourley, n. d. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. . â€Å"Yellowstone is a Supervolcano?. † Suburban Emergency Management Project. SEMP INC. 2007. Web. 3 Mar 2012. . â€Å"Yellowstone Volcano Observitory. † Volcano Hazards Program. U. S. Department of the Interior. 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 3 Mar 2012. .

Comparing Leonardo Da Vinci with Michelangelo Essay

Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti were, and still are considered to be two of the greatest minds, even geniuses of the Renaissance. But which one is more of a genius than the other? Leonardo Da Vinci was born on April 15th, 1452, son to a notary called Ser Piero. Ser Pier has sex with a woman called Catarina, which resulted in her pregnancy. For a believed reason that Catarina was the Daughter of a farmer, they never got married. Ser Pier later married another woman, when he was 25, which is the time Leonardo was born. As for Michelangelo, he was born on March 6, 1475, to a father called Ludovico, and a mother named Francesca, who was not capable of taking care of him. She sent her son to a family of stone cutters, and whose wife became Michelangelo’s mother. His real mother Francesca died when he was only six years old. Both Michelangelo and Da Vinci lived hard lives, and received little care from their parents. The two distinctive artists, have many things they share in common, amongst background, interests, and accomplishments, however, they also have many differences, which makes each one diverse from the other, and finally confirm that Leonardo Da Vinci has idiosyncratic qualities, making him more of a genius than Michelangelo. Although there is a twenty three year gap between both Italian artists, they both have many common qualities. Leonardo’s first works of art were paintings, and were made at the age of seventeen, one of which is called â€Å"Ginevra de Benci†. In this magnificent painting he drew a portrait a young woman, with an amazing background of a huge trees, and then behind those, a bridge, and an evening-blue sky. He even managed to catch the outlines of the leaves of the trees, which were glowing as the setting sun hit them from the back. As for Michelangelo, his first works of art were mainly sculptures. His first sculpture was the Apollo-David, when he was sixteen years old. This is also a remarkable peace of art, mainly because he was able to turn a peace of rock in to a very realistic model of a human. The minor curves, and bumps an actual man’s body would have in Apollo’s position, were included in the statue. Every body part was in the correct position in relation to the rest of the body. The veins, and every body detail were included in the statue, which makes it significant. These two artists, both painted magnificent paints, and sculpted marvelous statues. Leonardo and Michelangelo were both great poem writers. In his poems, Da  Vinci wrote about exploring his soul, and demonstrated strong critical thinking, as well as intelligence. Michelangelo’s poems were mainly about animals, and his loved ones, one he wrote about called Elizabetha. Their curiosity, and will to improve their arts, gave them the power to dissect human bodies, of criminals, and study them. Although Leonardo studied them more thoroughly, Michelangelo also dissected them to know how the body was assembled. Michelangelo was bisexual and none of his paintings were focused upon one sex. As for Leonardo, he is also believed to be bisexual because he painted many women, and also was convicted twice of sodomizing a young seventeen year old, and spent two years in prison, which probably means he was attracted to men as well. To add to the magnificence of these two people, they were both highly skilled in architecture. Michelangelo invented a new architectural form, which solved the Renaissance problem of combining the classical columns with the modern division of storeys. Michelangelo’s giant orders became widely used. There are eight giant order pilasters on the Palazzo Conservatori, which came from Michelangelo. Also, he came up with the idea of staircases, which were used then, and are still used now. Leonardo Da Vinci however, took his architectural abilities to the edge, and created architectural monuments that surpassed his time period, and were declined in 1502 by engineers because they did not think they would work. However, on the 31st of October, 2001, a bridge was built, based upon Leonardo Da Vinci’s notes, which ere found after he passed away. The bridge worked and has a very modern shape. These two superb artists are so much alike, yet they are very different as well. Michelangelo had his very own aspects which made him a unique person. Michelangelo was a person brilliant in sculptures only. On august 4, 1983, Pope Julius II Della Rovere told Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. Although never experienced with paint, especially fresco painting, he painted the whole ceiling by himself, standing up while most painters that painted ceilings did it lying on their backs. He asked his old friend Francesco Granacci to help him, as well as four other fresco painters. However, when he saw that they weren’t as good as he thought, and have the imagination he wanted, he dismissed them and continued by himself. All he had was two men that helped make the paint. Michelangelo was very bad at mathematics, and languages. He failed to learn how to speak Latin, which was taught to most nobles in Italy. After being taught by Ghirlandaio, he soon excelled to being even better than his teacher, and walking his own path and trying new things. Rock is one of the hardest objects to work, and craft with. However, for Michelangelo, he turned a piece of dull marble, or other rock, into a work of art. â€Å"It would be impossible to find a body showing greater mastery of art possessing more beautiful members, or a nude with more detail in the muscles. Veins, and nerves †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . His work was so amazing, you could see the veins in the hands, feet, and sometimes neck. You would also notice the areas where the skin folds, like the area behind the knee, and even the natural body curves. Michelangelo was also somewhat an architecture. He designed some monuments, that have not been proven successful, however possibly would be. He also came up with the idea of staircases which we use today. His fascination with the human body, sculpture, to a minimal extent architecture, and his will to try his own ideas, made Michelangelo Buonarroti a one of a kind artist. Leonardo Da Vinci excelled in so many areas of study and work that, unlike Michelangelo, is more like a genius. Leonardo was born twenty-three years before Michelangelo was. By the age of seventeen he was already painting magnificent paintings, and curious in the sciences and mathematic. One way to recognize a painting done by Leonardo is the hair. Leonardo makes the person’s hair angelic, smooth, almost like silk. The hair is given life, it goes through one another, and fades, then comes back. As he studied light, and its affect on how something looked, he fine-tuned his paintings abilities. Using light, he would give his paintings a more three-dimensional effect, making them seem even more alive then before. This exceptional artist also used his knowledge of mathematics to put everything into a scale, and make sure everything would seem normal, in the right size in correspondence to the other items in the paintings, and proportional. Although he might have acquired his knowledge and abilities by studying previous geniuses, he able to hold all that massive amount of knowledge, use it, imply it, research it even further and take it to a high level, and even help mankind. Da Vinci also studied nature. That helped him with his paintings which included a forest, or field or anything of that type, and he  knew what everything had to look like. He used scientific inquiry while running observations and experiments. He observed something closely, then tested that observation over and over till he knew it had to be correct. Then he drew accurately what he needed and wrote notes to himself. He published a book about the Theory of Mechanics. Volumes were written by him on many topics, such as the nature of the sun, moon and stars, and he even wrote volumes about the formation of fossils, and flight. Leonardo used his knowledge of aerodynamics to create the first flying machine, that functioned properly, as far as flying is concerned. He also invented the bicycle, a helicopter, a machine resembling a car, and many weapons for war. While he worked for the Duke of Milan, he took the role of a battle strategist and weapons engineer. His warfare creations include missiles, machine guns, grenades, mortars and tanks, and many more. However, he stopped sharing his inventions after he released the submarine, saying that all these weapons could be used for evil purposes. When his notes, and notebooks were analysed, it showed he had a spirit of scientific inquiry, and mechanical inventiveness, that was centuries ahead of his time. Somehow, he realized that it was not the sun that changed locations, but it is us, the Earth, that turns. Also, Da Vinci saw a possibility of constructing a telescope, which never happened in his lifetime, but did in ours. He called it â€Å"†¦making glasses to see the moon enlarged†. Leonardo excelled in so many things, such as anatomy, zoology, botany, geology, optics, aerodynamics, and many more†¦which is a quite significant amount of topics to be good in, only pushing him closer towards being a genius. Two men, from the same region, each the same, yet unique in their same way. Michelangelo and Leonardo have many differences, yet in the same time have many things which they share in common. Some of their interest areas are the same, yet Da Vinci has more topics which he covered in his lifetime, and stood out in. What makes these men even more outstanding is the fact that they both came from poor families, which could only afford them a regular education, while other, richer children went to better schools, and got a better education. Yet these poor men surpassed these rich people, and shone. Leonardo however was dyslexic, and often wrote backwards, and because he was illegitimate, was not allowed to enter a college. He succeeded in over six  very different topics, and even invented things to help man, and others not very useful yet show his genius. In the last years of his life, he worked for a king, and created a robot which looked like a lion, and with every two steps, its stomach opens and shows a bundle of flowers. Although it sounds simple, it definitely is not, to create a robot. Leonardo could come up with the hardest things, and also the simplest, and it is this quality, which makes him a genius, using his knowledge to help man, and extend the discoveries of proceeding men and women. Da Vinci used his ability to help everyone, not only himself. He shared his magnificent intelligence, and that, in all, makes him a genius.

Ozone Holes essays

Ozone Holes essays The ozone layer is an invisible layer in the stratosphere. It has always been needed by all life on earth, as it absorbs the ultra violet radiation (UV) from the sun. Recently a large hole has appeared in the ozone layer over the Antarctica, and a similar but smaller hole has been found over the Arctic. The problem with the ozone holes was first noticed in the 1970s by a research group from the British Antarctic Survey BAS). The measurements were first taken in 1985, the drop in the ozone was so dramatic that the scientists believed that their instruments were malfunctioning so they replaced. Then they confirmed their earlier measurements. Scientific research has also explained that the cause of the ozone depletion is the release of certain industrial chemicals into the atmosphere, particularly CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons). Due to the thinning of the earths ozone layer, a great amount of skin burning UV radiation from the sun has reached the earth. Increased exposure to UV radiation has been shown to harm human health, damage freshwater and marine ecosystems, reduce crop yields, and affect forests. The most basic impact for humans is the increase in skin cancers. Overexposure to the UV rays can also cause eye damage and may even weaken the immune system. The increased UV levels will also have an impact on agriculture. It has been observed that some crops have shown decreased growth as a result of exposure to increased UV radiation. Studies have shown that a 10% increase in UV rays would result in losses of $192 million per year to sensitive crops. In marine ecosystems, UV can damage the tiny single-celled plants, known as phytoplankton, which form the base of the food chain. Decreases in the food chain at this early stage may have effects throughout the entire system, and could ultimately affect fish populations. Scientists feel that the ozone layer should recover if the substances that destroy it are elimi...

Potpourri of Misspellings

Potpourri of Misspellings Potpourri of Misspellings Potpourri of Misspellings By Maeve Maddox Strolling along Internet Boulevard one morning, I encountered more than the usual quota of misspelled-words-per-minute. INCORRECT: My level of stress is nothing compared to your personal battles with illness and other life hurtles. CORRECT : My level of stress is nothing compared to your personal battles with illness and other life hurdles. hurtle verb: to dash, rush, or hurry, especially with force. â€Å"The bull hurtled through the crowd.† hurdle noun: an obstacle. Literally, a hurdle is a frame that runners jump over. Figuratively, a hurdle is something that stands in the way of a desired achievement. â€Å"Even though she is cancer free, she still has  one more hurdle to overcome.† INCORRECT: We want to be sure we don’t loose our earnest money. CORRECT : We want to be sure we don’t lose our earnest money. loose adjective: not tight. â€Å"Since I lost weight, these jeans are too loose to wear.† lose verb: to part with. â€Å"Don’t lose your lunch money again.† One sentence, from a bewildered college student, yielded not one, but three misspellings in a row. INCORRECT: Theres to much of a differents in the trilagy CORRECT : Theres too much of a difference in the trilogy to preposition: function word that indicates spatial relationships. â€Å"The children have gone to the movies.† too adverb: to an excessive degree. â€Å"He reached the station too late to catch the train. different adjective: unlike, not the same. â€Å"You are wearing two different socks.† difference noun: the state of being different. â€Å"Please explain the difference between refugee and migrant.† trilogy noun: a group of three related things, such as plays or novels. â€Å"Have you read The Lord of the Rings trilogy? I expect to find- and enjoy finding- different registers of grammar and diction used in informal contexts. Non-standard usage in a non-standard register doesn’t jar. Misspellings, on the other hand, distract in every register. Spelling, it seems to me, is a â€Å"cross-platform† sort of thing. Unless the intention is to write like Artemus Ward, native speakers who have completed eight or more years of formal education can be expected to spell common words correctly in every context. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Masters Degree or Master's Degree?Capitalization Rules for the Names of GamesApostrophe with Plural Possessive Nouns

Marketing Campaign & Strategic Planning Assignment

Marketing Campaign & Strategic Planning - Assignment Example Once the customer is loyal to a company then an imaginary contract is signed between the company and the customer which becomes hard to break. A loyal customer will be hard for the other companies to influence and in this way loyalty will act as a revenue sustaining agent for the company. Another major benefit of satisfied customers is that they become an un-paid marketing agents for the company’s brand, as they are unintentionally carrying out a word of mouth campaign for the company which further gives a boost to the sales of the company. It is true that a satisfied customer increase the profitability of a company, but a dissatisfied customer decreases it by two folds. It is important for a company to pay special attention to what the customers wants rather than giving them something they hardly value. A dissatisfied customer will always share his/her poor experience with others which will further hurt the brand name. According to an article of customer service facts, a happy customer will share his/her experience with 4-6 people however a dissatisfied customer will tell it to 9-15 people. (Customer Satisfaction Facts) In this way a bad experience of one customer can take away 9-15 possible customers. This high risk of bad mouthing of a dissatisfied customer increases the marketing costs of the company which in the struggle to regain the initial position runs heavy advertisements and promotions to re-capture the place in the customers mind. (Richins et al

Environmental Science and Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental Science and Design - Essay Example The town of Dhamra is a small business centre with a fishing jetty and trawler base. The proposed port site is a unique habitat in that it has long stretches of inter-tidal mudflats from the site up till the river mouth. Orissa is home to a high diversity of marine and reptilian life. Of the seven species of marine turtles, five species are found in India. Of these, four are reported to occur in the coastal waters of Orissa. They are the Leatherback, the Green, the Hawksbill and the Olive Ridley, of which the Olive Ridley is the most common. Orissa is witness to the famous mass nesting or arribada year after year. The earliest report of the arribada at the beaches of Gahirmatha was made in the 1970's. It is the world's largest nesting ground of sea turtles. From 1975 onwards a 100,000 to 700,000 nesting turtles came to Gahirmatha every year. The nesting beach is a protected area that forms part of the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. The near shore breeding area was also given protected area status by the State Government in 1997 and is known as the Gahirmatha (Marine) Wildlife Sanctuary. The biodiversity of the port site includes sea turtles, snakes, mammals, Avifauna, Amphibian fauna, corals, marine shells, macro fauna, fishes, mangroves. Macro fauna, due to their interactions with sediments, are known to influence the productive potential of the system. Certain macro faunal communities serve as feed items for economically important and edible fin fishes and shell fishes. Further, macro and mega faunal species are now being perceived as reservoirs/ generators of bio-active substances that have applications in modern marine pharmaceuticals. The mangroves on Kanika Sands provide protection and stabilisation of the inter-tidal landscape from natural calamities and cyclonic floods. They also provide an optimum habitat for some threatened animals and serves as a nursery ground for many fishes, crabs and other animals thousands of fisherfolk from all categories of fishing communities are dependent on the marine resources of Orissa for their livelihoods.thus it’s really a paradise on earth â€Å"a rich natural wealth†. The Dhamra Port Company (DPCL) located north of the mouth of river Dhamra in Orissa is a 50:50 joint venture of L&T and Tata Steel. It is deepest all-weather port of its kind in India with a draught of 18.5 meters, which can accommodate super-cape size vessels up to 180,000 DWT. This will be a boon to the mineral hinterland of north Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chattisgarh which are in close proximity to the port and where a large number of steel plants and mineral based industries are located besides many more which are on the anvil. The Dhamra Port Project signifies the coming together of the largest steel industry in the private sector and the largest engineering and construction major. The port is located less than 5 km. from the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary (a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance) and less than 14 km. from the mass nesting beaches of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. The Dhamra port has a long and controversial history. The area was originally notified for inclusion in the Bhitarkanika National Park in October 1988. In June 1997, the Orissa state government officially instructed that the Dhamra area be excluded from the proposed Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. In December 1997, a fresh draft notification was issued for Bhitarkanika Nati

Support Assessment for Learning Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Support Assessment for Learning - Coursework Example The assessment for learning should provide feedback to ensure the pupils identify personal improvement. The assessment must also encourage confidence for future improvement in comparison to the previous achievement1. Both the teacher and the student must be offered a platform for reflection on the pupil’s performance. Therefore, an assessment for learning must be a conclusive process with the ability to recognize, motivate and develop self-esteem of the pupil. The characters listed above are vital in the assessment of learning because they are the core values of the assessment for learning concept. Assessment must be employed by the staff to support the learning process. The staff must ensure that the assessment follow and fulfil the curriculum. The process ensures that learners experience is relevant, engaging and motivating with the assessment support learning. The teachers must ensure that the assessment has high-quality interactions and feedback encouraging transition on t o the next steps of learning. The pupils must understand clearly the kind ad quality work essential for success to be achieved together with the agreed outcomes2. Assessment for the young involves dialogue between the learners and the staff. The dialogue must be based on the thoughtful probing focusing on key points of learning. Assessment includes the use of dialogues, activities and tasks that encourage interaction with the learners. The interaction must challenge them and build on the learning achieved to date. In addition, the use of discussion will encourage the development of confidence in communicating and thinking about learning. Despite encouraging participation, the assessment for learning must support the individual learning process. Individual learners should seek and receive accurate and developmental feedback on what has been learnt and the extent of learning. Personal strengths and weakness must be discussed with the teachers in relation of the strengths of the work p resented. The evaluation of personal learning process will ensure the assessment or learning is comprehensive and effective. The learners should be engaged fully in their learning3. The learners must collaborate during planning, shaping and reviewing of the progress. The review of the process includes; shaping of their learning, agreeing, and establishing targets. The staff should provide regular oral and written feedback on the pupils work whilst discussing the strengths and areas of improvement in the process. They must work with their peers offering comments on the progress. The approach in assessment will promote learner engagement while encouraging learners to be independent in the learning process. The success of the assessment learning support depends on the ability to integrate, motivate, inspire and lead the learner to personal learning which ensures self-esteem and confidence. The development of effective learning support assessment depends on contributions from learners, teachers and the support staff4. In addressing the various issues, in assessment support learning, the paper will evaluate the participation and role of individuals in the process and establish effective approach strategy. Characteristics of assessment for learning Assessment for learning has several characteristics that are important for success. The assessment must reflect and share the learning goals with pupils. The sharing of the goals with the pupil ensures that the objective and outcomes

Jindal Steel Power Limited

Jindal Steel Power Limited Jindal Steel Power Limited Company Profile Jindal Steel Power Limited, part of the Jindal Organization, is one of the important steel producers of the country. Founded at Hisar, Haryana by industrialist O P Jindal, it is currently the third largest producer in India in terms of tonnage. It manufactures sponge iron, iron ore etc. as well as active in power generation. With revenue of about $1363.5 million last year, the company employs more than 15000 people throughout the world. The company has its headquarters in New Delhi and is presently headed and managed by Naveen Jindal, son of late O P Jindal. (www.datamonitor.com) Decision making and analysis In the contemporary scenario, the success or breakdown of the business is closely associated with the class of decision making. Decision making at Jindal steel and power takes place at three levels * Corporate level: The decisions here generally concentrate on companys core competence, backward and forward integration, competitive advantages and manpower retention by employee empowerment. * Middle management: The decisions concern realization of goals set by the top management and to monitor the progress and make any mid course correction. * Operational management: Decisions related to product quality, delivery and after sales service to ensure customer satisfaction at all levels (internal as well as external). Strategic decision Cyclic industries like iron ore, steel or power are very susceptible to changes in government policies or in terms of availing new opportunities. Jindal management is in tune with such highly efficient strategic decision making. One such strategic decision taken by Jindal Steel and Power ltd. is discussed herein- â€Å"Jindal Steel and Power Limited has entered into a strategic alliance with Hydro Power development corporation of Arunachal Pradesh and the state government, to set up Subansiri Middle, a 1600 MW hydro electric power plant there (Asia Pulse, November 25,2009)†. The decision is considered strategic because- * This project will make them big enough in hydro electric power generation to eliminate any competition * There is a tremendous gap between supply and demand of power in India; this project will ensure returns which will never be affected adversely by any downturn in economy or political changes in the country. * Involves high degree of uncertainty and risk * Involves huge capital investment in the form of fixed assets and infrastructure Thus such decision is taken after undertaking extensive research and information analysis. Some of the important areas of research or information required before taking the decision are- * Information on the available alternatives to the decision; a critical and thorough analysis of the alternatives is required as huge investments are involved * Facts and information about the benefits or services being provided by the concerned state government like tax holidays, subsidies, land etc. (Arunachal Pradesh state government provides various incentives like Sales tax/VAT exemption up to 99% or low predetermined lease rents of land, (www.arunachalpradesh.nic.in). * Local and national competitors in Arunachal Pradesh, as well as analysis of the target areas * Information on availability of raw materials, labor supply and transportation facilities in the state of Arunachal Pradesh; as well as the legal and operational costs involved in the setting up of the plant Tactical Decision A tactical decision taken by Jindal steel and power management is â€Å"declaring a dividend of 550% for the shareholders†. The decision was taken after the company reported more than two-fold growth in consolidated net profits (www.jindalsteelpower.com). The decision taken here is tactical as- * It is medium term; dividends for one fiscal year * the decision is not very frequent or repetitive * the company will build brand loyalty and retain loyal stakeholders * Quantitative information is available about companys financials Although these decisions are less risk prone and have medium term effects, still they need to be taken after thoroughly analyzing the available information. Information required by the Jindal management before declaring dividends is discussed below * Complete information about the companys financial performance and reports * Understanding of the companys financial ratios to maintain a balanced financial leverage and favorable debt-equity ratio * Information on the other viable alternatives where the profits could be invested, if dividends are not to be declared * Competitor dividend policies whether dividends are declared by rival companies in that particular quarter Operational decision The bottom line of Jindal group depends on the decisions taken at operational levels. The guiding principles of decision making are waste management, quality management, delivery management in the most cost effective way. Jindal steel and power decided to hire another local transport company for the purpose of delivery of their raw materials from the market to logistics/ factory unit or goods from factory to market. The decision here is regarded as operational due to the reasons mentioned below- * The decision involved here is immediate and involves lower costs * Is for a short period of time * Has limited scope for decision * The decision is repetitive and susceptible to frequent changes Such decisions are often based on computerized data, experience of the managers or locally available information. Some information requirements are * Information about the cost and time benefits/losses associated with the decision * Comparative analysis of the available options (transport companies in this case) Competitive Intelligence Information on strategic and tactical moves of competitors plays crucial role in survival or death of an organization. Jindal Steel and Power limited is no exception to this. At Jindal, management is aware of its competition and does whatever it takes to keep ahead of the competitors. The main competitors of Jindal Steel and Power limited are * Steel Authority Of India Limited * Tata Steel * Tata Power * MSP Steel and Power limited Some cases or situations where information on competitors decisions and policies may prove or proved quite useful are discussed below Recently, when Steel Authority of India Limited entered into an exclusive agreement with the Indian Railways for supplying products, Jindal Steel and Power aware of the decision and the consequences, filed a case with the Competition Commission of India against Indian Railways on the basis that the exclusive agreement would threaten the likelihood of competitors contending for the projects through competitive bids (Business Standard, November 9, 2009). In another instance, Jindal steel and power ltd. being aware of the fact that the demand for galvanized iron and steel is quite high in many areas of north India, have themselves planned to launch something on the lines of galvanized steel launched by Tata steel in July 2009 (India Business Insight, November 2009). Having information about the decision of Tata steel to launch a new form of galvanized steel will prove quite beneficial to Jindal steel as they can launch a better product than the competitors and thus ensure that there is no loss or damage to their market share for the product in North India. In a similar situation, information on MSP steel and powers expansion plans in Chhattisgarh (www.myiris.com) is of utmost relevance to Jindal Steel and Power as it has a considerable market share in Chhattisgarh and MSP steel and powers expansion there might affect Jindals business and market share. Thus JSPL can take certain decisions and change/develop plans for their own expansion to make sure that there is no effect on their market share and they have a competitive edge over their competitors. Another instance where knowledge about competitors decisions and information proved quite beneficial to JSPL is regarding the setting up of a power plant in Arunachal Pradesh. Jindal Steel and Power, knowing about the plan of Reliance power to set up 1000 MW hydro electric power plant in Arunachal Pradesh (India Business Insight, 2009), formulated its own strategies and decisions accordingly, and decided to set up a hydro electric power plant with more power generation capacity before the establishment of Reliance Powers plant there. B2B Commerce Jindal Steel and Power Whatever the size of the business may be, B2B e-commerce undoubtedly adds value to its operations. Jindal group has kept itself abreast with the latest technology and launched a B2B portal Steelmart.com for the steel sector. It has formed alliances with various service providers like Indiaport.com and many others to provide a perfect environment for choosing and selecting new business associates for carrying out the transactions, not only for the companies under the Jindal group but the other firms in the steel sector as well. However in context of Jindal Steel and power, through this initiative, Jindal group intends to provide Jindal steel and power with an easy access to market functionaries: producers, distributors, suppliers etc and an electronic marketplace solution (Business Line, September 2000). This enables JSPL to ensure a continuous availability of raw materials whenever required to improve the efficiency level of operations and supply/distribution channels. B2B without any question offers variety of information on products, suppliers, product time and lead time, competitors, market share etc. and therefore besides the portal, Jindal management has developed an extensive system of B2B commerce or in other words, an online system providing suppliers all over the country the facility to register with the Jindal group and supply raw materials and other resources as and when required by the company. Jindal group already has a well established Enterprise Resource Planning and SAP mechanism, and B2B is just another leap forward to become more cost effective and competitive. Looking at the pace with which Jindal Steel and Power has rose to a position of eminence in the steel and energy industry, B2B holds even more importance for the company in the future and has very high future potential. Conclusion Jindal Steel and Power limited can be thus seen as a highly efficient and competitive company, in tune with the latest aspects of the technology and development, possessing at the same time, the wide experience and knowledge of an equally effective and efficient management team. The company is a live example of excellence and perfectionism involving highly competent decision making, planning and execution of the strategies. References * Indias Jindal to setup 1600 MW power plant in Arunachal (2009). Asia Pulse (Internet), 25 November. Available from Accessed 24th November 2009 * Arunachal Pradesh State Industrial Policy (2008), Department of Industries, Government of Arunachal Pradesh (Internet). Available from Accessed 24th November 2009 * Jindal Steel net up 2 fold; announces 550% dividend (2009) Press Trust of India (Internet) 27 May. Available from Accessed 24th November 2009 * Press Trust of India (2009) JSPL files complaint against railways with CCI. Business Standard (Internet) 9 November. Available from Accessed 25th November 2009 * Tata launches Galvanized Steel brand (2009). India Business Insight (Internet) 13 July. Available from Accessed 25th November 2009 * Company Profile ‘Jindal Steel and Power limited (2008). Available from Accessed 24th November 2009 * IRIS Business Service (2008) MSP Steel announces expansion plans (Internet) 13 August. Available from Accessed 25th November 2009 * Reliance Power to set up a hydroelectric power plant in Arunachal Pradesh (2009). India Business Insight (Internet) 30 September. Available from Accessed 25th November 2009 * The Hindu Bureau (2000) O P Jindal group launches portal for steel sector (Internet) 30 September. Available from Accessed 26th November 2009

Rembrandt’s Clever Devices in Illustrating a Biblical Story :: Essays Papers

Rembrandt’s Clever Devices in Illustrating a Biblical Story The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife is told in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, Chapter 39. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and bought by Potiphar, a high-ranking official in the Pharaoh's service. The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything he did. This pleased Potiphar and before long Joseph was given the highest position in the household, and left in charge when Potiphar was away. Now Potiphar's wife found Joseph to be very good looking and had approached him several times saying "come to bed with me." Joseph being a man of God would not sin against his master or the Lord, so he refused her. One day when all the servants were gone, Joseph entered the house and Potiphar's wife approached him and while holding on to his cloak and asked again for him to come to bed with her. Joseph refused and left the house leaving his cloak behind. Potiphar' Wife screamed for help saying that Joseph had attacked and tried to sleep with her. When her hu sband came home she told him the same false story. Potiphar was so angry with Joseph he had him locked up in Pharaoh's prison. "But while Joseph was in the prison, the Lord was with him." This is the subject matter for which Rembrandt choose to do his representational painting by. The content of the painting all reveals Rembrandt's interpretation of the story. Rembrandt Van Ryn chose this particular story as the subject of his narrative painting completed in 1655, under the title of "Joseph Accused By Potiphar's Wife". After conducting research, my first perceptions about the value, or relative degree of lightness or darkness, in the painting did not change, but instead I learned that Rembrandt's use of light and dark was both purposeful and a technique well-known to the artists of his time. When I first observed this painting, I thought how dark everything seemed. The only exceptions to the darkness are the bed and Potiphar's wife, both of which are flooded in light almost as if a spotlight were thrown on her and the bed. Some light shines on Joseph's face and from behind him like a halo around his body, but this light is very dim. Rembrandt’s Clever Devices in Illustrating a Biblical Story :: Essays Papers Rembrandt’s Clever Devices in Illustrating a Biblical Story The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife is told in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, Chapter 39. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and bought by Potiphar, a high-ranking official in the Pharaoh's service. The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything he did. This pleased Potiphar and before long Joseph was given the highest position in the household, and left in charge when Potiphar was away. Now Potiphar's wife found Joseph to be very good looking and had approached him several times saying "come to bed with me." Joseph being a man of God would not sin against his master or the Lord, so he refused her. One day when all the servants were gone, Joseph entered the house and Potiphar's wife approached him and while holding on to his cloak and asked again for him to come to bed with her. Joseph refused and left the house leaving his cloak behind. Potiphar' Wife screamed for help saying that Joseph had attacked and tried to sleep with her. When her hu sband came home she told him the same false story. Potiphar was so angry with Joseph he had him locked up in Pharaoh's prison. "But while Joseph was in the prison, the Lord was with him." This is the subject matter for which Rembrandt choose to do his representational painting by. The content of the painting all reveals Rembrandt's interpretation of the story. Rembrandt Van Ryn chose this particular story as the subject of his narrative painting completed in 1655, under the title of "Joseph Accused By Potiphar's Wife". After conducting research, my first perceptions about the value, or relative degree of lightness or darkness, in the painting did not change, but instead I learned that Rembrandt's use of light and dark was both purposeful and a technique well-known to the artists of his time. When I first observed this painting, I thought how dark everything seemed. The only exceptions to the darkness are the bed and Potiphar's wife, both of which are flooded in light almost as if a spotlight were thrown on her and the bed. Some light shines on Joseph's face and from behind him like a halo around his body, but this light is very dim.

Problem of Evil Essay

The traditional problem of evil emerges when people believe in and argue for the existence of a God who is both omnipotent and wholly good. According to Mackie’s study (1955), few of the solutions to the problem of evil could stand up to criticism. Today, someone suggests an alternative: God is not perfectly good, but maximally cool. By cool he means to be free from tension or violence. Since God is maximally cool, he is not so much concerned about either eliminating evil or maximizing goodness than promoting coolness. This God appears to be logically valid, but this essay will show that the existence of such God is impossible. First, we should ask this: if God aims to promote coolness, why would he bother to create evil? It is clear that evil is not cool, given that evil creates tension and violence. It may be replied that God is maximally cool and therefore creates anything based on his will and is not concerned with what happens to his creation afterwards. This reply is arguing that God created some cool thing which later then turned into the uncool evil. Then, the fact that uncool evil exists implies that God cannot make this uncool evil to be cool again, which contradicts with the premise that God is omnipotent. Secondly, good is also uncool. According to most theists, good is defined to be opposite to evil and thus always fights to expel evil (Mackie, 1955), so that good is in constant tension and possible violence with evil. Though the God in argument is claimed to be not perfectly good, this God is still good to a certain degree. Then he will still fights against evil and therefore is not always cool. This leads us to conclude that this God cannot be maximum cool. This guy in defense of the existence of a maximally cool God might argue that uncool is necessary as a counterpart to cool. It seems natural and necessary to consider why there should be uncool things if God is maximum cool. He might argue that if there were no uncool, there could be no cool either, in that if there were no violence or tension to be created and involved in, there could be no violence or tension to be free from. It might be that out of randomness, God created evil that generates tension and good that engages in tension against evil. To detach from involvement in tension or to destroy tension might create another tension and may incur violence. If God were to eliminate uncool things that he created, he would enter a tension between cool and uncool. Then, it would be uncool to make uncool things cool. Because God is maximally cool, he will not enter such tension and therefore he leaves good and evil as uncool as they are. By claiming that cool cannot exist without uncool, this guy shows that God cannot create cool without simultaneously creating uncool. This sets a limit to what God can do, which involves two possibilities: either God is not omnipotent or that omnipotence has some limits. If it is the first case, then we can deny the existence of a God who is omnipotent and maximally cool. If it is the second case, one may argue that these limits are logically impossibility. However, according to Mackie (1955), some theists hold the view that God can do what is logically impossible, while many theists maintain that God created logic. This leads us to the paradox of omnipotence, where we consider whether an omnipotent being can bind himself. According to Mackie, although we can avoid the paradox of omnipotence by putting God outside time, we cannot prove that an omnipotent God binds himself by logical laws. Therefore, it is a fallacious approach to prove the existence of a maximally cool and omnipotent by claiming that cool and uncool are counterparts to each other. To summarize, if a God is omniscience, then he must know the existence of uncool. If he is omnipotent and maximum cool, he will promote coolness to the maximum. However, we observe that there are uncool things which are against God’s will to promote coolness and which God cannot make them cool. Therefore, a God that is omniscience, omnipotent and maximally cool cannot exist. Works Cited J. L. Mackie, â€Å"Evil and Omnipotence,† Mind, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 254. (Apr. , 1955), pp. 200-212. In Pascal’s Wager, Pascal concludes that rationality requires people to wager for god. He bases his argument on mainly three premises. The first premise is his construct of the decision matrix of rewards. The second premise suggests that we are required by rationality to assign positive and not infinitesimal probability to God existing. The third premise states that we are required by rationality to perform the act of possible maximum expected utility. This essay will argue that Pascal’s Wager does not demonstrate solid prudential reasons for us to believe in God, by showing the third premise is not necessarily true. We consider that it is not in all cases that we are required by rationality to maximize expected utility. In Pascal’s Wager, we pay ‘one life’ to wager for God and obtain infinite expected utility. Paying finite amount to play a game with infinite expectation appear to be at our interests and can therefore serve as a prudential reason for us to wager for God. However, in certain cases, this action could be regarded as absurd and alternatively, and to the contrary, taking intuitively sub-optimal actions would actually maximize the expected utility. For example, the St. Petersburg paradox could be representative of this kind of situations. In the St. Petersburg game (Martin, 2011), we keep flipping a coin until we get a coin. The total number of flips, n, yields the prize which equals $2n. There are infinite sum of flips possible, so we have infinite number of possible consequences. The expected payoff of each consequence is $1 and therefore the ‘expected value’ of the game, which equals the sum of the expected payoffs of all the consequences, will be an infinite number of dollars. Then, intuitively we will be willing to play the game as long as we only need to pay a finite number of dollars, given that the ‘expected value’ of the game is infinite. However, Hacking (1980) suggested that â€Å"few of us would pay even $25 to enter such a game. † If we were to pay $25 for the game, half of the time we receive $2 and one quarter of the time the game pays $4, so the probability to break-even is less than one in twenty five. Still, because of the very small possibility of the number of flips to be greater than $25, the expected payoff of the game is larger than the $25 payment. According to standard Bayesian decision theory (Martin, 2011), we should play this game. Then again, because of the very small possibility of getting high enough payment, it is very likely that we will need to flip a coin longer than our physical possibility. In that sense, it will be absurd to pay this finite amount and flip longer than physical constraints for the infinite expected payoff. Therefore, it is not always true that rationality will require us to perform the act that yields maximal expected utility. In the St. Petersburg game we experiment infinitely many trials which yield infinite expectation. In Pascal’s wager, we have a single-trial which also yields infinite expectation. It seems natural for Pascal to assume that expectation is a good guide to solve this decision problem. However, according to Hajek (2012), we need to take variance into consideration to make better decision, because in this one-time shot, a large variance could lead us to an outcome which is much worse than the expectation. When the variance is small, it is probable to get an outcome close to the expectation. However, the further the distribution of outcomes spreads out, the more likely it is to get a bad outcome, and the less compelling the third premise seems to be. Assuming that the expectation of wagering for God is infinite, we can calculate the variance of the outcomes of the wager. Given the infinitely good of the good outcome and the status quo of the bad outcome, the variance is infinite. In the case of an infinite variance, due to our risk-aversion, we might be better off choosing to minimize variance than maximizing our expected utility. Indeed, if f2 is made as low as possible, the variance of wagering for God would be much greater than wagering against God. If the probability of the probability of receiving infinite good, is made as low as possible, the resulted variance might make we deviate much further away from the expected utility in an undesirable direction. Both cases above could happen, and if they do, we would feel less compelled by our rationality to maximize our expected utility because the large variance could lead us to a situation that is much worse than expectation. To summarize, Pascal’s premise three is not necessarily true. This premise says that we are required by nationality to maximize expected utility where there is one available. However, the St. Petersburg paradox suggests that rationality does not always require us to maximize our expected utility. Furthermore, in consideration of large variance, expectation might not be a good measure of choiceworthiness (Hajek, 2012). Without the validity of premise three, we cannot draw the conclusion that rationality requires us to wager for God. Therefore, Pascal’s wager does not solidly demonstrate that we have prudential reasons to believe in God. Works Cited Hajek, Alan, â€Å"Pascal’s Wager†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = http://plato. stanford. edu/archives/win2012/entries/pascal-wager/ Martin, Robert, â€Å"The St. Petersburg Paradox†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . Hacking, Ian, 1980, â€Å"Strange Expectations†, Philosophy of Science 47: 562-567. According to Pollock (1986), you might be a brain floating in a vat filled with nutrient fluid. You do not realize that you are a brain in a vat because this brain is wired to a computer program that produces stimulation in brain to cause experiences that are qualitatively indistinguishable from normal experiences of being a human being. The problem lies exactly in that whether you are a brain in a vat or not, everything seems to be the same to you. Many philosophers have attempted to prove that you are not a brain in a vat and their approaches seem to be valid. Among those, Moore’s argument and Putnam’s argument are two influential but different approaches. This essay tries to show that you cannot use either of these arguments to prove that you are not a brain in a vat. While going through Moore’s argument seems to be an easy way to show that you are not a BIV (brain in a vat), it is not difficult to show how this approach is flawed either. By Moore’s argument, first you open your eyes and form perceptual knowledge that you have hands. Then you deduce that you are not a BIV which does not have hands and thereby you come to know that conclusion. However, it should be argued in the first place that your senses are not reliable. As Descartes argued in Meditations (1986), while you might form the perception that you are wearing a dress in the dream, you are actually undressed in your bed. The flaw in the logic of this approach can be demonstrated in the following analogous story. You see an empty glass on a table. The glass looks orange and in fact it is. You form perceptual knowledge that the glass is orange. You deduce that it is not colorless and filled with orange juice. You thereby come to know that the glass does not appear orange to you because it is colorless with orange juice filled in it. By assuming that there is orange juice in the glass, you establish that the glass does not appear orange to you because it is colorless with orange juice filled in it. Here the problem is that there is no orange juice and you are trying to prove there is orange juicy by assuming its existence. For the same token, if you are a BIV, then the hands that you perceive are hands* produced by one feature of the computer program. The premise asserting that you form a perception of hands is assuming that you are not a BIV and therefore can form a perceptual knowledge of hands. This is begging the question because we want to prove that we are not BIV. Therefore, you cannot prove that you are not a BIV by going through Moore’s argument. Another famous discussion is Putnam’s semantic arguments. One problem of this approach is the narrow scope of the arguments. Putnam started his arguments by drawing analogy between the mental image of a Martian and that of a BIV. Claiming that Mars does not have tree, Putnam established that BIV’s utterance of ‘tree’ has a different referent from the referent of a non-BIV speaking of a tree. While it is possible that you have always been a BIV since you come into being, so you have never seen a tree that a non-BIV sees. It is also possible that you have lived certain part of your life as a non-BIV and then at some point you are made into a BIV. For example, if you recall in The Problems of Knowledge (Pollock, 1986), by the time that Margot tells Mike that he is a brain in a vat, he has been a brain in a vat for three months. According to Margot, Henry, or the brain in a vat that Mike sees, receives a fictitious mental life that merges perfectly into Henry’s past life. To merge perfectly, the language and its referents that the computer generates for Henry must be indistinguishable from those before his envatment. Similarly, if Mike has been speaking English up until three months ago when he was envatted, his utterance of ‘Margot’ after envatment must have the same referent as the one he had before. It must be that now his words retain the same English referents to the same contents in order to achieve a perfect merge (Brueckner, 2012). This perfect merge makes brain* in a vat* the same as BIV, which means whether you are BIV or not, you always speak English rather than vat-English. Because there are no differences in the languages between BIV and non-BIV, the semantic arguments have nowhere to start in this case. Unless you know with certainty that all BIVs have been BIVs since they came into beings, you cannot use semantic arguments to prove that you are not a BIV. To summarize, Moore’s arguments appear to be an easy solution to the problem of knowledge, but these arguments are begging the question and therefore cannot refute the brain-in-a-vat hypotheses. It seems that Putnam’s arguments are more compelling, but still they fail to rule out all possible versions of the brain-in-a-vat hypotheses. Therefore, you cannot prove that you are a non-BIV by using either of these arguments. Works Cited Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1960. Print. Pollock, John L. Contemporary Theories of Knowledge. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield, 1986. Print. Brueckner, Tony, â€Å"Skepticism and Content Externalism†, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = .