The Lost Symbol Chapter 24-25

CHAPTER 24 The revelation crashed over Langdon like a wave. I know why I am here. Standing in the center of the Rotunda, Langdon felt a powerful urge to turn and run away . . . from Peter's hand, from the shining gold ring, from the suspicious eyes of Sato and Anderson. Instead, he stood dead still, clinging more tightly to the leather daybag that hung on his shoulder. I've got to get out of here. His jaw clenched as his memory began replaying the scene from that cold morning, years ago in Cambridge. It was six A.M. and Langdon was entering his classroom as he always did following his ritual morning laps in the Harvard Pool. The familiar smells of chalk dust and steam heat greeted him as he crossed the threshold. He took two steps toward his desk but stopped short. A figure was waiting there for him–an elegant gentleman with an aquiline face and regal gray eyes. â€Å"Peter?† Langdon stared in shock. Peter Solomon's smile flashed white in the dimly lit room. â€Å"Good morning, Robert. Surprised to see me?† His voice was soft, and yet there was power there. Langdon hurried over and warmly shook his friend's hand. â€Å"What in the world is a Yale blue blood doing on the Crimson campus before dawn?† â€Å"Covert mission behind enemy lines,† Solomon said, laughing. He motioned to Langdon's trim waistline. â€Å"Laps are paying off. You're in good shape.† â€Å"Just trying to make you feel old,† Langdon said, toying with him. â€Å"It's great to see you, Peter. What's up?† â€Å"Short business trip,† the man replied, glancing around the deserted classroom. â€Å"I'm sorry to drop in on you like this, Robert, but I have only a few minutes. There's something I needed to ask you . . . in person. A favor.† That's a first. Langdon wondered what a simple college professor could possibly do for the man who had everything. â€Å"Anything at all,† he replied, pleased for any opportunity to do something for someone who had given him so much, especially when Peter's life of good fortune had also been marred by so much tragedy. Solomon lowered his voice. â€Å"I was hoping you would consider looking after something for me.† Langdon rolled his eyes. â€Å"Not Hercules, I hope.† Langdon had once agreed to take care of Solomon's hundred-fifty-pound mastiff, Hercules, during Solomon's travels. While at Langdon's home, the dog apparently had become homesick for his favorite leather chew toy and had located a worthy substitute in Langdon's study–an original vellum, hand-calligraphed, illuminated Bible from the 1600s. Somehow â€Å"bad dog† didn't quite seem adequate. â€Å"You know, I'm still searching for a replacement,† Solomon said, smiling sheepishly. â€Å"Forget it. I'm glad Hercules got a taste of religion.† Solomon chuckled but seemed distracted. â€Å"Robert, the reason I came to see you is I'd like you to keep an eye on something that is quite valuable to me. I inherited it a while back, but I'm no longer comfortable leaving it in my home or in my office.† Langdon immediately felt uncomfortable. Anything â€Å"quite valuable† in Peter Solomon's world had to be worth an absolute fortune. â€Å"How about a safe-deposit box?† Doesn't your family have stock in half the banks in America? â€Å"That would involve paperwork and bank employees; I'd prefer a trusted friend. And I know you can keep secrets.† Solomon reached in his pocket and pulled out a small package, handing it to Langdon. Considering the dramatic preamble, Langdon had expected something more impressive. The package was a small cube-shaped box, about three inches square, wrapped in faded brown packing paper and tied with twine. From the package's heavy weight and size, it felt like its contents must be rock or metal. This is it? Langdon turned the box in his hands, now noticing the twine had been carefully secured on one side with an embossed wax seal, like an ancient edict. The seal bore a double-headed phoenix with the number 33 emblazoned on its chest–the traditional symbol of the highest degree of Freemasonry. â€Å"Really, Peter,† Langdon said, a lopsided grin creeping across his face. â€Å"You're the Worshipful Master of a Masonic lodge, not the pope. Sealing packages with your ring?† Solomon glanced down at his gold ring and gave a chuckle. â€Å"I didn't seal this package, Robert. My great-grandfather did. Almost a century ago.† Langdon's head snapped up. â€Å"What?!† Solomon held up his ring finger. â€Å"This Masonic ring was his. After that, it was my grandfather's, then my father's . . . and eventually mine.† Langdon held up the package. â€Å"Your great-grandfather wrapped this a century ago and nobody has opened it?† â€Å"That's right.† â€Å"But . . . why not?† Solomon smiled. â€Å"Because it's not time.† Langdon stared. â€Å"Time for what?† â€Å"Robert, I know this will sound odd, but the less you know, the better. Just put this package somewhere safe, and please tell no one I gave it to you.† Langdon searched his mentor's eyes for a glint of playfulness. Solomon had a propensity for dramatics, and Langdon wondered if he wasn't being played a bit here. â€Å"Peter, are you sure this isn't just a clever ploy to make me think I've been entrusted with some kind of ancient Masonic secret so I'll be curious and decide to join?† â€Å"The Masons do not recruit, Robert, you know that. Besides, you've already told me you'd prefer not to join.† This was true. Langdon had great respect for Masonic philosophy and symbolism, and yet he had decided never to be initiated; the order's vows of secrecy would prevent him from discussing Freemasonry with his students. It had been for this same reason that Socrates had refused to formally participate in the Eleusinian Mysteries. As Langdon now regarded the mysterious little box and its Masonic seal, he could not help but ask the obvious question. â€Å"Why not entrust this to one of your Masonic brothers?† â€Å"Let's just say I have an instinct it would be safer stored outside the brotherhood. And please don't let the size of this package fool you. If what my father told me is correct, then it contains something of substantial power.† He paused. â€Å"A talisman, of sorts.† Did he say a talisman? By definition, a talisman was an object with magical powers. Traditionally, talismans were used for bringing luck, warding off evil spirits, or aiding in ancient rituals. â€Å"Peter, you do realize that talismans went out of vogue in the Middle Ages, right?† Peter laid a patient hand on Langdon's shoulder. â€Å"I know how this sounds, Robert. I've known you a long time, and your skepticism is one of your greatest strengths as an academic. It is also your greatest weakness. I know you well enough to know you're not a man I can ask to believe . . . only to trust. So now I am asking you to trust me when I tell you this talisman is powerful. I was told it can imbue its possessor with the ability to bring order from chaos.† Langdon could only stare. The idea of â€Å"order from chaos† was one of the great Masonic axioms. Ordo ab chao. Even so, the claim that a talisman could impart any power at all was absurd, much less the power to bring order from chaos. â€Å"This talisman,† Solomon continued, â€Å"would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and unfortunately, I have reason to believe powerful people want to steal it from me.† His eyes were as serious as Langdon could ever recall. â€Å"I would like you to keep it safe for me for a while. Can you do that?† That night, Langdon sat alone at his kitchen table with the package and tried to imagine what could possibly be inside. In the end, he simply chalked it up to Peter's eccentricity and locked the package in his library's wall safe, eventually forgetting all about it. That was . . . until this morning. The phone call from the man with the southern accent. â€Å"Oh, Professor, I almost forgot!† the assistant had said after giving Langdon the specifics of his travel arrangements to D.C. â€Å"There is one more thing Mr. Solomon requested.† â€Å"Yes?† Langdon replied, his mind already moving to the lecture he had just agreed to give. â€Å"Mr. Solomon left a note here for you.† The man began reading awkwardly, as if trying to decipher Peter's penmanship. â€Å"`Please ask Robert . . . to bring . . . the small, sealed package I gave him many years ago.' † The man paused. â€Å"Does this make any sense to you?† Langdon felt surprised as he recalled the small box that had been sitting in his wall safe all this time. â€Å"Actually, yes. I know what Peter means.† â€Å"And you can bring it?† â€Å"Of course. Tell Peter I'll bring it.† â€Å"Wonderful.† The assistant sounded relieved. â€Å"Enjoy your speech tonight. Safe travels.† Before leaving home, Langdon had dutifully retrieved the wrapped package from the back of his safe and placed it in his shoulder bag. Now he was standing in the U.S. Capitol, feeling certain of only one thing. Peter Solomon would be horrified to know how badly Langdon had failed him. CHAPTER 25 My God, Katherine was right. As usual. Trish Dunne stared in amazement at the search-spider results that were materializing on the plasma wall before her. She had doubted the search would turn up any results at all, but in fact, she now had over a dozen hits. And they were still coming in. One entry in particular looked quite promising. Trish turned and shouted in the direction of the library. â€Å"Katherine? I think you'll want to see this!† It had been a couple of years since Trish had run a search spider like this, and tonight's results astounded her. A few years ago, this search would have been a dead end. Now, however, it seemed that the quantity of searchable digital material in the world had exploded to the point where someone could find literally anything. Incredibly, one of the keywords was a word Trish had never even heard before . . . and the search even found that. Katherine rushed through the control-room door. â€Å"What have you got?† â€Å"A bunch of candidates.† Trish motioned to the plasma wall. â€Å"Every one of these documents contains all of your key phrases verbatim.† Katherine tucked her hair behind her ear and scanned the list. â€Å"Before you get too excited,† Trish added, â€Å"I can assure you that most of these documents are not what you're looking for. They're what we call black holes. Look at the file sizes. Absolutely enormous. They're things like compressed archives of millions of e-mails, giant unabridged encyclopedia sets, global message boards that have been running for years, and so forth. By virtue of their size and diverse content, these files contain so many potential keywords that they suck in any search engine that comes anywhere near them.† Katherine pointed to one of the entries near the top of the list. â€Å"How about that one?† Trish smiled. Katherine was a step ahead, having found the sole file on the list that had a small file size. â€Å"Good eyes. Yeah, that's really our only candidate so far. In fact, that file's so small it can't be more than a page or so.† â€Å"Open it.† Katherine's tone was intense. Trish could not imagine a one-page document containing all the strange search strings Katherine had provided. Nonetheless, when she clicked and opened the document, the key phrases were there . . . crystal clear and easy to spot in the text. Katherine strode over, eyes riveted to the plasma wall. â€Å"This document is . . . redacted?† Trish nodded. â€Å"Welcome to the world of digitized text.† Automatic redaction had become standard practice when offering digitized documents. Redaction was a process wherein a server allowed a user to search the entire text, but then revealed only a small portion of it–a teaser of sorts–only that text immediately flanking the requested keywords. By omitting the vast majority of the text, the server avoided copyright infringement and also sent the user an intriguing message: I have the information you're searching for, but if you want the rest of it, you'll have to buy it from me. â€Å"As you can see,† Trish said, scrolling through the heavily abridged page, â€Å"the document contains all of your key phrases.† Katherine stared up at the redaction in silence. Trish gave her a minute and then scrolled back to the top of the page. Each of Katherine's key phrases was underlined in capital letters and accompanied by a small sample of teaser text–the two words that appeared on either side of the requested phrase. Trish could not imagine what this document was referring to. And what the heck is a â€Å"symbolon†? Katherine stepped eagerly toward the screen. â€Å"Where did this document come from? Who wrote it?† Trish was already working on it. â€Å"Give me a second. I'm trying to chase down the source.† â€Å"I need to know who wrote this,† Katherine repeated, her voice intense. â€Å"I need to see the rest of it.† â€Å"I'm trying,† Trish said, startled by the edge in Katherine's tone. Strangely, the file's location was not displaying as a traditional Web address but rather as a numeric Internet Protocol address. â€Å"I can't unmask the IP,† Trish said. â€Å"The domain name's not coming up. Hold on.† She pulled up her terminal window. â€Å"I'll run a traceroute.† Trish typed the sequence of commands to ping all the â€Å"hops† between her control room's machine and whatever machine was storing this document. â€Å"Tracing now,† she said, executing the command. Traceroutes were extremely fast, and a long list of network devices appeared almost instantly on the plasma wall. Trish scanned down . . . down . . . through the path of routers and switches that connected her machine to . . . What the hell? Her trace had stopped before reaching the document's server. Her ping, for some reason, had hit a network device that swallowed it rather than bouncing it back. â€Å"It looks like my traceroute got blocked,† Trish said. Is that even possible? â€Å"Run it again.† Trish launched another traceroute and got the same result. â€Å"Nope. Dead end. It's like this document is on a server that is untraceable.† She looked at the last few hops before the dead end. â€Å"I can tell you, though, it's located somewhere in the D.C. area.† â€Å"You're kidding.† â€Å"Not surprising,† Trish said. â€Å"These spider programs spiral out geographically, meaning the first results are always local. Besides, one of your search strings was `Washington, D.C.' â€Å" â€Å"How about a `who is' search?† Katherine prompted. â€Å"Wouldn't that tell you who owns the domain?† A bit lowbrow, but not a bad idea. Trish navigated to the â€Å"who is† database and ran a search for the IP, hoping to match the cryptic numbers to an actual domain name. Her frustration was now tempered by rising curiosity. Who has this document? The â€Å"who is† results appeared quickly, showing no match, and Trish held up her hands in defeat. â€Å"It's like this IP address doesn't exist. I can't get any information about it at all.† â€Å"Obviously the IP exists. We've just searched a document that's stored there!† True. And yet whoever had this document apparently preferred not to share his or her identity. â€Å"I'm not sure what to tell you. Systems traces aren't really my thing, and unless you want to call in someone with hacking skills, I'm at a loss.† â€Å"Do you know someone?† Trish turned and stared at her boss. â€Å"Katherine, I was kidding. It's not exactly a great idea.† â€Å"But it is done?† She checked her watch. â€Å"Um, yeah . . . all the time. Technically it's pretty easy.† â€Å"Who do you know?† â€Å"Hackers?† Trish laughed nervously. â€Å"Like half the guys at my old job.† â€Å"Anyone you trust?† Is she serious? Trish could see Katherine was dead serious. â€Å"Well, yeah,† she said hurriedly. â€Å"I know this one guy we could call. He was our systems security specialist–serious computer geek. He wanted to date me, which kind of sucked, but he's a good guy, and I'd trust him. Also, he does freelance.† â€Å"Can he be discreet?† â€Å"He's a hacker. Of course he can be discreet. That's what he does. But I'm sure he'd want at least a thousand bucks to even look–â€Å" â€Å"Call him. Offer him double for fast results.† Trish was not sure what made her more uncomfortable–helping Katherine Solomon hire a hacker . . . or calling a guy who probably still found it impossible to believe a pudgy, redheaded metasystems analyst would rebuff his romantic advances. â€Å"You're sure about this?† â€Å"Use the phone in the library,† Katherine said. â€Å"It's got a blocked number. And obviously don't use my name.† â€Å"Right.† Trish headed for the door but paused when she heard Katherine's iPhone chirp. With luck, the incoming text message might be information that would grant Trish a reprieve from this distasteful task. She waited as Katherine fished the iPhone from her lab coat's pocket and eyed the screen. Katherine Solomon felt a wave of relief to see the name on her iPhone. At last. PETER SOLOMON â€Å"It's a text message from my brother,† she said, glancing over at Trish. Trish looked hopeful. â€Å"So maybe we should ask him about all this . . . before we call a hacker?† Katherine eyed the redacted document on the plasma wall and heard Dr. Abaddon's voice. That which your brother believes is hidden in D.C. . . . it can be found. Katherine had no idea what to believe anymore, and this document represented information about the far-fetched ideas with which Peter had apparently become obsessed. Katherine shook her head. â€Å"I want to know who wrote this and where it's located. Make the call.† Trish frowned and headed for the door. Whether or not this document would be able to explain the mystery of what her brother had told Dr. Abaddon, there was at least one mystery that had been solved today. Her brother had finally learned how to use the text-messaging feature on the iPhone Katherine had given him. â€Å"And alert the media,† Katherine called after Trish. â€Å"The great Peter Solomon just sent his first text message.† In a strip-mall parking lot across the street from the SMSC, Mal'akh stood beside his limo, stretching his legs and waiting for the phone call he knew would be coming. The rain had stopped, and a winter moon had started to break through the clouds. It was the same moon that had shone down on Mal'akh through the oculus of the House of the Temple three months ago during his initiation. The world looks different tonight. As he waited, his stomach growled again. His two-day fast, although uncomfortable, was critical to his preparation. Such were the ancient ways. Soon all physical discomforts would be inconsequential. As Mal'akh stood in the cold night air, he chuckled to see that fate had deposited him, rather ironically, directly in front of a tiny church. Here, nestled between Sterling Dental and a minimart, was a tiny sanctuary. LORD'S HOUSE OF GLORY. Mal'akh gazed at the window, which displayed part of the church's doctrinal statement: WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS BEGOTTEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY, AND IS BOTH TRUE MAN AND GOD. Mal'akh smiled. Yes, Jesus is indeed both–man and God–but a virgin birth is not the prerequisite for divinity. That is not how it happens. The ring of a cell phone cut the night air, quickening his pulse. The phone that was now ringing was Mal'akh's own–a cheap disposable phone he had purchased yesterday. The caller ID indicated it was the call he had been anticipating. A local call, Mal'akh mused, gazing out across Silver Hill Road toward the faint moonlit outline of a zigzag roofline over the treetops. Mal'akh flipped open his phone. â€Å"This is Dr. Abaddon,† he said, tuning his voice deeper. â€Å"It's Katherine,† the woman's voice said. â€Å"I finally heard from my brother.† â€Å"Oh, I'm relieved. How is he?† â€Å"He's on his way to my lab right now,† Katherine said. â€Å"In fact, he suggested you join us.† â€Å"I'm sorry?† Mal'akh feigned hesitation. â€Å"In your . . . lab?† â€Å"He must trust you deeply. He never invites anyone back there.† â€Å"I suppose maybe he thinks a visit might help our discussions, but I feel like it's an intrusion.† â€Å"If my brother says you're welcome, then you're welcome. Besides, he said he has a lot to tell us both, and I'd love to get to the bottom of what's going on.† â€Å"Very well, then. Where exactly is your lab?† â€Å"At the Smithsonian Museum Support Center. Do you know where that is?† â€Å"No,† Mal'akh said, staring across the parking lot at the complex. â€Å"I'm actually in my car right now, and I have a guidance system. What's the address?† â€Å"Forty-two-ten Silver Hill Road.† â€Å"Okay, hold on. I'll type it in.† Mal'akh waited for ten seconds and then said, â€Å"Ah, good news, it looks like I'm closer than I thought. The GPS says I'm only about ten minutes away.† â€Å"Great. I'll phone the security gate and tell them you're coming through.† â€Å"Thank you.† â€Å"I'll see you shortly.† Mal'akh pocketed the disposable phone and looked out toward the SMSC. Was I rude to invite myself? Smiling, he now pulled out Peter Solomon's iPhone and admired the text message he had sent Katherine several minutes earlier. Got your messages. All's fine. Busy day. Forgot appointment with Dr. Abaddon. Sorry not to mention him sooner. Long story. Am headed to lab now. If available, have Dr. Abaddon join us inside. I trust him fully, and I have much to tell you both. –Peter Not surprisingly, Peter's iPhone now pinged with an incoming reply from Katherine. peter, congrats on learning to text! relieved you're okay. spoke to dr. A., and he is coming to lab. see you shortly! –k Clutching Solomon's iPhone, Mal'akh crouched down under his limousine and wedged the phone between the front tire and the pavement. This phone had served Mal'akh well . . . but now it was time it became untraceable. He climbed behind the wheel, put the car in gear, and crept forward until he heard the sharp crack of the iPhone imploding. Mal'akh put the car back in park and stared out at the distant silhouette of the SMSC. Ten minutes. Peter Solomon's sprawling warehouse housed over thirty million treasures, but Mal'akh had come here tonight to obliterate only the two most valuable. All of Katherine Solomon's research. And Katherine Solomon herself.

Catcher in the Rye Symbolism

The Dangers of Isolation in The Catcher in the Rye It is normal to want to get away from all of the problems of the world, but it is not normal to want to be completely isolated from people. Holden wanted to have no human contact what so ever, and that is not normal. Throughout the book Holden expresses a rebellious attitude toward the world, and this rebellious attitude comes from his infatuation with being alone. He isolates himself from the world because he has not yet found himself and is searching. Holden feels that he must find himself alone with no one else's help. Holden expresses his rebellious side when he gets kicked out of school, again. Holden doesn't like school because he doesn't like doing activities that he loses patience for and sees no point in doing them. Holden also is rebellious in the way that he smokes and drinks when he is a minor. He is an excessive smoker and turns to alcohol to suppress his feelings of depression, which are signs of alcoholism. This behavior is not unheard of, but is rare for a 16-year-old to become an alcoholic. From this rebellious attitude Holden becomes isolated from those around him. His first act of isolation with a combination of rebellion is when Holden doesn't go to the game in the beginning of the book. Everyone was going to be there and he doesn't want to be like everyone else. Getting kicked out of school is another example of him rebelling and the cause of it being isolation. After he leaves Pency, Holden meets up with an old friend of his, Sally. After hanging out with her for awhile Holden asks her if she wants to run away with him. From this we learn that he has a desire to get away from the world. From this quote that Holden said we can tell how much he wants to run away, â€Å"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any god dam stupid useless conversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after awhile, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life†(p 198). Upon being kicked out of school, Holden decides to go on a little vacation. In this short period of time Holden goes through many tribulations. To get from place to place Holden takes taxicabs. During these rides Holden asks the cab drivers if they know where the ducks go when the pond freezes over. The reactions from the cab drivers are different each time, but his recurring concern about the ducks seems to be symbolic of Holden's desire for purpose and direction. While he is by himself, Holden doesn't stay in one place for very long. He didn't know where to go next just like he didn't know where his life was going. During his time by himself, Holden imagines becoming a deaf-mute and running away. Holden wants to use his imagination to feel more connected to the world and his emotions. He does this because in his fantasy world he can control what happens and in real life he wanted to do the same. Towards the end of the book, Holden loses more and more of his sense of reality. If he had stayed on this path he would have lost all sense of reality. All of these feelings that Holden had were each the cause of themselves. He kept going around in a destructive and unproductive cycle, which would be hard to break. In the end of the book, Holden didn't ride the merry-go-round because he wanted to break that cycle. He wanted to be there for his sister and see her grow up. He wanted to be a part of life, and the world. In order to do that he would need some help, and the mental hospital was the perfect place for the kind of help Holden needed.

A Review of The Dream Society Essay

It is not easy to talk about businesses and make them appeal not only to a niche market but to all people. Most often, a book that talks about business, marketing strategies, and corporate culture is believed to be complex and even boring at some point. This I believe makes Rolf Jensen’s creatively written book entitled The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business a deviation from the complex and difficult-to-understand image of business books. The book is about the noticeable reality emerging in today’s business cycle of how the tales and stories behind the products become essential factors that help the product sell. Jensen managed, in his insightful book, to produce an enlightening analysis of today’s business culture and predict a futuristic direction for companies without losing his readers in hard-to-understand concepts and difficult-to-memorize theories. The book revolves around the idea that more than information, imagination will be the biggest selling point of the products in the future. As time progresses and as competitions among companies become tighter and more profound, people become more and more interested on the stories behind the product than just the product itself. A book that intends to explain the flow of the market is often deemed an instructional book that offers tips and suggestions. The Dream Society is very different because it focuses on the trends and phenomena that are observable in the market but are easily missed or not looked upon twice. The book has promising value because it laid down facts along with interesting trivia and anecdotes that would not normally appear in boring business books. Jensen’s work is definitely able to capture the attention of his readers as he talks about how markets today target the consumers’ emotional needs and how some successful companies like Disney, Nike, and Rolex supply these needs by utilizing whatever tales they have that appeal to people’s hearts. Jensen, a talented and knowledgeable scholar, notices how this trend had slowly become the root of huge demands from these companies and he discusses how this marketing strategy will adamantly shape the future of business and corporate culture. Classified under the â€Å"classic Dream Society logic†, these companies are just among those who are able to understand that what the market wants are stories and appeals on their emotional side (Jensen, 2001, p. 3). Companies known as the Dream Society are predictably the ones who will be able to dominate the business world in the future because they could deliver what the consumers want. The Dream Society is actually a vital piece of work that would relate to academic, sociological, and corporate issues. It revolves around the question of what really sells today. Based on the careful research of the author, it is evident that society will give more attention to the stories behind the products and would direct its consumption towards things or objects that appeal to the heart. I felt that the author wants the book to focus more on providing its readers an outward perspective of the market because it narrates in a futuristic sense, providing all the facts of today that are in line with a potential market. The author iss able to achieve this through subtle narrations of personal experiences, analysis on how markets transform and direct attributions to organizations that make use of the consumers’ needs for emotional satisfaction. I noticed that even when the author is speaking in the first person perspective, he never lose credibility of the facts he is stating. Also, despite tackling a very sensitive topic, the book is actually written in a simple manner, organized thoroughly, and given a unique spark by the thought-provoking writing style of Jensen. These characteristics definitely set out the book differently from the others. Jensen’s work appeals to readers because of its insightful and interesting attack of useful topics. It tackles not just facts about huge businesses, but also realities about the people who work behind them. According to the book, more than IQ, EQ is also equally, if not at times, more important in making a person successful. The ability to build good relationships often brings people to the top. What makes the book more appealing is that it addresses a reality that is already being enjoyed by half of the huge organizations while the other half remains ignorant or in denial of it. Jensen’s work offers a fresher and more honest perspective of the transformation of businesses that should not be overlooked. In corporate culture, businesses that focus on being closer to the emotional weaknesses of people guarantee more support from these consumers. The Dream Society also highlights how success stories of companies surpassing adversities and odds become essential tools in dominating the corporate culture. The Dream Society highlights the value of storytelling and the treatment of emotions as commodity as a part of the future of businesses. Products that are packaged in a more imaginative way have the ability to tap the emotions and support of the consumers. The author’s concrete example in the early parts of the book about consumers wanting to buy eggs that are naturally made even if they cost higher emphasize the argument that Jensen wants to present in this book that consumers buy with their hearts and it is bound to be this way for a very long time. Jensen’s work is an understandable prediction for business transformations in the coming decades but it neither offers guarantees nor detailed specific steps of what business owners and corporate leaders should do to make their make their businesses more successful. It only narrates the facts and what influences the market but it could not be considered a guide or directional book. It is an easy, unconventional, very informative, and enjoyable book to read that addresses realities about the market and the corporate world, but it could still not be classified as a guide book on business and how businesses should be run. One of the book’s most creative lines in describing how a business is run is that â€Å"managing a company means staging a drama, daily† (Jensen, 2001, p. 134). And this drama, the strategy of commercializing emotions, and storytelling to appeal to the hearts of the people makes product sell. The Dream Society is definitely different from other business books I have encountered. The author is obviously very talented not only in writing but also in making careful analysis about the future direction of the world’s market. Understanding the needs of the consumers is one of the most basic rules in marketing strategies. Despite being unconventional, Jensen’s book should still be considered a business book because it offers insightful and important facts about the probable future of the market. Even if it is written with simplicity, this does not limit the valuable lessons and realities it shares to its readers and makes it invaluable to the world of business and corporate culture. Reference Jensen, R. (2001). The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination will Transform Your Business. McGraw-Hill: New York

Narcosis ciliates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Narcosis ciliates - Essay Example This movement propels the cell perpendicular to the orientation of the cilia. In contrast, the longer flagellum, usually one or two, moves in an undulating manner, moving successive waves from the base to the tip in the process. As such, it propels the cell to move parallel to the flagellum’s orientation. On the other hand, microvilli are non-motile appendage with no internal structure supporting it (Reece, et al., 2011). The loss of activity of cilia, resulting to loss of cellular motility, is termed ciliate narcosis. This can be induced by different living conditions and substances to which it is exposed to, such as low temperature (Jackson, Goggin and Lucas, 2012), calcium (Nakanaka, Tanaka and Oosawa, 1984), magnesium and protein (Adshead, et al., 1975) concentrations, as well as the presence of certain substances, such as theophylline, bromhexine, ambroxol, terpin hydrate, mercaptoethanesulfonat-sodium, amrinon, salbutamol, tetracosactid-hexaacetate, histamine, phenol and nitric oxide (Graf, Graf and Wenz, 1999). In addition, a study using tracheal cells in vitro, showed that ciliary beat frequency was increased at low ethanol concentrations (0. 01 to 0. 1%), unchanged at (0. 5 to 1%), and decreased above 2% (Maurer and Liebman, 1988). Moreover, even if it does not penetrate the cellular membrane, the presence of glycerol in the culture can make cellular surroundings viscous, making it more difficult for cilia to move (Negus, 1949). Alcohols are amphiphatic molecules primarily composed of alkane (CH3) and hydroxyl (OH) moieties, such that the simplest alcohol is methane (CH3OH). When the hydrocarbon portion becomes longer, as in the case of ethanol (2 Cs), propranol (3 Cs) and butanol (4 Cs), the alcohol becomes effectively more hydrophobic. A compound similar to alcohols, propranolol in particular, is glycerol, which has hydroxyl group attached to each of the three carbon atoms (Masterton and Hurley, 2008). One of the well-studied organisms known t o extensively use cilia for movement is the free-living Tetrahymena pyriformis, which belongs to the order Holotrichia, literally meaning cilia all over its membrane. The microorganism is a common fixture in human toxicity studies, because of its cilia’s similarity in terms of morphology and function to that of human epithelial cells (Graf, Graf and Wenz, 1999). Its cell membrane has the characteristic sandwich-like phospholipid bilayer, with the hydrophilic head facing the cytoplasm or the external surroundings, and the hydrophobic chain filling the middle. Given this structure, hydrophilic molecules can more easily pass the membrane, as compared to hydrophobic ones. However, the presence of transport mechanisms allows hydrophobic molecules to enter the cell (Reece, et al., 2011). In cellular permeability studies, an observable cellular change effected by previously identified substance must be utilized in order to clearly determine when and in what conditions the substance penetrated the cell membrane. In this case, the cellular change used was ciliate necrosis and the substance that causes it would be alcohol. This experiment was conducted in order to 1) observe narcosis of T. pyriformis ciliates by alcohol, and 2) discuss the results of ciliate narcosis in terms of membrane permeability. METHOD After preparing propranol and glycerol serial dilutions (propranol: 1.8 M, 1. 5M, 0. 4M, 0. 2M , 0M; glycerol: 2. 8M, 2M, 1. 7M, 1M, 0M) using distilled

Evaluate the potential effectiveness of ECB's monetary policy decision Essay

Evaluate the potential effectiveness of ECB's monetary policy decision on the recent quantitative easing programme within the Rurozone economy - Essay Example le tend to borrow less thus decreasing consumption of goods and services in the market as the income in household decreases, this reduces the rate of demand of goods and services making unemployment a major issue as people are retrenched and companies do not employ people (Tenreyro, 2008). This in turn affects the GDP of the country negatively. This paper focuses on the Eurozone and the effects of the Quantitative Easing policy introduced by the European Central Bank. The Eurozone is a term used to refer to all the countries that use the Euro as their means of trade within Europe. It compromises of 17 countries which are Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, Slovakia, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Estonia, Greece and Ireland (Gunyà ©, 2004), each with very different economies. Some are developed while others are struggling to find their place in the market making it very difficult to have a one size policy that’s fits all. Some countries like Germany do have a stronger economy (Anderson, 2012) compared to others like Greece that have a developing or not very well established economy. These countries within the Eurozone like all other countries have their central bank named the European Central bank which was established in 1998 to regulate prices of commodities espe cially equities through making monetary policies for countries within the Eurozone (Dominguez, 2006). The first monetary policy effected by the Euro zone in 2008 (Erà §etin, 2014) leading to a euro crisis as the ECB increased the rates of borrowing making achieving loans for financiers of firms or clients very difficult (Ciro, 2013). This lead to fewer consumption of goods and services by consumers that affected the demand curve as consumption reduced which eventually lead to inflation. This ended up affecting the rate of the currency the Euro as domestically produced goods became more expensive than the imports also affecting inflation, unemployment

Lab report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Lab Report Example Some of the samples were obtained near the river in a hilly place with ample cover of various types trees (Easton p38). While others were obtained away from the river, the main goal being to expose the students to experience field work, and environmental science Hypothesis that we formulated included, most soils found in wabashiki river are clay soils, the nearer the soil is on the river the higher smoother the texture, texture of soils depicts its components, the soil pH is mostly constant Every group having the relevant materials embarked into obtaining the samples for use and documentation. Each and every person within the group was expected to come up with his own samples each. Some from near the river and further away from the river; the sampling site was obtained after the purpose of the study was established thus no major sampling technique was put in place (Easton p135). The study was to take place along the river at different coordinates. The analysis of a soil sample to det ermine its nutrients and the contents contaminated and also other characteristics like the ph. Level. There were various soils testing strategies put in place some were to be done in the field so that one could obtain results as soon, as the soil was from its natural flora, and fauna to avoid defects due to transport handling and storage. Some of the testing done on the field includes crushing, feeling the texture acidity porosity trough exposure to water. The soils were obtained from flat grassy ground, and also from a hilly part near the river the following was observed, Both soils had the same average period of time, i.e. 10yrs though thee color varied as the soils obtained from the grassy flat area had a less color value than those obtained from near the river that had a higher color value. Although the two ended up having the color Chroma values of two each, the soil that was obtained from the grassy flat area was established as a sandy loam soil after cross examination. While the soil obtained from near the river was established as silty clay loam soil. Each collected sample was labeled accordingly comprising the following; group name, student initials, GPS coordinates, section number, date and sample number. Members of the group were to meet and carryout various tests within the laboratory this is where the tests for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were done. The samples were to be divided, and parts of them were dried for the purpose of carrying out tests in total more 10 samples were collected in my group five from near the river, and the other five away from the river this was executed such that each sample came from different coordinates so as to obtain well distributed samples (Easton p 220). After the tests were conducted the following was observed, the soils extracted from near the river had low contents of phosphorous while those obtained from near the river had relatively high quantities of phosphorus. All the samples tested had very low qu antities of nitrogen in them whether they were obtained from further away or near the river. The ph. of all the samples obtained was neutral at 7 points this showed that despite the fact that the samples were obtained from different places none, showed any basic or acidic characteristic. From the results, it was also noted that the all the samples obtained from the two areas, had very high contents of potassium. The tests conducted were fundamental in depicting the various characteristics of each and every sample obtained. The soil texture of the samples obtained varied. z sandy loam soil color sheet 10 color value 3 color chroma 2 ph 7 The soil texture is known as the relative composition of various soil particles size fractions in soil.

OUTSOURCING AND OFFSHORING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

OUTSOURCING AND OFFSHORING - Essay Example In other cases an organization may source or offshore when a process can be completed in a better and cheaper manner when using external providers. Customers just like the sourcing and off shoring companies have a part to benefit. Customers benefit from better products and services that follow increased competition, a factor that also comes with reduction in prices. Out Sourcing and off shoring companies also present several disadvantages for the companies involved. The major disadvantages are Loss of supervisory control of the process, loss of flexibility in responding to the transformations in business situation and the loss of internal and external client focus. These practices also pose the risk of possible loss of confidentiality by the concerned organizations. Out Sourcing and off shoring in many cases is met with lots of resistance from the natives, influenced by their inherent

Visual Arts Experimental Drawing - Research Project Paper

Visual Arts Experimental Drawing - Project - Research Paper Example Hopper first attended New York School of Art and Design, where he was shocked at the prospect of drawing live nudes. His choice of subjects was mostly boats and women, still life and natural landscapes. He was influenced by Manet and Degas and particularly loved Rembrandt’s use of light and dark shadows in Nightwatch, and the work of French engraver Charles Meryon. He hated illustrations but was forced by economic circumstances to work at a copywriting agency during his early professional life. After his father died he moved to and lived in his Washington Square apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village for the rest of his life (Kuh, 53). Hopper got his subject matter from both seascapes and landscapes and scenes in contemporary American life. His Girl at a Sewing Machine (1921) shows a girl at work on this machine, deeply involved as the sunlight comes into her room and lights it up. His work often depicts the solitude he felt in life. Hopper’s most celebrated p ainting is Nighthawks (1942) which is famous for its attention to detail, cinematic perspective and use of electric light set against the contrast of the night outside. It shows a group of people at a diner. Hopper’s Girlie Show (1941) is one of his more audacious pieces, where a red headed striptease is seen moving confidently across a stage as musicians play in the background (Barbara, 158). Works Cited Haskell, Barbara. Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time. Hamburg: Bucerius Kunst Forum, 2009. Print. Kuh, Katharine. Interview with Edward Hopper in Katherine Kuh, The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists. New York: Di Capo Press, 2000. Print. Levin, Gail. Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography. New York: Knopf, 1995. Print. Lisa Milroy Born in Vancouver Canada in 1959, Lisa Milroy moved to London in 1979 and has been living and working there since then. She first studied at the Universite de Paris-Sorbonne in 1977–78 for a short while before moving on to Lond on’s St Martin's School of Art in 1978–79. She completed her art studies at the University of London, UK from 1979 to 1982. Lisa’s first solo art exhibition took place in 1984. She was also given the 1989 John Moore Painting Prize. Lisa currently teaches at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. As an artist, Lisa Milroy is famous for painting everyday items like vases, clothes and shoes in the form of collections. Milroy also paints objects in formations like in the shape of grids, lines, groups, rows and columns which she likes to create on plain backgrounds. Quite often Lisa’s arrangements of objects are influenced by their functional identity. For instance, stamps transform into islands for the eyes to travel between or wheels move forward at a dizzying visual pace. Handles (1989) won for Lisa the John Moores Award. This is a depiction of various handles of different types all spaced evenly through the work and can be viewed as a combination of lines dots and circles, assembled or spaced as in a catalog. The lack of color is intriguing and one cannot help wanting to pull on the handles to see if they work (Walker Art Gallery). Handles, 1989. Her painting Shoes (1985) shows a collection of shoes evenly spaced but in different configurations as to positions. Not one is repeated, they all

Critical Evaluation for the Presentation of Research Data Essay

Critical Evaluation for the Presentation of Research Data - Essay Example The nature of a structure implies a need or needs that the structure will have to address. Man’s needs are many. Some of the more basic ones pertain to food, clothing, and shelter. Beyond the basic needs are the need for leisure, recreation, social life, and aesthetics. This is only a small fraction of some of man’s needs. At the same time, architectural design can also come in to define how each of these needs will be addressed. All families need a living room but the living room can be small, large, or very large, depending on how one would define his or her family’s needs for a living room. Further, even if all families may want a specific size of a living room. However, the same living room may be elegant, classy, or simply simple. Take for instance, a shelter or a home. How should a home be designed in a way that the shelter becomes aesthetic and responsive to the needs of a family? Aesthetics have perspectives. The family or the client’s taste can be gothic, roman, modern, conservative, classic, psychedelic or specific taste. They homeowner may be of Latin American heritage, African, European, Asian, French, Chinese, American Indian, Black American, or from another race or ethnicity. Each of the race or ethnic group may have a perspective on aesthetics that project their heritage and the homeowner may want that projected in his home. The family or client may want his home to project specific symbolisms or values. The client may want to project power, wealth, taste, values, culture, and the like. The client may be catholic-religious and may want his home to project his faith: he or she may want to adorn his house with the statues of saints or the Roman Catholic version of the cross. He or she may be a Muslim and may want to reflect his or her faith in the home in a manner that consistent with the faith of Islam. A home is designed to meet the needs of the owner. Will the homeowner be needing a prayer room? A computer room? A lib rary? Will he or she want a social room? How large will the social room be? How many people should it accommodate when space and budget are not constraints? Is there anything in the homeowner’s heritage that suggest how large the social room should be? How many bedrooms? Of course, an architect may directly ask the prospective homeowner for design information. However, what if so many houses will have to be constructed and rows of houses will have to be designed in advance or before they are sold? Further, how could architects design the homes even before the architects meet the potential homeowners? This is the case for many subdivisions wherein houses are designed without the benefit of information on specifications from buyers. On the matter of anticipating the house buyers’ preferences for houses and architectural design, an architect’s knowledge of research is useful as the basis for architectural design. II. Qualitative Research Although, thousands of book s have emerged on qualitative research, the literature usually on describe but not explicit define qualitative research. For instance, Bergman (2008, p. 12) described qualitative research to have the following characteristics and/or assumptions/perspectives: 1. How man would perceive reality or fact is a construction, especially a social construction, and a multiple reality exists. In other words, men would describe the same reality in different ways because each of them would have a specific perspective on reality.

To what extent do governments shape the global oil economy In your Essay

To what extent do governments shape the global oil economy In your analysis, consider the role of nature, industrial structure and war - Essay Example Constant discovery of new oil fields is necessary to avoid depletion of current reserves; however this is challenging from both economic and business perspectives. For instance, in Canada the oil reserves are difficult to correctly measure because of technological difficulties leading to high cost involvement. On the other hand, oil reserves in Alberta which are now considered second largest oil reservoir were considered as non-economical to develop in past decades (Inkpen, 2012, p.2). One of the most important aspects of oil industry is that rich and poor nations alike are consumers of oil. However, since oil is location-specific therefore only a specific number of nations are major oil producers of the world. Over the last decades, the developed nations have become leading importers of oil which has resulted in severe geographical and political issues. Oil industry is one sector which has experienced large scale government interventions and regulations ranging from taxation to cont rol over production. OPEC â€Å"represents government intervention on a global scale† (Inkpen, 2012, p.4). For five years Saudi Arabia which is OPEC’s largest producer country controlled price by reducing production during phases of excessive supply and increased production during phases of low supply. It could afford because of low population and excessive production. Thus Saudi Arabia along with other OPEC members strived to maximize their oil revenues in the short run (Spero & Hart, 2009, pp.346-347). OPEC’s goal is to sustain the bargaining power on oil producing countries by controlling price. The idea is to ensure smooth distribution of oil to consumers, producers getting their regular profits and investors earning fair returns. However, OPEC’s capacity to fulfill its mission is controversial since increasing oil prices in the 1980s resulted in storing up of oil by producing countries and new exploration

Economics of Warfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Economics of Warfare - Essay Example The inconsistency in the evaluation occurs because of the endogenous regressor that measures the magnitude of the association. In an ordinary circumstance, both the direction of causation and the magnitude provides invaluable information to the policy analysts. Therefore, the use of instrumental variable provides estimates that assist in obtaining consistent parameters. The article by Miguel et al. (2004) that assessed Economic shocks and civil conflict provides a simple and most effective way of using instrumental variables. For that reason, the article was the most important paper to critique and use when explaining why and how to use the instrumental variable. Estimation of economic impacts from civil conflict is not a simple process because of the endogeneity and the likelihood of biases. Miguel et al (2004) used rainfall variations to simulate the instrumental variables to assess economic growth for 41 countries in Africa after the onsets of wars and civil conflict because most of the countries rely on rain-fed agriculture for economic growth. Miguel et al. (2004) noted that instrumental variables provided credible association between conflicts like civil wars, and financial condition takes a causal relationship rather than merely a correlation (p. 726). The study reported that instrumental variables use two separate equations to define one function. Each of the equation defines and specifies a particular relationship. For instance, one of the equations will explain the existing relationship between the outcome and the independent variable. The second equation will determine the association that exist between the outcome and the instrum ental variable. For instance, if Y refers to the result, V refers to the critical independent variable that measures the policy outcome, N refers to instrumental variable, x refers to the vector of controlled variable, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 signifies the parameters yet to be

Objectives Essay Example for Free

Objectives Essay 1. Goal is a Long-term end toward which programs or activities are directed. Goals are general and include no date of completion. Organizations are usually formed with the aim of achieving specific goals. These goals usually determine the direction that the organization will take over the long term and are not always very specific. Goals of organizations operating in the private sector generally revolve around the maximization of profits for the owners. However, some organizations also have other objectives that they may pursue in the short term. Objective is a specific, measurable, intermediate end that is achievable, sometimes measurable, and marks progress towards a goal. Objectives are action-orientated statements demonstrating the means to achieve a goal. Objectives often serve as the principles of setting up policies and evaluating the performance. An effective way to set objectives is to follow the well known acronym SMART. A SMART objective is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time scaled. An objective that follows SMART is more likely to succeed because it is clear (specific) so you know exactly what needs to be achieved. You can tell when it has been achieved (measurable) because you have a way to measure completion. A SMART objective is likely to happen because it is an event that is achievable. Before setting a SMART objective relevant factors such as resources and time were taken into account to ensure that it is realistic. Finally the timescale element provides a deadline which helps people focus on the tasks required to achieve the objective. The timescale element stops people postponing task completion. Policy is generally principles creating the course of action or way in which programs and activities are coordinated to achieve an identified goal or objective, supporting the action of the objectives. Scotia Airways is actually doing well at setting up goals, objectives and policies, it has set up several good goals: 1. Consumer goal is pertaining to the customer, Scotia Airways aims to provide exceptional value for money, unparalleled comfort and convenience to its passengers, every time they are on board; 2. Operational goals are the short-term tactics designed to achieve the company’s long-term strategy. The management team within Scotia have worked meticulously in planning and evaluating their services to ensure that customer focus in the primary driver of business success; 3. Product goals are related to the quality, amount and service. This kind of goal is really important to Scotia Airways because they are doing a lot of work on service. They now offer several value added services. 4. Secondary goals. After the above important goals are achieved in the future, Scotia Airways may have to setup this kind of goal such as ameliorate their relationship between staffs and management estates. The investors in Scotia Airways have set an ambitious program for expansion over the next five years to include long haul destinations, it’s a very important objective for Scotia Airways. Scotia Airways has a wide ranging reward policy. After finishing the supervision of work amounts, in sales apartment employee’s work performance increase an extra by 30% in a period of three months. By this way, Scotia Airways can motivate their staffs greatly. Organization In system theory, an open system is a system which continuously interacts with its environment or surroundings. The interaction can take the form of information, energy, or material transfers into or out of the system boundary, depending on the discipline which defines the concept. An open system is contrasted with the concept of an isolated system which exchanges neither energy, matter, nor information with its environment. The concept of an open system was formalized within a framework that enabled one to interrelate the organism, thermodynamics, and evolutionary theory. This concept was expanded upon with the advent of information theory and subsequently systems theory. Today the concept has its applications in the natural and social sciences. 3. Organizations have a formal structure which is the way that the organization is organized by those with responsibility for managing the organization. They create the formal structures that enable the organization to meet its stated objectives. Such as Marketing Department, Finance Department in Scotia Airways are all formal organizations. Actually Scotia Airways Co. is a formal organization. However, in the course of time an informal structure develops in most organizations which is based on the reality of day-to-day interactions between the members of the organization. This informal structure may be different from that which is set out on paper. Such as Scotia Airways may hold a party and employ some guards just for that party day. 4. Stakeholders are many different individuals or groups who affect or are affected by an organization. Stakeholders have an interest in a particular organization. External stakeholders: A party such as a customer, supplier, or lender that influences and is influenced by an organization but is not a member of it. Customers always enjoy better service. Since Scotia Airways’ major income is from its customers, it should change its service according to its customers’ demands. Internal Stakeholders: Individuals who reside inside the company as board members, executives, managers, employees, and trade unions and who benefit directly from their contributions to the growth of the company. In management estates, administrators always try to come up with better ideas making more profits for their companies and motivate their staffs to work harder. 5. Control often has an emotive connotation and is interpreted in a negative manner to suggest direction or command by the giving of orders. People may be suspicious of control systems and see them as emphasizing punishment, as an indication of authoritarian management and as a means of exerting pressure and maintaining discipline. In my opinion, since Scotia Airways doesn’t have many staffs right now and they are planning to expand their companies, I suggest they separate them into several groups and set up different objectives for each group. It’s also important to enhance motivation for staffs. They can hold some parties and informal organizations increasingly.

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn In his episodic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain fabricates a journey as the platform for the narrators symbolic rite of passage. The protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, discovers the true colors of his individuality, as he voyages through his many adventures and gains priceless experiences. While he matures and advances, Huck discards his disposition as an ignorant and juvenile adolescent craving for joy and peril and becomes a man, being able to firmly identify and establish his morals and ethics. During this intricate process, he develops a comradeship with a Jim, a runaway slave, ultimately learning the true horrors of the flawed society, in which he lives in. As a role in Hucks learning process, Mark Twain realistically utilizes the social perception of whites during the time period to assist Huck in discovering the blemishes of slavery, rejecting many critics assumption that he is a racist. Huck, a thirteen-year-old son of a drunkard, is recurrently strained to survive on his own wits where sometimes it contradicts societys standards and laws. As he seems to trek down the Mississippi River, he also journeys down his inner mentality, as Huck encounters challenges between his social conscience and individual conscience. Huck always seems to look up to the educated, the high and mid-class. He appeared to make himself believe that his judgment was inferior or abased to theirs because he was illiterate, and not truly part of society or a civilized human being. He blindly follows Tom Sawyer, due to the fact that he was educated and brought up in a refined urbane setting. As the novel opens, Huck is forced to be integrated in society and civilization. Though he struggles, he persuades himself to sublime in. In the beginning, Huck is perplexed by the fatuous purpose of religion. As Widow Douglas and Miss. Watson try very hard to reform Huck to become sivilize, he doesnt see the purpose of heaven and hell. Its these first signs of society (religion) that plays an impact on Huck, where he makes a connection that his actions will determine his destination after death. Huck also can be portrayed as an innate philosopher, where he is very skeptical of the societal dogmas (religion) and in fact perceives these ideas in his own ways, as he tries to reform. This is seen with Hucks idea that hell might actually be a better place than the Widow Douglass heaven. Thus this issue only engenders Hucks moral development. When Huck encounters Jim on Jacksons island, and attends his story of a runaway slave, Huck sees Jim as a human being rather than a slave. Huck feels empathy and remorse, as he hears Jims sad tale of his family being ripped apart. Huck, who just wasnt able to properly fully mold with society, and Jim, a run-away slave, both were alienated from society in fundamental ways. Both now in some form freed from the insincerity and injustice of society, but knew this would not last long. When Huck realizes that his fate was wrapped around Jims, he questions the morality of helping a run-away slave, this in which was against law, and breaking a law would lead him to hell. More subtly, Twain criticize the American South for its phony romanticism and hypocritical Christianity. Huck decries the idea that the Christianity of the South is a living contradiction. Huck does not comprehend the fact how society accepts slavery yet ignores the Biblical notion of the equality of all believers. (The Adve ntures of Huckleberry Finn pg1). Nonetheless, Huck conceded and acknowledged that he would go to hell, in which a sacrifice he was willing to make. In further context, Twain in his works is not a racist. In the manner he depicts Jim as a real person, who carries feelings and emotions, shows in fact that Twain is an opponent of slavery. Huck had the common sense to see how slavery was a genuine blight to humanity. Contrarily the so called sophisticated society accepted it, even the good people such as Miss. Watson. Huck matures further as he breaks that mask that society gave Jim, and accepts him as a normal person. Huck refers to Jim, I knowed he was white inside. (Twain, pg 46). It shows how Huck, who was brought up in a very bigoted section of the country, that ingested all the hypocrisy of slavery, was still able to transcend it by just knowing this one nigger, Jim. Furthermore, Hucks character changes as Jim teaches him about friendship. Their relationship becomes tighter, after the Hucks joke about him never had gone missing in the fog. Huck learns that Jim is a person is with feelings, and ultimately Jim induces this movement into Hucks maturity. This is the critical point of Hucks transformation, where Huck apologizes to Jim. Hucks voyage down the Mississippi taught him much, but was mainly a frolic. But once it resumes, when Huck is taken up the Grangerfords, he journeys to the dark side of American civilization. The benevolent family who offer Huck to stay is in a burning feud between another family, the Shepherdsons. Twain uses these two families to employ in some deriding absurdity and to mock an overly romanticizes ideas about family honor. Ultimately, the families sensationalized feud gets many of them killed. Huck truly refutes society once he saw his new friend Buck, be shot and killed. Twain uses this incident to comment on all systems of principle that rebuffs the humanity of another set of people. Huck becomes befuddled in this episode. The Grangerfords are a mix of contradictions where they treat Huck well, but they own slaves and behave more foolishly with other family by killing one other. Is this what society dawns upon? In the denouement, Huck transmogrifies into a full adolescent who now truly believes in his values, and deems that it should not be tractable and tarnished by societys laws. Near the conclusion of the novel, Huck and Tom make an attempt to free Jim who is held captured. After Toms ludicrous plan fails, everyone learns that Jim was actually a free man for weeks (because Miss. Watson, in her will, allow Jim to be free when she died). This idea of freeing a free black man had a special resonance at the time Twain wrote this novel. Blacks during this time had much trouble integrating with society because of the racial subordination that was still present preceding the Civil War. Work Cited The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay. Novelguide.com. December 14, 2009. . Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. United States: Bantum Books, Inc., 1884.

Effect of Changing Concentration on the Order of Reaction

Effect of Changing Concentration on the Order of Reaction Title : An Investigation into the Effect of Changing the Concentration by Continuous Method on the Order of Reaction Planning A. Hypotheses I predict that the rate of reaction is influenced by the concentration of the reactants; and that the rate of reaction and the concentration of reactants decrease as time intervals increase. I predict that the order of reaction is affected or influenced by the concentration of the reactant. I also predict that the change in concentration of reactants affects the rate of reaction proportionately and hence, the order of reaction. Such that, if the concentration of the reactants is reduced by half, the rate of reaction will also decrease by a certain proportion. The reaction that will be analyzed in this experiment is between a metal (magnesium ribbon) and an acid (sulfuric acid). The reaction is shown by the chemical equation below: Mg (s) + H2S04 (aq) → MgS04 (aq) + H2 (g) In this experiment, 0.15 grams of magnesium ribbon will be used in excess, together with 10 cubic centimeters of 0.3 M sulphuric acid (H2SO4). The continuous method will be used, where the metal is in excess and the reaction goes to completion. The volume of the hydrogen gas (H2) will be collected at a measured time interval of 30 seconds. These volume readings at the time intervals shall be recorded and analyzed. III. Background The rate of a reaction depends in part on the concentrations of the reactants. The rate at which a reactant or reactants is transformed into products is the change in concentration of the reactant or reactants with time, (Wilbraham, et.al., 1997). Mathematically, the rate can be expressed as: Rate = Change in Concentration of Reactants / Change in time The formula implies that the rate of disappearance of the reactants is proportional to its molar concentration. Hence: Change in Concentration of Reactants / Change in time = proportional to the concentration of reactants The reaction rate has to be experimentally determined. From the reaction rate equation, the order of reaction can be obtained. The order of reactions can be classified as zero order, first order, or second order, with respect to only one reactant. IV. Risk Assessment In this experiment, sulphuric acid (H2SO4), will be used as a reactant. Since it is a strong acid and is very corrosive, I will observe the following precautionary measures: Wear protective goggles for the eyes. Avoid pipetting the sulphuric acid by mouth. Avoid inhalation of sulfuric acid. Care in handling the acid should be observed. It should be prevented from being knocked over. V. Fair Test To ensure that the results that I will obtain in the experiment are reliable and accurate, I will observe the following: The volume measurements of the sulphuric acid reactant will be made very accurately by reading from the lower meniscus of the 10 cubic centimeter mark The bung will be securely and tightly placed to prevent the collected hydrogen gas (H2) from escaping. The weight measurements of the magnesium ribbon will be made very accurately. All materials will be thoroughly cleaned before each use in order to prevent contamination. The experiment will have 3 runs or replicates in order to attain a high reliability of results. VI. Procedure of the Experiment: Materials needed: Stopwatch for time interval measurements 100 cc gas syringe for the Hydrogen gas collection 100 cc conical flask for the sulphuric acid 100 ml graduated cylinder for measuring the sulphuric acid Analytical balance for measuring 0.15 grams of magnesium ribbon Procedure: 1. Set up the materials while making sure that they are thoroughly clean and dry. 2. Using a graduated cylinder, measure 10 cc of 0.3 Molar concentration of sulphuric acid. 3. Carefully weigh 0.15 grams of magnesium ribbon using an analytical balance to make sure that the weight measurement is accurate. 5. Put the 0.15 grams of magnesium ribbon into the conical flask with the sulphuric acid. 7. Measure the volume in cubic centimeters of hydrogen gas collected in the gas syringe at every time interval of 30 seconds. 8. Record the volume of collected hydrogen gas at each set time interval. 9. Make 2 more runs of this experiment by repeating steps 1-8 at every run. VII. Results. Below are the tabulated volume measurements at every time interval: Table 1: Volume Measurements for Run 1 The data in Table 1 were plotted in a graph below: Graph 1: Volume vs. Time (Run1) For Run 2, the data were obtained were tabulated below: Table 2: Volume Measurements for Run 2 The data in Table 2 were plotted in a graph below: Graph 2: Volume vs. Time (Run 2) For Run 3, the data were obtained were tabulated below: Table 3: Volume Measurements for Run 3 The data in Table 3 were plotted in a graph below: Graph 3: Volume vs. Time (Run3) All three graphs show the trend that as time increases, the volume of the reactant decreases, while the volume of the product increases. B. Calculation of the Concentration of Reactant From the reaction: Mg (s) + H2SO4 (aq) → MgSO4 (aq) + H2 (aq) Concentration is measured in terms of Molarity, where Molarity is equal to the number of moles of solute divided by liters of solution: Molarity = No. of moles of solute / Liters of solution For Magnesium (Mg), 0.15 grams were added to sulphuric acid. The number of moles is equal to: weight in grams divided by the formula weight. Hence, the number of moles = wt. in grams / FW. Since 0.15 grams were used, 0.15 grams should be divided by the formula weight of Magnesium (Mg), which is 24. So: 0.15 grams / 24 = 0.00625 moles for Mg. To get the molar concentration, the number of moles will be divided by the volume of the solution in liters, which is 0.01. So, the molarity of Mg is : 0.00625 / 0.01 = 0.625 M For the sulphuric acid (H2SO4) used, the molarity is 0.3 M. The number of moles of H2SO4 used is determined by multiplying the molar concentration by the volume of solution in liters. Hence: 0.3 moles/L X 0.01L = 0.003 moles. From the chemical equation of the reaction, for every 0.003 moles of H2SO4 used, the same amount of moles (0.003) of hydrogen gas (H2) is given off. The molar concentration of the hydrogen gas evolved can now be determined for each respective time interval, by dividing the number of moles by the volume obtained. For run 1: The concentration of the product can now be calculated, using the formula for reaction rate, where: Molarity = Number of moles / Liters of solution The data for the concentration of the hydrogen gas are tabulated below: Table 4: Molarity of the hydrogen gas (H2) The molarity values tabulated above are plotted in the graph below: Graph 4: Concentration vs. Time (Run1) Graph 5: Concentration vs. Time (Run 1) Showing the Gradient of the Tangent Curve The rate of reaction was calculated by measuring the gradient of the tangent of the curve above, as depicted by the red line. Hence, the gradient of the tangent is equal to 0.12 – 0.05 / 150 = 0.00046. From the rate equation, the rate constant (k) can be obtained by the formula: k = rate x [H2SO4]. So: k = (0.00046) / 0.3 = 0.153. The rate equation is: Rate = k [H2SO4] Rate = (0.153) (0.003) = 0. 000459 or 0.0046. Hence, this value is equal to the gradient of the tangent of the graph above. This shows that the rate is directly proportional to the concentration of the sulphuric acid (H2SO4). Table 5: Concentration of Gas Collected and Rate of Reaction (Run 1) The plotting of tabulated data above results to the graph below: Graph 6 Rate vs. Concentration (Run 1) The Rate –Concentration Graph for Run 1 above shows that the concentration of hydrogen gas (H2) is directly proportional to the rate of reaction. Thus, the concentration of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) is also directly proportional to the rate of reaction, whereby, as the concentration decreases, the rate of reaction also decreases. Since the Magnesium ribbon is in excess, only the sulfuric acid can be allowed to change. Having it in excess is to make sure that its concentration does not change. Using the rate of reaction: Rate = k [H2SO4] And applying the rate equation to the chemical equation in the reaction: Mg (s) + H2SO4 (aq) → MgSO4 (aq) + H2 (g) The rate equation is now: Rate = k [Mg] Â º [H2SO4]Â ¹. Since Mg concentration does not change in the reaction, it is the zero order. On the other hand, since H2SO4 is in the first order of reaction, the rate is directly proportional to its concentration, as measured in the experiment by the concentration of the H2 gas collected, the overall order of reaction is: 0+1 = 1. For Run 2, the table below shows its concentration. Table 6: Molarity of the Hydrogen gas (Run2) The table of Concentration and Time for run 2 gives the following graph: Graph7: Concentration vs. Time (Run 2) The Concentration –Time Graph for run 2 above shows the same trend as in run 1, where it shows an inverse proportionality: as time increases, the concentration of the sulfuric acid ( H2SO4) decreases as measured by the concentration of the hydrogen gas (H2) collected. The rate of re

Essay --

CRITICALLY EVALUATE THE MAIN INFLUENCES ON OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE AND THE CONTENTION THAT INDIVIDUALS HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CHOICE Introduction: Occupational choice is the most important decision for one person with out any doubt which could be made in a person's life time. In about 1951 or more back, Ginzberg et al carried out a major study research regarding the occupational choice, which now in the 21st century is known as the originating theories on the topic. '' Waliam stated that It is very Important and Crucial at times to determine the standard of living, the income, the quality of ones life, self esteem, social relationship, the environment and also its crucial to determine whether the child of a particular family would enter which occupation field'' (Williams 1974:15) Stating above by Williams (1974), it is reflecting that how a person is satisfied within his/her working environment and it could be often previewed that the other aspects of that particular persons lives will follow on from this. This essay will firstly explain the occupational choice, then it will address its theories and how they are developed and contrasting opinions and further moving down it will explain the freedom of choice for the individuals and argue on it. Jackson(2001) said that people from higher class positions could use their non merits benefits to obtain their certain positions. Goldthrope said that pupil from less advantage class need to show more merits than pupil from more advantaged class in order to obtain the same position. Achieved roles are those roles which are achieved and gained for themself and are f... ... the best job for one person as it maybe not percieve to others. Wilson(2010) states the problem of race. The EHRC research report found that the black Caribbean boys and White people have achieved bad grades(EHRC 2010) where as Haw(1998) explained from her research that some were confused with Muslim pupls Treatment.(Ambercrombie and Warde 2003:474-5). The ninety percent of women in its role of The Royal Army force now offers them where as the Navy and the Army have about three quarters to both the females and males. Womens are mostly looking for Self fulfilment for their occupations. (Watson 2003:194).Timperley and Gregory (1971) had recently research that about three to four times females want to go into education or further studies after school where as males are different they want to find a job and go straight into the labour market or work.(Wilson 1974:193).

Monroe Doctrine :: US History Historical Essays

Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine can be considered as the United States first major declaration to the world as a fairly new nation. The Monroe Doctrine was a statement of United States policy on the activity and rights of powers in the Western Hemisphere during the early to mid 1800s. The doctrine established the United States position in the major world affairs of the time. Around the time of the Napoleonic Wars in the 1820s, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia all gained their independence from Spanish control ("Monroe Doctrine" 617). The United States was the first nation to recognize their independence from Spain. The European powers had still considered the new nations as still belonging to Spain. The Americans had a sense of pride in the former Spanish colonies gaining independence. They felt as if the American Revolution was a model for these new Latin American nations (Faragher 265). After Napoleon went down, the monarchy in Spain regained power ("Monroe Doctrine" 6 17). The Spanish had felt embarrassed after losing their colonies to independence. In 1815 Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the monarchs of Austria and Prussia formed the Holy Alliance. This alliance was a group set out to maintain autocracy (Migill 594). Spain then demanded the return of its colonies of the New World (Migill 594). With the possibility of help from the Holy Alliance and France, Spain’s goal was looking realistic. The Americans also feared that if the Spanish colonies were recaptured the United States might be next ("Monroe Doctrine" 617). Great Britain refused to let the Spanish take back their now independent colonies. As free countries the new Spanish-American nations could trade more goods with Great Britain. However, if Spain regains control of their former colonies then trade with Great Britain would decrease drastically ("Monroe Doctrine" 617). The Russian Tsar attempted to extend his interest of expansion in North America. In 1821 Rus sia had claims on the North Western coast of the North American continent as low as the 51st parallel, deep into the Oregon Territory (Migill 595). On September 14th of the same year Tsar Alexander I issued an Imperial Ukase (decree), saying that no foreign vessels could come within 100 Italian miles of Russian territory. Although the decree was never enforced, John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State at the time, strongly opposed it. Adams felt that many regions of North America were still unexplored such as Alaska and North Western Canada.

Future of North Korea Economy: Politics over Economic Policy

Future of North Korea Economy: Politics Over Economic Policy The terms starvation, isolation, totalitarianism, and nuclear ambitions combined would remind most people the hermit kingdom in East Asia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and its Kim dynasty. After the demise of the aged dictator Kim Jong Il in December 2011, the country went through a period of mourning the death of their â€Å"beloved† Great General and, undergoing a power succession to his 29-year-old son, Kim Jong Un. He has been known to have attended a Swiss school in his childhood years, enjoying playing basketball and video games (Yan & Shubert, 2011).However, even though many outsiders have a hopeful outlook on this young dictator to be somewhat liberal in both economic and political perspectives, analyzing the situation through levels of analysis suggests that he is unlikely to be any different than his predecessors. In fact, because maintaining the nation’s authoritarian Kim dynast y and communist political system is the most important objective for North Korea, he will probably continue to put low priority on economy, defying international norms as a totalitarian nation of a closed, rigidly planned economy.The Three Levels Explained The levels-of-analysis is an approach conceptualized by Kenneth Waltz in his book Man, the State, and War to understand global politics through categorizing different factors shaping states’ behaviors (Ray, 2001). The approach can be categorized in to three levels: the individual level, which emphasizes the roles played by individual leaders, nation-state level, focusing on interaction between various actors under the nation’s political system and culture, and the system level, addressing distribution of power in the international system (Dorff, 2004).Although levels-of-analysis problem, regarding limitation and vagueness of integrating units, is an ongoing issue according to James Lee Ray (2001), the levels can be i ntegrated more simply in to a more structured and comprehensive analysis when they are considered as different explanatory variables of different location as in this case. Individual Level of AnalysisKim’s past actions show that his main goal is consolidating and maintaining ultimate power through an authoritarian, inhumane method that closely resembles his father’s methods. His fondness for Michael Jordan and his chic, stylish wife may give the impression that he would adopt a more â€Å"open† leadership, but since succession, he has been ruthlessly eliminating anyone in his way of solidifying power within the ruling party, while also verbally and physically provoking South Korea.Not long after ascending to the â€Å"throne†, he executed Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, with a mortar round for â€Å"reportedly drinking and carousing during the official mourning period after Kim Jong Il’s death† (Ryall, 2012). Moreover Klug (2012) report ed that Ri Yong Ho, the military chief who was Kim’s mentor during the power transition and one of the key figures that the former leader relied upon, had also been removed from his position, for health reasons, this July.Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis say that these replacements of influential military officers and purges of over a dozen senior officials are signs that the young dictator is reshuffling the cabinet to appoint people loyal to him, while also keeping check of any possible dissidents (Kim, 2012). In addition, Kim has clearly shown that he is not concerned with international norms when he reportedly played a major role in planning the shelling of South Korea’s territory, Yeonpyeong Island, a couple of years ago (Yang, 2012).Statements threatening to attack South Korea and its key figures have also escalated in a harsher, specific tone after the change of leadership, even out threatening to send revolutionary armed forces to â₠¬Å"reduce all the ratlike groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes, in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style† in April (Choe, 2012). Byman and Lind (2010) claim that these provocations help Kim to stoke popular nationalism, while strengthening his position within the military.It has been only a few years since Kim entered politics, but these series of eliminating potentially threatening figures, including even those who have helped in smoothing the transition, and continuous provocation to the international society suggest that consolidating power through provocation and purging is the main focus of Kim on the individual level. Even if Kim Jong Un succeeds in gaining stable power, it is unlikely that he would be enthusiastic in bringing forth major economic reforms as expected by some analysts because such extensive reforms could undermine his authority as they would risk loyalty of the military and the p arty.As Ben Ascione (2012) argues, unless the military becomes a major stake holder in economic reforms through generating profit instead of depleting huge amounts of North Korea’s budget, economic reforms will have to be pursued at the cost of the military first policy, which is a guideline his father, prioritizing the military in allocating resources to foster loyalty from the army by strengthening its position. Therefore, Kim would have to face dissatisfied military elites if he were to start expensive economic reforms.He may have vowed to develop the economy, and rumors have spread that he will push through reforms allowing farmers to keep 30% of their yield, eventually replacing the state rationing system, but these reforms have been postponed numerous times, while the state has even officially denied any intent to reform and called the expectation â€Å"a foolish and silly dream† (â€Å"Where the Sun†, 2012). Nuclear aspiration is another major characteris tic of Kim Jong Un that makes economic reforms unlikely in the near future as this deters the possibility of the army profiting from economy growth.Pouring billions of national money into developing nuclear program can be traced back to more than half a century ago, when his grandfather had allegedly became intimidated by the United States placing nuclear-tipped Matador missiles in South Korea (Pincus, 2006). Kim Jong Un shares the same goal for developing nuclear weapons, showed by launching North Korea’s forth rocket, criticized by the international community as a disguise for developing long distance missile, while also declaring to launch once more this December (Ramstad, 2012).North Korea’s drive for nuclearization has been condemned by the international society and resulted in a UN Security sanction that aim to deter North Korea from acquiring goods for its nuclear programs (Albright & Walrond, 2012). Therefore, since profiting from the military sector is nearly impossible without trade, which is difficult under current international sanctions unless Kim gives up nuclearization, heavy economic reform is a dangerous option for Kim if he wishes to heighten loyalty from the military to maintain power.Nation-state Level of Analysis The unique culture and political system of North Korea combined with the military first policy create an environment where opposing the leader is almost impossible, resulting in an ideal political system for sustaining totalitarianism regime. After decades of propaganda, the juche ideology, emphasizing autarky, or self- sufficiency, and suryong ideology, which means â€Å"leader† and which idolizes the Kim family, have now become almost a religion for the North Korean people (Byman & Lind, 2010).These ideologies have permeated every aspects of the closed society to an extent that many North Koreans are xenophobic, feeling strong hatred and disgust toward the United States and South Korea (Byman & Lind, 2010). According to Brian Myers (2010), North Korean math textbooks ask questions of ‘Three People's Army soldiers rubbed out thirty American bastards. What was the ratio of the soldiers who fought? ’, while dictionaries and schoolbooks endorse students to call foreigners â€Å"muzzles† and â€Å"snouts†.Myers continues on to say that these kinds of propaganda leads to form a culture of ethno-centric nationalism, where the North Korean people sincerely believe in their blood’s pureness and superiority over other races, while honoring their ‘great father’. South Koreans were shocked when they heard the news of the modernized looking North Korean cheering squad turning furious with tears when they saw a portrait of their ‘beloved father’ soaked in rain, running out of the bus to protect his face on the banner ad (Kum, 2003).Even if the effects of propaganda might have weakened through the influx of South Korean movies and drama seri es, Ken E. Gause (2012) found that the state constantly conducts surveillance and investigation on ordinary citizens through various overlapping security organizations, which can even lead to execution of those who have been found to violate law and order, thereby effectively blocking the civilian sector from forming any opposition groups.Government and military officials are no exceptions but are rather even more spied upon through organizations such as the Political Bureau and Military Security Command (Gause, 2012). On the other hand, the military first policy favoring the military serves to encourage loyalty from the group most needed to enforce power and stability. These conditions of propaganda, surveillance, and favoritism form a somewhat stable domestic politics, consisting of only the supreme leader and his favored military officials, that has lasted for three generations of dictatorship and seen by some, including Albright and Walrond, to last for ore. Moreover, these dime nsions shaping the domestic cultural and political nature of North Korea act as countervail to economic reform, which cannot be successful if the state does not give up its military first policy and rigid rules. The ethno-centric nationalism promoted by the two ideologies deters many North Koreans from accepting their system to be a failure in comparison with democratic countries such as the United States and South Korea (Myers, 2010).Thus, North Koreans would have greater utility from any minor improvements in standard in living through weak reforms. This would incentivize Kim to focus more on propaganda and security, while maximizing the use of propaganda to indoctrinate people of how successful the economic reforms, if any, were, thanks to the regime. This could be the reason why Kim Jong Un continuously emphasize that he will improve economy, but drags on doing much change.Also, Un-Chul Yang found that momentum of economic reform diminishes because economics is strictly consider ed to be subordinate to politics, which leads to rejection of economic policies, no matter how rational they may be, if they challenge the authority of the supreme leader (2012). The two largest and only players in domestic politics, Kim and the military, due to the unique structure of the society, will thereby choose to continue the military first policy to conserve their power and maintain the totalitarian regime. System Level of AnalysisIt is highly unlikely for North Korea to give up its only mean of leverage in international relations – nuclear weapons. Not only are they significant in building support from the military internally, they bolster North Korea’s stance more than any other weapon in the power and legitimacy struggle with its South Korea (Byman ; Lind, 2010). Moreover, the weapons allow North Korea to have an upper hand in negotiations for food, energy, and other economic assistance with other major powers. They even incentivized its only ally, China, t o bribe the country with cash and energy aids to just sit them down at the negotiating table (Kim, 2006).Because of these power incentives, North Korea will be more unwilling to give its nuclear ambitions up, leading to further economic sanctions from the international society, while North Korea would try to maximize its gains from utilizing the leverage to compensate for the loss from sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. David Albright and Christina Walrond (2012) says that China continues to be a major loop hole of this international sanction, giving North Korea plenty of opportunities to secure resources for developing its nuclear program.Albright and Walrond (2012) also predicts in their ISIS report that North Korea's nuclear program and uranium enrichment efforts will continue, and succeed in building at least 28 nuclear weapons by 2016. Therefore, as North Korea’s nuclear programs continue rather successfully regardless of international condemn, it is ironically rational for North Korea to keep its economy closed and planned to strengthen its power, stability, and leverage in international relations. Conclusion and Future PerspectivesIn conclusion, Kim Jong Un’s own motivations to hold power, the unique political system and culture of North Korea, and rational choices that the country should make to win the power struggle would all act in favor for a closed, planned economy. Unlike South Korea and other democratic nations where the economic situation greatly influences politics, North Korea have been steered by the regime for so long that everything including economy now depends only on the government.Hence, despite recently being named as the ‘sexiest man’ of the year 2012 by The Onion, Kim Jong Un would also remain an unappealing Kim for his democratic counterparts. The major stakeholders including the Unites States, South Korea, and China should continue to negotiate with North Korea to convince them tha t their gain from opening up is greater than following their traditional acts of provocation. Also, China should not allow North Korea to exploit its weak implementation of export controls and should bind to the U. N.Security Council’s sanction to put greater pressure on North Korea. Even though future prospective is still dark in the current situation, more intimate negotiation and actions of responsibility from Beijing could result in positive news in the future. References Albright, D. , & Walrond, C. (2012, August 16). North Korea’s estimated stocks of plutonium and weapon-grade uranium. Institute for Science and International Studies. Retrieved from http://isis-online. org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/dprk_fissile_material_p

Ceaseless controversy †Christianity Essay

The 18th century England was entangled in ceaseless controversy. The first half(prenominal) of the century was marked by political movements, the rise of skeptics and deists ( judiciousness period) whereas in the reciprocal ohm half, revivification within the church became the issue at stake. Harris states that the century witnessed deterioration in ghostly tradition, which resulted from a new spirit of individualism, attended by the development of new literary forms.1 Ancient records served as the basis for the claims of Christian theology,2 and the deists questioned their authenticity.The deists similarly ignored revealed holiness, laying emphasis on the religion of nature, which is based on reason. As Cragg infers, gradu exclusivelyy reason to a faultk the rig of theology, and served as a principal grammatical constituent preoccupying the centurys thought. Moreover, its supremacy as a foundation of faith was univers whollyy accepted.3 As a result, the deists expressed t heir objections to Christianity, considering it as a religion contrary to reason.The judgment period of the 18th century also came up with biblical criticism. New methods of a posteriori science were applied to the study of all disciplines, including the tidings.4 Consequently, a number of distinguished writers subjected the rule book to criticism. One of these personalities was Thomas Paine. In his second part of The Age of spring, he attacked the account book based on his own investigation.In 1796 Richard Watson, bishop of Liandaff (1737-1816),5 wrote a refutation against Paines book, entitle An Apology for the give-and-take. Thus, Paines The Age of Reason (II) and Watsons refutation represent enlightenment insights and religious authority respectively, which stood at participation in the 18th century. By analyse their different perspectives, this paper depart shew that Paines short letter is based on reason whereas Watsons is based on Biblical authority and tradition. Paine is a worshipper in natural religion, and so his literary works are opposed to the assumptions of revealed religion. For him, theology amply reveals himself not in written record but through the universe, which can be communicated to anyone without being falsified as the account book is. Therefore, in his attack against the revealed religion, he primarily searched for errors in the discussion. Raising a object lesson issue, he quoted a verse from the Bible wherein divinity ordered the Israelites to attack the Canaanites. From this he reason out that the Bible cannot be the word of God, as it includes a clean-livingly defective fib which the creator of soldiery by no means commissions to be done.6 According to Paine, it is absurd to Gods moral judge that he should doom to destruction the holler or smiling infants of the Canaanites.In his reply, Watson exhibit his defense of the revealed religion. He contends that if we are to scorn the revealed religion in thi s way, the same will be true for natural religion, because it is lucid that earthquakes too swallow up men, women, the particular ones, and infants. Then, why do you not advance it to be repugnant to Gods moral justice, Watson asks Paine, that he should suffer holler or smiling infants to be swallowed up by an earthquake, drowned by an inundation, consumed by fire, avid by famine or finished by pestilence?7 This indicates that concord to Watson, there is also a defect in the deists bible, i.e. nature.If the Bible is to be regarded defective in moral accounts because of the destruction of the infants of the Canaanites, Paines bible (nature) too is every bit defective. In another words, Watson infers that what is revealed in nature is found in the Bible, so they are not contradictory to all(prenominal) other. Therefore Watson argues that it is unfair for Paine to criticize the Bible without equally comparing it with his bible (nature). He strongly expresses his objections as you have no right, in fairness of reasoning to incite any apparent deviation from moral justice as an argument against revealed religion because you do not urge an equally apparent deviation from it, as an argument against natural religion you reject the causation and admit the latter (Apology, 91). In this way, Watson views Paines argument of morality as dark and unjust.For Watson, the Bible which he regards as a divine instruction given to some, and traditionally communicated to all is inevitable, for it is the inspiration of God (Apology, 85). In my opinion, all Watsons arguments lie on this key assumption. He does not critically question the authenticity of the books in the Bible as Paine does. For example, one of the books in the Pentateuch tells us that Moses spoke face to face to God, and wrote conquer what God had instructed him. This is undoubtedly acceptable for Watson. He does not accept any philosophical thought that may rob him of his Bible. however if Paine, fol lowing his motto my own understanding is my own church8 accepts only what seems agreeable to his mind.Watson considers the Bible as an unfailing guide, but Paine considers his reason as infallible and self-sufficient. While Paine tries his best to prove that the Bible contains morally offensive accounts, Watson learns morality from the Bible. He addressed Paine the Bible, which you despise, has taught me not to judge anyone it has express to me, who are you to judge another mans servant? To his own win he stands or falls (Apology, 7.) Watson came to spang everything acceptable to his mind from the Bible, as his confesses Gods word has assured me of all that I am concerned to retire (Apology, 17.)