Gun Control in United States

Before Freedom essays

Before Freedom essays The author of the book is Belinda Hurmence, she is well qualified to write a book such as this which she well demonstrates. She has done many long hours of research on slavery and the affects on the former individual slaves themselves. She has written many volumes on slavery and the opinion of many former American slaves on slavery. This book she wrote contains the oral histories of former North and South Carolina slaves. The setting of the book is the homes of former slaves. The introduction of the book is about a former slave from North Carolina whom was forbidden to talk about slavery. From the time the New Republic came into being America wrestled with the problem of slaves telling their stories of slavery. Their very existence mocked the validity of a government that guarenteed liberty and justice for the nations people. Slaves were forbidden to read and write. They could not buy and sell merchandise or have religious services or other meetings. Slavery was a bad thing for most slaves but not all slaves. Some slaves felt slavery was a good thing because it gave them the only shelter and food they had ever had. When freedom came hard times came for a lot of former slaves. Many no longer had shelter or food to eat. There sufferings after freedom multiplied and worsened. The authors main point was that slavery was bad for many slaves but it was also good for many slaves. There was many points of evidence supporting her main point of the book. There were oral histories told of how awful slavery was and how many times they were beaten for simply doing nothing. But there were also many former slaves in their oral histories telling how good their owners were to them and how they had never been beaten. Those former slaves felt slavery was a good thing because it gave them shelter and food to eat. The author concludes that people often have a bad one sided view of slavery but there is a good very real other side to ...

The Changes in the Economic Environment of Nokia Essay

The Changes in the Economic Environment of Nokia - Essay Example It is used in finding out how much the company is leveraged in debt, comparing what is owed to what is owned. This is a measure to find out the company’s ability to borrow and repay money.As shown, Nokia has 40% debt leverage in 2009. This figure is 29% higher than its D/E in 2009, and a significant departure from conservative borrowings from 2000 to 2007. Its long-term debt in 2009 amounted to 4.439B representing a 400% increase from 2008 of 861M.Nokia uses the international capital markets to finance investments. The company sells stock, issue bonds, and obtain loans from commercial banks. The Nokia is a public limited liability company listed on the Helsinki, Frankfurt, and New York stock exchanges. Recent share price is offered at 9.64 â‚ ¬ (Yahoo finance) Nokia has the same outstanding shares of 3.7bil for 2009 and 2008. This is a decline from its previous years’ outstanding shares which are above 4bil. from 2000 to 2007. (msn) Based on the figures derived from the company’s financial statements for 10 years, the company is still in a healthy financial position. Its short-term operations have been affected by the economic recession as shown by the decline of sales and revenue for 2009 and 2008. Yet, the company has remained financially strong to pay its obligations. In 2009, the company has changed its strategy in a capital structure using more debts in financing its resources. As it is, the company is 40% leveraged and 60%f equity. At 40%, debt leverage is still a good balance as it is not more than the total equity. The company tends to have additional benefits in this capital structure such as tax advantage. In conclusion, Nokia can be a safe investment because of its strength has been in business for many years. It operates worldwide and does not concentrate on US market alone. Its weakness lies in technology which is slow in responding to competition’s design. Opportunities remain strong for worldwide operations as communication is an important commodity for everybody. The threat is the fast-changing technology that has to be addressed by Nokia through continued research and development.

Steven Spielbergs Schindlers List A Legend Essay

Steven Spielbergs Schindlers List A Legend - Essay Example In the film of Steven Spielberg, the story of the Holocaust was made into action. It went further to include other real life testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the historical event. Spielberg went into deeper facts through interviews and actual visitation of the places where mass murder supposedly occurred. This three-hour movie is styled differently. Unlike any other hit movies in the Hollywood, Schindler’s List is being filmed in documentary form. The actual events were portrayed in patches of scenes that came from real life experiences of those who knew better- the survivors and witnesses. Series and factions of the whole genocide story were being reduced into scenes from various perspectives. This reduction or miniaturization of the specific events is as much as part of the cataclysm of the Jews extermination plan of the Nazis. Various scenes were made into action depicting the experiences of the Jews under the Nazi rule. There are scenes of Jews transported in trains and held in forced labor camps, and scenes of families broken as men, women, children and old people were separated from each other. There are also scenes of people going into gas chambers being killed at once as gas fumes are being released with Jews being imprisoned inside the chambers. This series of events add up to the horrific totality of the genocide plan of the Nazis. These murders and life-exterminating events to stamp out the Jews lineage in the face of humanity were being made into reality by the actors directed by Spielberg.teven Spielberg. It takes a lot of various perspective of the Holocau st event to totally capture what really happened in the history. Replicas and literal imitations of the events were acted by chosen actors quite effectively. Supporting props and scenic settings as backgrounds helped in the total output scene on cameras. As the film is being shown as a documentary, the events do not limit to the world of the life of the protagonist alone. Although most part of the movie progressively follow the events that happened with Oskar Schindler, but the events does not limit to his experiences alone. Stories of various Jews were portrayed one by one to provide different perspective. Black and White â€Å"Schindler’s List† is a uniquely fabricated film done by the hands of the expert. Unlike Spielberg’s usual movies that are full of stunning and spectacular effects, with

Poetry College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Poetry College - Essay Example People were kidnapped or trapped in a manner to be tortured only to attain the money. Stealing, robbery, theft were increasing day by day. It was not only suffering in life but terror of slaughtering getting high to its peak. Blacks were suffering from the injustice of Whites, poor were suffering from the miseries country facing due to the colonizing, Children were killed, a totally a horrifying condition was being seen in the country which was only be settled down by changing the thoughts of mind and soul. Many of the authors and poets in addition with the politicians and government tried psychologically to eliminate the major crimes like, terrorism of slaughtering, racism, tortures and literate people from the sufferings and miseries faced by the country due to diasporas and colonized. Margret Atwood, one of the famous Canadian writer known for her novels, but is a good author and writer to brief poems, articles, short stories and few she worked for television and movies as well. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario on 18 November, 1939 and started her writings since she was young. She qualified herself in English literature and taught English for some time in University of British Columbia. She was near to nature and wrote many poems and novels about the environment, personalities, and natural world. Moreover, she was a fervent writer for the kids and though wrote many poems and short stories for them. She was a keen observer and wants to participate herself in the efforts to make the country hygienic to breath in freely. She enthusiastically wrote many short stories and poems to tell the world and the people of her country what they are suffering with and morally help them to eliminate the crimes. "Footnote to the Amnesty Report on Torture" was written in 1978. It wa s a poem compiled in simple English explaining the conditions of the torture chamber along with different shocking and horrifying images in the poem about the torture chamber showing the harsh features of politics. She from the very first stanza clarified the view of the torture chamber by resembling it with something very worst. She made the readers imagine that it neither resembles the dungeon with cob webs, nor it reminds you of opera sets which are being fully designed but by words the dangerous one. It actually looks a lot like to a dirty, grimy, smutty and unclean railway station. However, this railway station is being cleaned every time by a hooked man but still it smells stinky as if it's a hospital with the smell of antiseptics and spirits. These stinky smells are in cooperated with the smell of blood. Her simile for the smell of the blood is equivalent to the one rising from the butcher's shop. She in her following stanza of the poem mentions the briefs about the man working there as a sweeper, cleaning floors all the time. This man cleans all the remnants spread all over the chamber the previous night. The torture is so harsh that people who are brave they forgets their bravery, innocent people may die, their torn fingers, or may hacked tongue are thrown away. To this all that cleaning man is grateful that e has this job to clear vomit, covering the dead bodies or collecting fingers rather than breaking or killing somebody. The words, Margaret Atwood used in the poem "Footnote to the

Liquidity Gap Analysis And Schedule Finance Essay

Liquidity Gap Analysis And Schedule Finance Essay The main technique used to measure liquidity position is liquidity gap analysis. Liquidity gaps are differences between assets and liabilities at present time and in the future (Thomas Barnes 15 Jan 2010). Gaps generate liquidity risk; deficits will require funding and excess will result in interest rate risk. Gaps can either be static or dynamic. Static gaps will consider all assets and liabilities which are actually present in the balance sheet. In such case the analysis shows a reduction of the assets and liabilities as they mature. Dynamic gaps are simply the consideration of actual plus projected inflows and outflows; these depend on business uncertainties (Hampel et al 1999). A liquidity gap schedule provides an analytical framework for measuring future funding needs by comparing the amount of assets and liabilities maturing over specific time intervals (Thomas Barnes 15 Jan 2010). Table 3 presents a sample liquidity gap schedule. Table 3: Liquidity gap schedule Less than 10 days Over 10 days but less than 3 months Over 3 months but less 6 months Over 6 months less than one year 1 to 5 years Over 5 years and capital Total Assets 10 10 10 5 65 0 100 Liabilities and Equity 50 30 15 0 0 5 100 Net outflow(Assets minus Liabilities) (40) (20) (5) 5 65 (5) 0 Cumulative net outflow (40) (60) (65) (60) 5 0 0 Source: Office of Thrift Supervision Jan 15 (2010) Sec 530 page 29 In the liquidity gap schedule, the company ranges assets and liabilities into different time intervals taking into account their remaining time to maturity. Generally, the company ranges assets and liabilities according to their effective maturities rather than their contractual maturities. For instance, a company will treat non maturity deposits as long-term liabilities rather than short-term liabilities. Negative gapping at the shorter end of the schedule increases the risk that the company will be unable to rollover maturing liabilities as they come due. While such a position is in favour to liquidity, it tends to enhance profitability over the long-term, provided the company keeps the gaps within manageable limit. However, a limitation of the liquidity gap schedule is that it does not capture projected balance sheet changes such as future loan and deposit growth. While it is important to understand the liquidity of a companys existing balance sheet, it is also essential to forecast the growth of key balance sheet components, such as deposits and loans, over time. (Thomas Barnes 15 Jan 2010) 2.8.3 Risk Management Liquidity risk management should be vigorous with analysis and metrics that reflects a companys liquidity position and assess its options under different market conditions, such as economic stress, crisis, and collapse (Thomas Barnes 15 Jan 2010). Liquidity risk needs to be managed once it has been identified and measured. Risk is more integral to business for insurance that it is perhaps for any other industry (Capgemini 2006). Long-run profitability will suffer when companies hold too much low-earning liquidity assets. Holding too little liquidity can lead to severe financial problems. Managing liquidity risk is not only to eliminate the risk but rather find the equilibrium between return and risk (Decker, A, P 2000). Selling some assets rapidly seems to be an easy solution, but still insurers will have to face forced sales risk. For some insurers, their projects to improve risk management evolved into the establishment or expansion of their risk management department (Henry Essert march 2010). The aim in managing liquidity is to minimize cost. The cheapest approach is to try to restructure the balance sheet in such a way to reduce gap and that the appropriate level of risk is reached (Decker, A, P 2000). 2.8.3.1 Metrics used for liquidity risk management Most financial firms such as insurance companies use various metrics to control their liquidity risk. This consists of three basic approaches which can be categorized as: the liquid assets approach, the cash flow approach, and a combination of both. (Sharma paul et al 2006) Under the liquid assets approach, the company needs to maintain liquid instruments on their balance sheet which can be consulted whenever required. (Ratios are the relevant metrics in this approach) Under the cash flow matching approach, the company tries to match cash outflows against contractual cash inflows across a range of near-term maturity buckets. This approach is mostly used by insurance companies. The mixed approach is a combination of both cash flow approach and the liquid assets approach. The company attempts to match cash outflows each time bucket against a combination of contractual cash inflows. Insurance companies place more emphasis on the cash flow matching approach. When gaps in maturity buckets are unfavorable, insurance companies would utilize the mixed approach to help ensure that they will be able to meet their obligations to provide cash to counterparties. (Sharma et al 2006) 2.8.3.2 Assets Liability Management Assets Liability Management (ALM) can be termed as a risk management technique designed to earn an adequate return while maintaining a reasonable surplus of assets beyond liabilities. It considers interest rates, earning power and degree of willingness to take on debt and hence is also known as Surplus Management (Sayonton Roy 2010). Management of liquidity consists of raising fund and invests where excess of fund is available. The managers will buy, hold and sell assets and liabilities in order to maintain a predetermined level of liquidity (Matti Peltonen 2010). This technique forms part of the Asset liability Management and thus facilitates in Funding, Investing and Hedging issues to achieve predetermined strike between risk and return. The objective is to increase profitability, while monitoring risk, as well as complying with the constraints of companies (Arzu Tektas et al 2005). 2. 9 Study in the same field 2.9.1 Estimation of Liquidity Risk Patrick Tobin and Alan Brown 2003 designed a method to model liquidity using a bottom-up approach. They calculated average size of withdrawals as, Yt=ZtNt Where, Zt is the total withdrawals for time t Nt is the number of withdrawals for time t A period of 35 weeks was considered The average values were, N=t=1TNt, Y=t=1TYt, Z=t=1TZt Then they rescaled data as follows, Mt=NtN , Ct=YtY , Bt=ZtZ Where, Mt is the mob, Ct is the clip, Bt is the bag The basic model was found and applied to product p BLt=p=1KWpBpt, Where, BLt= Business Line at time t Bpt= Bag for each product p at time t Wp= Weight for product p This gives rise to a weekly factor. The dispersion of this weekly factor was the subject of further analysis. This model tries to estimate the weekly cash outflow. 2.9.2 Measuring liquidity risk in Insurance companies In an article namely Measuring Liquidity risk in Banking Management Framework Giampaolo Gabbi (2000, p.44-58) proposed a model to implement liquidity risk within the risk management mostly used, the Value at Risk (VaR). This model also applies for the Insurance sectors since they have similar operations such as fixed deposits, loan facilities and other banking activities. Value at Risk is the largest likely lost from market risk that an asset or portfolio will suffer over a time interval and with a degree of certainty selected by the decision maker Titus Lewis, 1997. In a general circumstance five factors are considered before calculating VaR, this are: volatility of prices, interest and exchange rates probability distribution of likely return time horizon confidence interval correlation among different positions Once these elements are known, risk manager can calculate VaR in the worst case scenario for the single position (pos) VaR pos= pos.n. Ã‚ ³Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  t where,  Ã‚ ³Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  t is volatility for frequency t n is the scaling factor needed to obtain the desired confidence level under the assumption of a normal distribution of market returns Modeling liquidity in a VaR framework is given by: VaR= n { Ã‚ ³Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ L)  Ã‚ 1â‚ ¬Ã‚ ¯2 + Æ’( Ã‚ ­  Ã‚ ³Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ©Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Ã†â€™.  Ã‚ ³Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ Lâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ©Ã‚ Ã‚  +  Ã‚ ³Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ º log c â‚ ¬Ã‚ ¨Lâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ©Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ Ã‚ ½ Where n depends on the underlying distribution,  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨ L)  Ã‚  is the expected execution log in selling the L shares,  Ã‚ ­ is the mean quality discount,  Ã‚ ³Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  is the volatility of the discount and c â‚ ¬Ã‚ ¨Lâ‚ ¬Ã‚ © is the quantity discount Unfortunately all these information are difficult to access or calculate, so indicators were used to simplify the equation, leading to the following outcome COL = 12  Ã¢â‚¬ º Pt â‚ ¬Ã‚ ¨S +  Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ Ã‚ ³Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  spreadâ‚ ¬Ã‚ ©Ã‚ Ã‚  Where COL is the cost of liquidity, Pt is todays mid price for the assets or instrument, S is the average relative defined as  Ã¢â‚¬ ºbid ask Ã‚ Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¯ mid price,  Ã‚ ¡ is the scaling factor and  Ã‚ ³Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  spread is the volatility of relative spread. 2.10 Overview of liquidity Risk Management in Mauritius 2.10.1 Liquidity in the Insurance Act 2005 Insurance Companies in Mauritius are governed by the Insurance act 2005 which is regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The FSC has the responsibility to ensure that Insurance companies are taking appropriate measures to manage all the risks to protect the interest of the clients and the public at large. The consequences of liquidity risk on a countrys financial system make its management become a very important issue. Section 23 of the Insurance Act 2005 considers liquidity and solvency issues. It also lists the different assets which are to be considered as liquid assets, for example; cash balances, fixed interest, equities. According to Section 24 (1)(a) of the insurance act an insurer shall in respect of its insurance business at all times have and maintain its level of liquidity as may be prescribed. It imposes Insurance to maintain an adequate and appropriate form of liquidity. At any time the Financial services Commission may order an Insurer to increase its level of liquidity, depending on risks in the Insurance operation, maturing liabilities, quality of assets and other financial resources. Failure to comply with the above will result in that Insurance not been permitted to assume any new risks of any kind, or underwrite or renew any insurance policy; unless it increases its level of liquidity to the indicated amount. 2.10.2 Guideline on Liquidity The Financial Services Commission has issued a Guideline on Liquidity in February 2008. This Guide is issued under section7 (1) (a) of the Financial Services Act 2007 and Section 130 of the Insurance Act 2005. The Guideline on Liquidity gives an exact indication of what the Financial Services Commission is expecting from the Insurers in their management of liquidity. In order to help insurance companies to foster professional standards the Commission expects all insurers to have regard to these Guidelines. These guidelines also require insurers to provide reports on its liquidity position every three months for the first year and at the end of each year afterwards. Guideline on liquidity also concerns contingency planning. A good contingency plan should be realistic, unambiguous, designed to be flexible and should indicate the responsibility and priority of the Insurance and their management team. This will enable an insurance company to withstand a liquidity crisis. Stress test is another aspect of the Guidelines on liquidity. The stress test requirement is the minimum amount of assets that an insurer should hold in excess of its liabilities. The stress test requirement is important in managing liquidity risk. Special attention should be given to assets, liabilities and off balance sheet, consider maturity of policies and their future prospects. The guideline is not intended to be prescriptive on how insurance should measure and control its funding requirement, but however, certain approaches in the theoretical review are recommended. Finally an Insurance company should manage access to fund and consider its diversification. Concentrating in few types of assets, liabilities or market may be risky. Therefore, internal limits on maximum fund engage in one type of activity should be set. The guideline also encourage Insurance to look for new arrangement and developing financial assets and market to have access to fund while reducing liquidity risk. 2.10.3 Solvency II consideration of liquidity Since the introduction of the Solvency I in the early 1970s, there has been continuous development of sophisticated risk management systems leading to its replacement by Solvency II. Solvency II has introduced a wide framework for risk management which helps in implementing procedures to identify, measure, and manage levels of risk. It is the most recent set of regulatory requirements for insurance companies and is scheduled to start on 1 January 2013. New funding sources and liquidity management techniques have been brought forward by financial and technological advances. Therefore, Insurance companies are expected to understand the liquidity levels and the behavior of cash flows in different circumstances and thus enabling them to react accordingly. Solvency II identifies the principles for a proper liquidity management. Those principles fall under the following main headings; reducing the risk that an insurer cannot meet its claims; To reduce the losses encountered by policyholders ; To enable supervisors to act spontaneously if capital goes below the level required; Increase confidence in the financial stability of insurance sector. The Solvency II framework has three major parts for the insurance sector: Quantitative requirements. Governance and risk management requirements. Disclosure and transparency requirements The Guideline on Liquidity issued by the Financial Services Commission reflects mostly the following principles; to develop a structure for the management of liquidity, to measure and monitor net funding requirements, to manage market access, contingency planning, and internal controls for liquidity risk management in improving Liquidity.

Gullivers Travels †Innocent Nature Essay -- Gullivers Travels Essay

Gulliver's Travels – Innocent Nature I disagree that Gulliver is a naive narrator and therefore doesn't see a connection between knowledge and the acquisition of power. As R.Davis and R. Schleifer wrote, "Gulliver, gullibly suited like the rest of us, never quite understands the ... relationship between knowledge and power." There is a very close relationship between knowledge and power. With them being such important traits, each one seems to be included with the other. In Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, the use of satirical writing on both the island of Lilliput and Brobdingang serve to make the narrator a gullible character therefore excusing critiques of English government and politics. On the island of Lilliput, in Jonathan Swift's book, Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver's innocent nature satirize the story. Upon arriving mysteriously on Lilliput, Gulliver was tied down and his weapons taken away. To his surprise his captors were only six inches tall. Gulliver's pacifist attitude allowed him to befriend the Lilliputians,...

Is Love an Art? Essay

Is love an art? Then it requires knowledge and effort. Or is love a pleasant sensation, which to experience is a matter of chance, something one â€Å"falls into† if one is lucky? This little book is based on the former premise, while undoubtedly the majority of people today believe in the latter. Not that people think that love is not important. They are starved for it; they watch endless numbers of films about happy and unhappy love stories, they listen to hundreds of trashy songs about love — yet hardly anyone thinks that there is anything that needs to be learned about love. This peculiar attitude is based on several premises which either singly or combined tend to uphold it. Most people see the problem of love primarily as that of â€Å"being loved,† rather than that of â€Å"loving,† of one’s capacity to love. Hence the problem to them is how to be loved, how to be lovable. In pursuit of this aim they follow several paths. One, which is especi ally used by men, is to be successful, to be as powerful and rich as the social margin of one’s position permits. Another, used especially by women, is to make oneself attractive, by cultivating one’s body, dress, etc. Other ways of making oneself attractive, used both by men and women, are to develop pleasant manners, interesting conversation, to be helpful, modest, inoffensive. Many of the ways to make oneself lovable are the same as those used to make oneself successful, â€Å"to win friends and influence people.† As a matter of fact, what most people in our culture mean by being lovable is essentially a mixture between being popular and having sex appeal. A second premise behind the attitude that there is nothing to be learned about love is the assumption that the problem of love is the problem of an â€Å"object,† not the problem of a â€Å"faculty.† People think that to â€Å"love† is simple, but that to find the right object to love — or to be loved by — is difficult. This attitude has several reasons rooted in the development of modern society. One reason is the great change which occurred in the twentieth century with respect to the choice of a â€Å"love object.† In the Victorian age, as in many traditional cultures, love was mostly not a spontaneous personal experience which then might lead to marriage. On the contrary, marriage was contracted by convention — either by the respective families, or by a marriage broker, or without the help of such intermediaries; it was concluded on the basis of social considerations, and love was supposed to develop once the marriage had been concluded. In the last few generations the concept of romantic love has become almost universal in the Western world. In the United States, while considerations of a conventional nature are not entirely absent, to a vast extent people are in search of â€Å"romantic love,† of the personal experience of love which then should lead to marriage. This new concept of freedom in love must have greatly enhanced the importance of the â⠂¬Å"object† as against the importance of the â€Å"function.† Closely related to this factor is another feature characteristic of contemporary culture. Our whole culture is based on the appetite for buying, on the idea of a mutually favorable exchange. Modern man’s happiness consists in the thrill of looking at the shop windows, and in buying all that he can afford to buy, either for cash or on installments. He(or she) looks at people in a similar way. For the man an attractive girl — and for the woman an attractive man — are the prizes they are after. â€Å"Attractive† usually means a nice package of qualities which are popular and sought after on the personality market. What specifically makes a person attractive depends on the fashion of the time, physically as well as mentally. During the twenties, a drinking and smoking girl, tough and sexy, was attractive; today the fashion demands more domesticity and coyness. At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of this century, a man had to be aggressive and ambitious — today he has to be social and tolerant — in order to be an attractive â€Å"package.† At any rate, the sense of falling in love develops usually only with regard to such human commodities as are within reach of one’s own possibilities for exchange. I am out for a bargain; the object should be desirable from the standpoint of its social value, and at the same time should want me, considering my overt and hidden assets and potentialities. Two persons thus fall in love when they feel they have found the best object available on the market, considering the limitations of their own exchange values. Often, as in buying real estate, the hidden potentialities which can be developed play a considerable role in this bargain. In a culture in which the marketing orientation prevails, and in which material success is the outstanding value, there is little reason to be surprised that human love relations follow the same pattern of exchange which governs the commodity and the labor market. The third error leading to the assumption that there is nothing to be learned about lov e lies in the confusion between the initial experience of â€Å"†falling†Ã¢â‚¬  in love, and the permanent state of â€Å"being† in love, or as we might better say, of â€Å"standing† in love. If two people who have been strangers, as all of us are, suddenly let the wall between them break down, and feel close, feel one, this moment of oneness is one of the most exhilarating, most exciting experiences in life. It is all the more wonderful and miraculous for persons who have been shut off, isolated, without love. This miracle of sudden intimacy is often facilitated if it is combined with, or initiated by, sexual attraction and consummation. However, this type of love is by its very nature not lasting. The two persons become well acquainted, their intimacy loses more and more its miraculous character, until their antagonism, their disappointments, their mutual boredom kill whatever is left of the initial excitement. Yet, in the beginning they do not know all this: in fact, they take the intensity of the infatuation, this being â€Å"crazy† about each other, for proof of the intensity of their love, while it may only prove the degree of their preceding loneliness. This attitude — that nothing is easier than to love — has continued to be the prevalent idea about love in spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. There is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such tremendous hopes and expectations, and yet, which fails so regularly, as love. If this were the case with any other activity, people would be eager to know the reasons for the failure, and to learn how one could do better — or they would give up the activity. Since the latter is impossible in the case of love, there seems to be onlyone adequate way to overcome the failure of love — to examine the reasons for this failure, and to proceed to study the meaning of love. The first step to take is to become aware that â€Å"love is an art,† just as living is an art; if we want to learn how to love we must proceed in the same way we have to proceed if we want to learn any other art, say music, painting, carpentry, or the art of medicine or engineering. What are the necessary steps in learning any art? The process of learning an art can be divided conveniently into two parts: one, the mastery of the theory; the other, the mastery of the practice. If I want to learn the art of medicine, I must first know the facts about the human body, and about various diseases. When I have all this theoretical knowledge, I am by no means competent in the art of medicine. I shall become a master in this art only after a great deal of practice, until eventually the results of my theoretical knowledge and the results of my practice are blended into one — my intuition, the essence of the mastery of any art. But, Synopsis: The Art of Loving has helped hundreds of thousands of men and women achieve rich, productive lives by developing their hidden capacities for love. An astonishing frank and candid book renowned psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, it explores the ways in which this extraordinary emotion can alter the course of one’s life. Most of us are unable to develop our ability to love on the only level that really counts-a love that is compounded of maturity, self-knowledge, and courage. Learning to love demands practice and concentration. Even more than any other art, it demands genuine insight and understanding. In this startling book, Fromm discusses love in all aspects: not only romantic love, so surrounded by false conceptions, but also love of parents for children, brotherly love, erotic.

The Oneota Culture - Last Prehistoric Culture of the American Midwest

The Oneota Culture - Last Prehistoric Culture of the American Midwest The Oneota (or western Upper Mississippian) is the name archaeologists have given to the last prehistoric culture (1150-1700 AD) of the American upper midwest. The Oneota lived in villages and camps along tributary streams and rivers of the upper reaches of the Mississippi River. The archaeological remains of Oneota villages are located in the modern states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. What Did They Know of Cahokias Complex Capital? The origin of the Oneota people is somewhat of a controversy. Some scholars argue that the Oneota were descendants of the pre-Mississippian Woodland groups who were immigrants from other as-yet unknown locations, perhaps the Cahokia area. Another group of scholars argue the Oneota were local Late Woodland groups who changed their society as a result of contact with Middle Mississippian technologies and ideologies. Although there are clear connections in Oneota symbolism to the Mississippian complex of Cahokia, the Oneota sociopolitical organization was widely divergent from that of the complex society at the capital in the American Bottom near St. Louis, Missouri. Oneota groups were mainly independent chiefly societies located on major rivers upstream and far away from Cahokia. Oneota Characteristics Over the nearly six hundred years of their (recognized) occupation of the Upper Mississippi region, Oneota people changed their style of living and subsistence patterns and as the Europeans moved into the region, they migrated far to the west. But their cultural identity maintained a continuity, based on the presence of a number of artifact types and icononography. The most commonly recognized artifact of Oneota culture is shell-tempered, globular-shaped ceramic vessels with purposefully smoothed, but not burnished, exteriors. Distinctive point types used by Oneota hunters are small unnotched triangular arrow points called either Fresno or Madison points. Other stone tools connected with Oneota populations include pipestone carved into tablets, pipes and pendants; stone scrapers for buffalo hides, and fishhooks. Bone and shell hoes are indicative of Oneota agriculture, as are the ridged fields found in the early and eastern villages of Wisconsin. Architecture included oval wigwams, multi-family longhouses and cemeteries organized in sprawling villages on terraces near main rivers. Some evidence of warfare and violence are seen in the archaeological record; and the evidence of movement west with a maintained connectedness to people back home in the east are indicated by trade goods, including pipestone and hides, and metasedimentary abrasive rocks called paralava (formerly mis-identified as volcanic pumice or scoria). Chronology cal AD 1700-present day. Historic and modern tribes thought to be descended from Oneota include Ioway, Oto, Ho-Chunk, Missouria, Ponca and othersProtohistoric Oneota (Classic) (cal AD 1600-1700). After direct and indirect contact with French trappers and traders, La Crosse was abandoned, and the people moved westward along the Iowa/Minnesota borders and west following bison herdsMiddle Oneota (Developmental) (cal AD 1300-1600), Apple River and Red Wing abandoned, expanded outward. Oneota settlements opened at La Crosse, Minnesota, and the central Des Moines River valley (Moingona Phase)Early Oneota (Emergent) cal AD 1150-1300. Apple River (northwest Illinois) and Red Wing (Minnesota) localities are started, decorative motifs derived from Mississippian Ramey Incised pots Initial or Emergent Phase Oneota The earliest villages recognized as Oneota arose about AD 1150, as diverse and scattered communities along the floodplains, terraces and bluffs of the rivers, communities that were occupied at least seasonally and perhaps year-round. They were horticulturalists rather than farmers, relying on digging-stick agriculture based on maize and squash, and supplemented by deer, elk, birds and large fish. Foods gathered by early Oneota people include several plants that would be eventually domesticated as part of the Eastern North American Neolithic, such as maygrass (Phalaris caroliniana), chenopodium (Chenopodium berlandieri), little barley (Hordeum pussilum) and erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum). They also collected various nutshickory, walnut, acornsand conducted localized hunting of elk and deer and communal longer-distance hunting of bison. There likely was a lot of variation in these early villages, especially with respect to how important maize was in their diets. Some of the largest villages have accretional burial mounds. At least some of the villages had a tribal level of social and political organization. Development and Classic Period Oneota Middle Oneota communities apparently intensified their farming efforts, moving into broader valleys and including the preparation of ridged fields, and the use of shell and bison scapula hoes. Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were added to the diet about 1300 AD: now Oneota people had the entire three sisters agricultural complex. Their communities shifted as well, to include larger houses, with multiple families sharing the same long house. Long houses at the Tremaine site in Wisconsin, for example, were 6-8.5 meters (20-27 feet) wide and varied in length between 26-65 m (85-213 ft). Mound building ceased entirely and mortuary patterns shifted to the use of cemeteries or burials beneath the floors of the longhouses. By the late period, many Oneota people migrated westward. These dispersed Oneota communities displaced the locals in Nebraska, Kansas and adjacent areas of Iowa and Missouri, and thrived on communal bison hunting supplemented with gardening. Bison hunting, assisted by dogs, allowed Oneota to obtain adequate meat, marrow and fat for food, and hides and bones for tools and exchange. Oneota Archaeological Sites Illinois: Gentlemen Farm, Material Service Quarry, Reeves, Zimmerman, Keeshin Farm, Dixon, Lima Lake, Hoxie Farm Nebraska: Leary site, Glen Elder Iowa: Wever, Flynn, Correctionville, Cherokee, Iowa Great Lakes, Bastian, Milford, Gillett Grove, Blood Run Kansas: Lovewell Reservoir, White Rock, Montana Creek Wisconsin: OT, Tremaine, La Crosse, Pammel Creek, Trempealeau Bay, Carcajou Point, Pipe, Mero Minnesota: Red Wing, Blue Earth Sources This article is a part of the About.com guide to the Mississippian Culture, and the Dictionary of Archaeology. Several good locations on the web for Oneota information include Lance Fosters Ioway Cultural Institute, the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist, and the Mississippi Valley Archaeological Center. Betts CM. 2006. Pots and Pox: The Identification of Protohistoric Epidemics in the Upper Mississippi Valley. American Antiquity 71(2):233-259. Boszhardt RF. 2008. Shell-tempered pottery from the upper Mississippi river valley. Southeastern Archaeology 27(2):193-201. Emerson TE, Hedman KM, and Simon ML. 2005. Marginal Horticulturalists or Maize Agriculturalists? Archaeobotanical, Paleopathological, and Isotopic Evidence Relating to Langford Tradition Maize Consumption. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 30(1):67-118. Estes MB, Ritterbush LW, and Nicolaysen K. 2010. Clinker, Pumice, Scoria, or Paralava? Vesicular Artifacts of the Lower Missouri Basin. Plains Anthropologist 55(213):67-81. Fishel RL, Wisseman SU, Hughes RE, and Emerson TE. 2010. Sourcing Red Pipestone Artifacts from Oneota Villages in the Little Sioux Valley of Northwest Iowa. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 35(2):167-198. Logan B. 2010. A Matter of Time: The Temporal Relationship of Oneota and Central Plains Traditions. Plains Anthropologist 55(216):277-292. OGorman JA. 2010. Exploring the Longhouse and Community in Tribal Society. American Antiquity 75(3):571-597. Padilla MJ, and Ritterbush LW. 2005. White Rock Oneota Chipped Stone Tools. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 30(2):259-297. Ritterbush LW, and Logan B. 2009. A Late Prehistoric Bison Processing Camp in the Central Plains: Montana Creek East (14JW46). Plains Anthropologist 54(211):217-236. Theler JL, and Boszhardt RF. 2006. Collapse of crucial resources and culture change: a model for the Woodland to Oneota transformation in the Upper Midwest. American Antiquity 71:433-472. Tubbs RM, and OGorman JA. 2005. Assessing Oneota Diet And Health: A Community And Lifeway Perspective. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 30(1):119-163.

Beyond The Dead Essays - American Film Directors, Free Essays

Beyond The Dead Essays - American Film Directors, Free Essays Beyond The Dead This play was the resounding voice of the dead. The direction of the play closely followed the original direction of the script. By that I mean that the unity of the play was contingent on the premise of the original writer. I believe that the director of this play was trying to uphold the message that Irwin Shaw first presented with this play. The play was directed very well. It seemed that it drove the intended message home well, which in this case I would consider an appreciative success. The view that I carried while watching this performance changed dramatically. Before the viewing, and during the first scenes, I was convinced that the plot was too dramatic. There has always been an enormous amount of sacrifice by soldiers during times of war. I thought this to be more of a degrading look at war, and it's atrocities. I believe in the sacrifices of war, or at least I thought I did. The play convinced me that not always is sacrifice necessary, and often times the sacrifice goes un noticed, or without proper revere for those giving up their lives. I would call the performance a sensitive, yet very real portrayal of the very large, yet mostly unseen, and unappreciated, losses of life. The actors did a pretty good job. On simple terms, they all remembered their lines, and the specific movements required of them. I guess that I don't know that for fact. If there was a mistake though, it was covered very well, which would indicate even better acting to me. The group of men that played the soldiers worked well together. They all seemed to be plagued by exactly the same symptoms. Of course they were all dead, but no one knows how to act dead-alive. Their individual acting of the symptoms was great, because in each we could see the same traits. They all swayed from side to side, or all kept a very somber, quiet look on their faces. Then they six were all further challenged by having to maintain these similarities, while at the same time displaying individual characteristics. The biggest part to all of the acting was the realness that all of the characters portrayed. The general is the best example of this. He was strong, and loud. The way he acted produced fear even in me. He was exactly the general I would picture or imagine if reading this performance to myself. The acting overall was strong. I don't know the scenery that was originally intended for this play, but I didn't like the set that was used. I however did agree with the structure being plat formed. The use of height to represent power or authority was an excellent choice. It is very easy to distinguish who they were, and what status they held because of the platform. One thing we discussed in class was the use of plain fatigues by the director. I believe that this choice was excellent. It made clear that the brutally and horror of war could be felt by anyone an any army. The lighting in the play was great as well. There were two particular parts that I noticed specifically. The first was the mood the lights cast. The back lights were blue and orange in color, and I believe that they helped set the mood. The second way I noticed the lighting was in more specific ways. The blinds on the wall in the press woman's office, or the leave cutout that were displayed through the larger covering lights to produce a leaf lik e effect on the floor and set. The spotlights on the individual soldiers when they were talking to their loved ones was also extremely creative. The way in which each soldier was totally lit, while the rest of the stage was dark had a profound effect. It gave more seriousness, or emphasis on their lines. The sound was vague. The gunshots sounded fake, and were difficult for the actors too act out correctly. Other than the gunshots though the sound seemed to fit in. I didn't notice any other problems, so I would assume that it was sufficient. The audience seemed to enjoy the

Our town Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Our town - Essay Example In the play, a man is actually showing the viewer around. Like a guide, he takes the viewers to different parts of the town and introduces them to different characters. As the story proceeds, the viewer is introduced to side characters, the milk man, the newspaper boy, the church people and the local doctor. These may be side characters but they play an important role in presenting the habits and life style of people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The hero of the play, George is seventeen years old when he decides to become a farmer. The heroine, Emily is deeply in love with George and doesn’t want to part from him for three years even if it is for his farming education. They decide to get married. The marriage scene itself is very significant. In form of vocal self addresses, it portrays the feelings of the bride and groom, their parents and even the wedding priest regarding marriage. Sometime later, when the couple becomes pregnant and Emily is in anesthesia during the delivery, she has a dream, or more likely a vision, in which she sees her own funeral. The dream is important since it conveys an emotional message, therefore it is described below: Emily sees herself after death, standing among many dead relatives of her and George. She wants to go back to life and doesn’t want to die. She gets a last chance to view her past. She chooses a day of her life that was her sixteenth birthday. While viewing the happenings of that day, she realizes so many things that she had been ignoring in life. For instance she realizes that she never really noticed how young and beautiful her mother was, or how concerned her parents were for the children etc. she delivers the dialogue co ntaining this lesson aloud and then wakes up from the dream. The play ends with the guide taking the viewer to

Why Finland Education Model will not work for the United States Essay

Why Finland Education Model will not work for the United States Education System - Essay Example These include; institutional design, funding, and Teacher training- teacher retention. Critical analysis of these factors and their application between the two countries explains the variation in their education performance ranking. Unless united States initiate reforms on its institutional designs, it will lag behind Finland in terms of its overall education system performance. The Finland government has centralized education policy decisions under the ministry of education. This means that the curriculum structure is uniform and tests are homogeneous across the whole country. Such institutional design means that diverse teaching skills are applicable in different settings and learners abilities. This offers better opportunities for the children and teachers with unique differences to work towards a common goal. This explains the outstanding performance of the education system in Finland as seen from its high global ranking over United States. In-depth assessment of the institutional design of United States exposes significant flaws that make its education system relatively poor (Tiina and Markku, 2007). The curriculum development and implementation has been decentralized to individual states. This has placed significant accountability pressure on the teachers and placed much emphasis on passing tests. This design means that the socio-economic diversity in terms of learning ability, teaching skills among teachers and students is disregarded. This has been in force since the passing of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2002) by President George Bush administration. This has seen teachers concentrate on tests which fail to capture other important aspects of learning among students’ hence poor math and language skills mastery progress. It is therefore evident that while Education in Finland is managed from national platform, the United States has left education management in the