The Statue Of Liberty Essay -- essays research papers

There are few objects that can be compared to the significance of the figure known as the Statue of Liberty. It is one of the greatest works of its time and still stands today as a meaningful entity of independence to the world. The statue is a great tribute to the concept of global freedom that had its roots in America. It was created to display the worldwide objective of peace and tranquility. The fact that another model of this icon stands today in a world capital shows the effect that this figure has inscribed upon the world. In addition, it represents the ideas that the United States was built upon and those that the people have lived by to this very day. Its most paramount features in its role through American history are its creation and history, the characteristics the statue possesses, and its symbolic relevance on the world. The creation of the statue was one of the most complex processes that she went through throughout her long life. The honor of the inception of the statue was given to Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor who specialized in the arts. Bartholdi acquired his success early in his life at the tender age of nineteen. He was often the subject of scorn and contempt by fellow artists, but never allowed himself to be put down by their petty insults. His true potential was indeed revealed through the creation of the statue. The statue was not a project without problems. It had a late start, considering that it was supposed to be completed in time for the one-hundredth birthday of the United States. A substantial number of delays also threatened the effectuation by the deadline. One of the more considerable problems was money. The Statue almost never lived to see New York harbor due to lack of fun... ...ction to this day was considered insignificant, as the entire country seemed to have lost their minds in anticipation for such an exciting event. Liberty was greeted with enthusiasm and exhilaration. The President himself had shown up for the joyous occasion. Congress had accepted the proposal to keep Liberty as a lighthouse and opened the treasury to New York. Many important people and dignitaries had turned up for the milestone moment. Furthermore, it was a distinguished historical occurrence, marking the 110th birthday since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. France was regarded as the United States? sister republic in the East. As President Grover Cleveland said to the people of America, ?Reflected thence and joined with answering rays, a steam of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man?s oppression until Liberty enlightens the world.?

Karla Ann Marling’s book “As Seen on TV” Essay

Karla Ann Marling’s book â€Å"As Seen on TV† addresses the perception television had on shaping the fashion and cultural persona of everyday life in the United States during the 1950’s. She presents this phenomenon as a cultural chain reaction that occurred in response to Christian Dior releasing his new line of clothing right around the same time as President Ike Eisenhower’s inauguration, one of the first major TV events of the Decade.   As noted in her book, when she says, â€Å"Ike’s 1953 inauguration was one of the first big TV events of the decade. The cameras caught every detail of.† Eisenhower’s costume: the mink coat, the silly hat worn over bangs, the suit with the nipped-in waist and flared hipline, the charm bracelet, and high heels that pinched (Marling, 1994).† Of course for the President himself, Christian Dior new line would have no significant effect on the culture or American society, but through his Wife Mamie Eisenhower wearing a dress by the infamous designer as well as wearing more stylish accessories like high heels, and pearls, it introduced a major shift in how women would dress, there on out, and the style itself became known as â€Å"The New Look.†Ã‚   In essence it slight freed-up sexual repression of the 1950’s and became representative of a lifestyle, so that they could be completely turned on their head in the 60’s during the explosion of the feminist movement. Christian Dior designed what became known as the â€Å"hour Glass† shape, by using different padded linings as the author notes. The molded, hourglass hap was achieved through a variety of means: padding hidden in the lining of jackets to accentuate the swelling of the hips; boning, stays, or other constricting devices built into waistlines; and an internal framework composed of layers of tulle, organza, silk pongee, and a new â€Å"miracle fabric†-nylon†,1994†. In response to this the author notes that â€Å"It could be argued, of course, that the woman inside was irrelevant to the dress, that she was the victim of fashion, enslaved and oppressed by her own dinner gown.†Ã‚   This represents many of the counter arguments presented by men who opposed changes being introduced to society by the fashion industry.   This also represents much of the conflict of the reading.   The author goes on to present a quote by acclaimed 1950’s psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler when he says, the fashions industry is a â€Å"gigantic unconscious hoax† perpetrated on women by homosexual men who wanted to make them look ridiculous (Marling, 1994).† In sum, the author closes her piece by pointing out how there is still to this day controversy over how much authorship can be placed on Christian Dior for the creation of â€Å"The New Look.†Ã‚   It is seen as a culturally defining moment in history, which would eventually give way to the admiration of glamour that was bestowed upon such figures as Jackie O, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor. It also represents a slight window into the modern era and its obsession with fashion to the likes of which as produced such irreverent iconic figures as Lady Gaga, who could arguably be pegged as the child of Christian Dior and Mamie Eisenhower, 1953. Karla Ann Marling’s book (1994). â€Å"As seen on TV†

Mind and Body, Dualism vs Neuroscience Essay

The idea of the human beings having a soul, spirit or mind has long been used; although religions started using it four thousand years ago for different reasons, some people that simply had a thirst for knowledge started seeking a true answer to this question not that long ago. Indeed, this question has seriously been thought about and logically questioned in the last 400 years starting with Descartes who thought that human beings do have an immaterial mind (mind and body dualism). However, in the face of recent discoveries in neuroscience, it is not possible to maintain the theory of mind and body dualism as neuroscience has proved the brain to be the seat of mental faculties that are believed by dualist to come from the mind. First of all let us talk about mind body dualism in order to fully understand why it is now an obsolete theory. Dualists believe that the mind is non-physical and is separate from the brain which is physical. Moreover, they see the brain to be simply the location of where the mind operates (where the mind interacts with the physical world). Also, the body itself (brain included) is thought to have a different nature than that of the mind as one is physical and the other isn’t. On the other hand, we have physicalism. Physicalists think that everything that exists is physical and therefor what we call the mind does not exist as it is not physical. Descartes’ arguments for his mind and body dualism theory are however convincing if we ignore today’s recent discoveries and concentrate on philosophical reasoning; his first argument is that you can doubt everything in the material world but you cannot doubt that you are a thinking thing and exist. Let me explain this further: one of Descartes’ experiments was called Meditations. In his meditations he started assuming (for the purpose of his experiment and not in reality) that there was an evil genius that would deceive him on everything he though was true. Therefor everything he wasn’t absolutely sure was true had to be considered as untrue because he did not want to build up logic or reasoning on a weak foundation. In this way of thinking, he managed to doubt that the world, his hands, his body, and everything in the physical world was not true (because he would consider that the evil genius could make him think that he actually saw things that didn’t really exist). However, one thing could not be doubt, at this precise moment and since his birth, Descartes was thinking†¦ This simple truth could not be doubted; he had a mind and was using it to think. Descartes’ concluded that because one could be doubt and the other not, mind and body were of different nature. One of his more simple arguments, which is called the divisibility argument, is that as physical things such as bones, flesh, brain tissues and etc. occupy space in the physical world; thought-like things such as emotions, thoughts and the mind as a whole do not, and therefore are not physical. Moreover, Descartes has another argument called the conceivability argument which states that a human being can exists as a thinking things without his extended (physical) body existing (a mind or soul without a body) and that everything that can be conceived is logically possible. Therefor if it is logically possible that X exist without Y, then X is not identical with Y. Now that a background of information on mind and body dualism has been set, let us see why and how recent discoveries in neuroscience make it impossible to maintain dualism as a theory. The way I see things, neuroscience has provided evidences that we do not need to suppose the existence of an immaterial mind to explain life and behavior of human beings and also has proven that a lot of the mental faculties dualist attributed to the mind are in fact attributed to the brain. Contemporary neuroscience has greatly improved our understanding of the brain’s functioning; new imaging techniques enables scientists visualize the human brain in action and produces images that define the brain regions responsible for attention, memory, and emotion. The latter is the one of most interest in the present debate as emotions are believed to come from the mind. Emotional responses have been proved to be centralized in the limbic system. In this system we may find the amygdala and the hippocampus which are the primary areas managing emotions. Then there is the element of decision making. Any dualist would attribute the element of decision making or free will to the mind, however neuroimaging allows us to detect some decisions up to 10 seconds before the actual decision is taken by the individual with monitoring of brain activity (CAT, MRI or PET scans for example). This questions dualism because as dualists consider the mind to be immaterial, a good question is raised: how can the mind (immaterial) which supposedly makes the decision, be observed and predicted with material tools? Furthermore, a property of mind according to dualists is â€Å"behaviour†. Research studying victims of brain damage have found correlation between lost faculties or behavioural abnormalities and changes and localized damage in the brain. Phineas Gage is often the best example for this argument. Gage survived an iron rod that destroyed part of his left frontal lobe but suffered from severe personality change. It is noteworthy to specify that the personality change was big enough that his friend would no longer see him as Phineas Gage but as someone else. Even though Descartes’ philosophical reasoning is worth considering, contemporary neuroscience shows on different levels that what is believed to be an immaterial mind is actually the physical brain. Following Descartes’ own logic, it is necessary to consider all doubtful knowledge as false and start building from information that are certain â€Å"in order to establish anything firm and lasting in sciences† (Descartes, Meditation I). This being said, contemporary neuroscience is based on experimental proofs while dualism is based on theoretical thinking. However, neuroscience has not convinced everyone, where do you stand?

Rothschilds Fiddle

Jackson Weeks Harold English 101 1-31-13 Chekhov’s Use of Futliarnost to Develop Yakov and the Importance of Morals in â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle† Futliarnost, a Russian literature theme which is often present in Anton Chekhov’s short stories, is when a character is encased in a situation and can not escape. In â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle†, Yakov is entrapped in an almost trance like state, that is brought about by loss and remorse in his life. â€Å"Is Yakov ever released from this state, through Marfa’s death, or any other instance and does Chekhov intend for the reader to see one single moral in this story? Chekhov uses irony and ambiguity to develop Yakov â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle† into a deeper character as well. Chekhov uses one particular irony which is central to this short story. Yakov is evidently depressed for much if not all of his life, as he is always worrying about his income and his wasted opportunities in l ife. But ironically he is arguably more depressed and miserable after he realizes how meaningless his whole life has been. It is at this point when he is finally more alive than he has ever been, but because he is looking back on his life he wants to die more than ever.Yakov â€Å"reflected that death would be nothing but a benefit; he would not have to eat or drink, or pay taxes or offend people, and, as a man lies in his grave not for one year but for hundreds and thousands, if one reckoned it up the gain would be enormous. A man's life meant loss: death meant gain. † With this realization it can be said that Yakov only becomes more depressed. This is sad to see because as a reader we finally see someone that finally has much about life figured out, but it is in his last moments, and he is more miserable than ever.Chekhov Weeks 2 uses this passage to help develop the sense of futliarnost even more than it already is. Yakov was already trapped in a state of depression, knowi ngly or not, and when he finally realizes this at the end of his life he only becomes more depressed. The change that comes about because of this further misery is negative, as Yakov finally realizes many, if not all, of his faults in life yet he is at a point in his life where he can no longer change his ways enough to make up for all of his past mistakes.This is the point in which a moral can be deduced. Perhaps a moral of live life so that you have no regrets would be appropriate. But we must ask ourselves if Chekhov meant for a moral to be brought away from â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle†. Based on the writing style it is safe to assume that a moral is applicable. Chekhov gives â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle† folk like qualities which suggest there is a moral. Although this moral is very cliched, it certainly applies to Yakov. It is not saying live life with no regrets, rather live life so that you will have no regrets.If Yakov had treated Marfa better and not yelled at her and not caused her pain he likely would not have been as miserable in the end as he was. But it is also worth noting that some of the most beautiful music came about because of one mans suffering, and made many other lives better. Chekhov is intentionally ambiguous here, as he likely does not mean to only teach one lesson through this story. There are many lessons that can be taken away, and this is one of the beautiful things about Chekhov’s writings, especially â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle†.Etymologically, the word ‘ambiguity’ means being able to push something from both ends [ambo-ago] and also, figuratively, to think about something in two different and even irreconcilable ways (Pazzagli 1505). Chekhov has many ambiguities in his writings in order to leave much interpretation up to the reader. The reader must decide whether to accept both meanings of a statement or choose between the two. Based on which approach a reader uses, the Wee ks 3 same passage can have completely different meanings. One example of this ambiguity comes when Marfa dies.Chekhov writes that her face turned â€Å"rosy with fever, unusually bright and joyful-looking† In this excerpt Chekhov states that Marfa is sick, and also that she was joyful. Perhaps she was just rosy from the fever, or more likely just relieved that she was finally going to be released from her dreary life of being frightened by Yakov, mistreated, and not appreciated. Even though Marfa only has a small presence in the text, she is a great tool for Chekhov. She is used to bring up Yakov’s past. Marfa says â€Å"Do you remember fifty years ago God gave us a little baby with flaxen hair?We used always to be sitting by the river then, singing songs . . . under the willows,† and laughing bitterly, she added: â€Å"The baby girl died. † Yakov did not remember his baby from years ago. Yakov had shut out most of his past, and only thought of profit and losses. However when Yakov later goes and sits beneath the tree and finally remembers their child, the reader is not ever sure as to whether he actually remembers the child, or if it is just a figment of his imagination. Another ambiguity is when Yakov leaves the cemetary after Marfa’s burial it is said that he didn’t feel well.However it is never clarified if he is physically ill, or emotionally ill. If Yakov is only emotionally ill and ends up dying from this it would indicate that Yakov is much more deeply connected to Marfa than has previously been shown. This would perpetuate the theme of loss, because if he was extremely close to his wife, then her loss is only that much more painful to him. Loss is surely the main recurring theme throughout â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle†. Yakov in the beginning is complaining about lost profits, and lost work time, which in hindsight seem petty, compared to the loss of his wife, and the loss of the memory of his child .After Yakov’s epiphany it is apparent that he has felt remorse over the loss of the wrong things. If he had not been so interested in money he might have spent more time with his wife, and treated better, and he would Weeks 4 have perhaps had a better relationship with her. Chekhov is said to be the father of the stream of conscious writing style, which follows a character’s thoughts. With Yakov this becomes particularly interesting after the death of Marfa because we see just how miserable his life becomes.We see Yakov sitting on the riverbank, beneath the tree just thinking back on his missed opportunities and his lost and forgotten child. Later we see just how sorrowful Yakov has become, when he is just sitting in his doorway playing his fiddle, producing mournful tunes. The stream of consciousness writing style also puts emphasis on the change that takes place in Yakov. The reader sees how Yakov transforms from miserable because of his own losses, to miserable bec ause of the loss of others. Yakov follows the pattern that many of Chekhov’s characters set before him, by bringing attention to Russia’s changing landscape.One thing that Chekhov shows subtly in most of his works was his appreciation of Russia’s natural environment (Quinault 33). Chekhov voiced his sadness at the destruction of ancient hardwood forests in his short story, â€Å"Rothschild's Fiddle† (1894) and, more prominently, in his major plays. (Quinalt 33). In â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle† Chekhov writes â€Å"On the other bank, where now there was the water meadow, in those days there stood a big birchwood, and yonder on the bare hillside that could be seen on the horizon an old, old pine forest used to be a bluish patch in the distance.Big boats used to sail on the river. But now it was all smooth and unruffled, and on the other bank there stood now only one birch-tree, youthful and slender like a young lady. † Even though this is only a small part of â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle† it shows some of Chekhov’s interests outside of literature. Perhaps Yakov realizes the loss of this forest and this is just one more loss to go along with all of the other losses that have happened throughout the story. Yakov is in a depressed state throughout the story, both before Marfa’s death and after. Weeks 5Even though her death was the big event of the story and what made Yakov realize how miserable his life had been, it still was not enough to release him from the feeling of misery he was trapped in. It was just enough for him to realize how miserable his life had been before and send him deeper into depression because he realized he had lost Marfa, who was the one thing in his life he truly should have cared about. The significance of drawing this conclusion is that we see Chekhov following his usual pattern of a character being entrapped for the whole story, and still not escaping.One ambiguity t hat the reader is left with is that of whether a moral can should be deduced. Since Yakov produced some of the most beautiful and sad music. Even though Yakov was in such a miserable state his whole life, his music was beautiful and brightened other lives, It can be argued that no moral was meant to be drawn from â€Å"Rothschild’s Fiddle†. Perhaps one could go on to research Chekhov as a writer and see if he typically consciously included some style of moral in his stories. Weeks 6 Works Cited Pazzagali, Adolfo. â€Å"Ambiguity. † International Journal of Psychoanalysis . 3. 6 (2012): 1505-1508. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. Quinalt, Roland. â€Å"Chekhov and Conservation. † History Today. 60. 2 (2010): 32-34. Web. Chekhov, Anton. â€Å"The Literature Network. † Rothschild's Fiddle. N. p. , 10 Mar 2005. Web. 4 Feb 2013. Note: I still do not have Microsoft Word and I attempted to indent my long quotes 10 spaces on GoogleDocs but I was not able to without inde nting the whole paragraph that the quote was contained in. This is why I left quotations around my quotes.. If you must take off for this I understand, but if you could be a little lenient that would be great!

China accounting standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

China accounting standards - Essay Example The accounting standards determine the procedure for preparation of financial statements which produces information like business revenues, expenditure, net income, assets, liabilities and the wealth of the stakeholders. Overview: Chinese Accounting standards China has its own system of accounting standards that is maintained in the land of China. The accounting standards of China are composed basic standards, specific standards and application guidance. There are thirty-eight specific standards that are followed in the Chinese accounting standards. During the socialist period, the government of China was the sole owner of the industry. The accounting standards of China are unique as it developed during the socialist regime and is tailor made to the objectives of the Chinese economy. The Chinese accounting standards are intended to focus less on the information of profit and loss. The accounting standards differ from the western accounting standards in terms of providing guideline on information on inventory of the industries. In comparison to the western accounting standards, the Chinese accounting standards are intended less towards accounting of debt of a corporation (Coulaud,  Schulz and  Debilliers, 2008). ... Moreover, the Chinese economy underwent reforms and achieved rapid progress in industrial development. This created the need of revising the accounting standards of China in order to create a competitive ground with the international accounting standards. In 2006, the government of China passed a new accounting law in joint consultation with the ministry of finance, the international accounting standards committee and the representative from the Chinese economy. With a view towards the emerging scenario of integration of international trade with the Chinese trade, the accounting standards of China adopted several standards recommended by the International accounting standards board. In order to align the information on the business performance of China through financial statements and reports and to allow a platform for comparison of the Chinese business with the top listed companies all over the world, the accounting standards of China adopted several features of the international a ccounting standards. The financial reporting procedure was replaced by the international financial reporting standards. The financial reporting criteria helped to compare the financial statements of the Chinese company with the rest of the world which added a significant feature in the era of globalization (Avery,  Zhu and  Cai, 2009). The alignment of the financial reporting standards adopted by China to the International accounting standards is about 95%. Impacts of changes in Chinese accounting standards The changes in the accounting standards of China for preparation of financial statements and accounts have created major impacts on the ways on financial accounting and generating annual reports of the Chinese companies. His has also paved the path of

Answer all of them i short paragraph ( around 20 sentences) Essay

Answer all of them i short paragraph ( around 20 sentences) - Essay Example Procrastination is also there when one wants everything perfect and distractions to perform certain tasks also cause procrastination. For overcoming procrastination, one should acknowledge about the presence of a problem. Another way of overcoming the issue of procrastination is by following the Nike’s slogan, â€Å"Just do it†. The work should be started without worrying about how, when, where or etc. The issue of procrastination can be overcome by setting the preferences and following realistic goals. Guided imagery can be effective theoretically on a neurological level because through nerve cells, the message is chemically sent to various parts of the body, so the feelings, emotions and images sent chemically can bring about physiological changes in the body by guided imagery. According to the cognitive theory, change in negative thought patterns or interpretation of happenings slows down the nervous system provocation and reduces the stress feelings making guided imagery effective. Then, there is a theoretical perspective about cognitive distraction according to which, as a result of brain’s filtering of signals, there are competitive stimuli due to which, attention is diverted towards guided imagery making it effective. Burnout can be defined as a condition when a person undergoes subtle and continuous stress resulting in depletion of energy and motivation to do any action. There are three recognizable features of burnout, which are ‘exhaustion’, ‘pessimism and cynicism’, and ‘feelings of failure’. Exhaustion can be described as ending of all energy and sleep resulting in inaction and one’s consideration why should one do anything. Pessimism and cynicism can be explained as having a lot of negativities with everything accompanied with lack of energy and motivation resulting in frustration and depression. Feelings of failure can be understood as having no

BIET 336 (Individual recommendation report) Essay

BIET 336 (Individual recommendation report) - Essay Example This report entails discussions on the methods that criminals use during car theft; with two recommendations on mitigating the incident. Stealing cars has only negative effects in USA; and criminals employ various stealing methods. The Carjacking practice entails taking vehicles through force. Carjacking is very serious because the car owners are mostly assaulted. Carjacking entails criminals driving away the vehicle, after forcing the passengers or operators from the car. Automotive theft also involves fraudulent theft. This entails the unlawful acquisition of cars from the owner or seller, by fraudulent funds transfer. Most automobiles acquired through this unlawful method are immediately resold thereafter (Lesikar 346). The table below illustrates automobile theft increasing statistics in the USA. Criminals use various equipments during car theft. Weapons like firearms or knife are mostly applied during carjacking incidences. The weapons are used to break car windows or threaten the car owner. Spare wires and screw drivers are used for connecting the ignition and the power source during car theft. This power connection enables the criminals to drive away the vehicles. In the 2012 and 2013 analysis of car theft figures by the National Automobile Club; there are cities with decreased car theft rates (Los Angeles, and San Diego). This has been made possible through regular police patrols in the cities. Police on patrol are responsible for conducting random checks on vehicles. Other cities have significant increase in car theft rates (New York and Dallas). This is attributed to increased fraudulent car theft in affected cities. The criminals acquire the cars through unlawful methods. There are significant differences between increased and decreased car theft rates. This is because the two sets of affected cities employ different strategies in curbing the car theft practice; cities which employ effective strategies like