Food Waste in America Essay

40% of the food America produces is wasted.1 Have you ever thought of how much food you waste a day? The average American wastes about 250 pounds of food every year.2 That’s about $600 dollars worth of food.3 Imagine what you could do with $600.00. No one notices what is in the back of their fridge or what goes into their trash can. Before you say that you don’t do that, think back to a moment when you had the chance to take the restaurant food home, but you declined it because you were too full. Now, imagine thousands of people doing that every day. Tons and tons of food is wasted. Over 33 million tons of food is wasted every year in America. 4 That is enough to fill a 90,000 seat football stadium to the brim with food over 120 times.5 We waste so much food that our food waste could power Switzerland for an entire year. Americans should lower the amount of food they waste by taking home extra food  from restaurants and buying appropriate amounts of food at the store . 1 http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/wasted_food http://www.businessinsider.com/fao ­wasted ­food ­2011 ­5 3 http://www.wisegeek.com/how ­much ­food ­does ­the ­average ­american ­waste.htm 4 http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd ­basic.htm 5 http://www.naturalnews.com/033885_food_waste_America.html 2 Everybody has been to a restaurant before and not finished their food. Well, did you ever think about bringing it home to finish later? Most people don’t think like that, since they are full at the moment, and believe they won’t eat it later. Give it a try and bring it home to eat it for a quick dinner later. Well, you might say ,â€Å"Oh well, I didn’t like the food.† There is nothing   wrong with that. If you don’t like the food then, you don’t like it. I’m not going to argue with that, no one likes to eat everything in the world. All I’m saying is open your eyes and notice how much food is being wasted at restaurants. Restaurants are America’s food source. We go to restaurants when we don’t feel like making dinner.​ The average family  goes to dinner around thirty five times a year. So, let’s say you waste on average five ounces. of food every time you go to dinner. That’s about ten lbs. of food wasted in one year just by going to restaurants. Now, let’s add your family into this. If you have a four member family that would be forty lbs. of food wasted by your family. That is equivalent to around forty plates of food being thrown out, and you could have eaten half of that at  home. The moral of the story is that if you reduce the amount of waste at restaurants, you can make a big difference in lowering America’s waste percentage. The average American family spends about $8,513 on groceries a year, and wastes about $600 of that food.6 Basically, the average American family wastes about fourteen percent of the food they buy. Families are wasting way too much food. My generation has grown up with this, so it’s all that we know. It is very hard to extinguish a bad habit. Have you ever heard of the saying, â€Å"Your eyes are bigger than your stomach?† That is actually very true. Have you ever seen people unload their food from their cart at a grocery store? I have seen people have so much food that they have to get another cart. That is just ridiculous. If you have a big family, that’s fineÍ ¾ but if you only have two to four people in your family, then you are purchasing too much food. There are simple ways to not overspend at a grocery store. One way to not overspend at a grocery store is to make a grocery list or   have a leftover day. Have a  leftovers on Wednesday or Sunday. Not everybody does this, but no one is innocent. most people have overbought amounts of food at some point. Maybe you ate the food ,maybe you didn’t. It is important to think before you go along buying more food than you can handle. This goes right back to the saying, â€Å"your eyes are bigger than your stomach.† Taking home food from restaurants and buying appropriate amounts of food at your local grocery store is a great way to lower food waste. America has the largest waste percentage in the world. That is not anything to be proud of. Do you ever think about how much food you throw away in a month? Food waste is a big problem in America, It could be lowered by just doing a couple simple of steps and by thinking before you throw away something that could be eaten. Food is meant to be eaten not wasted.

Mozart Sonata Essay

The succession of the pieces (Bach – Toccata in D minor, Mozart – Sonata in B flat, Liszt – Transcendental Etude No. 9, and Rachmaninoff – Sonata no. 2 in B-flat Minor) are arranged in order to typify the transgression of music development from the contrapuntal baroque form represented by Johann Sebastian Bach, the gradual transposition of the sonata form between the rococo and classical eras through Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the combination of tonal heaviness and virtuosity as found in the compositions of Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Each composition is characterized through the era in which it is composed in order to understand the development of musical forms, styles, and influences from the early17th century to the late 18th century. Bach represented the strict polyphonic harmony of the era characterized through two independent tonal forms in the melody and bass which separated may stand alone as two separate melodies; but combined, the tones form another different melody which sharply represents the ‘detailed heaviness’ of the baroque era, not only characterized in music but also art disciplines as well (Griffiths 101). Mozart’s sonatas are generally identified as playful tunes ranging from early pieces which show influences of other composers such as Franz Joseph Haydn to later developments which clearly show Mozart’s musical genius. His sonatas are a gradual transition from the polyphonic form to the utilization of the monophonic or single melody form. On the other hand, Liszt and Rachmaninoff represented a total break from the early baroque/classical periods wherein the romantic period identified their works to be focused on expression or emotion while maintaining regard from the development of the classical sonata form. Liszt’s compositions are noted for its technical beauty and virtuosity requirement while Rachmaninoff’s compositions are generally heavier compared to the varying degrees of tonal structure found in Liszt’s (Copland 91). First, we analyze Bach’s Toccata in D minor. Mainly one of the most recognizable pieces in music, the composition is arranged for the pipe organ where the instrument magnifies the full grandeur of the composition as well as the sound of the instrument itself. The piece is actually followed with a fugue which is generally the follow-up the contrapuntal polyphonic style of the Toccata. As mentioned, the piece is an example of polyphonic structure where the melody and bass are two separate melodies that produce one harmony. Tempo in common time, the whole structure of the piece is free form with a slight repetition of the theme followed by a series of thematic development. The color is somehow dark, generally typified by the heavy sound of the instrument itself as well as the tonal forte of the chords. On the other hand, Mozart’s sonata sharply contrasts with the color of Bach’s as the melody is lighter with the tempo set to a fast yet playful manner. The piece is separated into three movements and as the title suggests, it is structured in the sonata form identified through the introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation and coda. Meanwhile, Liszt’s ninth Transcendental Etude vary from a change in color and tone through the succession of octaves which give emphasis on the opposition of high and low tones. The piece is also different in the sense that the melody is much more expressive or romantic through arpeggios and the playfulness of the scales compared with Mozart’s playful theme. Lastly, Rachmaninoff’s Sonata no. 2 in B flat is much heavier compared to the aforementioned compositions because of the emphasis on color and tone. In contrast with Liszt’s, the composition opens with a sudden crash of octaves which introduce the ‘heavy’ theme of the piece. The gradual development into the second movement becomes reminiscent of the Liszt’s’ romantic theme but still identified with heaviness as found in the first movement. Works Cited Copland, Aaron. What to Listen for in Music. New York, N. Y: Signet Classics, 2002. Griffiths, Paul. A Concise History of Western Music. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Animal Rights and Human Wrongs Essay

Are there limits on how human beings can legitimately treat non-human animals? Or can we treat them just any way we please? If there are limits, what are they? Are they sufficiently strong, as som e peop le supp ose, to lead us to be veg etarians and to se riously curtail, if not eliminate, our use of non-human animals in `scientific’ experiments designed to benefit us? To fully ap preciate this question let me contrast it with two different ones: Are there limits on how we can legitimately treat rocks? And: are there limits on how we can legitima tely treat other human beings? The an swer to th e first ques tion is pre suma bly `No.’ Well, that’s not q uite right. There are som e limits on what w e can le gitimate ly do with or to rocks. If Paula has a pet rock, then Susan can’t justifiably take it away or smash it with a sledge hammer. After all it is Paula’s rock. Or if there is a rock of unusual beauty or special human interest say the Old Man of Hoy or Mt. Rushmore it would be inappropriate , and pro bably im mora l, for me to te ar it down , to deface it, or to chisel o ut a sectio n to use in my ca tapult. These limits though, arise not from any direct concern for the rocks; rather, they are imposed because of the interests a nd rights of other h uman s. Susan can’t take Paula’s rock for the same reason she can’t take Paula’s eraser: it is Paula’s and Paula has a right to those things which are hers. And no one ca n destro y or defa ce items of specia l natural b eauty because by doing so one is indirectly harming the interests of other humans in them. So there are limits on what we can legitimately do to inanim ate objects, but whatever limits there are arise from some human concern.1 Not so for our treatment of other humans. We suppose that it is inappropriate to tr eat a human being just any way we wish. I cannot steal another human; that would be kidnapping. Nor can I sm ash so meon e with a sledgehammer; that would be, depending on the outcome, assault, attempted m urder, or murder. And the reason I cannot do these things has nothing to do with what third parties d o or don ‘t want. It has to do with the interest and desires of that particular person. It is wrong for Susan to hit Paula , not beca use oth er peo ple like Paula or because other people would be offended, but because Paula is a person. Period. Thus, there is a fundamental contrast between those objects which we can treat as we please (excep t when limited by the interests of other humans) and those which we canno t. Ordinary rocks fall into the first camp; humans, into the later. Now, what about nonhuman animals? Do they fall into the first or the se cond c amp? Or som ewhe re in between? There are reasons to believe that many animals and certainly the higher-order anima ls are more like humans than they are like rocks. Thus, we have reason to believe there are constraints on how we can legitimately treat them, regardless of our particular wishes and desires. Or so I shall argue. For the moment I will simply note that these are beliefs which most of us already have. That is, most of us presume that it is illegitimate to treat animals just anyway we wish. For exam ple, mo st of us be lieve it is wrong to wanto nly kill or torture a higher o rder m amm al. Suppose we discover that some member of our commun ity, say Jones, has a habit of picking up stray dog s or cats a nd dec apitating them w ith his hom e-ma de guillo tine’; 2 or we learn he has invented a machine which draws and quarters them. He uses these machines because he revels in th e anim als’ pain, b ecaus e he relis hes in the sight of blood; or maybe he is a scientist who w ants to stu dy their re action to stress. In this case we rightly surmise that Jones is immoral. We wouldn’t want him to be our pre sident, our fr iend, our next door neighbor, or our son-in-law. In short, we all seem to agree that they a re limits on how we can properly treat nonhuman animals, and that these limits arise becau se of the n ature of th e anim als, not m erely because of the de sires of oth er hum ans to see an imals trea ted we ll. That is, such acts are wrong not merely because other humans are bothered by them. We would think them equa lly wrong if they were secretly done so that no one else in the community knew about them. We think they are wrong because of what it does to the animal. On the other hand, we are also part of a culture which rather cavalier ly uses a nimals for food, for clothes, for research in the development of new drugs, and to determine the safety of household products. And many of these u ses req uire inflicting a great d eal of pa in on animals. Record of such uses is readily available in various academic journals, and chronicled by num erous writers on the topic’. 3 But for the reader who might be unfamiliar with them, let me briefly describe two ways in which we use animals ways which inflict substantial pain on them. Anima ls who are raised for food are obviously raised with the express purpose of making a profit for the farmer. Nothing surprising. But the implications of this are direct and obvious and deleterious to the an imals. There are two ways for a farmer to increase her profit. One is to get higher prices for her goods, the other is to spend less producing those goods. Since there is a limit on how much people will pay for meat, there is substantial financia l pressu re to dec rease th e expe nse of p roducin g the m eat. This under standa bly leads to over-crowding; after all the more animals a farmer can get into a smaller space, the less it costs to produce the meat. There are similar pressures to restrict the animals’ movement. The less the animals move, the less they eat, thus decreasing the farmer’s expense. For instance, farmers who raise chickens are inclined to put them in small `battery’ cages. They are commonly kept `eight to ten to a space smaller than a newspaper page. Unable to walk around or even stretch their wings much less build a nest the birds be come vicious a nd attac k one a nother ‘.4 The average person seems equally unfamiliar with the extensive use of animals in laboratory experim ents. Ma ny of thes e are of o nly mo derate significan ce’; 5 most of the them involve extensive pain on animals. For instance, N.J. Carlson gave hig h voltag e electric shocks to sixteen d ogs an d found that the `h igh-sho ck grou p’ acqu ired `an xiety’ faster. Or researchers in Texas constructed a pneumatically driven piston to pound an anvil into the skulls of thirteen monkeys. When it didn’t immediately produce concussions, the researchers increased the strength of the piston until it produced `cardiac damage, hemorrhages and brain dama ge’. 6 Or researchers at Harvard placed baby mice and ba by rats into cages with starving adult male rats. The adults ate them. The researchers’ conclusion: hunger is an important drive in animals. (That, of course, is some thing we are sho cked to learn; we would have never kno wn this fact otherwise). T HE O PTIONS Now, how d o we sq uare o ur abso lute revu lsion at ou r hypoth etical Jones with his animal guillotine, and our rather blithe acceptance of the treatment of animals on the farm and in the scientific and co mme rcial labo ratories? It is not imm ediately clear tha t we can . What is clear, it seems, it that we have three options, three alternative beliefs about our treatment of anim als. Thes e are: 1) If we are repulsed by Jones treatment of stray animals, we are simply being inappr opriately or unduly squeamish or sympathetic. We should have no aversion to killing, torturin g, or usin g anim als in any way w e pleas e, unles s, of course, that anima l is some one els e’s prop erty, that is, he r pet. 2) There are reasons why we should treat non-human animals better than we treat rocks; nonetheless, there are also reasons why we can use non-huma n anim als in ways we could never legitimately use humans. 3) We should be treating non-human animals more like we currently treat humans. Many of our accepted ways of using animals are, in fact, morally objectionable. The first position, it seems, is completely untenable. No sensible person , I think, is willing to adop t a position which s ays that to rturing a nimals for fun is completely acceptable; no one is willing to say that Jones is a fit mem ber of so ciety. This b elief, it seem s, is virtually unshakable. Most of you understood perfectly well what I meant when I describe d Jone s’s behavior as `torture.’ But this claim would be nonsense if we thought there were no moral limits on how we could treat animals.7 So we are left with the la tter option s. And, of course, which one we choose, will have a dramatic impact on the lives of humans and of other animals. One necessary clarification: to say that animals should be treated more like humans is not to say that they should be treated exactly like humans. For instance, we need not consider giving animals the right to vote, the right to free religious expression, or the right of free speech. As far as I can ascertain, most an imals do n’t have the necessary capabilities to exercise these rights. However, the same is true of very young children and of se verely retarded adults. That is why they don’t have these rights either: the y lack the requisite capacities. Nonetheless, the mere fact that some adult humans are not given the right to vote does n ot mea n it is legitimate to have them for lunch or to test bleach in their eyes. So why assume it is so for animals? W HY ANIMALS SHOULDN’T SUFFER NEED LESS PAIN Until now I have been trying to identify our own deeply held convictions about restriction s on the prope r treatme nt of anim als. Now it is high time to try to offer a positive defense of our ordinary understa nding; a defense which will have even more radical implications that we might have supposed. That is, I want to argue for option three above; I want to a rgue tha t there are rather strin gent lim its on wh at it is morally permis sible to do to anima ls. More s pecifically , I wish to argue that we should all b ecom e vege tarians a nd that w e shou ld dram atically curtail, if not eliminate, our use of laboratory animals. Though there are numerous arguments which can be offered in this rega rd, I want to defend one particular claim: that we should not inflict need less pain on anim als. Before I go on I should make it clear what I mean by `needless pain.’ The point can be made most clear by use of an analogy. Contrast the following cases: 1) I prick my daughter’s arm with a needle for no apparent reason (though we needn’t assume I derive any sadistic pleasure from it). 2) I am a physician and I inoculate her against typhoid. What differentiates these cases? In both I prick her arm; in both (let us presume) I inflict similar amounts of pain. Yet we consider the latter not only ju stifiable, bu t possibly obligato ry; the former we consider sadistic. Why? Because it inflicts unne cessar y pain. M y daug hter doe s not in any way bene fit from it. Thus, unnecessary pain is that which is inflicted on a sentient (feeling) creature when it is not for the good of that particular creature. The latter is necessary pain; it is pain which the creature suffers for her own good. There are two main premises in my argument. The first is the factual claim that anima ls do, in fact, feel pa in. The second is the claim that the potential of animal suffering severe ly limits what we can justifiably do to them, it constrains the way we can legitima tely use them. That an imals fee l pain That anima ls do feel p ain see ms rela tively unc ontrove rsial. It is a belief we all share. As I noted earlier we couldn’t even make sense of `torturing’ an animal if we assumed it was incapa ble of feeling pain. Nor could we understand being repulsed at Jones’s use of stray anima ls unless we thought the animals suffered at Jones’s hands. If Jones collected abandoned tin cans and cut them to pieces w ith his guillo tine, we m ig ht think J ones te rribly odd, bu t not imm oral. But more can be said. We have more than adequate behavioral evidence that anima ls feel pain and that they can suffer. Most of us have seen a dog which has been struck by a car, though not killed instantaneously. The dog convulses, bleed, and yelps. Less drastically, most of us have, at some time or another, stepped on a cat’s tail or a dog’s paw and ha ve witne ssed the anima l’s reaction . The reaction, unsurprisingly, is like our own reaction in similar cases. If someone steps on my hand, I w ill likely yell and attempt to move my hand. But we ne edn’t res t the case on beh avioral e videnc e thoug h it does seem to m e to be more than sufficient. We should also note that we share important anatomical structures with higher o rder an imals. A human being’s central nervous center is remarkably similar to that of a chimpanzee, dog, pig, and even a rat. That is not to say the brains are exactly alike; they aren’t. The cerebral cortex in human beings is more highly de velope d than in most mamm als (though not noticeably so wh en compare d with a dolphin or a Great Ap e); but the cortex is the location of our `higher brain fun ctions,’ for e xamp le, the sea t of thoug ht, speech, etc. However, the areas of the brain which neurophysiologist identity as the `pain centers’ are virtua lly identica l betwee n hum an and non-h uman anima ls. Accord ing to evolutionary biology this is exactly w hat we should expec t. The pa in centers worke d well in enhancing the survival of lower species, so they were altered only slightly in succeeding evolutionary stages. H igher br ain func tions, how ever, are condu cive to survival, and thus, have led to more dramatic advances in cerebral development. Given all this, it seems undeniable that many animals do feel pain. That they feel pain is morally relevant ‘So what?†™ someone might ask. ` Even if animals do feel p ain, why should that limit or at least se riously restrict our treatment of them? Why can’t we still use them for our purposes, whatever those purposes happen to be?’ Let’s turn the question around for a moment and ask why we think we should be able to use them for our purposes, given that they are capable of suffering? After all, we are staunc hly opposed to inflicting unnecessary pain on human beings. If animals can also feel pain, why shouldn’t we have the same reluctance to inflicting needless pain on them? A crucial tenet of ethics is that we should treat like cases alike. Th at is, we sh ould treat two cases the same unless there is some general and relevant reason which justifies the difference in treatment. Thus, two students who perform equally well in the same class should get the same grade; two who perform rather differently should receive different grades. By the same token, if two creatures feel pain and it is improp er to inflict needless pain on one of them , it would likewise be improper to inflict needless pain on the othe r. But the argumen t has pro gresse d too qu ickly. This a rgum ent wo rks only if the reason it is wrong to inflict need less pain on the one creature is that it feels pain. If there is some other reason so me rea son wh ich could differentia te hum an from non-h uman anim als then we would not be able to infer that it is illegitim ate to inflict needless pain on animals. Hence, if someone wishes to show that it is not wrong to inflict needless pain on animals, then she must identify some relevant difference between human and non-huma n animals, some differenc e which justifies this d ifference in treatm ent. And, of course , this is just wh at mos t defend ers of ou r presen t treatme nt of anim als are inclined to do. Tho ugh pe ople on ce rega rded a nimals as non-sentient creatures as mere automata that is no longer so.

Amendment One Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Amendment One - Essay Example These rights, including the rights of free speech and free press, were hailed as democratic constitutional principles in the first founding of the nation, (American Government 4:111), and the Fourteenth Amendment states that no state can deprive any American citizen of the "equal protection of the laws" (American Government 9:358). It is this nation that Thomas Jefferson envisaged to change into an "Empire of Liberty", of the people, by the people, for the people (American Government 4:116). And the Supreme Court, in all the history of America, has largely strived to uphold these principles. As public trust in government and its affairs wanes with time, especially in the recent decades, the Court becomes ever more venerable and an ever important beacon of hope in the eye of the people. However, some view the increasing influence of the Supreme Court as a blow to democracy. Whatever the case may be, the Court has shaped the practical implementations of the Amendment through its rulings in various cases. No racial and religious discrimination, as proposed by the Amendment has somet

Midterm Exam Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Midterm Exam - Coursework Example The crew decided to communicate earlier; there could have been speculations on the possible sabotage of Panama against United States. Social media campaign would have twisted the scene to appear as though it was a political issue. Rowdy youths would take the issue into their hands, forcing American politicians and the wider police enforcement to act in response. As a result, there could have been diplomatic problems between United States and Panama, as well as, street violence similar to the Rodney King Riot 1992. Likewise, the panic and fear caused to innocent civilians, who by strong logistical measures were not in a position to communicate with the relatives back in the ship would have been bothering towards the recovery of the shape. Considering that some of these relatives have fragile emotions, panic would result to more catastrophes, for instance, insanity or even death. Moreover, intense political activities would have questioned Carnival ability to respond to disaster. Theories on ship disaster management would have crucified the company wrongly. In the 62 hours of recovery and restoration, the company could have lost a significant among of business, clients and losing a legend image to other competitors. This could have resulted to failure of the multinational, disinvestments and possibly permanent locked out of business. By bring back the ship to the port; it indicated that United States government, Carnival Cruise and the state of Panama were always responsible to what happened to citizens and other customers. There are a number of stakeholders involved in the case. The very most important stakeholders are the customer aboard the ship since these are the bosses of the company. Their relatives, friends and society as well follow closely. Other key individuals are the company crew, those who operate the vessel including their captain. The coast guards, the multinational’s employees,

Economic of race and gender Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic of race and gender - Assignment Example These films could be brutal but sometimes, reality is worst than we would like it to be. The stories are just examples of what really happens in this world, whites discriminating Blacks or Asians and men acting like gods over women. What could be alarming is to know that there are also other skin colors discriminating the whites and more shockingly, women discriminating men. The films may have not shown the latter but in reality, things happen and it is not a news to break because there have been news of domestic violence also where the men are the victims. It is sad to realize that we can not escape these realities and they could happen to any of us. It is then very helpful to be educated about the issues on race and gender discrimination. Taking this class has opened my eyes and my understanding of the existence of such acts, now I know the rights of a person one needs to fight for, as well as what way of thinking one should have so as not to involve ones self in such actions. I believe that if I consider not discriminating, there would be one less racist in this world and no matter how minute its effect could be; still I could impact the world I am moving in. Diverse social positions can lay the foundations of a person’s political and economic access. For instance, a poor person can be deprived of education in his early years because he has to work in order to survive. Eventually, he will have minimal probabilities of ever going to school to get a better job in the future. Politically, he would have limited access to the rights of a regular paying worker if he ends up with menial jobs which do not give him the benefits of government employed workers. Loss of job pushes a person to self-employment particularly getting in to business because it gives advantages like being the boss of oneself, the opportunity for success and the convenience

Personal Experience Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Experience - Assignment Example During the winter holidays, I had to seek assistance from friend doctor. Luckily enough, addiction to it had not taken deep root enough. The doctor proposed one month intensive medication care and with regular visiting. Change of lifestyle was also important when one is in the process of quitting. I had to avoid places where people smoked a lot until the day the doctor confirmed to me that I was strong enough to go to such places. Back at home, it was not easy. Parents had to put me under curfew. I was expected to stay at home the extent to which I used to interact with friends reduced. Having no place to go, I spent a lot of time home just watching movies and series. Smoking eats on one’s health, as a result, I was put under heavy diet so as to regain weight. Personally, I embarked on activities like washing dishes and update my blog on the consequences of smoking. The point is I had to do everything to change. Daily activities, like running up and down the stairs really help ed in the process of quitting. I am now back to school and doing well in class. It took me two weeks of intensive medication and daily exercise to stop smoking and three week for the side effects to subdue. Teacher and parents became concerned about the performance and questioned me. However, being cleaver, I would hide everything from them. This didn’t last for long; I had to look for a permanent solution that would enable me quickly stops smoking. A friend advised me to buy Bupropion, a drug believed to help smokers quit smoking.

Economic Theory - Airline Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Economic Theory - Airline Industry - Essay Example This paper examines the economic profile of the airline industry paying attention to issues such as shifts and price elasticity of supply and demand, positive and negative externalities, wage inequalities and monetary and fiscal policies. The first part of the report provides an overview of the airline industry while the second part of the report focuses on the above listed variables. Air transport today is one of the largest industries in the world. For example, the scheduled airline industry generated revenues of nearly $375 billion in 2004 (British Airways Fact book 2006). According to BA Fact Book (2006), over half a billion passengers were carried on international scheduled services with this figure having grown at an annual average rate of more than 6% since 1970, when the then corresponding number of passengers was 75 million (British Airways Fact book 2006). Many commentators for example have long argued that, aviation has an overall economic impact far in excess of its turnover (Riggas 2001). Here, Boyd (2000) argues that the network of air transport services facilitates growth in output and employment, and at the same time international trade and investment, tourism, and living standards (Boyd 2000). BA Fact Book (2006) refers to Air travel as â€Å"a vital artery that reinforces the process of globalisation, allowing it to transform the way in which many other industries carry out their business† (BA Fact Book 2006:5). In response to the rapid growth in business travels in recent years, the airline industry has witnessed rapid growth in the last four decades. Rigaes (2002) postulates that, one argument in favour of the present state of the airline industry is positive externality. Thus such a higher growth in the sector is due to global mobility that outweighs the microeconomic losses and justifies continuing government intervention. The industry is also

Law Enforcement Research Design and Analysis Assignment 1

Law Enforcement Research Design and Analysis 1 - Assignment Example er the ‘the best of both worlds.’ This is because it marries the less rich but more-efficient or compelling predictive power with the contextualized, in-depth, and natural but more time-consuming insights  of quantitative research (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie et al., 2007). These methods mold seamlessly into each other to produce the best format and attacking procedure that will make the tackling of problems more effective and conclusive. These steps are best because they make the establishment of the truth easier for lawyer. However, the most effective step s that should be used are the assessment of the relative weight and implementation strategy for each method that would be used, use of a visual model and the evaluation criteria (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie et al., 2007). This is valuable in the study because despite their position in the hierarchy of the steps, these are the backbones of the research method and can be used in the cracking of a case. In law, it is paramount that the lawyer be able to assess the situation and pick a strategy that would be best for the case presentation. In conclusion, in the tackling of a legal case and the enforcement of the law, one is required to take a step back and view the case from more than one standpoint and use the mixed method research scheme to determine the facts from the

Elaboration Likelihood model analysis Term Paper

Elaboration Likelihood model analysis - Term Paper Example Today businesses are constantly developing new persuasion mechanisms to market their products and services. They are looking for innovative ways of creating and delivering the content of the message. They aim to capture the audience attention, create assurance, spawn preferred attitudes, create social norms and eventually influence behavior. In this paper, I will explain the theory of elaboration likelihood model and show how it explains the persuasive strategy apparent in a television ad campaign for Budweiser puppy love commercial. A lot of research studies conducted in this field of persuasion indicates the challenges of developing a persuasive message. The results are varying particularly on issues dealing with public policies (Rucker & Petty, 2006). These results are linked to the thinking of the early 1970s researches about persuasion. The variables suggested by researchers during the 1970s continue to be investigated till now; they include message characteristics. This will encompass its credibility, attractiveness, emotional appeal, the mood it creates, and the channel used to present the message (Petty, Barden, et al., 2009). The assumption was that these variables achieved a single goal, which is persuasion. They could produce only one outcome, the effect of the persuasion message would be either successful or reduced. Some studies show that including only positive arguments in the message improved persuasion efforts. However, other studies found no similar benefits of incorporating positive aspects only; sometimes it reduced the effect of persuasion efforts. Some studies found also that incorporating negative aspects enhance the impact of persuasion rather than reduce it as earlier thought. The contentious issues in these results were the uncertainty on how these negative effects were relayed and steps involved in conveying them (Wagner & Petty, 2011). It was due to the

Multiple paragraphs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Multiple paragraphs - Essay Example I expect my art to inspire my audience to be able to make change just as I did, and to fulfill their dream of what they are passionate about. Again, there is neither right nor wrong in making a hobby into a job, nor making a passion into reality and so they need to be their own judge, and take charge for their own life. Bill does not think his art is great, but he likes how he actually uses bold colors, flashy accessories and trends in the making of his art. Although he sees some technical issues, his art always puts people in light because he seeks the beauty that people wear on the street and finds it. His art changed him, for example, he started to find beauty in his own interactions with people, better than before and will tend to look in his eyes like a genuine human being. He became engaged in life that is because his natural enthusiasm and joy that he cannot help to uplift everyone. Cunningham’s art would influence other people’s lives, because he tends to know much about people without judging them in his art and tends to bring the beauty in them. His art has an underlying message which is â€Å"no matter how you do or look like you will find the beauty within you and you will have a light that will shine on you, so don’t let people judge you, judge yourself

Differences Between Pow Camps Essay Example for Free

Differences Between Pow Camps Essay These prisoners would be sent to camp where they would be forced to do different kinds of work. Depending on what country you got captured by, what would happen to you would differ. This essay will focus on three of the different kinds of camps, the Germans, the Japanese, and the Allies. In Germany, before being taken away to a camp, prisoners had to pass an interrogation. Because of the Geneva Convention prisoners only had to give their name, rank, and serial number. German camps were usually rows of barracks enclosed by a barbed fence, lined with guard towers. These towers contained guards that would shoot any escaping prisoner. POWs were given two meals a day consisting of soup and bread, though this was not enough, and most had to coop with hunger. Sometimes the Red Cross would bring items such as butter, chocolate, or condensed milk. Only some of men had to work while the others had to survive from the boredom. When weather was nice the prisoners were allowed to play a wide variety of sports and sometimes they even got to enjoy concerts put on by German bands. Out of the 140,000 Prisoners of war in Japanese camps, about one third of them died from starvation, punishment for disobedience, and disease. The POWs were treated very poorly because the Japanese did not follow the rules set in place by the Geneva Convention. The POWs were forced to work in mines, fields, shipyards and factories for twelve hours a day. If any disobedience was sensed in a prisoner, they would be beaten. The little food they were given included soy beans, seaweed, rice, and once a month, fish. Escape from Japanese camps was very rare. When somebody was caught trying to escape they would be killed in front of other prisoners. In some camps ten prisoners would be killed for every one prisoner that was caught escaping. You would be treated either poorly or nicely in allied camps, depending on whether you were captured by Soviets or by English and Americans. If sent to Russia, POWs were given little food and were forced to take aggressive classes on communist ideals. Of the 90,000 Germans captured, about only 5,000 returned from Russia, and most of them were only let out ten years after the war had ended. Prisoners in America and Britain got it much better. Never short of food, were Prisoners always well fed. Medical supplies were always available and POWs were always taken care of. Though little, Prisoners were paid for the work they did for the Allies. Thousands of them attempted to escape, but all were recaptured. There is only one known escape in North America.

Impact of HIH Collapse

Impact of HIH Collapse The March 2001 collapse of HIH Insurance sent shockwaves through the Australian business community. The country’s second-largest employer, HIH was at the tail-end of a major acquisition spree that had seen the company purchase major insurance operations in New Zealand, Argentina, Switzerland and the US since 1997. Most significantly, in 1999 HIH had purchased one of its main competitors, FAI Insurance, taking on that company’s chief executive Rodney Adler as one of its corporate directors. With an estimated $8.1bn asset base at the end of 2000, HIH was widely perceived as an extremely robust and reliable company; however, private internal reports had begun to demonstrate that the company’s debt leverage and insurance liabilities were so high that there was a real risk of insolvency. Ultimately, in early 2001 the company’s precarious financial situation became untenable and HIH endured the largest corporate collapse in Australian history, going down with lo sses of more than $5bn. With the company continuing to function purely so as to service old claims, with no new business being taken onboard, Australia’s financial regulators set out to determine the precise chain of events that had led to the HIH collapse. (M. Westfield. 2003) A Royal commission, examined the chain of events that led to the collapse of HIH. Reporting in April 2003, the commission found that there wasnt just a single cause of the company’s collapse. But that there was systematic failure in almost every area of its operation (hihroyalcom.gov.au 2003), and the extent of this failure was so great that criminal charges were brought against key members of the company’s board such as William Howard, Ray Williams, Geoffrey Cohen and Rodney Adler. (ASIC 2005) In particular, Rodney Adler was convicted on four separate charges: one count of obtaining money by deception; one count of dishonesty in the discharge of his duties; and two counts of intentionally disseminating false information. In particular, Adler was found to have falsely claimed, in a number of interviews, that he had personally purchased HIH shares in mid-2000. (D. Elias .2005)ÂÂ   By making such claims, and specifically by claiming that HIH is undervalued in terms o f its share price, Adler was guilty of willfully disseminating financial information that they knew, or had good reason to know, was false. However, there were separate calls for an inquiry into how HIH’s corporate governance systems had failed to prevent Adler abusing his position in such a manner. In a separate claim, Adler was accused of persuading HIH to invest a $2m loan in Business Thinking Systems (BTS), a company in which Adler had an interest.(Karen Percy 2005) The other major failing identified in the downfall of HIH was a failure to provide properly for future claims, and all other problems essentially stemmed from this issue. Covering future claims is one of the most fundamental aspects of any insurance company’s business, yet by the end of its existence HIH was in a position where a negative shift of as little as 1.7% would be enough to bring the company to the point of insolvency(M Westfield,2003) . The primary reason for this failure was reported to be a mismanagement of changing market conditions, which increased HIH’s liabilities massively and were not covered by strategic planning initiatives that might have been expected to absorb such changes. Changing market conditions can cause serious destabilization for any insurance company, but the risks are well-known and most companies take extra care in order to minimize their exposure to such changes. The fact that HIH dramatically over-exposed itself was for the most part due to the company’s extremely rapid expansion (Brendan Bailey 2003).As noted earlier, HIH acquired a number of companies during its final years and was making a major push for international expansion. Such expansion, while often a strong business move, often brings greater liabilities than would otherwise be the case, and HIH appears to have acted based on the belief that the liabilities would merely be proportional to its expansion. The company appears to have fundamentally misunderstood the degree to which extra provisions need to be made for changes in its market environment. This is a major mistake that could in my opinion, if addressed at the time, have been resolved. The fact that the board of HIH apparently went unchallenged when pursuing this strategy shows that there was a failure of governance at HIH, with no real oversight being applied to check whether the company’s strategy was correct or financial sustainable. In the aftermath of the HIH collapse, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) made a number of changes to ensure that the same problem could not be repeated. In particular, ASIC inaugurated a strict new set of corporate governance rules designed to ensure that companies stay closer to the regulations in this area. ASIC acted on the belief that the core governance procedures and rules were fundamentally sound during HIH’s final months, but that ultimately the company’s board was able to find ways to achieve technical compliance while still engaging in the kind of activity that the regulations were designed to prevent.(ASIC 2003) In my opinion this can be seen as a failure of the regulations as much as a failure of the company, although clearly it was the decision of individuals such as Adler to deliberately move against these regulations that led to the company’s downfall because there was no proper oversight on the actions of the board. Howeve r Adler and other members of the HIH board were in no way induced or encouraged to act in the way that they did. Rather, they chose to go against the spirit of the rules and act in a manner that was clearly against the best interests of the company. Ultimately, it’s clear that HIH should have been much more cautious when pursuing its expansion, and should have taken greater steps to ensure that its liabilities were covered. By expanding so rapidly, the company was entering markets in which it had little or no experience, yet no provision appears to have been made for the need to leave extra margins while entering these new markets. This is clearly a case of major mismanagement and of over-confidence during a period of major expansion. These problems were increased, by the company’s reaction to its bad financial position, and particularly by Rodney Adler’s decision to attempt to secure investment based on false statements. Even when the company’s enhanced liability was made apparent, in my opinion there still could have been a chance for HIH to recover by introducing a major cost-cutting program and ensuring that future operations would eventually make up for the losses. Adler chose to try to cover up the financial problems in the short-term and hope that his misstatements might ultimately bring the company back onto a strong financial footing that would allow it to cover over his mismanagement so that it would never become public. This approach by Adler was designed to fix the initial over-expansion error, but actually compounded that problem and represented a second serious mistake. The fact that the regulatory authorities were unaware of what was happening in my opinion does not indicate major problems with those authorities, since any company that engages in the level of deception orchestrated at HIH will always have a chance of getting past the rules. Although lessons can be learnt, particularly in terms of the apparently concentration of power in Adler’s hands, there’s clearly a limit to the ability of regulatory groups to cover companies where the directors set out on a determined path to commit fraud and to mislead observers. Although this does not mean that the authorities should not be vigilant, it’s clear that in the case of HIH, ensuring full and proper punishment for Adler and other executives in the aftermath of the collapse, as a warning to others, was in my opinion one of the best options. Bibliography Amerta Mardjono (2005). A tale of corporate governance: lessons why firms fail. Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 20, no. 3 p. 272-283 ASIC (2003). Current corporate governance issues an ASIC perspective. Retrieved from http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/pdflib.nsf/LookupByFileName/nt_busprof_women_corp_gov190903.pdf/$file/nt_busprof_women_corp_gov190903.pdf on the 06.04.2010 Brendan Bailey (2003). Report of the Royal Commission into HIH Insurance. Retrieved from http://www.aph.gov.au/library/Pubs/RN/2002-03/03rn32.htm on the 07.04.2010 David Elias (2005). Adler guilty on 4 charges. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Adler-guilty-on-4-charges /2005/ 02/16/ 1108500154731.html on the 03.04.2010 on the 04.04.2010 David Kehl (2001). HIH Insurance Group Collapse. Retrieved from http://www.aph.gov.au/library/INTGUIDE/econ/hih_insurance.htm on the 30.03.2010 hihroyalcom.gov.au (2003). The failure of HIH insurance. Retrieved from http://www.hihroyalcom.gov.au/finalreport/Front%20Matter,%20critical%20assessment%20and%20summary.HTML#_Toc37086537 on the 05.04.2010 Karen Percy (2005). Rodney Adler receives prison sentence. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1345296.htm on the 07.04.2010 M .Westfield , (2003) HIH: The Inside Story of Australia’s Biggest Corporate Collapse. Sydney: John Wiley Sons Australia, Philomena Leung Barry.J. Cooper (2005). The Mad Hatter’s corporate tea party. Managing Auditing Journal, vol. 18, no. 6/7 p. 505-516

Documentary photography

Documentary photography Intro Documentary photography is extended form — that is, a work composed of a sizeable number of images. Some relation to text is a given, even if its only minimal, as in the identification of subject, date, and location; the text may in fact be extensive. There is no external time limit implicit in this form; some documentary projects have stretched over decades. For this reason, the documentary photographer is likely to have the opportunity to refine the project, not only through the analysis of the work-in-progress at various stages but even by the reshooting of unsatisfactory segments of the work. The elaborate nature of such projects lends itself to subjects that are seen as enduring; for much the same reason, the final forms they assume tend to be durable: the book and the exhibition have to date functioned as the primary embodiments of documentary projects, though certain audio-visual formats are serving this purpose with increasing frequency. The expose, the compassion and outrage, of documentary fuelled by the dedication to reform has shaded over into combinations of exoticism, tourism, voyeurism, psychologism, and metaphysics, trophy hunting – and careerism. It is easy to understand why what has ceased to be news becomes testimonial to the bearer of the news. Documentary testifies, finally, to the bravery or (dare we name it?) the manipulativeness and savvy of the photographer, who entered a situation of physical danger, social restrictedness, human decay, or combinations of these and saved us the trouble. Or who, like the astronauts, entertained us by showing us the places we never hope to go. War photography, slum photography, â€Å"subculture† or cult photography, photography of the foreign poor, photography of â€Å"deviance.† As I see it, the intentions of a documentary photographer are to record some aspects of reality, by producing a depiction of what the photographer saw and which portends to represent that reality in as objective a manner as possible. I believe we have already discussed in all sorts of forums the fact that photography per se, is tantamount to manipulation. That the impact of the lens selected, the film chosen, and all the other technical variables leave ample room to question the so called faithful representation of reality. So let us not mull over this one endlessly, as I think it thins the debate rather enhances it. The journalist is not some copier machine that simply reproduces mindlessly what is placed on the platen in front of her. He weaves and puts together the information in order to insure that it accurately portrays the information presented in a decision making process that supports the story being presented. As I have come to understand it, it has mainly to do with past traditions and customs. It apparently flies in the face of reason, that if one would alter an image, it no longer could call itself a document. What is wrong in that analysis is that any and all alterations have been treated equal (they are all bad). We know for a fact that not all alterations have the same justifications behind them, that some alterations can even contribute to enhance the veracity of an image rather than the opposite. Furthermore, many of the fears related to the conceptual changes for photography have to do mainly with a loss of certainty of what the photograph actually is delivering, in so far as a document, with little debate about the veracity of the content of a given image. We are of course dealing here with the same sort of ethical debates around editing a story, be that with text or film, even sound tracks, something everyone has been discussing for a long time. For photography it is no different. Why should it be? Since the 1980s photojournalism has been at a crossroads. Digital technologies do impinge on the routines, rituals, traditions, and behaviors of photojournalists. Digital technologies do require a variety of skill-sets that could not have been imagined a half-century ago. The photojournalist of the future will understand the ethical responsibilities that come with electronic digital manipulation. The rise of documentary photography does not spring from fashion. Rather its rapid growth represents strong organic forces at work, strong creative impulses seeking an outlet suitable to the serious and tense spirit of our age. The proof that documentary photography is not a fad or a vogue lies in the history of other movements in photography. Against this pattern of sterility, of ideas which could not reproduce themselves, we have the new function (and evolving from it the new esthetic) of documentary photography, an application of photography direct and realistic, dedicated to the profound and sober chronicling of the external world. To Lewis Hine, who thirty-five years ago was making photographs of child labor in sweat shops and textile mills, the vague tenents of pictorialism or the even less useful purposes of the photogram or rayograph must be incomprehensible. To the hard-working photographers of the Farm Security Administration, the somewhat remote and abstruse manner of the spiritual heirs of the Photo-Secession may seem too refined. To such a photographer as Berenice Abbott, setting down the tangible visage of New York in precise detain and lineament, the sentimental fantasies of a Fassbinder must be well nigh incredible. We have all had a surfeit of pretty pictures, of romantic views of hilltop, seaside, rolling fields, skyscrapers seen askew, picturesque bits of life torn out of their sordid context. It is life that is exciting and important; and life whole and unretouched. By virtue of this new spirit of realism, photography looks now at the external world with new eyes, the eyes of scientific, uncompromising honesty. The camera eye cannot lie, is lightly said. On the contrary, the camera eye usually does nothing but lie. But the external world is those facts of decay and change, of social retrogression and injusticeas well as the wide miles of America and its vast mountain ranges. The external world, we may add, is the world of human beings; and, whether we see their faces or the works of their hands and the consequences, tragic or otherwise, of their social institutions, we look at the world with a new orientation, more concerned with what is outside than with the inner ebb and flow of consciousness. The fact is a thousand times more important than the photographer; his personality can be intruded only by the worst taste of exhibitionism; this at last is reality. Yet, also, by the imagination and intelligence he possesses and uses, the photographer controls the new esthetic, finds the significant truth and gives it significant form. Body A new generation of photographers has directed the documentary approach toward more personal end. Their aim has not been to reform life, but to know it. Their work betrays a sympathy — almost an affection — for the imperfections and frailties of society. They like the real world, in spite of its terrors, as the source of all wonder and fascination and value — no less precious for being irrational . . . . What they hold in common is the belief that the commonplace is really worth looking at, and the courage to look at it with a minimum of theorizing. Contemporary documentary practice by photographers such as Fazal Sheikh, Simon Norfolk, Luc Delahaye, Paul Graham, Martin Parr and Pedro Meyer examine the social world with a measured sense of contemplation, challenging the traditional conventions of documentary photography in revealing a vision and voice about the real world. As I see it, the intentions of a documentary photographer are to record some aspects of reality, by producing a depiction of what the photographer saw and which portends to represent that reality in as objective a manner as possible. If we can agree to that description, I can already see our critics pounding on their desks accompanied by some degree of glee on their faces, as they suggest that this is precisely the reason why there is no room for the computer to be used in recreating documentary images. That the impact of the lens selected, the film chosen, and all the other technical variables leave ample room to question the so called â€Å"faithful representation† of reality. So why are so many people up in arms about the idea that a photograph edited in the computer is not really a true documentary representation? As I have come to understand it, it has mainly to do with past traditions and customs. It has been widely commented that much of the important photojournalism of the last several years has been done by amateurs — London Underground bombing, Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, coffins of American soldiers coming from Iraq, young woman being flogged in Afghanistan, etc. And now, of course, there are the many images from Iran by amateurs which become even more critical as professionals are banned from the country. Instead of a single iconic photograph we will often be looking at imagery made by people who, as amateurs, are not schooled in the history of photography–they will be making imagery for information, not to replicate or create new icons. As such, their imagery will probably often be both more original and more awkward, but it may also make it more difficult to find the telling metaphors. In this sense, the imagery will be more modest and probably more credible. The need for professional photo essayists with deep understandings of specific cultures, both insiders and foreigners, is more crucial than ever. Somehow they must be paid for their work, and equally important is to find places for them to publish. Like writers and editors, photojournalists are held to a standard of ethics. Each publication has a set of rules, sometimes written, sometimes unwritten, that governs what that publication considers to be a truthful and faithful representation of images to the public. These rules cover a wide range of topics such as how a photographer should act while taking pictures, what he or she can and cant photograph, and whether and how an image can be altered in the darkroom or on the computer. This ethical framework evolved over time, influenced by such things as technological capability and community values; and it is continually developing today. News images shape our culture in ways both profound and deep. These photos have woven themselves into the collective memory of a generation. There are some who would even say that the mounting weight of photographic evidence was the primary cause for public opinion to shift against the war in Vietnam, and hence effected an end to the war itself. As such, to borrow a phrase from pop culture, â€Å"With great power comes great responsibility.†1 Responsible photojournalism means adherence to a standard of ethics. Photographic and video images can reveal great truths, expose wrongdoing and neglect, inspire hope and understanding and connect people around the globe through the language of visual understanding. Photographs can also cause great harm if they are callously intrusive or are manipulated. Ethics is an inherently subjective field. In his seminal textbook, Photojournalism, the Professionals Approach, author and photojournalism professor Kenneth Kobrà © writes, â€Å"Photojournalism has no Bible, no rabbinical college, no Pope to define correct choices.†8 There is no sole arbiter of what is or isnt ethical, and even if there were, the line isnt always black and white. Most texts regarding ethics in photojournalism focus on the issue of what might be termed â€Å"photographic truth† whether a particular image accurately represents the subject or whether it misleads the viewer. The National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics states that the â€Å"primary goal† of the photojournalist is the â€Å"faithful and comprehensive depiction of the subject at hand.† Additionally, photojournalistic ethics might encompass the choices an individual photographer makes while shooting. For example, should a war photographer put down his cameras in order to help an injured soldier? If someone asks that his or her photo not be taken, is it ethical to photograph that person anyway? If ethics in photojournalism is about being â€Å"faithful and comprehensive,† is intentionally underexposing or poorly focusing unethical? Some of these questions sit on the line between journalistic ethics and professionalism. Utilitarianism as a philosophy attempts to weigh positives and negatives of a situation, and maximize the good for the greatest number of people. For example, if gruesome photos of a car crash offend the victims families, but shock the community into driving safely, then by Utilitarianism the taking and publication of those photos is deemed to be ethical. Photographer-centric ethics have to do with photographers choices at the time news photos are captured up until the photos are handed off to an editor. Whether or not to pose a subject, the question regarding what to do with a wounded soldier in combat, and how a photographer treats an image in the darkroom (or in the computer) are all matters of photographer-centric ethics. The method used to reproduce photographs on the printing press was not perfected until the 1880s, and it was not widely adopted for several more years. The New York Times, for example, did not publish photos until 1896. Though The New York Times printed its first photographs in a Sunday Magazine in 1896, the newspaper was not without visual imagery before then. Advertisements in The Times throughout the 1880s feature drawings and etchings, and those tools were occasionally used for news purposes. Though photography was known to many people and gaining popularity as an art form at the time, newspapers lacked the technology (and therefore the ability) to include photographic images as part of their reportage. This, however, did not stop some newspapers from hiring photographers and making use of their images. Some period newspapers employed both graphic artists and news photographers. This process was used at many different newspapers from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The hand-drawn images were popular with readers, and publishers were loathe to switch over to the newer photographic technology. That technology, the halftone process, employed a fine screen that converted an image to a series of dots. When, at last, newspapers and magazines were able to regularly feature photographic images, the photos themselves were almost as much of a story as the news itself. Newspapers throughout the early 20th century are rife with â€Å"worlds first photo of † images. Around the turn of the century, smaller and less complex photo equipment started to become available. Celluloid film, first used for photographic purposes in 1888, was rapidly replacing glass as the substrate for photographic chemicals. This, along with Kodaks famous â€Å"Box Brownie† camera allowed more people to start taking photographs of their own. Among the public, the spread of amateur photography sparked by George Eastmans Kodak and other small cameras and the invention of faster lenses, shutters, and film led to a taste for candid, often close-up images with a sense of immediacy and spontaneity: the posed group portrait was obsolete in leading media by circa 1900. In the 1930s, technology started to work in the photojournalists favor. The Leica camera, invented in 1914 and marketed in 1925, gained popularity first with photographic luminaries such Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and then slowly with the rest of the industry. Thwarted by military censors from reporting the â€Å"what, where, and how† of World War I, journalists engaged the â€Å"who† the human interest stories that were already a staple of early 20th century media. These were cheaper and easier to file than hard news and analysis. they were also encouraged by the new light weight cameras and faster lenses introduced in the mid-1920s. These easily handled cameras performed in low light and could be used surreptitiously. If they did not give birth to the paparazzi as well as â€Å"street photographers those nimble observers of lifes odd encounters and human comedies they helped make spontaneous, sharp-eyed photojournalism a key language of modern vision. They changed the approach of photo reporters: no longer official observers beholden to those in power, photojournalists could be the eyes of the public prying, amused, or watchdog eyes. The split in U.S. society over the war in Vietnam and the controversy about it worldwide were reflected in media coverage, which in turn helped sharpen opposition to the war from around 1968. Photojournalism itself changed. The issues were too complex for neat photographic embodiments, and the war itself had few triumphs. While posing photos and staging news events had been taboo for some time, there was little precedent to inform photographers as to how and whether to render aid to their subjects during active combat. On one hand, helping a wounded soldier might have saved his life. On the other hand, â€Å"helping out† made photographers complicit with their subjects, and removed some of the distance necessary for journalistic objectivity. As photographic technology continued to evolve into the 1980s and 1990s, so too did photojournalistic ethics. The early 1990s saw the dawn of purely digital news photography. In the 1980s, magazines and newspapers started to experiment with incorporating digitized images into their layouts. Though some photojournalists were carrying laptops to remote places, setting up makeshift darkrooms, and scanning and transmitting film photos, the digital switchover did not start in earnest until 1992. With digital technology came digital photo manipulation. While the tenets of ethical news photography still held, there were notable breaches. Throughout photographys history, an unsuspecting public has been fooled by manipulated images. What is of concern to modern media watchers is the justifications used to alter images through computer technology not the fact that such alterations can be published without detection. The difference between todays â€Å"citizen photojournalism† and the aforementioned examples is the ubiquity of the imaging devices in modern society. In 2004, consumers bought 257 million camera-equipped mobile phones. By comparison, during the same time only 68 million digital cameras were sold.69 Millions upon millions of people are walking around with cameras in their pockets, waiting to become accidental photojournalists. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in the general public are not aware of the nuances of photojournalistic ethics. Worse yet, there are people who actively try to dupe or trick the mainstream media into using ethically questionable (or flat-out fake) images. Not only can faked photos be misleading, they can have dramatic real-world consequences. During the 2004 election, it was briefly but widely reported that Senator John Kerry and activist Jane Fonda spoke at the same anti-Vietnam war rally. The accompanying photograph depicts Fonda and Kerry s tanding together at a podium. Nowhere was the power of citizen photojournalism more clearly demonstrated than in the summer of 2005 during the London subway bombings. On July 7, 2005, three bombs exploded on London subway cars, and a fourth detonated on a bus. Fifty-two people died, and some 700 were injured.74 Within minutes of the blasts, citizens began chronicling the aftermath using both standalone cameras and cameras embedded in mobile devices. While working photojournalists and other members of the press responded as quickly as they could, their still images were not as intimate or immediate as those taken by the affected passengers. Some of those passengers who took pictures with their mobile devices later uploaded them to photo-sharing websites like flickr.com. The next day, in a journalistic first, both The New York Times and the Washington Post ran front-page camera phone images that were taken by citizens, not by photojournalists.75 In describing the emerging citizen journalism trend, Dennis Dunleavy o f The Digital Journalist writes, â€Å"The future is here, now. The future came with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the devastation of the tsunami in the Pacific late last year, and now without question, London. The digital camera phone is the future and we have much to learn from this emerging technology.†76 Conclusion The great challenge here is to deconstruct previous templates so that they not be relied upon to continue the generic typecasting of journalism famine, flood, bombing, crime wave, accident, power figures, etc. A conversational media will begin with the humanity of the person (the subject), not their social ranking. Rather than being looked at by the journalist, it will be generally better to think of the subject as potentially becoming involved in the conversation. Since photography itself is only about 150 years old, this was not always the case. It would be impossible, of course, for â€Å"photojournalistic ethics† to predate photojournalism itself. While the concept of â€Å"ethics† has been around since the dawn of recorded history, photography has not. As of this writing, photography is still less than two hundred years old. It is fairly obvious that no ethical system could exist for any sort of photojournalism before photography was invented. This might appear to suggest an acceptable date from which to begin studying ethics in American photojournalism why not start at the beginning of photography? Even after Nicà ©phore Nià ©pce fixed the first permanent photographic images in 1826, it took several decades (and several inventors) before mankind had the technology to marry photography with text on the printed page. Photojournalism is a large and diverse field with very little consensus regarding ethics, even within small sub-genres (community newspaper photojournalism, for example). While most working press photographers should be aware of the consequences of ethical breaches, there is no â€Å"Photojournalists Hippocratic Oath,† no common Ten Commandments of ethics in photojournalism, nor are there standard â€Å"punishments† for ethical violations. Each publication and news organization sets its own ethical standards, which may simply come down to what it will tolerate, or what will sell more papers, in terms of pushing the ethical envelope. Sometimes these rules are written down in concrete codes of ethics, and sometimes they are simply the empirical sum of what is acceptable to the staff or a particular editor at a particular publication. Images in our pages that purport to depict reality must be genuine in every way. No people or objects may be added, rearranged, reversed, distorted or removed from a scene (except for the recognized practice of cropping to omit extraneous outer portions). Adjustments of color or gray scale should be limited to those minimally necessary for clear and accurate reproduction, analogous to the burning and dodging that formerly took place in darkroom processing of images. Pictures of news situations must not be posed. In the cases of collages, montages, portraits, fashion or home design illustrations, fanciful contrived situations and demonstrations of how a device is used, our intervention should be unmistakable to the reader, and unmistakably free of intent to deceive. Captions and credits should further acknowledge our intervention if the slightest doubt is possible. The design director, a masthead editor or the news desk should be consulted on doubtful cases or proposals for exceptions . After tracing the history of ethics in photojournalism and examining the state of those ethics today, one cannot help but wonder where photojournalistic ethics are going. Since nobody can confidently predict the future, the only option is to examine current trends and extrapolate. Certain issues are on the cutting edge of the present photojournalistic ethics discussion, and those issues are likely to play significant roles in shaping tomorrows photojournalism. Of course, without a crystal ball there is no way to be sure. From the invention of flash powder that made it possible for Jacob Riis to document the hideous conditions in New York tenements, to the Adobe Photoshop software that Brian Walski used to doctor his image, technology has certainly played a part in the evolution of todays ethical system. One might even say that technology has been the predominant influence in the evolution of todays ethical system (at the very least, but for the technology of photography itself, there would be no photojournalism). Likewise, technology will almost certainly be the driving influence regarding ethics in the future. Multiple factors will drastically change the ethical landscape. These include the further assimilation of digital photography work-flows into the newsroom, the improvement of consumer photo technology, and the omnipresence of photo technology including cameras in portable devices such as cell phones and PDAs. The shift away from printed material and towards electronic media for image consumption will also leave its own mark on photojournalistic ethics. Digital photography is the predominant means of image capture for American newspaper and magazine photojournalism today. Not only has it been that way for several years, the rate at which it has taken over is astounding. This bitwise blitzkrieg of sorts has brought with it new and difficult ethical challenges. In the â€Å"old days† before digital photography, images had a definite physicality. Photographs were fixed on pieces of film acetate coated in a chemical emulsion and developed in chemical baths. A photograph was something that could be held in ones hand. While not impossible, it was far more difficult to pull off a convincing photo fake. Twenty years ago, Brian Walski could never have doctored his image in the field. What might have taken minutes on his laptop would have taken hours, or even days, in a darkroom. Though the news cycle has sped up considerably since then, even two decades ago most newspapers and magazines couldnt afford that sort of delay before publication.65 Using Adobe Photoshop, the software with which Walski effected his fake, is more convenient, more effective, and easier than altering photos in a wet darkroom. Newer cameras and more powerful editing software both impact photojournalistic ethics, however sometimes that impact can be surprising. Since so much of the substance of journalistic ethics is about the process rather than the result, technology that enables new (or old) processes will automatically impact the ethical landscape. One recent example is the release of the Nikon D2x camera. The D2x is a professional caliber SLR with a unique feature it allows the photographer to create multiple-exposure images in the camera itself.66 Before digital imaging, most SLR cameras came with a switch that allowed the photographer to cock the shutter without advancing the film. This allowed the photographer to expose the same frame of film multiple times. One frequent use for this feature was to couple it with a motor drive, and take a sequence of photos that showed motion throughout a single frame. With the advent of the digital SLR, photographers lost the ability to use this technique in-camer a. For a similar effect, photographers could take a series of images and overlay them with digital editing software. Most publications, however, insisted upon labeling these images as â€Å"photo-illustrations† because of the ex post facto manipulation. The Nikon D2x restored the photojournalists license to create multiple exposure images. In addition to professional equipment, consumer and â€Å"prosumer† camera technology is also improving, and cameras included in mobile devices are starting to become more popular. Many of these mobile devices are networked (cell phones, for example), and are capable of transmitting images in near real time. During major news events, some photo editors are inundated with images from â€Å"citizen photojournalists.†67 Citizen journalism, of course, is nothing new. This widespread citizen media production and consumption raises an important question. With more and more people carrying cameras in their pockets, will the future have a place for the â€Å"professional† photojournalist? At first the question seems compelling for two reasons access and tools. In terms of access, it is impossible for a small cadre of trained photojournalists to be everywhere and to photograph everything that is newsworthy. There were no working photojournalists aboard the London bus and trains that were bombed, but there were people with camera phones. With each successive generation of camera phone improving in resolution and quality, the gap between the professionals tools and the citizens tools is closing, just as the ubiquity of those tools is increasing. â€Å"Professionalism,† however, connotes more than being in the right place at the right time with the right camera. In the photojournalism industry, professionalism means technical skill, news gathering experience, and of course ethics. Photojournalist Nancy L. Ford writes: A photojournalists job is to go out and experience life for others, to capture an event on film, and hopefully capture the emotion that was experienced, so the readers can see and feel what it was like to be there. The photojournalist must capture the truth, too. This means the photographer must only photograph what has happened, when it happened and not recreate a situation because they didnt get there on time. They must not move things around on the scene of an event to make the pictures look better. They must not alter their photographs on the computer or in the darkroom, like take an ugly telephone pole out of a picture. The photojournalist must also tell the truth, just like the reporter.77 [The] unsupervised approach may be even more of a problem with photography, because the meaning of an image can be manipulated through use in a false context, or no context at all. In the looting that followed the fall of Saddam Husseins regime there were photographs of US soldiers with arms full of money taken off the looters they had arrested, and which they were returning to an appropriate location. The same photographs could represent responsible people attempting to restore law and order, or ruthless invaders plundering the country that was their victim, your choice, depending on who you are and where you are. With technology enabling even the most unskilled amateur to take good quality photographs such misrepresentations are likely to occur more frequently. Not only will there be a greater number of images of any given event, but once theyre on the Internet they will be readily available to anyone with an agenda. Furthermore, amateur photographers dont have the same training as professional photojournalists, nor have they acquired the same experience and instincts.78 This professionalism, experience, and instinct is what ensures the existence of the photojournalist well into the future. Reportage has occured since the dawn of printed news, yet seldom is the place of the professional print journalist questioned. This is in spite of the fact that ordinary citizens sometimes have greater or more immediate access, and that many people carry pencils and paper (the tools of the print journalists trade). In the world of written journalism, professional journalists (who are bound by their own ethics) cull quotations from non-journalists. Absent blogs, nobody asks citizens to write whole news articles about what they witness. In other words, though recently The New York Times ran a camera phone image that was taken by a â€Å"citizen photojournalist† on its front page, it is doubtful that they

I am The Universe Essay -- Character Analysis, Moby Dick, Ahab

Everyone is responsible for their own actions. Moreover, Fate is just a scapegoat if something goes wrong. Captain Ahab, a character in the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville, is a victim of his own negligent actions. As a result, he faces an unfortunate death from the fury of the white whale. Ahab places all of his hate on the whale, whom is later referred to as Moby Dick, because he lost a leg to him. He thinks that Moby Dick represents all of the hatred and evil in the world, and that he must go and destroy it. Yet, he is fully responsible for his own death due to the fact that he overlooked the warning signs that Nature and God provided for him, lacked communication between him and his shipmates, and preferred to be isolated from the crew in order to fuel his monomaniac conscience to put Moby Dick to his death. Because Ahab is the captain of the ship, he assumed that he ultimately had higher authority than God. God, in his mind, was in the wrong, by letting Moby Dick â€Å"dismember† (Melville 161) him; leading into Captain Ahab’s growing fixation with the beast. While being infatuated with Moby Dick, he is forced to ignore the obvious signs from Nature that were telling him to change his plans if he desired to live. However, Ahab chose to ignore the warning signs that were thrown at him throughout the novel. One omen that Ahab chose to pay no heed to was when the Pequod â€Å"was left to fight a Typhoon which had struck [it] directly ahead† (482). The result of that typhoon was that the ship changed directions, heading West rather than East. Ahab realized this when he â€Å"turned to eye the bright sun’s rays† and claimed that â€Å"[he’ll] be taken now for the sea-chariot of the sun† (495), meaning that the Pequod was pulling the sun along wi... ...e and child, too, are Starbuck’s† (521). Ahab refuses to turn the ship around since his â€Å"glance was averted; like a blighted fruit tree he shook, and cast his last, cindered apple to the soil† (521). Therefore, Ahab ultimately deserves his death since he has brought it upon himself. Ahab had been killed by hemp, referred to through Fedallah’s prophecy. The death was well deserved to the monomaniac captain whose heresy conquered the humanity in him through his own freewill. By bolstering about his immortality on land and on sea, Ahab had fueled the idea that he was a superb being. He had shielded his eyes from every sign that Nature and God bestowed upon his sight, failed to effectively communicate with his shipmates and crew, and continuously isolated himself in his quarters throughout the journey. Through Ahab’s poor actions, he was responsible for his demise.

The Role of Ethnicity and Race in the Way Audiences Interpret Media Mes

The Role of Ethnicity and Race in the Way Audiences Interpret Media Messages According to the sociological definition of race and ethnicity, there is a close interrelation between race and ethnicity. Race has not been defined by the biological difference that it is stood on the social construct. Race does not discriminate the skin color from others which is related to the ethnicity. Race is defined on the social construct which based on physical and cultural features (Fulcher & Scott, 2007). ‘Ethnicity is a general category for describing collective identities’ (Fulcher & Scott, 2007:200). Ethnicity is based on the cultural and historical background that it means the people in this ethnic group is sharing the same language, religion and same experience of life. Ethnicity is the ethnic characteristic for the specific race. Ethnicities represent the role for separating the different race. In terms of race, people might have the racism to the different culture of others which might base on the historical colonization, the control of the western culture and so on (Fulcher& Scott, 2007). This racism also occurs in the media. The western media may intentionally neglect the people of Black or Asian. Media are more likely to use the white people as their main character. Although media has increased the number of the Black and Asian people in recent year on the screen, there is still the inequality in the media product. The Black and Asian people might totally disappear in some scene which is shot in the place with the large number of Black and Asian people (Ross & Playdon, 2001). This phenomenon provokes the anger and dissatisfaction of the Black and Asian people. Also, media may offer the wrong information for those minorit... ...rom you born to die that race is innate for everyone. In this world, everyone is equal that each person might have the same right to stay in this society. Works Cited Fulcher, J. and Scott, J., (2007) Sociology 3rd ed., Oxford : Oxford University Press Ross,K.,(2001) White Media, Black audience: Diversity and Dissonance on British Television in Ross, K. & Playdon, P.(eds.) Black marks : minority ethnic audiences and media, London: Ashgate Dines, G. & Humez, J.M.(eds.) (2002) Gender, race, and class in media : a text-reader London : Sage Dickinson,R., Harindranath, R. & Linnà ©. O.,(1998) Approaches to audiences : a reader, London : Arnold Saltzis, K.(Professor), (2010 February 23) CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE AUDIENCE Lecture 5, University of Leicester, UK Downing, J. & Husband, C. (2005) Representing race: racisms, ethnicities and media, London: SAGE

Development of English Lit During Any One Period Essay

Trace the development of English lit during any one period†¦As part of your discussion highlight how significant events in the influence the writing†¦Additionally show how characteristics of the genre the writer uses reflects the period in which it was written. James Arthur Baldwin once stated that: â€Å"know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.† This quotation may apply to the span of the Anglo-Saxon period because of the coherent linkage to the origination of the English dialect and the modernization of English Literature. Over the years English literature has evolved greatly. There have been diverse changes to the structure and development of English language since the advent of Old English dialect during the Anglo-Saxon period to what we now speak and consider to be English language. â€Å"Old English is not uniform. It consists of various dialects, but literature needs to treat it as a lang uage† (Michael Delahoyde.) Research has proven that around the world there are over one hundred (100) variants of English, from different American-English dialects, to those of Asia, Africa and Oceana. It is important for one to know both the origin of this powerful masterpiece known as the English Language and the importance of this literary period to the development of English literature. In attempting to do the aforementioned, the focus will be on the Anglo-Saxon people, their society, culture, and literary work with a view towards highlighting the impact on the development of the English language and English literature. The Anglo-Saxon or Old English period goes from the invasion of Celtic England in the first half of the fifth century (AD 700) up till the conquest in 1066 by William of Normandy. The Anglo-Saxons consisted of diverse ethnicity that forms one nation. There were three main ethnic groups that formed the Anglo-Saxon. These are: Angles from Angel in South-West Denmark, Saxon from North-West Ger many, and Jute from Jutland in Central Denmark. These three main ethnic groups have made up most of the Anglo-Saxon society. However; smaller group of people from Germanic ethnic group were also associated with the Anglo-Saxons. These people shared the same language but were each ruled by different strong warriors who invaded and conquered Britain while the Romans were still in control. The Angles and the Saxon tribe being the largest of the groups when attacking other ethnic groups were often called the Anglo-Saxons. England which means the Land of the Angles was a name given after the Anglo-Saxon. A writer describes them as: â€Å"A warrior society that put swords and shields before fancy artifacts. Helmets were placed before gold and death before dishonour.† The Anglo-Saxon was a pagan society and the people were initially free; however, life for even the richest of the social groups was very hard. The Anglo-Saxon society had three social classes. There was an upper-class, middle class and a lower class. The Anglo-Saxon upper class was the Thanes. They would give gifts like weapons to their followers and they enjoyed hunting and feasting. The churls were the middle class in the Anglo-Saxon Society. Some churls were wealthy people while some were very poor. The lower class was slaves called Thralls. The churls and the Thanes were owners of Land. However, some churls had to rent land from a Thane. They would then work the Thane land for part of the week and give him part of their crops in exchange for rent. â€Å"The basis of society was the free peasant. However in time Anglo-Saxon churls began to lose their freedom. They became increasingly dependent on their Lords and under their control† (Tim Lambert.) Researches have indicated that most Anglo-Saxons were primitive subsistence farmers. It has also being proven that some of the men were craftsmen. The farmers grew wheat, barley, peas, cabbage, carrots, rye and parsnip. They reared animals such as pigs, cattle and flocks of sheep. The craftsmen were blacksmith, bronze smith, jewelers and potters. Their homes were made with wood and have thatched roofs. Anglo-Saxon society was decidedly patriarchal, but women were in some ways better off than they would be in later times. â€Å"A woman could own property in her own right. She could and did rule a kingdom if her husband died. She could not be married without her consent and any personal goods, including lands that she brought into a marriage remained her own property. If she were injured or abused in her marriage her relatives were expected to look after her interests† (David Ross.) The women were responsible for grounding of grains, baking of bread, brewing of beer, making of butter and cheese. During this era it was dangerous to travel; thus, most people would travel only if it was unavoidable. If possible they would travel by water along the coast or along the river. During the early Anglo-Saxon period England was a very different place from what it is today. The human population was very small. They grew their own food and made their own clothes†¦ The lord and kin had the strongest ties in the Anglo-Saxon society. The ties of loyalty were to the person of a lord. There was no real concept of patriotism or loyalty to a cause. â€Å"Kings could not, except in exceptional circumstances, make new laws. Their role instead was to uphold and clarify previous custom. The first act of a conquering king was often to assure his subjects that he would uphold their ancient privileges, laws, and customs† (David Ross.) One of the most famous kings during the Anglo-Saxon period was Ethelberht, king of Kent (reigned c.560-616). He married Bertha, the Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and who became the first English king to be converted to Christianity. â€Å"Ethelberht’s law code was the first to be written in any Germanic language and included 90 laws. His influence extended both north and south of the river Humber: his nephew became king of the East Saxons.â₠¬  (The Royal Household) Kinship was very important in the Anglo-Saxon society. If you were killed your relatives would avenge you. If one of your relatives were killed you were expected to avenge them. However the law did offer an alternative. If you killed or injured somebody you could pay them or their family compensation. This led to bloody and extensive feuds. The money paid was called wergild and it set a monetary value on each person’s life according to their wealth and social status. The wergild for killing a thane was much more than that for killing a churl. Thralls or slaves had no wergild. If the wergild was not paid the relatives were entitled to seek revenge. The wergild value could also be used to set the fine payable if a person was injured or offended against. Robbing a thane called for a higher penalty than robbing a churl. On the other hand, a thane who thieves could pay a higher fine than a churl who did likewise. The Anglo-Saxons enjoyed storytelling, riddles and games. Most Anglo-Saxon poetry emerges from an oral tradition and was meant for entertainment. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works , chronicles, riddles, and others. Poets were known as Scops and harpists Gleemen. They would sing or recite and were the only historians of the time. The poetic structure was based on accent and alliteration (not rhyme and meter). The minstrels and gleemen would entertain the lord and his men by singing and playing the harp. Michael Delahoyde from Washington State University stated in an argument that â€Å"We get our syntax from the Anglo-Saxons, our preference for and greater ease with nouns, the tendencies to simplify grammar and shorten words, and the â€Å"law of recessive accent† — the tendency to place the accent on the first syllable and to slur over subsequent syllables. The poem Beowulf, which has achieved national epic status in England and Judith, are among the most important works of this period. Other writings such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are significant to the study of the era, as it provides preserving chronology of early English history, while the poem Cà ¦dmon’s Hymn to d ate survives as the oldest extant work of literature in English. Researchers have suggested that there are twelve known medieval poets as most Old English poets are anonymous. Only four of those are known by their vernacular works to us today with any certainty: Caedmon, Bede, Alfred the Great, and Cynewulf. Of these, only Caedmon, Bede, and Alfred the Great have known biographies. The epic Beowulf reflects the era that it was written in greatly as it speaks immensely about pagan deities, a Christian tradition and about a warrior society. A writer describes it as â€Å"the symbol of the antiquity and continuity of English poetry.† â€Å"Several features of Beowulf folktale and the sense of sorrow for the passing of worldly things mark it as elegiac†¦The Germanic tribal society is indeed central to Beowulf. The tribal lord was to ideals of extraordinary martial valor†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (David Damrosch, pg 27). The poet careful use of varied themes and techniques such as alliterations â€Å"as a structural principle† (pg27), litotes, compound words, repetitions, nobility, heroic glory and distribution of gifts highlighted the way and life of t he people of that era. Beowulf highlighted the Christian traditional beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons people by pin pointing the beliefs that God is the creator of all things and the ruler of the heavens. Throughout Beowulf, whenever any great men manage to achieve heroic feats, the narrator will be careful to attribute their prowess to God’s favor and divine plan. â€Å"He knew what they had toiled, the long times and troubles they’d come through without a leader; so the Lord of Life, the glorious Almighty, made this man renowned.† (Beowulf 12-17) Beowulf complex religious background reflected the era of the Anglo-Saxon people. The description of the creation shows an unusual mishmash with the pagan imagery of the demonic beast â€Å"Grendel† and the Christian imagery of a caring God that creates all things. â€Å"Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall, the harp being struck and the clear song of a skilled poet telling with mastery of man’s beginnings, how the Almighty had made the earth a gleaming plain girdled with waters; in His splendo ur He set the sun and the moon to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men, and filled the broad lap of the world with branches and leaves; and quickened life in every other thing that moved.† (86-98). Beowulf invokes the values of the warrior society of the Anglo- Saxon period in several ways. During the Anglo-Saxon period the relationship between the warrior and his lord consisted of mutual trust; loyalty, and respect. There was a symbolic importance of spiritual materials which entails giving of honour/worth, and the value of ultimate achievements which was a visible proof that all parties are realizing themselves to the fullest in a spiritual sense. These values are all highlighted in the epic Beowulf. Beowulf also reflected the value of kinsmen to exact wergild (man-price) or to take vengeance for their kinsmen’s death. The need to take vengeance created never-ending feuds, bloodshed, a vast web of reprisals and counter-reprisals (a strong sense of doom). These aspects of the Anglo-Saxon warrior society was highlighted in a fatal evil aspect one of such was Grendel and the dragon in undertaking to slay Grendel, and later Grendel’s mother, Beowulf is testing his relationship with unknowable destiny. Whether he lives or dies, he will have done all that any warrior would do during that period. The oldest surviving vernacular text in English is called Hymn and was written by Caedmon who is best-known and considered the father of Old English poetry. This poem is an example of pagan and Christian fusion in order to promote Christian themes in a pagan society. Caedmon’s hymn is recorded in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica, and marks the beginning of tremendous developments within textual transmission and the heroic genre itself. â€Å"Caedmon’s Hymn may be regarded as an early forerunner of the dream vision narrative. This style of poetry is formulated by an individual who has experienced a dreamlike revelation within which they are guided by an authoritative figure; in Caedmon’s case this figure being God. The â€Å"hero† discussed within the poem is perhaps unconventional in modern terms, but just as the Gods of classical literature were seen as heroes within their cultural context, so too does the Christian God in Caedmon’s Hymn represent a hero to the people of Caedmon’s culture. The poem features heavy use of stylistic features archetypal of Anglo-Saxon poetry.† (Tiarnan O Sullivan.) Caedmon had lived at the abbey of Whitby in Northumbria in the 7th century. Only a single nine-line poem remains. â€Å"Now let us praise the Guardian of the Kingdom of Heaven Works Cited The Anglo-Saxon Kings. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Anglo-Saxon Poetry.† – New World Encyclopedia. N.p., 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. . Baldwin, James A. â€Å"à ¢Ã‚€Å“Know from Whence You Came. If You Know Whence You Came, There Are Absolutely No Limitations to Where You Can Go.à ¢Ã‚€Â .† Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Beowulf.† Beowulf. Georgetown University, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2012. . Damrosch, David. â€Å"Beowulf.† The Longman Anthology of British Literature.