Reading Habits free essay sample

It is no understatement to say that I read whenever and wherever I can. Reading is my absolute favorite activity, bar none. I read everything I can get my hands on; books, essays, newspapers and magazines. Every night, before going to sleep, I will read as much as I can before drifting off. I devour books, going through 2 or 3 a week. Over time, I have progressed from slivers of texts to weighty tomes of exposition. I can give thanks to a single person for many of my reading habits, and that person is my father. In a effort to encourage reading, John Fitzpatrick told his four children many years ago that there was a unlimited budget for books. I asked for this statement in writing and immediately set forth to enjoying this privilege to an extreme. When I was eight years old, I read story books about spaceships and dragons, and heroics where the good guys always win and evil is always vanquished. We will write a custom essay sample on Reading Habits or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Slowly, as my adolescent mind developed, I started to read things that were more complex and intellectually challenging. Following the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Louis Stevenson, I started reading books such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders and The Portrait of Dorian Grey. By freshman year, I was reading books by Herman Hesse, Nobokov and Dostoevsky. Each book expanded my horizons and introduced new questions to my mind. My father learned the unintended consequence of his policy as it applied to a prolific reader: an unlimited financial liability. He attempted several times to renegotiate the terms of our agreement but gained only one concession: limiting the number of books that could be purchased at a single time (solution: more trips to the book store). I continued to read voraciously, adding newspapers and magazines to my love of fiction. Each story taught me something. Every story challenged my thinking in large and small ways. One book has been particularly instrumental toward shaping my thinking: George Orwell’s masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four. This small book influenced my thinking on topics such as freedom and control. The aspect of the book that I would like to focus on is the concept of â€Å"Newspeak.† Newspeak is the constructed language that Big Brother creates. It is related to English, but is a reductionist language. The language seeks to eliminate all synonyms and antonyms. All words with a negative meaning or connotation were eliminated. Instead of having the word â€Å"bad†, in it’s place was the Newspeak word â€Å"ungood.† Words with a superlative meaning such as â€Å"excellent† or â€Å"superb† were all replaced by the Newspeak word â€Å"doubleplusgood.† The purpose of the language is to extend control over the people who speak and think in it. Newspeak is meant to make rebellion and â€Å"thoughtcrime† impossible by removing all words that express such concepts. The stated end goal of this language is to make the only thought that Big Brother’s subjects can think is â€Å"yes†. So how has this concept of a constructed language influenced my thinking? I became more aware and sensitive to the power of language. Some governments have the ability to censor books and news to remove anything or anyone that challenges goals or ideals. The censorship of language is even more ominous because this removes the ability to verbalize ideas or question discrepancies between words and actions. Simply, if words do not exist, feelings and concepts cannot be conveyed between people and within societies. Knowing this, it is interesting to note that a 2011 edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has just been published by NewSouth Books, replacing the word n***** with slave and eliminates the term Injun. The 216 uses of the word â€Å"n*****† and â€Å"injun† were replaced with the â€Å"politically correct† word â€Å"slave.† Critics of the NewSouth Books edition question the removal of the actual words that the author wrote. Storytelling is not random, each word has a place and a specific purpose in a piece. I do not believe that Mark Twain would have agreed to remove the words which conveyed the cultural and historical context of his storytelling. Mark Twain was satirizing the racism that was endemic within his society. As evidence, a quote by Twain provides insight into his thinking on this very matter: â€Å"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.† In chapter three of Nineteen Eighty-Four Orwell writes if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. He further writes, Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date.† Orwell continued by saying, nor was any item of newswhich conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. The sanitizing of a now historical novel to meet the political needs of the moment robs the story of its essential truth about the racism rampant in 1884 Southern society. I hope this essay gives you an insight into my reading habits and highlights a novel that continues to be relevant today, not just to me, but to society as a whole.

Spinal Injuries essays

Spinal Injuries essays Spinal injuries are a very serious, and even life-threatening, problem facing almost everyone at some point in there lives. If a broken vertebra pinches a spinal nerve, paralysis may result. The spine is a column of vertebrae stacked one on the next from the skulls base to the tail bone. Each vertebra is hollow through the center where the spinal cord runs through. There are some signs and symptoms that you should check for if you suspect spinal injury on an injured person. Head injuries may indicate that the head may have been snapped in one of more directions. If the victim is conscious, ask them if they feel a pain when they move their arms or legs. Also, the victim may feel numbness, tingling, weakness, or burning in their arms of legs. They may also lose control of their bowls or bladder. However, deformity or an odd looking angle of the head serves as the best clue to a serious spinal injury. If the victim is unconscious, you should check for cuts, bruises and deformities; that may serve as a good clue to spinal injuries. You should also test their responses by pinching their hands and feet. If no reaction occurs, spinal The first and most important thing you should do is keep the victim immobile at all times. The only exeption to that would be if the victim is in a dangerous place such a burning building or car. The second first aid procedure you should administer would be monitoring the breathing by using a jaw thrust. Be sure to keep the head and neck still. Victims usually required a neck splint, but one should not be put on by you. It takes at least two trained EMS people to put a neck brace on. Since you can not put on a brace, you should stabilize their neck by putting objects on both sides of the neck. Float the victim gently to shore and place them on a backboard in the water if they are in water. ...

An Analysis of the Seniority Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

An Analysis of the Seniority Problem - Essay Example Seniority in Companies can be positive or negative. This paper will discuss the positive and the negative of Seniority in companies non-unionized and unionized. How will Seniority affect the Company, Management, Co-Workers? The concept of seniority refers to an individual or a group who is in charge of or commands another individual or group. In companies seniority is often followed by additional privileges such as higher salary, more authority over subordinates, favorable work hours etc. â€Å"Seniority means precedence of position, especially precedence over others of the same rank by reason of a longer span of service. It is a system often used by employers as a basis for granting job benefits† (US Legal, 2009). Seniority systems help in protecting the employees from indiscriminate termination, occasioned by whims, malice or prejudice of the employer. On the other hand, it also helps in creating a harmonious work environment, filled with co-operation and solidarity amongst the workers (Ezorsky, Nickel, 1987). Several companies are known to offer job bidding rights to their employees which facilitate them in availing several perquisites. However these bidding rights are subject to certain restrictions imposed by the organizations, for instance, the employee claiming such a benefit must be employed in the company for a period of at least 12 months and / or worked in his capacity for a period of at least 6 months in his current job. Those who qualify are eligible to bid for additional benefits offered by the company such as promotion or transfer. According to Edwards (1993) â€Å"The right to seniority preference is closely linked to job – bidding rights†. In some organizations seniority preference rather often tend to be the determining factor in for employment, promotion, or transfer, and where factors such as qualification, skill and work record are more or less equal, seniority is

Critically Evaluate the Claim That the Processes of Globalization Are Essay

Critically Evaluate the Claim That the Processes of Globalization Are Undermining the Democratic State - Essay Example The discussion includes the definitions of globalization and democracy and the interrelation between them. It proceeds to discuss the threat caused by globalization to democracy and factors of globalization responsible for this threat. The roles of the governments and individuals with to globalization and its impact on democracy has also been evaluated in the paper along with the role of economic globalization in undermining democratic state. The argument is supported by adequate evidences to support the idea of the discussion. This report makes a conclusion that there are many economists who are of the opinion that globalization has paved the way for the formation of democratic states where there is no democracy. The people of those authoritarian countries have started demanding for democracy and this could have been possible because of the globalization. According to the theories of democracy it is the government of the people, for the people and by the people. If we examine the impact of globalization on these theories we may say that there are democratic governments formed by the people. But according to the moral principles of democracy it can be easily observed that the globalization has undermined the democratic state. The welfare of the common people is totally neglected in this age of globalization and it has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor tremendously.

The effect of Salbutamol on the response of Ileum to Acetylcholine Essay

The effect of Salbutamol on the response of Ileum to Acetylcholine - Essay Example This clearly implies that there is no significant effect of sulbutamol on the way the ileum responds to acetylechline. However, there is a significant effect of the sulbutamol on the way ileum responds to nicotine. This desensitisation was purely characterised by increasing values of EC (50) of nicotine without a change in its maximal effect. This thus implies that treatment of ileum with salbutamol after exposure to the acetylcholine, had little desensitisation while treatment of ileum with salbuamol after exposure to nicotine caused some larger increase in the Nicotine-mediated phoshoinositide hydrolysis. Response to question 2. Salbutamol could be referred to as an adrenergic agonist receptor, which is used to reduce the effects of bronchospasm in diseases like asthma. It is also used in the treatment of cystic fibrosis, pulmozyme, acetylcysteine, and iprptropium that is linked to DOK-7. As an example of a beta2-agonist, sulbutanol can also be used in obstetrics. The salbutamol th at is intravenous could be utilised as a tocolytic in relaxing the smooth muscles of the uterus, and hence delay premature labour. This has made sulbutamol be the most preferred agent. In the context of this experiment, salbutamol antagonist’ caused a parallel shift of the given dose response curve.

Philosophy Essays Platonic Epistemology Socratic

Philosophy Essays Platonic Epistemology Socratic Platonic epistemology seeks answers to key questions regarding the nature of reality, man, mind/soul, knowledge, being and becoming. The nature of this paper allows only the broadest brush strokes across the Platonic canvas. However following a brief introduction in which I will discuss the Socratic method and its influence on Platonic philosophy. Plato like his predecessor and mentor Socrates, aimed to identify the world around him using a more in depth methodology, from others that had been employed previously. The more Humanistic nature of Socratic enquiry was in marked contrast to the pre Socratic Naturalist approach. In The Republic Plato sets about an examination of specific concepts presented as a serious of dialogues or in a dialectic style. Through various metaphors and dialectic prose Plato delineates theories of reality (including the world of forms and being), the doctrine of Recollection, the roles of dialectic and aporia, and the tripartite structure theories of man and state. Benjamin Jowett in his edition of The Republic suggests the greater aim of Platos work is the â€Å"search after justice† embodying the fields of reality, man and knowledge discussed â€Å"On the basis of proverbial morality by Socrates and Polemarchus then caricatured by Thrasymachus reduced to an abstraction by Glaucon and Adeimantus† all based on the constructs of man and state as delineated by Socrates Influenced by his mentor Socrates and other Greek thinkers mentioned by Jowett. Platos work is still applicable today in a priori philosophies; Idealists concepts such as the tripartite nature of Man and State would have remarkable relevance in modern political theories including Utilitarianism and Communisms. Andrew Levine in his book Engaging Political Philosophy postulates: â€Å"Rousseaus investigation in The Social Contract was the realm of Platonic ideas or forms in contrast to the world of appearances, where de facto legitimate states exists† Any discussion on Platonic epistemology must inevitably weigh the influence of the Socratic school. Platos Socrates is the key to understanding the complexity of Platos thought. Socratic contrarianism and its methodology of aporia, a sort of constant intellectual [foundational] doubting, left Socrates free to claim that he was the wisest of men and was at the same time ‘wise in no way great or small. Platos later theories and epistemology would develop with Socrates almost rebellious dialectical style, questioning the accepted traditional beliefs of Greek intellectual society. (The historic Socrates stood trial and was sentenced to death for preaching his philosophy publicly; he refused to discontinue the practise) Platos adoption of Socratic contrarianism pervades much of his writings, especially in concepts as fundamentally abstract as his denial of knowledge through empirical observation; As witnessed in the Theaetetus when the Socratic midwife prepares to assist the young Theaetetus with his labours while delivering a reply to Socrates question â€Å"what is knowledge.† When questioned Theaetetus equates knowledge with perception, after intense dialectical questioning, during which Socrates successfully refutes arguments that perception is (biconditional) knowledge Theaetetus finally agrees, (with restrictions) that perception is not knowledge. So commences the search for an answer to the question Socrates asks, â€Å" what is knowledge?† Plato rejected all empirical claims to understand the true nature of knowledge â€Å" Knowledge is not constituted by sense impressions, but by the inferences we make about them, by that means being and truth are attainable, in the other way it is impossible† In the Theaetetus Plato demonstrates the concept of being as â€Å"fundamental and universal† Socrates points to the specialization of bodily sense organs. If we ask which organs enable us to formulate opinions or judgements that range across more than one field of sense-experience, we cannot identify such a grouping. â€Å"the things you perceive by means of another for example, that objects of hearing can not be objects of the seeing and vice versa?† The possession of mathematical knowledge or the ability to formulate judgements does not reside in some empirical â€Å" Sorting office†, Socrates states in the Meno, â€Å"Then knowledge is related to what is and knows what is and is as it is. The objects of mind are eternal; those of the senses always changing. Knowledge never changes; opinion, which is not tied down, is subject to change.† It now seems clear that what the mind knows is being, that which is eternal and unchanging, while the senses inform us concerning the â€Å"intermediate flux† The realm of being is comprised of ideas or forms and that of becoming by changing things. â€Å"Aporia and refutative cross examination serve to purify ambiguous formulation by excluding false and misleading interpretations and opening the path to true ones† reflects Rosemary Desjardins, in Logos in Platos Theatetus. Platos dialogues may indeed be aporetic but by subjecting both his interlocutors and readers to elenchus and meiutic method he hopes to lead from gross perceptibility to finer cognition. The relentless inquisitiveness of the Socratic method in conjunction with aporia lends to a degree of abstraction in the nature of Platos philosophy (referred to in Jowetts introduction to The Republic) evidenced by the allegory of the cave, the doctrine of recollection, the nature of reality, the concept of the divided line, and the theory of forms. The allegory of the cave allowed Plato to postulate several ideas archetypal of Platonic philosophy. The allegory of the cave describes the limit placed on mankind, by an over reliance on sensory perception, and the subsequent systems of knowledge that relied on empirical evidence alone to deduct truths. For Plato, the resultant effect of mans self-shackling (empirical observation) is described in Book VII of The Republic. Plato views mankind as: â€Å"living in a underground [den] which has its mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and neck chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads† Plato does not give a finite explanation of enlightenments form nor does he give an example of reality, what he demonstrates in the allegory of the cave is a clear method or path, that man and society must pursue to achieve deeper knowledge of reality. Like the prisoners emergence from the cave, enlightenment at first will be difficult to understand, like the temporary blindness they suffer when first exposed to sunlight, its an arduous path that takes time, patience, temperance and practice, with the temptation for a return to former ignorance always present. Ignorance when lifted will deliver us into the Real world of philosophy with man finally comprehending his own place on the path to true knowledge. Plato delineates this movement with mathematics through the image of a straight line. He divides this imaginary line into two unequal segments, the large segment represents the intelligible world, and the smaller the visible world. He further divides these segments in the same ratio as his first division. The division in the larger segment represents the world of higher and lower forms (ideas). The division in the visible world represent visible objects and the lowest segment represents their shadows and reflections (imagination). For Plato the line represents the levels of cognition available to man and society. Socrates avowed mission was to educate the Athenian populace up until the last days of his life. He likened his mission to that of a gadfly, ‘stinging the lethargic Athenian horse into wakefulness through the application of philosophical dialectic (Socratic method) Plato believed if entered into in good faith, this method would ensure a cognitive assent along the divided line. He believed until individuals and society, collectively questioned the political, ethical, and moral status quo, conciousness would remain in bondage much like the prisoners restricted mechanical life in the cave. Answering his critics regarding the phenomenon of knowledge Plato states that the soul is immortal â€Å" the soul, since it is immortal, and has been born many times, and seen all things both here and in the other world, has learned every thing that is† Plato offers proof of the souls immortality, in the Phaedrus he postulates that its the nature of the soul to initiate its own changes, in effect to be self moving, rather than moved by an outside agency. Therefore the soul cannot be destroyed nor can it come into being. ‘It was not, nor will be, but always is, one whole continuum. (Parmenides.) To contemporary ears the Platonic soul bears great similarities to the Christian Soul unlike his Doctrine of Recollection or anamnesis; Platos Socrates denies his own wisdom; in the Apology he states, â€Å" human wisdom is worth little or nothing† he merely asserts that he is a â€Å" midwife† assisting in the â€Å"rebirth† of knowledge lying dormant in the mind Opinions proven wrong in the course Socratic investigation, does not demonstrate lack of knowledge, but rather, the clouding of mind on account of sensory perception. Platos Socrates asserts that dialectical investigation (with its constant questioning) would lead the inquiring mind towards clues, allowing it a recollection of what was already known through the many cycles of rebirth. Although considered a Platonic absolute the Doctrine of Recollection cannot be contested or proved. Platonic abstraction, denies legitimate validity to Empirical investigation. The a priori solution given by the slave boy in the Meno to the mathematical question posed by Socrates, hardly resolves this problem. Tying into the Doctrine of Recollection and the minds compromised judgement on account of sensory perception, Platos Theory of forms plays a greater role in the Allegory of the cave, where the impressions cast on the caves wall are believed to be real. For Plato the shadows on the wall were a reflection of empirical reality, which in turn was a reflection of a Reality whos dwelling lay in the realm of Forms (ideas). Platos theory of Forms is base on the notion that all things in the world share in common with a greater abstract (ideas) that in turn embodies all things in the empirical world. For example a small red chair, sharing certain physical characteristics in common with a large white chair, is not a real chair, but the perception of the abstract â€Å"chair† in which the white chair and all other chairs mimic. Plato translated his notion of the intangible into the Tripartite nature of man; man Plato contended, was comprised of physical material (the body), and the abstract immaterial (soul and mind). While co-dependant, the two parts ¾ matter and form ¾, function separately of each other.

Poe Compare to Manson :: essays research papers

Though born at different times and in different places Edgar Allen Poe and Bryan Warner (Marilyn Manson) are surprising social and ideological doppelgangers. Starting as early as their childhood you can notice notable similarities. Bryan spent the majority of his time at his grandparent’s house. It was a generally hostile area for young children, leaving little access to parental supervision or interaction. Poe on the other hand had no father around to begin with and his mother died when he was two. He went on to live with his mother’s business associate who turned out to be quite abusive. Now due to personal problems Poe was unable to attend school any longer and didn’t finish his education which had been a aspiration of Poe’s to be removed. This seemed to be a similar trend between Poe and Bryan, because Manson did it as well. Both writers were similar in there choice of work as well, and how they delivered them. Both Poe and Bryan published many works before there writing became popular. The macabre story of â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† by Edgar A. P. is quite similar to Bryan’s first published work about himself ending up murdering and raping his sister. Obviously the chosen tone by both of these individuals is similar because they desire to put out a persona. This persona is a general feeling that each Artist expresses as a discontentment with life and society, and leads to there morbid works. Poe wrote â€Å"Poe’s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque†, where Bryan published a CD â€Å"The Golden Age of Grotesque† which both turned out to be fairly similar. On an ideological level they both consider the modern man to not be that modern. They were both haunted by something internal possibly even external that drove them nearly insane and tainted there view of all of society. Both of them had very low morality and on many accounts lusted after family members and the same sex on occasion. Poe left the Army and West Point which had been the next step in his life, he enjoyed the army in many ways ideologically speaking but still loved writing too much to not follow it. He married his first cousin against the wishes of his family and decided to make a life. Bryan decided not to go into military but still always struggled with organized religion, he also had a sexual fascination with family members.