Men and masculinity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Men and masculinity - Essay Example This implies that masculinity is not limited to men. Therefore, women may also display behaviours and characteristics that are masculine, for instance, many women have assumed the role of family providers. According to MensLine Australia (2012) masculinity is perpetuated through social set-up and enhanced through personal interactions. Traditionally, the avenues that made men gain honour included providing for their families and exercising leadership. The traditional family set-up was composed of the father being the breadwinner and the mother acting as the homemaker. Stereotypes about masculinity are often witnessed in many men, for instance, men would describe themselves as sports fanatics while avoiding soap operas that are viewed as feminine. Masculinity is often associated with the male; therefore, there is a big issue of personality in men. In case masculinity is threatened, most men would convey feelings of shame, hostility and guilt: hence they tend to overreact in the defens e of masculinity. It is irrefutable the aspect of masculinity in the contemporary world, has assumed a different perspective, which is contrary to the traditional disposition in matters related to masculinity and sex. Masculinity is viewed as a collective gender identity that is socially constructed rather than a natural attribute. In the modern society, different forms of masculinity exist that reflects factors such as class, race, age, geographical affiliation and religious affiliation (Lee, 2002). Although masculinity is normally identified in pluralistic terms, masculinities differ from one society to another. The hegemonic masculinity emanating from the societal construct is what men measures against. Masculinity directs most aspects of the male behaviour, especially sexual behaviour. The male gender values are constructed through interaction with the men’s lifestyle and his interaction with social environments. The perception of sex as a component of masculinity is depe ndent on the sexual encounters in the early stages of development. The traditional traits associated with masculinity are control, domination, aggressiveness, violence, toughness, emotional repression and competiveness. Masculinity traits are normally acquired at a tender age. For instance, some of the insults that the young school boys commonly use to refer to their weak colleagues are the accusation of being a girl (â€Å"Guys and boys masculine things. (n.d).). Ayers (2008) assert that most men engage in body building to maintain their masculinity. Research has also affirmed that most men think that portraying dominance and power wins them admiration from women. Masculinity tells men that their urge for love and respect can only be attained through being powerful, dominant and ultimately violent. However, Alilunas (2009) posits that such factors are irrelevant to women. Many studies have revealed the problem of sexual violence, sexualised violence and sex-by-violence as products of masculinity. The contemporary society portrays masculinity despite enhanced strategies geared towards minimising or eliminating it through modernization. The first indication is the sprouting of numerous interactive forums in the media that discusses issues related to the male gender while portraying bias towards the female gender. The current modernisation has seen the liberation of women in all aspects of life, ranging from

An essayist writing skills Essay Example for Free

An essayist writing skills Essay ‘Education matters’; the academic distinction as seen within the essayist is the peak of personal pride and the prime of the essayist. This is the backdrop of his imagery skill and panache as he seeks to make the issue figurative and argumentative and in his situation hypothetical. Within the context, he redefines the role of education with the general public. This is his onset to express his insight about what the general public thinks about situations that reflect on those it knows. BOY. Drop out of school and thats what theyll call you the rest of your life. ‘Drop out’ is figurative and intrinsically variable. It is an expression of discontent towards a situation and the person in the situation. It is a moral insight and one that the essayist seeks to use to make a case against his distinguished position as a disadvantaged worker in a workplace which is far much below his qualifications. ‘Drop out’ is what offsets his passion to describe, discuss and put forward his case. It is what could make you a scorn yet even without the valuable education you are the same match to the drop out. Today I saw them saying something else’ is a passionate and morose appeal to his pride gained from the value of education to make him recognizable. He is now a minnow and below the centre of social repute and distinctiveness of an individual. Within these profound contexts within the essayist situation analysis and his insights about the repercussions of manoeuvres to attain academic distinction yet plunge into a sea of misrecognition by being compared and working as one of those detested and referred as public scorns for their minimal academic capacity is insulting and confusing. To him, it is ailing his conscience. They were untrue in part; it turns out that youll get called boy if you do work that others dont respect even if you have a Ph. D. It isnt education that counts, but the job in which you land. This is his perspective, to expound on the uselessness of education comparatively to his situation analysis. Here we see a subtle cry and his way of comparing his fate. It is an emotional and socially perceptive ideology. Emotional, since he is worried that he learned and hoped to supersede social implications and join the league of the learned employed who influence and are the pride of the society. Yet he is now among the least recognized and looked down on. ‘It turns out that youll get called boy if you do work that others dont respect even if you have a PhD’ This is his point on this perspective, he is learned and qualified yet he works as a lemon cutter and he is not even recognized at the workplace let alone by the barmaid. This point showcases the writers wit and it’s within this context we decipher the judicious self- exposure of the writer’s own character. He is objective and determined a listener and an analytical person. â€Å"Are you the boy who cuts the lemons? This is where we discover he is frustrated and feels insulted by circumstances. He is grappling with reality. His point explains the discontentment of the protagonist about his career and the relevancy to his assertion about education being important and suddenly the realization that it is not on some circumstances† I’m the man who does’ It is his acceptance of his fate and an expression of conformity to the circumstances that he is now pitted in. He finds no discourse in segregating his position due to his education background hence accepts his fate and position as a social perceptiveness. He is no longer focussed on making his moral authority within the academic faculties to spell out his elite nature as farcified by the billboard impression. â€Å"Are you the boy who cuts the lemons? I’m the man who does’ is an expression of his seeking to make some points clear within the workplace. It is a coupled methodology of making a case clear, emotive and correlative to his perspective. This is imagery and metaphoric distinctiveness. His workmates don’t even recognize him as an integral part of the workplace. The name boy is contentious and he seeks to address the problem of misrecognition by creating a scenario that imparts his distinctiveness which within the workplace is not recognizable. The workmates are oblivious of his qualifications. Here he seeks to make us identify with his vast knowledge which so far he deems useless. In his two expressions which seek to vilify his potential, he mentions that the maid didn’t realize is reply that ‘he is the man who does it, not the boy who does it’ He is making it clear that he is qualified to be in a better and more professional position. Secondly his reflections ‘They assumed that some people just wont learn respect for others, so you should adapt yourself to them. Dont try to change them. Get the right job and they wont call you boy any more. Theyll save it for the next man. It isnt just people like this one waitress who learn slowly, if at all. We see lamentations here. He is metaphoric ‘that some people just wont learn respect for others, so you should adapt yourself to them’ and figurative in context Get the right job and they wont call you boy any more’. Auspiciously he is figurative in seeking to identify and correlate with the college scenario of the ‘wombats’ and metaphorical as he seeks to put in place the generalization of excellence and academic capacity as a triviality within workplace on a situation in which, the protagonist is doing the same thing with those without any distinctive capacity so as to make ends meet. He is emphatic, lamentative and perspective as he seeks to make his lingering acrimonious reservation to the degradation of his moral position though he has an invariable better and dignified capacity than what he seems to view as his detractor within the workplace. Certainly I wont forget being called a boy today’ The essayist is using word play to make clear a case of emotions he felt when he was undermined and that he made emphatic efforts to make the scenario change to his favour to no avail. On the basis of dialogue, the writer is seen to converse with the waitress who seems to be merely up to no positive perspectives in the conversation. It is in this conversation the writer denounces the waitress and makes the issue of recognition within workplace contentious. This is as seen in this conversation with the waitress and the cook Dana â€Å"Are you the boy who cuts the lemons? † I’m the man who does, â€Å"I replied. â€Å"Well, there are none cut. † There wasn’t even a hint that she heard my point. Dana, who has cooked here for twelve years or so, heard that exchange,. Its no use, Jack, he said when she was gone. If she doesnt know now, she never will. Imagery is the integral in his prose and his title ‘from man to boy’ is indicative of his perspective to use imagery. He has a varying penchant for long figurative and satirical sentences to make clear some of his sentiments. This is seen as he sums up his forlorn though deciphered from the waitress looking down on him situation. ‘It didnt take much persuasion to get the name dropped. Today there are few students who remember it at all. But I imagine the cleaning women remember it well. Certainly I wont forget being called a boy today. ’ He is coupling exposition and dialogue while at the same time making an inclusion of ethos to actualize his point.

Computer Engineering :: essays research papers

Computer Engineering Choosing a career is very important in a person’s life. Over the past two decades, many professions have change significantly with the influx of technological developments. One needs to think about the things that interest them and what kind of lifestyle they want to have. Some things a person should think about are what qualifications are needed, what type of training is necessary, and the future need of the career they choose. Some other things to consider would be how much money they will make, what is the probability of advancement, and does the career satisfy their need for an enjoyable life. One career in the technological industry is a computer engineer. A computer engineer is a person who designs hardware or software for computers. Computer engineers do research to determine what people want and need to make their lives easier. Computer engineers sometimes work on a team to think of new ideas and concepts. Engineers generally should like activities of a technical nature, problem solving, and math. An engineer should probably like working with numbers and thinking logically. A computer-engineering career requires the most education of any career in the computer industry. Some school subjects that are helpful in preparing a person who wants to become a computer engineer are algebra, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, computer science, and English. Computer engineers need to be able to think logically, communicate ideas clearly, and work well in a team environment. To become a computer engineer a degree in computer science, engineering, or physics is required. Computer engineers spend an extended amount of time typing. A computer engineer should also expect to work long hours and enjoy working with new ideas and concepts. Becoming a proficient typist would be something to consider when a person is interested in becoming a computer engineer. In 1947 Howard Aiken, an engineer, predicted six computers would satisfy the computing needs of the U.S. By the year 1955, 244 computer systems were in use and by 1984 U.S. businesses and individuals purchased over two million personal computers. By 1994, shipments of over 47 million personal computers were made worldwide. The use of personal computers has increased rapidly over the past half-century and therefore the need for new hardware and software will keep the need for computer engineers to continue producing new products. The first position for a person becoming a computer Engineer is a Junior Computer Engineer.

The Education System of Today

Testing today has taken over schools. The pressure of society for a person to strive to reach the best schools and therefore the best education, to do this your test scores have to be the best. This brings up the question on weather or not the highest test scores show who the smartest people really are? These high test scores raise the question, does the school you go to have an influence on how you do on your tests. If it does make a difference does the money involved create a preddjudicous. Also should someone use all their powers available to find get into the best schools? Society is leaning more towards Machiavelli†s view where the ends justify the means. This also brings morals into the situation. The education system of today has used testing as an easer way to show how smart someone is. Teachers use tests to see how well students understand what they have taught. This has a positive effect making the students learn the material that the teacher wants them to learn, however the student ends up just learning it because they have to. In order to become educated someone has to want to learn something. That is the only way that they would truly push themselves to further their knowledge. The only thing that pushes students to learn today is the pressure that society makes. These pressures consist of anything from parents pushing the child to go to college, to business that will not hire anyone without a college degree. Parents want to see their child succeed more then the child wants too. The child wants to succeed too because no one wants to grow up only to be able to work in a minim wage job. Without the benefits of a college degree a person is limited as to what positions are available in today†s workplace. The better the college that the person got the degree from the better chance they have at the job. This leads into the whole network of schooling involved to get the best jobs available. In order to get into the best college to get the best job one has to go to the best high school, which takes the best lower school, and to get into that lower school one has to get into the best preschool. This path is not an exact one but there is a quality of school that has to be kept up with. At the young age where this cycle is started the child has no say in any of it. The parents are left to put their child in the best school they can. Most parents will go threw many lengths to give their children the best possible start into the world. They will spend all of their precious money and they will use all of their contacts to get their child into the best schools they can. This however is an unfair system. Not everyone can afford the best schools because they usually end up being the most expensive. Like wise not everyone has an aunt to get them into the collage that they otherwise would not have been able to get into. This raises the question do the ends justify the means like in Machiavelli's peace â€Å"The Qualities of the Prince†. The system that he suggests a prince should govern under is not the ideal system but in the end it makes the best prince. The system that someone uses to get threw schools using all available resources may not be the fairest but in the end they will get the best education possible. I believe in using all available resources to give yourself a leg up on others. Sure it is not an ideal way to run the education system. It is not fair to everyone that dose not have the same resources, but it is a dog –eat-dog world and you have to do what you can to make it. In order to make education less of a social and financial thing standardized testing was invented. These tests were and still are supposed to be a way that gives everyone, no matter what connections or how much money they have, the equal chance. This in theory would be perfect but it dose not work that way. The tests can only test on so much material, and who says that the material is the most important. These tests did lessen the gap between schools. Someone that went to a private school with the best teachers had just as a student that was home taught. It tested on the same material and it gave everyone the chance to show their knowledge. There are many nitpicky things that come up about the unfair ness of tests like the SAT. It is impossible to make questions that equally apply to everyone. As an example a question about sailing would be a lot harder for someone that did not live near water then it would be for someone that grew up on a sailboat. The only major problem with tests like the SATs, is that it dose not take into account the people that are smart and know just as much as the next guy but just doesn†t do as well on tests. Tests only show you so much of a person. The problem of a test is in its inability to show the person. Sure it shows how well that person knows the material he or she is tested on, but it dose not show that person. What if the student dose poorly on the SAT, but ends up having the best management skills. He won†t get into the best collage and there fore the biggest companies will not look at him and he will end up getting a lesser job. It also has the opposite possibility. If someone dose amassing one these tests and gets hired by a big aw firm but this person cannot get along with anyone, it turns out just as bad. This too can be argued by the fact that many of these business hiring these people, that do amassing on these test, are looking for they type of person that is known to test well. There is an endless list of prows and cons for testing. Some of them are so nitpicky they are laughed at, but in the hole I believe that tests are good. They are only good for finding someone†s intelligence if they are used along with other methods. There is no one way that is good for everyone. If every person was the same and knew the same things then you could fined one way to see who was smarter, but people are different. Some people excel in English and some excel in math but how do you judge who is smarter. They do not have a common area to be tested in. The editoral by David Ignatius points out all the wrongs with today†s education system, but it dose not give a realistic solution. Sure it would be nice to encourage people to go to collage just to learn more and farther their knowledge, but most students go to school now because it is the only way to keep their options in life open. I personally came to college to learn how to become an engineer. I am very interested in this field and am doing well. In the beginning of the year I started taking psychology, which I fined very interesting. I had to drop the class. In order to excel in my required core sources I needed more time and therefore had to drop psychology. This was a very hypocritical move on my part. I wanted to farther my knowledge in other subjects that interest me but I gave in to the pressures to succeed instead of learn. School is not ideal and the education systems are not completely focused on learning, but that is the way it is now so as a student I have to deal with this and make the best out of what I am given. Every advantage that is possible should be taken, like when Machiavelli pointed out the methods for becoming the best prince, not the best methods for becoming a prince. They were not always the ideal way of dealing with situations but it was the most effective. Just like testing and using connections is not the best method for getting an education but they will give you the best shot at excelling at it. The Education System of Today Testing today has taken over schools. The pressure of society for a person to strive to reach the best schools and therefore the best education, to do this your test scores have to be the best. This brings up the question on weather or not the highest test scores show who the smartest people really are? These high test scores raise the question, does the school you go to have an influence on how you do on your tests. If it does make a difference does the money involved create a preddjudicous. Also should someone use all their powers available to find get into the best schools? Society is leaning more towards Machiavelli†s view where the ends justify the means. This also brings morals into the situation. The education system of today has used testing as an easer way to show how smart someone is. Teachers use tests to see how well students understand what they have taught. This has a positive effect making the students learn the material that the teacher wants them to learn, however the student ends up just learning it because they have to. In order to become educated someone has to want to learn something. That is the only way that they would truly push themselves to further their knowledge. The only thing that pushes students to learn today is the pressure that society makes. These pressures consist of anything from parents pushing the child to go to college, to business that will not hire anyone without a college degree. Parents want to see their child succeed more then the child wants too. The child wants to succeed too because no one wants to grow up only to be able to work in a minim wage job. Without the benefits of a college degree a person is limited as to what positions are available in today†s workplace. The better the college that the person got the degree from the better chance they have at the job. This leads into the whole network of schooling involved to get the best jobs available. In order to get into the best college to get the best job one has to go to the best high school, which takes the best lower school, and to get into that lower school one has to get into the best preschool. This path is not an exact one but there is a quality of school that has to be kept up with. At the young age where this cycle is started the child has no say in any of it. The parents are left to put their child in the best school they can. Most parents will go threw many lengths to give their children the best possible start into the world. They will spend all of their precious money and they will use all of their contacts to get their child into the best schools they can. This however is an unfair system. Not everyone can afford the best schools because they usually end up being the most expensive. Like wise not everyone has an aunt to get them into the collage that they otherwise would not have been able to get into. This raises the question do the ends justify the means like in Machiavelli's peace â€Å"The Qualities of the Prince†. The system that he suggests a prince should govern under is not the ideal system but in the end it makes the best prince. The system that someone uses to get threw schools using all available resources may not be the fairest but in the end they will get the best education possible. I believe in using all available resources to give yourself a leg up on others. Sure it is not an ideal way to run the education system. It is not fair to everyone that dose not have the same resources, but it is a dog –eat-dog world and you have to do what you can to make it. In order to make education less of a social and financial thing standardized testing was invented. These tests were and still are supposed to be a way that gives everyone, no matter what connections or how much money they have, the equal chance. This in theory would be perfect but it dose not work that way. The tests can only test on so much material, and who says that the material is the most important. These tests did lessen the gap between schools. Someone that went to a private school with the best teachers had just as a student that was home taught. It tested on the same material and it gave everyone the chance to show their knowledge. There are many nitpicky things that come up about the unfair ness of tests like the SAT. It is impossible to make questions that equally apply to everyone. As an example a question about sailing would be a lot harder for someone that did not live near water then it would be for someone that grew up on a sailboat. The only major problem with tests like the SATs, is that it dose not take into account the people that are smart and know just as much as the next guy but just doesn†t do as well on tests. Tests only show you so much of a person. The problem of a test is in its inability to show the person. Sure it shows how well that person knows the material he or she is tested on, but it dose not show that person. What if the student dose poorly on the SAT, but ends up having the best management skills. He won†t get into the best collage and there fore the biggest companies will not look at him and he will end up getting a lesser job. It also has the opposite possibility. If someone dose amassing one these tests and gets hired by a big aw firm but this person cannot get along with anyone, it turns out just as bad. This too can be argued by the fact that many of these business hiring these people, that do amassing on these test, are looking for they type of person that is known to test well. There is an endless list of prows and cons for testing. Some of them are so nitpicky they are laughed at, but in the hole I believe that tests are good. They are only good for finding someone†s intelligence if they are used along with other methods. There is no one way that is good for everyone. If every person was the same and knew the same things then you could fined one way to see who was smarter, but people are different. Some people excel in English and some excel in math but how do you judge who is smarter. They do not have a common area to be tested in. The editoral by David Ignatius points out all the wrongs with today†s education system, but it dose not give a realistic solution. Sure it would be nice to encourage people to go to collage just to learn more and farther their knowledge, but most students go to school now because it is the only way to keep their options in life open. I personally came to college to learn how to become an engineer. I am very interested in this field and am doing well. In the beginning of the year I started taking psychology, which I fined very interesting. I had to drop the class. In order to excel in my required core sources I needed more time and therefore had to drop psychology. This was a very hypocritical move on my part. I wanted to farther my knowledge in other subjects that interest me but I gave in to the pressures to succeed instead of learn. School is not ideal and the education systems are not completely focused on learning, but that is the way it is now so as a student I have to deal with this and make the best out of what I am given. Every advantage that is possible should be taken, like when Machiavelli pointed out the methods for becoming the best prince, not the best methods for becoming a prince. They were not always the ideal way of dealing with situations but it was the most effective. Just like testing and using connections is not the best method for getting an education but they will give you the best shot at excelling at it.

Psychology Dream Analysis

As I was sitting down, I notice d three people that looked like teenagers walk in. Everyone in that dream looked boring and dread rye, lacking much color, all except this one girl. This girl was wearing a blue shirt. It didn't take 10 Eng for my 5 year old self to recognize this girl in a very strange way. As kept watching her I area sized she was an older version of myself. She had the same long curly brown hair, and green e yes. Younger me continued sitting in the corner watching older me. I saw her sit on the one side e of the booth by herself while her male and female friend sat on the opposite side of her. Fro m far away heard older me say to her friends â€Å"he said he would be here, he is going to be here s non. Don't worry. A server went up to the three of them and asked if they wanted to order food and the two friends said yes and ordered and older me said she would wait for â€Å"him† till he came t order her food. Little me realized she was talking about her boyfr iend and how he was soups seed to meet with them for dinner and he still had not shown up. Older me called â€Å"him† and he did not answer. Older Sabina kept getting more and more anxious telling her friends â€Å"he isn't here! He is not responding to me, where could he be? It has been a few hours! I can't believe he forgot† Among this, the younger Sabina started seeing everything In a time lapse, where the re was no more dialogue after that. Everyone started moving much faster. People were comic Eng in and out, bovine around, talking, eating.Before knew it almost everyone was gone, in clouding older Sprain's friends and all the other customers in the restaurant had left and the e manager or owner had locked up and turned all the lights off and went, leaving older and younger r me in the room. Older Sabina did not acknowledge my younger self nor did she even see me. There was a single light on older Sabina and her table. Older Sabina was very quiet and looked very pe nsive. All of a sudden there was a light on the complete opposite side of the room, older r me noticed and darted walking over to it. Little Sabina then became one with older Sabina a ND I was no longer on the sidelines, was right there.Under the light there was a desk like piece of furniture and on that desk there was a picture frame. Picked up the picture frame only to see it was black and white photo of a teenage couple at the beach. The girl had a big floppy sunhat and sunglasses and a polka dot one piece and the man had a regular battings on. They looked like they were in the middle of laughing. I flipped the picture frame and saw a note written on the back of the photo. It read â€Å"Sabina, This is a photo of my parents when they were younger. It make s me think of us. † Confused I stood back, and looked to the right of where the frame stood and saw a pill bottle. I picked it up and the bottle was completely empty.I turned the bottle around and on that side there was a nother note that read† Dear Sabina, I'm so sorry I couldn't be with you tonight, I couldn't make it. I'm so sorry I had to do this. † I began to scream and panic an d I threw the pill bottle against the wall and looked around for someone to be there, and no on e was there. I was lone, in the dark without any light besides the one shining on the desk full of horrid things, to guide me. I still remember I woke up I screamed and began to bawl, I ran to m y mother's room and told her what I dreamt. Will never forget how horrifying and painful that dream was and how hurtful it still is thinking about It. In the dream, the dreamer was younger at first, observing an older self inside of a restaurant.Seeing an older self symbolizes that maybe the dreamer is going t wrought cometh ins, and moving on from something. Being inside of a restaurant symbolizes that t e dreamer may be upset and is in need of emotional nourishment. When the dreamer observed that her older self was wearin g blue and everyone else was vague and bleak can be associated with the dreamer and views of herself. The dreamer wearing blue may be upset, or depressed. The p art where the older version of the dreamer was waiting for someone( boyfriend) to show up show s that she is very dependent on this person and finds them extremely important. It can also gig unify that one is waiting for something important or significant to happen.In the dream, after everyone was bovine around and the restaurant had been locked up and the older version of the dreamers self was all alone it symbolizes that she may feel abandoned or left in an encounter liable situation. When there was a sudden light across the room and the dreamer approached it and saw the black and white picture frame, it symbolizes a Wish to keep things the same and bee Eng afraid of change. Having the photo be black and white symbolizes that the dreamer may be fee ling confused, blank, depressed or lost. Something very tough and confusing may be going 0 n in the dreamer's fife. The note written on the back of the picture frame can be symbolic for a m usage that the dreamer has to know and figure out.When the dreamer stumbled backwards and into the darkness again it signifies that again, the dreamer is in a whole fit of confusion n and anger with a situation. In the dream, when the dreamer saw the pill bottle and realized it w as empty and saw the note on the back signifies that there may be something that needs to chaw Eng that isn't being accepted. The fact that the person the dreamer was waiting for and never shoo wed up. Along with he empty pill bottle and note that says the boy could not make it with an app logy shows that the dreamer may feel wronged by someone or a situation and that the death of t he boy shows that the dreamer may be in an upsetting situation experiencing a form of loss. O feel like this dream was certainly an accurate representation Of my life at that place in time. My parents had just divor ced and my mom took me with her when SSH e left my father. I was young and my father really was everything to me. At this point I had not s en him for a little while and it was the end of life as I knew it. I think seeing an older self was SSH owing that was going through something. Being with people, and then being left alone really r presents how I felt I was being abandoned and left behind by my father, because I didn't undo restart it was for my benefit that my mother left him. It really was an excruciating pain to deal with as a child especially not seeing someone I spent much of my time with as a child.

Agatha Christie - Author of 82 Detective Novels

Agatha Christie - Author of 82 Detective Novels Agatha Christie was one of the most successful crime novelists and playwrights of the 20th century. Her lifelong shyness led her to the literary world where she conjured up detective fiction with endearing characters, including the world-famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Not only did Christie write 82 detective novels, but she also wrote an autobiography, a series of six romance novels (under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott), and 19 plays, including The Mousetrap, the world’s longest running theatrical play in London. More than 30 of her murder mystery novels have been made into motion pictures, including Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and Death on the Nile (1978). Dates: September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976 Also Known As: Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller; Dame Agatha Christie; Mary Westmacott (pseudonym); Queen of Crime Growing Up On September 15, 1890, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born the daughter of Frederick Miller and Clara Miller (nà ©e Boehmer) in the seaside resort town of Torquay, England. Frederick, an easy going, independently wealthy American stockbroker, and Clara, an Englishwoman, raised their three children Margaret, Monty, and Agatha in an Italian-style stucco mansion complete with servants. Agatha was educated in her happy, peaceful home via a mixture of tutors and â€Å"Nursie,† her nanny. Agatha was an avid reader, especially Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series. She and her friends enjoyed acting out gloomy stories where everyone died, which Agatha wrote herself. She played croquet and took piano lessons; however, her extreme shyness kept her from publicly performing. In 1901, when Agatha was 11, her father died of a heart attack. Frederick had made some bad investments, leaving his family financially unprepared for his untimely death. Although Clara was able to keep their home since the mortgage was paid, she was forced to make several household cuts, including the staff. Rather than home tutors, Agatha went to Miss Guyer’s School in Torquay; Monty joined the army; and Margaret married. For high school, Agatha went to a finishing school in Paris where her mother hoped her daughter would become an opera singer. Although good at singing, Agatha’s stage fright once again prevented her from publicly performing. After her graduation, she and her mother traveled to Egypt, which would inspire her writing. Becoming Agatha Christie, Crime Writer In 1914, the sweet, shy, 24-year-old Agatha met 25-year-old Archibald Christie, an aviator, who was in complete contrast to her personality. The couple married December 24, 1914, and Agatha Miller became Agatha Christie. A member of the royal Flying Corps during World War I, daring Archibald returned to his unit the day after Christmas, while Agatha Christie became a volunteer nurse for the ill and injured of the war, many of whom were Belgians. In 1915, she became a hospital-dispensing pharmacist, which gave her an education in poisons. In 1916, Agatha Christie wrote a death-by-poison murder mystery in her spare time, mostly due to her sister Margaret challenging her to do so. Christie titled the novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles and introduced a Belgian inspector she invented named Hercule Poirot (a character who would appear in 33 of her novels). Christie and her husband were reunited after the war and lived in London where Archibald received a job with the Air Ministry in 1918. Their daughter Rosalind was born on August 5, 1919. Six publishers turned down Christie’s novel before John Lane in the US published it in 1920 and subsequently published by Bodley Head in the UK in 1921. Christie’s second book,  The Secret Adversary, was published in 1922. That same year, Christie and Archibald set sail on a voyage to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada as part of the British trade mission. Rosalind stayed behind with her aunt Margaret for ten months. Agatha Christie’s Personal Mystery By 1924, Agatha Christie had published six novels. After Christie’s mother died of bronchitis in 1926, Archibald, who was having an affair, asked Christie for a divorce. Christie left her home on December 3, 1926; her car was found abandoned and Christie was missing. Archibald was immediately suspected. After a police hunt for 11 days, Christie turned up at the Harrogate Hotel, using a name patterned after Archibald’s mistress, and saying she had amnesia. Some suspected that she actually had a nervous breakdown, others suspected that she wanted to upset her husband, and the police suspected that she wanted to sell more books. Archibald and Christie divorced April 1, 1928. Needing to get away, Agatha Christie boarded the Orient Express in 1930 from France to the Middle East. On tour at a dig site in Ur she met an archaeologist named Max Mallowan, a big fan of hers. Fourteen years his senior, Christie enjoyed his company, finding out that they both worked in the business of uncovering â€Å"clues.† After they married on September 11, 1930, Christie often accompanied him, living and writing from Mallowan’s archeological sites, further inspiring her novels’ settings. The couple remained happily married for 45 years, until Agatha Christie’s death. Agatha Christie, the Playwright In October 1941, Agatha Christie wrote a play titled Black Coffee. After writing several more plays, Christie wrote The Mousetrap in July 1951 for Queen Mary’s 80th birthday; the play became the longest continuously running play in the West End of London, since 1952. Christie received the Edgar Grand Master Award in 1955. In 1957, when Christie became ill living at the archaeological digs, Mallowan decided to retire from Nimrud in northern Iraq. The couple returned to England where they busied themselves with writing projects. In 1968, Mallowan was knighted for his contributions to archaeology. In 1971, Christie was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire, the equivalent of knighthood, for her services to literature. Death of Agatha Christie On January 12, 1976, Agatha Christie died at home in Oxfordshire at the age of 85 of natural causes. Her body was interred at Cholsey Churchyard, Cholsey, Oxfordshire, England. Her autobiography was published posthumously in 1977.

Path to Legalization for Illegal Immigrants in the US

Path to Legalization for Illegal Immigrants in the US Should the United States provide a path to legalization for illegal immigrants? The issue has been at the forefront of American politics for years, and the debate shows no signs of abating. What does a nation do with the millions of people residing in its country illegally? History of Immigrating to the US Illegal immigrants, often referred to as illegal aliens, are defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as people who are not citizens or nationals of the United States. They are foreign nationals who come to the United States without following the legal immigration process to enter and remain in the country; in other words, anyone born in a country other than the United States to parents who are not United States citizens. The reasons for immigrating vary, but generally, people are looking for better opportunities and a higher quality of life than they would have in their native countries. Illegal immigrants do not have the proper legal documentation to be in the country, or they have overstayed their time allotted, perhaps on a tourist or student visa. They  cannot vote, and they cannot receive social services from federally funded programs or social security benefits; they cannot hold United States passports. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 provided amnesty to 2.7 illegal immigrants already in the United States and established sanctions for employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens. Additional laws were passed in the 1990s to help curb the growing number of illegal aliens, but they were largely ineffective. Another bill for immigration reform was introduced in 2007 but ultimately failed. It would have provided legal status to approximately 12 million illegal immigrants. President Donald Trump has gone back and forth on the immigration issue, going so far as to offer a merit-based legal immigration system. Nevertheless, Trump says he is intent on restoring integrity and the rule of law to our borders, and prompted the longest government shutdown to date (34 days) with his demand of funding for a southern border wall. A Path Toward Legalization The path toward becoming a legal US citizen is called naturalization; this process is overseen by the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS). There are four paths to legal status for undocumented, or illegal, immigrants. Path 1: Green Card The first path to becoming a legal citizen is to obtain a Green Card by marrying a US  citizen or a lawful permanent resident. But, according to Citizenpath, if the foreign spouse and children or stepchildren entered the United States without inspection and remained in the United States, they must leave the country and conclude their immigration process through US consulates abroad to obtain the green card. More importantly, says Citizenpath, If the immigrating spouse and/or children over 18 years of age resided in the United States unlawfully for at least 180 days (6 months) but less than one year, or they remained more than one year, they could then be automatically barred from re-entry to the United States for 3-10 years respectively once they leave the United States. In some cases, these immigrants can apply for a waiver if they can prove extreme and unusual hardship.   Path 2: DREAMers The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is a program established in 2012 to protect illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. Donald Trumps administration in 2017 threatened to undo the act but has yet to do so. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act was first introduced in 2001 as bipartisan legislation, and its main provision was to provide permanent resident status upon completion of two years of college or service in the military. The American Immigration Council states that with the country currently gripped by political polarization, bipartisan support for the DREAM Act has waned. In turn, more narrow proposals have circulated that either restrict eligibility for permanent residency to a smaller group of young people or offer no dedicated path to permanent residency (and, eventually, US citizenship). Path 3: Asylum Citizenpath says that asylum is available to illegal immigrants who have suffered persecution in his or her home country or who has a well-founded fear of persecution if he or she were to return to that country.  Persecution  must be based on one of the following five groups: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Also according to Citizenpath, requirements for eligibility include the following: You must be present in the United States (by legal or illegally entry); you are unable or unwilling to return to your home country due to past persecution or have a well-founded fear of future persecution if you return; the reason for persecution is related to one of five things: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion; and you are not involved with an activity that would bar you from asylum. Path 4: U Visas The U Visa - a non-immigrant visa - is reserved for crime victims who have assisted law enforcement. Citizenpath says U Visa holders have legal status in the United States, receive employment authorization (work permit) and even a possible path to citizenship.   The U Visa was created by the US Congress in October 2000  by the passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act. To qualify, an illegal immigrant must have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been a victim of a qualifying criminal activity; must have information concerning that criminal activity; must have been helpful, is being helpful or is likely to be helpful in the investigation or prosecution of the crime; and the criminal activity must have violated US laws.

Is AP Chemistry Hard 5 Key Factors Considered

Is AP Chemistry Hard 5 Key Factors Considered SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips AP Chemistry is an intimidating subject if you're not familiar with the material. There are all these weird formulas with superscripts and subscripts to remember, and it involves what some students view as an unpleasant amount of math. But is AP Chemistry as hard as it sounds? In this article, I'll examine five different factors to reach a conclusion regarding the true difficulty level of AP Chemistry in comparison with other high-level classes. What Determines the Difficulty of an AP Class? 5 Factors Before we talk about AP Chemistry specifically, what are the main factors that determine how hard (or easy) an AP class is? Let's take a look at the top five. Factor 1: Passing Rate The number of test takers who score 3 or higher on an AP test is a good indication of how difficult the AP class is. If a very high percentage of students earn passing scores, it might mean that the class is less challenging. It might also mean, however, that the particular class attracts higher-achieving students who are extremely well prepared and tend to do better on tests across the board. That’s why, in addition to score averages, we also need to consider the perceptions of students and the actual difficulty of the content. Factor 2: 5 Score Rate Another piece of data that's slightly different from the passing rate is the percentage of students earning 5s (the highest possible score) on the AP test. A large percentage of students may pass an AP test, but if only a small group earns 5s, it usually means that true mastery of the subject is hard to come by. The cutoff for a 5 on most AP tests only requires answering 60-70% of questions correctly, so even a 5 doesn't necessarily represent complete comprehension of the material being tested. Factor 3: Content Difficulty The content covered is, of course, a central factor that affects the difficulty of an AP course. Even if most students pass the exam, the class itself might be challenging because of the amount of ground it covers or because of the complexity of the material. In this case, a high passing rate would indicate that only very driven students take the class, and everyone else shies away from it. Factor 4: How Students Perceive the Class The difficulty of AP classes can also be judged by the way students view them. As I mentioned, some classes with high passing rates owe these statistics to self-selection by high-achieving students. That doesn’t mean that these students think the material is easy, though. They’re just more dedicated to working through challenging concepts. Evidently, student feedback can provide yet another perspective on the difficulty of an AP class. Factor 5: When Students Take the Class If students take the class earlier in high school, they're more likely to perceive it as difficult. If they take it their junior or senior year, on the other hand, they're more likely to feel comfortable with the material. Why? By this time, most students have adapted to their high school workloads and have possibly already taken other AP classes, too. These are the five main factors that determine the difficulty of an AP class. In the next sections, I’ll analyze all these factors for the AP Chemistry class and exam to give you a better idea of how much of a challenge they'll present for you. Chemistry's the one with the shapes and stuff, right? (Sorry, I can't use a screencap of Channing Tatum from 21 Jump Street for legal reasons, and I can't say the real line cuz I'm keepin' it clean. But you get the reference- or at least you do now because I overexplained it.) What Do Statistics Say About the AP Chemistry Exam? It's now time for us to determine the difficulty of AP Chemistry specifically. First off, what’s the passing rate for AP Chemistry? In 2017, the passing rate (i.e., the percent of test takers who scored 3 or higher) was 52.4%. This rate is lower than that for the AP Biology test (64.1%) and slightly higher than that for US History (50.9%). Human Geography, US History, US Government and Politics, Physics 1, and Environmental Science are the only tests that have lower passing rates than Chemistry does. This data indicates that Chemistry is a difficult test- but, as you can see, there’s an eclectic mix of different subjects with low passing rates. Passing rates don't always reflect how hard AP tests are; rather, these results represent a combination of which types of students tend to take the class and the objective complexity of the material covered. AP Environmental Science, for example, doesn’t cover super challenging concepts, but students who choose to take this AP class tend to be less intense- they might take it as a one-off AP when they’re in mostly mid-level classes otherwise. Even keeping these factors in mind, I think AP Chemistry’s low passing rate is reflective of a high level of difficulty. Usually, only the most driven students take AP Chemistry, and they’re still not passing the test at an especially high rate. We can also look at the 5 rate for the test. The 5 rate for AP Chemistry is 10.1%. Only six other AP tests have lower 5 rates. This statistic is consistent with the passing rate in terms of AP Chemistry's position among other AP tests. Because the passing rate and the 5 rate are well aligned in this way, I’m inclined to conclude that AP Chemistry is a test on the difficult end of the AP spectrum. You know, the AP spectrum. It's like the color spectrum except with no colors- only darkness and pain. Is the Content of the AP Chemistry Class Difficult? There’s a lot of material covered in AP Chemistry. The course involves memorization of complex principles, mastery of specific mathematical skills, and the ability to visualize interactions between tiny things that can only be represented abstractly. It’s similar to AP Biology in some ways, but it’s even harder to intuitively understand if you don’t know much about chemistry in the first place. Take this official AP Chemistry multiple-choice question, for example: If you haven't taken any chemistry classes, this question will be virtually incomprehensible to you (the answer is D, if you're wondering). There's a whole separate language around chemistry, with symbols and words that are almost never used in daily life- unless you're a chemist or chemical engineer. Questions on a test like AP Biology might ask about advanced concepts, but there aren't as many unfamiliar terms or new ways of thinking involved as there are on the AP Chemistry test. In general, you need a wide range of skills to succeed in chemistry, and these skills build on each other from the ground up. The foundations of the Chemistry course deal with memorizing the properties of different substances and developing an understanding of why they behave in certain ways under certain conditions. You'll use this knowledge to conduct data analysis and do calculations. To show you what I mean, here's an example of a question you might see on the Chemistry test: For part a, the conjugate base form, In-, is the predominant form of HIn in the buffer in Beaker Y. This is because the pH of the beaker (7) is greater than the pKa of HIn (5), which means that the equilibrium reaction will form a significant amount of products (In- and H3O+). For part b, the acid form of HIn predominates the aqueous layer of Beaker X since pH (3) pKa (5). HIn is a neutral molecule, so some of it can dissolve in the oil layer of Beaker X due to London dispersion interactions with the oil (which leads to the yellow color of the oil layer). The oil layer in Beaker Y, on the other hand, is colorless because In- is charged. It will mainly dissolve in the aqueous layer of Beaker Y due to ion-dipole interactions with water. This question asks students to draw on background knowledge of acids and buffer solutions to explain the chemical interactions present in a specific scenario. If you don’t understand the basic concepts of the course, you won’t be able to justify your answers to more advanced problems. The cumulative nature of AP Chemistry's wide-ranging curriculum and the complex critical-thinking skills required to answer most questions on the exam contribute to its reputation as a very challenging course. If you have cracks in your foundation, you'll have to halt construction on the monument to AP Chemistry that symbolizes your understanding of the material. Seriously, though- stop building that thing and do your real homework. Do Students Think AP Chemistry Is Hard? From personal experience, I'd say yes to this question- but ultimately it depends heavily on your aptitude for the material, the quality of your teacher, and your previous experiences with chemistry. As someone who had a terrible AP Chemistry teacher, I found it very difficult to understand the concepts I was being taught. It was especially hard because my high school didn't give us the option of taking an introductory chemistry course before AP. Students who have a stronger background in chemistry might find the class easier to get through, but AP Chemistry is still notorious for having lots of homework and challenging tests. This goes back to one of the factors listed at the beginning of this article: when students tend to take the class. Many high schoolers take AP Chemistry in their junior or senior year after taking an introductory chemistry course. The fact that even these students see AP Chemistry as a hard course validates the judgments we've made thus far about its high difficulty level. Almost every academic skill is involved. You’ll have to deal with problem sets, labs, and extensive memorization of chemical properties. The math aspect of the course includes unit conversions, reaction balancing, and other stoichiometry problems (which use relationships between reactants and products in a chemical reaction to do calculations). If math doesn’t come easily to you, AP Chemistry will be more difficult. Students have varied opinions of the class depending on how it's taught at their schools. The main response is that although it's a lot of work, it can be a rewarding experience. Everyone seems to agree that the quality of teaching has a huge impact on the difficulty level and enjoyability of the class. Here's what some students think about AP Chemistry. Quotes come from College Confidential, and all bold emphasis is mine. I took it sophomore year and it was definitely rough. However, much of that was because of the teacher. If you've already taken CP Chem, AP likely won't be as hard for you as it is for many others. I think that it is hard compared to my other classes (I am taking 5 more APs at the moment in addition to this one), and the science department practically had to beg the ten people that are in the class to take it. Behind Calc BC, Chemistry is the hardest AP at my school as well. However, it is so much fun- a great curriculum. If you love chemistry, or even have an interest in it, definitely take it. If you can look at this without feeling a wave of panic rising in your chest, you'll probably do well in AP Chemistry. Will AP Chemistry Be Hard for You? Based on what we now know about AP Chemistry, how can you determine how hard the class (and test) will be for you? Here are three actions you can take: #1: Ask Teachers and Previous Students About the Class Every school is different, so the AP Chemistry class offered at your school could be more or less demanding than those offered at other high schools. This is why it’s best to consult with people who have the inside scoop. Talk to your current science teacher to see what he or she has to say about AP Chemistry. Will you be able to handle it based on how you did in science this past year? Have students who are similar to you had trouble with AP Chemistry in the past? You can also discuss this with your guidance counselor, who should have access to additional data on how previous students fared in the class. Previous students are great resources as well. If they’ve been through the class, they can give you a better idea of how overwhelming (or underwhelming) the workload actually is. #2: Think About Your Academic Strengths and Weaknesses If you enjoy math and science and are genuinely interested in chemistry, AP Chemistry will be an easier class for you than it would be for someone who would rather never look at a math problem again. Chemistry is more technical and math-centric than AP Biology is. It’s hard to memorize or reason your way out of aspects of the content you only vaguely understand on a deeper level. If you don’t know exactly how to do a chemistry problem, it can start to look like a meaningless jumble of numbers and letters pretty quickly. If you tend to rely on memorization to do well in most subjects, AP Chemistry might be a rude awakening for you. #3: Pay Attention to Your Schedule Only you know how much effort you're willing to put into your classes. However, I can pretty much guarantee that it'll be hard for anyone to take AP Chemistry at the same time as other time-consuming classes, such as AP Biology or AP English Lit. I don't recommend taking more than two intense AP classes simultaneously (see our take on which APs are the hardest), particularly if you have lots of extracurriculars. You should also try to fit an introductory chemistry class into your schedule the year before you take AP Chemistry so that you’re well prepared! If you get to the point where you're eating whole coffee beans to stay awake, it's time to reevaluate your choices. Conclusion: Is AP Chemistry Hard? Based on the evidence I've seen, we can say that Chemistry is one of the harder AP classes. It has a low passing rate, a low 5 rate, and its content is considered pretty challenging from both an objective viewpoint and a student's perspective. Don’t let this scare you away from the subject, though. Chemistry is truly fascinating once you break through the first couple layers of understanding. You'll learn so much about how the world works and why it works that way. If you take an introductory chemistry class beforehand and are prepared to work hard, you'll be more than capable of doing well! What's Next? Still not quite sure what to expect from AP Chemistry? Read this article for more details about the structure and content of the exam. Already taking AP Chemistry and need some extra help? We go over how to balance chemical equations in this guide. Are you planning on taking SAT Subject Tests in addition to APs? Learn about the differences between these two types of tests and which scores matter more to colleges. If you're still trying to figure out your schedule, take a look at this article for advice on which AP classes you should take in high school. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Homework - Essay Example The western wing on the other hand contains the stairwell and smoke tower. The base of the building has intertwined truss system that helps in enhancing the stability of the entire structure in case of any earthquake. The building also has an X-bracing on the top, which assists in resisting torsion movement about the vertical axis of the building (Irvine). The construction process of the Transamerica Pyramid involved the use of various materials deemed as of great quality. Before lying of the first material, the point where the building stands was excavated to a depth of 52 feet. The bottom of the building has complicated system of steel rod reinforcements exceeding 300 miles thickness. About 16000 cubic yards of solid concrete covers the system of the reinforced steel rods. The entire base concrete of the Transamerica Pyramid is in such a way that the entire building moves in case of earthquake. The movement helps in distributing the shockwaves thus reducing damages (EMPROIS). The external parts of the Transamerica Pyramid are fixed with aggregates of quartz that form panels. There are also some rods designed to reinforce the panels at four points on every floor. There is also systematic spacing of the panels that helps in ensuring lateral movement of the building in case of earthquake or tremor. The panels comprises of aluminum louvered structures. The louvered aluminum panels projects to the top to form a 64 meters high spire (EMPROIS). The 48th floor of the building has conference room that provides 360-degree aerial view of the city. The entire external part of the building is white in color. I am always attracted to Transamerica Pyramid because of numerous features the building exhibits. First, I have found it fantastic to explore how the fifth floor of the building happen to be the largest floor and not the first or the second. Logically thinking and considering the shape of the building, the largest floor ought to

Visionary Idealism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Visionary Idealism - Essay Example For him, the process of artistic creation holds the potential of transcending the limitations of the mind and more fully expressing the divine spirit. He also believes that art can induce within the viewer an elevated state wherein spiritual states of being are attained (Grey). In this essay, I am going to cover a brief history of his life, the progression of his art and performances, where his art is displayed and has been used, and some positive and negative reviews of his works. My purpose is to critically critique Alex Grey's artistic style and vision. Alex Grey was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 29, 1953. Being the middle child of a middle-class couple, he strove to please his father by excelling in drawing. It was his father, who was a graphic designer, who saw in him his exceptional talent and encouraged his drawing ability. As a young child he would collect insects and dead animals from around the neighborhood and bury them in the back yard. From his earliest drawings to his performances, paintings and sculptures, the themes of death and transcendence have been woven throughout (Grey). During his teenage years he lived a solitary life in a world of his own imagination that could not be easily understood by others and did not give much concern to right or wrong. His art during that time shows how confused he was about himself, and about life and spirituality. It led him to express the tearing apart, the confusion, and the duality within his being. He attended the Columbus College of Art and Design for two years (1971-73), then dropped out and painted billboards in Ohio for a year (73-74) (Grey). He then attended the Boston Museum School for one year to study with the conceptual artist Jay Jaroslav (Grey). This is also where he met his wife Allyson, the artist. During this period he had a series of entheogenically induced mystical experiences that transformed his agnostic existentialism to a radical transcendentalism (Grey). He then spent five years at Harvard Medical School working in the Anatomy department studying the human body (Grey). As expected, the earlier works of Alex Grey (both drawing and painting) are simpler and more of self portrayal. His later works have shown maturity and complexity, moving out of self but still focusing on the human anatomy. What stuck out most about his early works is how talented and detailed his lines and features are, and how almost perfectly he has recreated himself in his visual arts. His later portrayal of himself reveals his own self realization and self actualization, revealing the inner struggles and duality of his inner being. He is able to show his audience what transpires within himself and the difficulties he has been going through as he is initiated into the growing complexity of his inner and outer world. In addition, his focus on the human eye in many of his works reveals an all-knowing existence of somebody, be it himself or God or any other important person in his life, which truly affects him and all of his life. One example is the "Vision Mission." The eye is placed above, which is believed as the vision, while the hand with the pointing finger below may stand for the mission. This drawing may have a spiritual implication and may have a much deeper meaning from what is actually shown. Moreover, his

Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 26

Interview - Essay Example Currently, I am the CEO of Google Inc. A: My interest in computing dates back to high school days when I used to analyze web pages. In essence, my research in computing was largely based on analysis of web pages using algorithms and I honestly had no idea how Google would revolutionize the computing world. My partner Sergey Brin  has been supportive and collaborative ever since and I attribute the company’s success to his synergy. In as much as the operations of Google are related to my career, I can say Serendipity was at play, particularly during the incipient stages of the company. A: To be honest, Brin and I solicited funds from friends, family, and well-wishers in order to develop the company. One of the challenges we faced was that our company was not yet incorporated and so we could not receive checks. We, however, solved the problem after two years of paperwork. In 1998, Brin and I incorporated the company as Google Inc. and it has transcended insurmountable odds ever since. As currently constituted, the company is currently a C-Corp and it is listed on NASDAQ. A: Well, Brin and I had initially developed a PageRank algorithm that could as well function as a search engine and its super performance was enviable among the existing portals like Yahoo. That’s all we had, neither did we have a web page developer nor a decent office. We essentially employed our skills in the basic HTML programming to do all our tasks. It was hectic yet rewarding. A: Our primary aim was to foster the usefulness of global information by organizing it. Our first customers were corporate entities who wanted to organize and interlink their information by creating internet URLs that our users could follow. A: perhaps our biggest challenge has been synchronizing our ads in the mobile search networks. In this regard, we are teaming up with mobile app developers to encourage people to use mobile search so that they can

Keeping the peace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Keeping the peace - Essay Example The United Nations The purpose of the United Nations is to act as a global governing body through which peace is negotiated and attained. The U.N. has the capacity to help states find peaceful resolutions between nations when there is a dispute or the emergence of a conflict. The ways in which the disputes can be handled through the U.N. include diplomatic settlements, legal decisions, or through third party resolutions in which the dispute is mediated. The concept of non-peaceful means of dispute resolutions is not acceptable under the provisions of belonging to the U.N. According to U.N. Charter 2, section 4, member states are required to settle their disputes through peaceful means in order to continue international peace, security and justice (Ryan, 2000). During the Cold War there was a general disdain for the U.N. by the United States. During the 1980s, this belief in the power of the U.N. for acting on behalf of the world further diminished as the organization could not hold c ontrol over the actions within the Middle East. When Israel invaded southern Lebanon, the United Nations had only a symbolic involvement, the actual withdrawal from Beirut attempted to be negotiated by the Multinational Force which was comprised of the United States, France, and Italy. This failed as the United States began to bomb opposing forces of the Lebanese government. The lesson that should have been learned was one of impartial roles of those who are intended to seek peace between two forces that are in dispute (Ryan, 2000). During the Malvinas/Falklands conflict, the same sort of impartiality was ignored as the British and United States refused to accept peace that did not include the withdrawal of Argentinian forces. Other regions of the world in which the U.N. had little effect upon the establishment of peace were during the Iran/Iraq war, the conflict in Cypress and in the Western Sahara, as well as in Central America. Trying to keep peace in Afghanistan has been histori cally difficult for the U. N (Ryan, 2000). In 1994, Luard and Heater (1994) were asking the question as to whether or not the experiment that is the U.N. had failed. Part of the answer that they provide is that the U.N. holds its principles even though it has not always been able to convince various nations to follow their advice in keeping conflicts to a peaceful negotiation rather than deteriorating into war. However, they did conclude that the U.N. had contributed little in any way that was meaningful to creating peace within the world in the previous years which would include the 1980s (Luard & Heater, 1994). The question then becomes based upon the real purpose that the U.N. can hold in the world if it has no real powers either through persuasion or through law to support the overall peaceful existence between states in the world. Where the U.N. fails, however, other operations that are more closely tied to the states in question have had greater success as they work out the di sputes for which they represent. World Peace Organizations Some of the world peace organizations that have had success in

Conflict of Interest-role of Public Utility Board Essay

Conflict of Interest-role of Public Utility Board - Essay Example In Case No. 76-6 involving the practice of giving gifts to foreign officials, the NSPE Board of Ethical Review stated in part, â€Å"Even though the practice may be legal and accepted in the foreign country, and even though some might argue on pragmatic grounds the United States commercial companies should ‘go along’ to protect the jobs of employees in this country, we cannot accept it for professional services. No amount of rationalization or explanation will change the public reaction that the profession’s claim of placing service before profit has been compromised by a practice which is repugnant to the basic principles of ethical behavior under the laws and customs of this country†¦.we believe that the codes must be read on this most basic point of honor and integrity not only literally, but in the spirit of its purpose –to uphold the highest standards of the professional. Anything less is rationalization which cannot stand the test of placing the public ahead of all other considerations† Engineers who do think it is acceptable to use an agent abroad to â€Å"do the dirty work† thus acting like Pontius Pilate and â€Å"washing one’s hands† of the problem, also need to realize that they are committing a felony under the U.S. law and are subject to prosecution So long as they are U.S. citizens, the Federal Corrupt Practice Act applies to them. His comment also applies to corporations. A U.S. corporation is a citizen in the eyes of the law. Those companies engaging in bribery can avoid the law only by giving up their Q.2. The statement â€Å"Take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat.† implies that engineer shifts from their professionalism and assume another management task. This is vital especially when the management has loopholes that need to be addressed. Engineer B is employed in the engineering firm and is a member of BOD in a local public utility. As a member of the board, the utility uses 3 years to do a research on a new power generation plant.  

Keeping the peace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Keeping the peace - Essay Example The United Nations The purpose of the United Nations is to act as a global governing body through which peace is negotiated and attained. The U.N. has the capacity to help states find peaceful resolutions between nations when there is a dispute or the emergence of a conflict. The ways in which the disputes can be handled through the U.N. include diplomatic settlements, legal decisions, or through third party resolutions in which the dispute is mediated. The concept of non-peaceful means of dispute resolutions is not acceptable under the provisions of belonging to the U.N. According to U.N. Charter 2, section 4, member states are required to settle their disputes through peaceful means in order to continue international peace, security and justice (Ryan, 2000). During the Cold War there was a general disdain for the U.N. by the United States. During the 1980s, this belief in the power of the U.N. for acting on behalf of the world further diminished as the organization could not hold c ontrol over the actions within the Middle East. When Israel invaded southern Lebanon, the United Nations had only a symbolic involvement, the actual withdrawal from Beirut attempted to be negotiated by the Multinational Force which was comprised of the United States, France, and Italy. This failed as the United States began to bomb opposing forces of the Lebanese government. The lesson that should have been learned was one of impartial roles of those who are intended to seek peace between two forces that are in dispute (Ryan, 2000). During the Malvinas/Falklands conflict, the same sort of impartiality was ignored as the British and United States refused to accept peace that did not include the withdrawal of Argentinian forces. Other regions of the world in which the U.N. had little effect upon the establishment of peace were during the Iran/Iraq war, the conflict in Cypress and in the Western Sahara, as well as in Central America. Trying to keep peace in Afghanistan has been histori cally difficult for the U. N (Ryan, 2000). In 1994, Luard and Heater (1994) were asking the question as to whether or not the experiment that is the U.N. had failed. Part of the answer that they provide is that the U.N. holds its principles even though it has not always been able to convince various nations to follow their advice in keeping conflicts to a peaceful negotiation rather than deteriorating into war. However, they did conclude that the U.N. had contributed little in any way that was meaningful to creating peace within the world in the previous years which would include the 1980s (Luard & Heater, 1994). The question then becomes based upon the real purpose that the U.N. can hold in the world if it has no real powers either through persuasion or through law to support the overall peaceful existence between states in the world. Where the U.N. fails, however, other operations that are more closely tied to the states in question have had greater success as they work out the di sputes for which they represent. World Peace Organizations Some of the world peace organizations that have had success in

Measuring Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Measuring Performance - Essay Example It comprises of Strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and threats. Strengths are internal factors that can be concluded as advantages to the business (current advantages). Factors such as a focused management, hardworking employees, low costs are positive points for the firm. For Jengo Ltd, a high regard for their clothes by the customers is an impressive point for the future of the business. Weaknesses are internal factors as well that maybe termed as disadvantages for the firm (current disadvantages). Negative factors like a poorly trained workforce, ageing equipment etc need to be evaluated for a solution to arise. For Jengo Ltd, the failure to produce budgets or forecasts for the financial year hints weak planning on the part of the management. However, Opportunities are potential areas for expansion of the business (advantages that can arise in the future). These areas are obtained after an external audit in the market the firm operates in. Identifying new markets, expansion of t he product portfolio and favorable government policies amalgamates in outdoing competitors. Moreover, threats are not to be forgotten while forecasting future business plans (problems that may arise in the future). These usually comprise of the macro environment factors that alter the economic environment, strength of the competition, globalization etc. Jengo Ltd should be careful about changing customer demands as it operates in a highly uncertain business. SWOT analysis draws the primary sketch for foreseeing the future for any business. It is an effective way of gathering information and generating interest in the business activities quickly, mostly used to plan the marketing strategy (Hall, D et al. 2004) Factors in the macro environment effect decisions by the top management. Demographic change, government laws, trade barriers etc are some examples of macro change (Varoufakis, Y. 2007). These factors can be categorized by the PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors). Political developments regionally, nationally and internationally might effect a business’s strategy. Political decisions can change vital areas of the company such as education for the employees, health benefits, infrastructure, and subsidies for instance. Economic factors may involve the effect of consumer demand patterns, willingness to spend, inflation, fiscal and monetary policies, exchange rates, fixed and variable costs, and changes in the labour market on the business. Businesses may also need to plan out the effects of government policies to haul out the country from a recession (Hall, D et al. 2004). Changes in social trends can create competitive advantages for businesses. Falling birth rate, ageing population, increase in life expectancy can all effect a business. An ageing population would mean a shift in the sort of products demanded and more pensions paid to employees. Pressure groups can also force a business decision leading to serious consequences. Technology uplifts products and processes. Online shopping, bar coding, CAD and CAM are all technological advancements that aid in the advent of superior products. Furthermore, environmental factors might include a legislation to control pollution or views of certain groups about the ingredients of the product. Major climatic changes due to global warming have significantly impacted many industries and external factors related to a

Understanding European history Essay Example for Free

Understanding European history Essay Although experiencing a period of expanding intellectual and geographical horizons, European history in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries witnessed, on the whole, a profoundly intolerant age. To clarify our opinion, we must first introduce European history under the literary history of this age. Here, we will display our understanding of European history in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the one by Brecht or the one by Montaigne as two famous authors of the Renaissance age. Herr Bertolt Brecht in relation to European drama and theatre Anyone who was anyone in Germany and France wrote historical dramas. It is therefore understandable that the poets of inner conflicts, the prophets of the Byronic hero, also emerged as writers of historical drama and often released the two themes in the same play. The most important condition a historical drama should fulfill when it was to be performed was that should represent history as an all-embracing system and as a force which helps to define identity. Unlike ONeil and Pirandello, however, Brecht does not want the spectator to identify or feel empathy with his heroes. In 1922, he noted in his diary: I hope in Baal and Jungle Ive avoided one common artistic bloomer that of trying to carry people away. Instinctively, Ive kept my distance and ensured that the realization of my†¦. effects remains within bounds. The spectators splendid isolations is left intact; it is not sua res quae agitur. Consequently, Brecht draws quite different conclusions from the concept of the impossibility of individuality in Baal than do ONeil or Pirandello in their work. Brecht opposes the idea of the ever-constant – tragic or polyvalent – absurd being (Sein) of man with the theorem of mans changeability. He designed the comedy Mann IST Mann (Man equals Man) as a kind of experimental apparatus which would demonstrate the basic pre-conditions of re-assembling one personality into another. Herr Bertolt Brecht maintains man equals man- a view that has been around since time began. But then Herr Brecht points out how far one can maneuver and manipulate that man. All of Brechts re-writs began from the insight gained from Baal, that man is nothing without his social and economic relations (One is none) and that it is only through relationships that he becomes something; these relationships prove to be not primarily human ones but rather relationships based on commodity exchange. Such relationships of ownership turn man into an object which can be used in a negative or positive way, according to the situation, and this can be demonstrated experimentally. Brecht developed the form of Lehrstuck in response to a very specific problem which repeatedly confronted his theater in the course of 1920s. It concerns, on the one hand, the new type, and, on the other, the middle-class audience response to it. Brecht presumes that there can be no individuality in the way conceived by the former bourgeoisie, and that no definitive statements can be made on new trans-individual man since it can only rise as the result of a lasting process of development. Brecht felt supported in this view by Marxism, which defines man as a changeable and world-changing being, whose consciousness is determined through his social being. The new man, who will be formed as a product of situation where there is no bourgeoisie, in a classless society, thus cannot be defined and fixed in advance. The dramatic poet in my view is merely someone who records history. He stands above history, however, in that he creates history for a second time and places us directly in the life of a certain time, instead of providing a dry account; he provides characters instead of characteristics, and figures instead of descriptions. It is his greatest ask to come as close as he can to history as it really happened. Brecht constructed as antithesis, from similar points of departure he arrives at completely opposite conclusion: †¢ The absolute self-realization of the vital individual, liberated from all moral scruples is impossible in bourgeois society, since this form of society forces everyone to fit in and its conventions stand in total opposition to the individuals claim to happiness and eradicate individuality. †¢ The individual who sets himself up to be absolute, who lives out his insatiable sexual lust, his incontinent consumption of food and drink, is a monstrous social being who either falls into the realms of the mythic or becomes part of the circle of nature- from the white mothers womb to the dark womb of the earth- and dissolves his own individuality. Brecht turns his conclusion into a positive one- something only Hugo von Hofmannsthal had recognized at that time. Michel de Montaignes essays in the Renaissance age Mantaigne essentially invented the literary form of essay, a short subjective treatment of a given topic, of which the book contains a large number. Essay is French for trial or attempt. Montaigne wrote in a kind of crafted rhetoric designed to intrigue and involve the reader, sometimes appearing to move in a stream-of-thought from topic to topic and at other times employing a structured style which gives more emphasis to the didactic nature of his work. His arguments are often supported with quotes from classical Greek and Roman texts. Montaignes stated goal in his book is to describe man, and especially himself, with utter frankness. As an essayist, his great project centered on the sustained delineation of only one character, which was Montaignes character. He finds the great variety and volatility of human nature to be its most basic features. A typical quote is I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself, He describes his own poor memory, his ability to solve problems and mediate conflicts without truly getting emotionally involved, his disgust for mans pursuit of lasting fame, and his attempts to detach himself from worldly things to prepare for death. Montaigne is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. He became famous for his effortless ability to merge serious intellectual speculation with casual anecdotes and autobiography- and his massive volume essays (translated literally as Attempts) contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on writers the world over, from William Shakespeare to Rene Descartes, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Stephan Zweig. Montaigne freely borrowed of others, and he has found men willing to borrow of him as freely. We need not wonder at the reputation which he with seeming facility achieved. He was, without being aware of it, the leader of a new school in letters and morals. His book was different from all others which were at that date in the world. It diverted the ancient currents of thought into new channels. It told its readers, with unexampled frankness, what its writers opinion was about men and things, and threw what must have been a strange kind of new light on many matters but darkly understood. Above all, the essayist uncased himself, and made his intellectual and physical organism public property. He took the world into his confidence on all subjects. His essays were a sort of literary anatomy, where we get a diagnosis of the writers mind, made by himself at different levels and under a large variety of operating influences. It was reasonable enough that Montaigne should expect for his work a certain share of celebrity in Gascony, and even, as time went on, through ¬out France; but it is scarcely probable that he foresaw how his renown was to become world-wide; how he was to occupy an almost unique position as a man of letters and a moralist; how the Essays would be read, in all the principal languages of Europe, by millions of intelligent human beings, who never heard of Perigord or the League, and who are in doubt, if they are questioned, whether the author lived in the sixteenth or the eighteenth century. This is true fame. A man of genius belongs to no period and no country. He speaks the language of nature, which is always everywhere the same. Evaluating the difference between Brecht and Montaigne Thus, if the Stream of things is a mixture of dying and regeneration, the thought problems confronting us are dialectical, in the identity of opposites, of negative and positive; and also linguistic, in the logical validity of sentences and the mutual exclusion of their meanings; and also aesthetic, in so far as one aspect of the dead moons continued life is its perception as strange [fremd] by even one last living being, its estrangement of itself and of that being. Finally, causality intervenes, and intersects the vast sublunary landscape of all that is: raising its own linguistic and dialectical questions. Brecht was willing to force the issue even more pointedly, as in his suggestion that although the purely biological death of the individual IS uninteresting to society, dying ought none the less to be taught. It is probably less a Montaigne-like aspiration than the expression of themes surrounding Die Massnahme from this same period. A social Tao, on the other hand, is surely bound up with the issues of technology and modernity raised above, to which we will return in conclusion. Bibliography References used in the current essay: 1. History of European drama and theatre, Erika Fischer-Lichte, Jo Riley. Pages 232-238-315-317-318 2. The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne, Vol. 1 of 2. Michel de Montaigne. Pages 1-2 3. Brecht and method, Fredric Jameson. Page 171

Why Did The Soviet Union Collapse?

Why Did The Soviet Union Collapse? More than two decades have passed since the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics disappeared from the world political stage. Starting with 1985, the internal situation of the Soviet Union, as well as its international status, began to experience breathtakingly fast and radical change, which eventually led to its collapse in 1991, event probably commemorated today only by Vladimir Putin, who describes it as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century (annual state-of-the-nation address to Parliament,  Moscow, April the 29th, 2005, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty). The are many controversial debates about the actual reasons that caused the collapse of the vast Soviet Empire, but one thing is certain: they cannot be reduced to one single factor, as for an historical event of such calibre to happen, it took the interaction of many factors, producing a set of circumstances that made the change urgent and inevitable. In the following essay, I shall present and argue the main fact ors that contributed to and can be described as reasons for the end of the Soviet Union. To begin with, we are talking about a disintegration process with different origins and extremely intense dynamics. The systemic involution had actually begun in February 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev struck the deadly blow against the myth of Stalins inerrability (February 25, 1956: Khrushchevs Secret Speech, denouncing Stalins abuses). It was followed by other disillusions, which would undermine the myths of the irreversibility and invincibility of the communist order. The economic problems of the USSR were asking for desperate measures, the society was becoming more and more corrupt, harsh, and inefficient, the sole existence of the USSR as a union was starting to be questioned. After the removal of Khrushchev from power in 1964, Leonid Brezhnev was appointed his successor. The economic crisis that engulfed the Soviet Union and the majority of the socialist states in the 1970s spread to the following decade. The reform surrogates consecutively introduced by the communist leaders failed to optimize the economy and release tension in social relations. The soviet socialism model proved to be completely inadequate, considering that the world was about to enter as Jeremy Rifkin calls it the third industrial revolution. Yuri Andropov (1982-1984) appeared to be trying to put into practice a reform policy, but was confronted by the inflexibility of the superior political structures and resistance from the bureaucratic system installed by Brezhnev. But shortly after the death of Konstantin Cernenko, on March the 11th 1985, in Moscow, a new leader emerged, animated by reforming ideas, under the aegis of Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviet Union was confronting grave issues at the time Gorbachev took over, and they were all exacerbated by the immense quantum of military expenditures. The new General Secretary was quite cautious at the beginning, apparently proving to be consequent to his predecessors, but he then rapidly proceeded to consolidating his power, replacing, in a few weeks time, much of the governing team, and casting away his main rivals. This was meant to pave the way to Gorbachevs reforms. It started with the Central Committee plenum of the CPSU in April 1985, where Gorbachev brought forward the principles of the policy he intended to put into practice in the Soviet Union, in an attempt to save the communist system by implementing a slow liberalizing process that would lead to the abolition of the systems most heinous features, without destroying its ideological fundaments. That policy bears the name of perestroika, or restructuring. In his vision, the soviet system had deviated from the Leninist theory, and needed a reorganization based on reforming the political and economic systems, and improving the system of social relations, above all economic (Kommunist, no. 5, 1985, as cited in Sakwa, R., 1999, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, London and New York: Routledge, p.424). The main goal of perestroika was to demolish the consequences of the Brezhnev era (famously described as an era of economic stagnation), so Gorbachev decided to adopt a strategy of rapid accel eration (uskorenie) in the rate of growth, confident of the command economys potential to deliver it (Acton, E. and Stableford T., 2007, The Soviet Union: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY, vol. 2: 1939-1991, Exter: University of Exter Press, p. 384). Applying this concept relied entirely on the support of the society, but conscious of the obstacles standing in his way, the soviet leader took a set of measures in order to stop the nomenclature who would have wanted to prevent these reforms from happening. A general view of this vision could be summarized in this extract from Gorbachev, M. S., 1987, PERESTROIKA: New Thinking for Our Country and the World, London: Collins, p. 66: I am pleased that theres a growing understanding, both within the Party and in the society as a whole, that we have started an unprecedented political, economic, social and ideological endeavour. If we are to implement everything we have planned, we must also carry out unprecedented political, economic, social and ideological work in both the internal and external spheres. Above all, we bear an unprecedented responsibility. And we are aware of the need for large-scale and bold efforts, especially at the first stage. In any case, the contradictions and limits of perestroika prevented the political system from being reformed. Therefore, there was a radical difference between what the initiator of the reforms wanted and what the final result was. Another important component of the reforming policy Gorbachev was introduced in 1986, and is called glasnost (openness), which meant gradually abolishing censorship, introducing political transparency and freedom of the media, which was a gate to elucidating the problems that were blocked, or remained unsolved for decades. The freedom a person had to publicly express a point of view which, not many years ago, would have had him deported in gulags (or even sentenced to death, in Stalins time), became an ordinary right thanks to glasnost. Soviet newspapers could criticize the government policy, the CPSU, and even Gorbachev himself. Yet remarkable were the results of perestroika in the external relations. He was convinced that this program could not be fulfilled unless the countrys international relations radically changed. Indeed, the USSR started redrawing its essential external policy. Together with his External Affairs Minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, Gorbachev managed to practically revolutionize the soviet external policy, enjoying great sympathy around the world. He introduced a new political thinking, based on a few components: external policy no longer needed to be reasoned and led through the ideological factor; the conflict between the 2 superpowers, USSR and USA, was non-productive, and military power did not automatically guarantee national security; the soviet state needed to revise its external objectives. Signing an agreement with China on the issue of the oriental borderline, his propositions to limit nuclear and conventional armaments, and drawing off his troops in Afghanistan, made Gorbachev loo k like a man who was promising peace. Furthermore, at the European Council in Strasbourg, he admitted that there is no such thing as an unchangeable social system, and suggested that such transformations could occur in Eastern Europe. This signal was also received in Eastern European states, not only in the West. His declaration was widely interpreted as a green light to the reformers in Eastern Europe, in their efforts to implement a democratic system and a market economy, but especially, it dispelled the fear of the intervention of the Big Brother (the name Hà ©là ¨ne Carrà ¨re dEncausse gives to the Soviet Union) to end the reforms. Another important step in the democratization of the USSR was made in 1989, with the election of a new Soviet Parliament, the Congress of Peoples Deputies. These were not free elections like the ones in the West, taking into consideration that 90% of the candidates were members of the CPSU and other political parties were strictly forbidden. But these elections offered the people the possibility to choose their candidates, and the vote counting had been correctly done. It was definitely the closest thing to democratic elections since 1917. Yet despite the radical reforms adopted in the USSR, no one anticipated the fundamental changes that were about to happen in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1991. Poland was the first country in Eastern Europe where Gorbachevs perestroika and glasnost turned into an anticommunist revolution. The non-violent Polish break-up with a totalitarian regime was made possible by the existence of both governing and opposition elites, who understood the necessity of such a compromise. The final closure of the communist era in postwar Poland was done in December 1990, with the election of Lech Walesa as president. The Polish events in 1988-1989 had a substantial impact on the entire region. Hopes were reborn in Hungary, as in the spring of 1990, elections were held and won by the Democratic Forum, which led to overthrowing the communist power through the will of the people. In Czechoslovakia, the collapse of the communist regime was done by what the historians and public opinion know as The Velvet Revolution. Active opposition became visible since early 1989, when demonstrations were held throughout the country, and just as expected, democratic forces would take over later that year. The regime collapse in East Germany came as a natural consequence of the events rapidly taking place in the soviet bloc. In late October and early November 1989, hundreds of thousands of protesters went out on the streets of East German cities, demanding their rights. On November the 9th, the Berlin Wall, the main symbol of both German separation and the Cold War, was demolished. In Bulgaria, in December 1989, the communist leader T. Jivkov was arrested and the Communist Party changed its name into the Bulgarian Socialist Party, as a symbolic break-up from the Leninist dogmas. In Romania, unlike other countries in the soviet bloc, communism was overthrown through a violent, open fight. The lack of real opposition within the Communist Party made a peaceful transition impossible. The revolution first started in a city in Western Romania, and was first repressed by the secret police. But a second revolutionary wave broke out on December the 20th, which eventually spread out across the country, breaking the psychological barrier. First encountering militia and army resistance, the huge crowds managed to take over, forcing the Ceausescu dictatorial couple to flee. The communist dictator and his wife were captured, an improvised Court charged them with genocide and impairment of national economy, and the two were finally executed on the Christmas Day in 1989. 1990 was the year in which increasing social convulsion started to lead towards questioning perestroika, as an effect of the resurgence of national consciousness in all the Soviet Republics and satellite states, a factor which Gorbachev had not predicted in his plan to redress the Soviet Union. Interethnic confrontations arose in all the Soviet Republics, and national conflicts were threatening the cohesion of the USSR. Lithuania proclaimed its independence in March 1990. It was shortly followed by Estonia, Latvia, Georgia and Armenia. Other Republics proclaimed themselves sovereign: The Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Moldova, Byelorussia, and Ukraine. The laws of the USSR were no longer obeyed, and the leaders of the republics were demanding that the recruits should no longer be incorporated in the Soviet Army. Aware of the danger, Gorbachev proposed, in February 1990, a new treaty that was to establish a confederation, in order to avoid secession. The Congress of Peoples Deputies approved the project for a referendum on keeping the Union. The instauration of a new presidential power weighed significantly in the rapid evolution of the national problem. However, on August the 19th 1991, in Moscow, a group of conservative members of the Politburo who were against the reformation processes, launched what is known today as The August Coup, with the intention of removing Gorbachev from power, but eventually failed. The coup strengthened Boris Yeltsins position as elected President of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) and leader of the democratic forces, and weakened Gorbachevs position. Finally, Gorbachevs desperate endeavors to transform the Soviet Union into the Union of Sovereign States, to organize new elections, to rescue his power, ended in failure. The Republics proclaimed their independence after August 1991. On December the 8th 1991, near Minsk, the Presidents of RSFSR, Ukraine and Byelorussia signed an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and forming the Commonwealth of Independent States. In these given conditions, on December the 25th 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev would resign from the position of president of a state that no longer existed. The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist starting with December the 31st 1991, 69 years after its establishment. All in all, my view is that the economic backwardness of the USSR, the failure to effectively implement reforms (reforms which, paradoxically, led to its destruction), the loss of the arms race, and not least, nationalism, formed the main factors that determined the collapse of the Soviet Union. The dismantling of the Empire can be interpreted as an unhappy implosion, deriving from profound internal causes, from the inability of communism to build a viable economy. And the germs of the implosion had laid right in the theses of Gorbachevs brilliant by some, a non-sense by others perestroika, in his political actions, as the leader himself is the one who drove the first nails into the coffin, when he demanded the abrogation of article six of the USSR Constitution, which guaranteed the CPSUs supremacy. Gorbachev tried this way to transfer the political power to the Soviets, angering the elder conservative activists. Also, 1989 was the year that practically switched on the genetic immu ne system of captive nations. The long-dispraised nationalism was the explosive that dashed the Empire of proletarian internationalism to the ground. And yet, the revolution did not fail, considering that we cannot talk about a revolution that is totally triumphant. All the founding myths of that system based on the quasi-religious cult of the single party were shaken, and finally collapsed.