Eulogy for Grandfather :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Grandfather My grandfather and I had a number of secrets between us. Most of these, I can't tell; the salient feature of a secret is not the matter contained within the secret, but the trust implied. But I'll tell you one secret, because I think it's important, and because I think that my grandfather won't mind. It's a little secret, without much drama to it: My grandfather once told me that he would have liked to have been a history teacher. Like I said, it's a little secret. It's a little dream. But ever since he told it to me, four years ago now, the image of my grandfather in front of a class, teaching history, has stayed fixed in my memory. It is something that seems right and true. Part of this may have to do with the fact that, in a very real sense, my grandfather embodied history to me. I have only just now come to that point in my life where time has loosed itself from its moorings, and memory has begun to develop an appreciable depth. But to me, my grandfather always seemed to have that depth. We can all remember asking our grandparents about their lives; it's fascinating to a young person, because here is someone talking about a time and a place that never existed or could exist for that young person. Here, before you, is someone who has traveled through time. And as you reconstruct the past with a grandparent, you also reconstruct the person. My grandfather had always been my grandfather: Older, balding, and grumpy. But he was also once a child, who didn't speak English until he was five years old. He was a teenager who used to play baseball. He was a young man who was dragged to a USO dance by a buddy, there to meet the woman he would marry. There's a richness of a life that can only be told though a recitation of its history. My grandfather came truly alive to me when I knew his life. A place and its history are meaningless unless there is a context in which to place it. The proper context for my father was within his family. Families are also the embodiment of history: The individual elements change as the men and women of it pass though time, but the family remains. My grandfather told me that in the little Italian town from which our family came, there is a book that lists the names of our family back hundreds of years. Eulogy for Grandfather :: Eulogies Eulogy Eulogy for Grandfather My grandfather and I had a number of secrets between us. Most of these, I can't tell; the salient feature of a secret is not the matter contained within the secret, but the trust implied. But I'll tell you one secret, because I think it's important, and because I think that my grandfather won't mind. It's a little secret, without much drama to it: My grandfather once told me that he would have liked to have been a history teacher. Like I said, it's a little secret. It's a little dream. But ever since he told it to me, four years ago now, the image of my grandfather in front of a class, teaching history, has stayed fixed in my memory. It is something that seems right and true. Part of this may have to do with the fact that, in a very real sense, my grandfather embodied history to me. I have only just now come to that point in my life where time has loosed itself from its moorings, and memory has begun to develop an appreciable depth. But to me, my grandfather always seemed to have that depth. We can all remember asking our grandparents about their lives; it's fascinating to a young person, because here is someone talking about a time and a place that never existed or could exist for that young person. Here, before you, is someone who has traveled through time. And as you reconstruct the past with a grandparent, you also reconstruct the person. My grandfather had always been my grandfather: Older, balding, and grumpy. But he was also once a child, who didn't speak English until he was five years old. He was a teenager who used to play baseball. He was a young man who was dragged to a USO dance by a buddy, there to meet the woman he would marry. There's a richness of a life that can only be told though a recitation of its history. My grandfather came truly alive to me when I knew his life. A place and its history are meaningless unless there is a context in which to place it. The proper context for my father was within his family. Families are also the embodiment of history: The individual elements change as the men and women of it pass though time, but the family remains. My grandfather told me that in the little Italian town from which our family came, there is a book that lists the names of our family back hundreds of years.

Dbq for Apush

In the early nineteenth century the United States began to split, but as mid-century came around, people became more polarized in their views and the union started to separate drastically. During the period of 1850, until 1861 when the Confederate States of America was formed, the union was clearly divided between the North and South. Although the Constitution was not the only factor leading to sectional tension in America, there are many strong points in the North and South favoring the statement, â€Å"By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national unity, had become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it had created. † Northerners, during mid-century America believed in the preservation of the undissolvable Union. When the Constitution was framed in 1787, the founding fathers were concerned about leaving Britain and becoming a Union, as opposed to the issue of slavery that would later prevail. Henry Clay created the Compromise of 1850, which helped solve the problem of slavery in the territories (Document A). This was not included in the Constitut . . . When the Missouri Compromise was ruled unconstitutional under the Dred Scott decision, the due process clause, for the first time, was interpreted to state that people could not be denied their property, displaying that Calhoun was right all along. It is evident that although the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, many Northerners depicted its flaws. An anonymous Georgian, although somewhat contradictory, explained, â€Å"Two Constitutional provisions are necessary to secure Southern rights upon this important question,–the recognition of slavery where the people choose it and the remedy for fugitive slave† (Document B). Sectional difficulties that lead to the break up of the Union can be traced to flaws in the Constitution, although there are other factors as well. In events such as John Brown’s Raid, the North solemnly respected Brown, holding commemoration services in his memorial. This shows that the founding fathers thought well ahead of their time and created a Constitution that included answers to many questions, although, in general, this document eventually contributed to the collapse of the Union. President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America, believing that states were sovereign over the Union, stated, The separate and independent sovereignty of each State was merged into one common government and nation† (Document H). The Constitution includes the three-fifths clause, along with and end to the African slave trade. After the fugitive slave law was enacted, many personal liberty laws were created in the North and colored people were notified, â€Å"You are hereby respectfully CAUTIONED and advised, to avoid conversing with Watchmen and Police Officers of Boston† (Document C). Just as Northerners saw flaws in the Constitution, Southerners viewed it not to be perfect as well. President James Buchanan, a northern man with southern sympathies clarified, â€Å"As sovereign states, they and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them† (Document G). Regarding the Fugitive Slave Law, a Bostonian Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, â€Å"As soon as the Constitution ordains an immoral law, it ordains disunion†¦The Union is at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted† (Document D). The constitutionality of the protective tariff was questioned during the panic of 1857, which Northerners blamed on the South. Yet another Bostonian, William Lloyd Garrison, an abolitionist reformer exclaimed, â€Å"The Constitution which subjects them [slaves] to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to support† (Document E). Although the Constitution is clearly flawed because extremist on both sides had problems with it, this document, which is the supreme law of the land, does have positive aspects. ————————————————- By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national unity, had become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it has created. This was shown by ambivalent interpretations of the constitution and other important documents when assorted together. It is known that the union did not last, for there was the Civil War. If everyone could agree on what the constitution implied, then there probably would not have been a civil war. From several of the documents, there are arguments about what the constitution states. (Document E), â€Å"To the Argument, that the word ‘slaves’ and ‘slavery’ are not to be found in The Constitution, and therefore it was never intended to give any protection or countenance to the slave system, it s sufficient to reply, that no such words are continued in the instrument, other words were used, intelligently and specifically, to meet the necessities of slavery. † This indicates that the constitution CAN be interpreted differently, and when used with other pertinent documents, can be incongruous. Those views that differentiated were of those in the North and South. The Constitution can be interpreted in many different ways, which leads to sectional discord and tension. For many reasons, the South evidently did not like what the constitution said. There were many conflictions with the compromise of 1850, map shown in (Document A) and the fugitive slave act. Certain northerners were so against slavery and the fugitive slave act that they even posted warnings for the slaves. (Document C), [shows how kidnappers were being sent after the slaves, and how Northern abolitionists were revolting against the South’s rules and regulations. ] This fugitive slave act also helped drive the tension deeper into the Un-United States. With drama now rumbling in the American underbellies, the small weight of anything slightly bad could set off a secession bomb. A freesoiler does not want to spread slavery, but he is okay with keeping it in a state it is already in. When the idea of popular sovereignty came about with the compromise of 1850, map shown in (Document A), those freesoilers in office were pushed harder into complex decisions over the popular sovereignty issue. (Document F) â€Å"FORCING SLAVERY DOWN THE THROAT OF A FREESOILER,† illustrates this in a very blatant text and disturbing political cartoon. All of the tension gathering, even authors were predestining the Civil War. Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that the Constitution, (when assorted with others like the fugitive slave law or the compromise of 1850) were contradictory, and that they aid to the now inevitable seeming end of the union. (Document D) â€Å"What kind of legislation is this? What kind of constitution which covers? †¦ I suppose the union can be left to take care of itself†¦. But one thing appears certain to me, that , as soon as the constitution ordains an immoral law, it ordains disunion. The law is suicidal, and cannot be obeyed. The union is at an end as soon as an immoral law is enacted. And he who writes a crime into the statute-book digs under the foundations of the capitol to plant there a powder-magazine, and lays a train† This proves that By the 1850’s the Constitution, originally framed as an instrument of national unity, had become a source of sectional discord and tension and ultimately contributed to the failure of the union it has created. This was shown by ambivalent interpretations of the constitution and other important documents when assorted together

Geography Prelim Notes

Geography Preliminary Exam Outline 20 multiple choice – skills Short Answer Questions – Biophysical Interactions (some or all or how they integrate), population and culture integration. Extended response – Natural resources – one or a combination of the four points Geography Preliminary Notes The Biophysical Environment * The Biophysical Environment is the interaction of all abiotic and biotic elements found on the planet. * Expressed another way the BPE is made up of all the features of the physical and the built environment and how these features interrelate. The BPE is then the interactions, which occur between the Atmosphere, Lithosphere, Biosphere and Hydrosphere. ATMOSPHERE * Atmosphere, mixture of gases surrounding any celestial object that has a gravitational field strong enough to prevent the gases from escaping; especially the gaseous envelope of the earth. The principal constituents of the atmosphere of the earth are nitrogen (78 percent) and ox ygen (21 percent). The atmospheric gases in the remaining 1 percent are argon (0. 9 percent), carbon dioxide (0. 3 percent), varying amounts of water vapour, and trace amounts of hydrogen, ozone, methane, carbon monoxide, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon. * The water-vapour content of the air varies considerably, depending on the temperature and relative humidity. With 100 percent relative humidity the water-vapour content of air varies from 190 parts per million (ppm) at -40Â ° C to 42,000 ppm at 30Â ° C. Minute quantities of other gases, such as ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, and oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, are temporary constituents of the atmosphere in the vicinity of volcanoes and are washed out of the air by rain or snow.Divisions of the Atmosphere: Without our atmosphere, there would be no life on earth. A relatively thin envelope, the atmosphere consists of layers of gases that support life can provide protection from harmful radiation. Issues related to the Atmosphere * Daily weather conditions, climatic conditions (seasonal/short-term/long-term/cyclical) * Global warming, Greenhouse Effect (GHE) * Ozone depletion * Acid rain * Smog, photochemical smog, brown haze * Radioactive fallout Atmosphere Impacts Oxides and other pollutants added to the atmosphere by factories and automobiles have become a major concern, however, because of their damaging effects in the form of acid rain. In addition, the strong possibility exists that the steady increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, mainly as the result of fossil-fuel combustion over the past century, may affect the earth's climate (for example enhanced Greenhouse Effect). * Similar concerns are posed by the sharp increase in atmospheric methane.Methane levels have risen 11 per cent since 1978. About 80 per cent of the gas is produced by decomposition in rice paddies, swamps, and the intestines of grazing animals, and by tropical termites. Human activities that tend to accelerate these processes include raising more livestock and growing more rice. Besides adding to the greenhouse effect, methane reduces the volume of atmospheric hydroxyl ions, thereby curtailing the atmosphere's ability to cleanse itself of pollutants. (for example photochemical smog) Atmosphere – Ozone DepletionThe ozone layer became a subject of concern in the early 1970s when it was found that chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were rising into the atmosphere in large quantities because of their use as refrigerants and as propellants in aerosol dispensers. The concern centred on the possibility that these compounds, through the action of sunlight, could chemically attack and destroy stratospheric ozone, which protects the earth's surface from excessive ultraviolet radiation. HYDROSPHERE * The hydrosphere refers to all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock, and atmospheric water vapour. Water is the most abundant substance at the surface of the Earth. About 1. 4 b illion cubic kilometres of water in liquid and frozen form make up the oceans, lakes, streams, glaciers, and groundwater. * Central to any discussion of the hydrosphere is the concept of the hydrologic cycle. This cycle consists of a group of reservoirs containing water, the processes by which water is transferred from one reservoir to another (or transformed from one state to another), and the rates of transfer associated with such processes.These transfer paths penetrate the entire hydrosphere, extending upward to about 15 kilometres in the Earth's atmosphere and downward to depths in the order of five kilometres into the crust. * Although water storage in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere is small, the rate of water circulation through the rain–river–ocean–atmosphere system is relatively rapid. The amount of water discharged each year into the oceans from the land is approximately equal to the total mass of water stored at any instant in rivers and lakes. The biosphere, though primarily H2O in composition, contains very little of the total water at the terrestrial surface, only about 0. 00004 per cent. Yet, the biosphere plays a major role in the transport of water vapour back into the atmosphere by the process of transpiration. Impact of Human Activities on the Hydrosphere * The activities of modern society are having a severe impact on the hydrologic cycle. * Humans alter the natural functioning of the water cycle through quantitative or qualitative changes to the cycle. For example the dynamic steady state is being disturbed by the discharge of toxic chemicals, radioactive substances, and other industrial wastes and by the seepage of mineral fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides into surface and subsurface aquatic systems. Inadvertent and deliberate discharge of petroleum, improper sewage disposal, and thermal pollution also are seriously affecting the quality of the hydrosphere. * Humans alter the quantity of water available throu gh by a range of activities such as the construction of Dams.Weirs, irrigation schemes, aqueducts, reservoirs, dyke & levee schemes and land reclamation projects. * In more subtle ways humans through enhancing the Greenhouse Effect may be changing regional climates and therefore rainfall patterns within regions. * While large scale dams can mitigate flood damage, provide Hydro-electric energy and reliable water supply they also present significant environmental and ecological costs. * People alter the quality of water in many ways such as through domestic, agricultural, commercial and industrial pollution. The pollution of waterways is classified according to point or non-point pollution. * Pollution in waterways can mean the quality of water is unfit for human consumption (toxic to humans) or of a low enough quality to seriously impact on the ecology of the water system. LITHOSPHERE * The Earth's outermost rigid, rocky layer is called the lithosphere. It is broken, like a slightly cracked eggshell, into about a dozen separate rigid blocks, or plates. There are two types of plates, oceanic and continental.An example of an oceanic plate is the Pacific Plate, which extends from the East Pacific Rise to the deep-ocean trenches bordering the western part of the Pacific basin. The North American Plate exemplifies a continental plate. * The upper layer of the lithosphere is termed the crust. * The earth’s crust is comprised of bedrock material in various situ * Rocks are commonly divided into three major classes according to the processes that resulted in their formation.These classes are (1) igneous rocks, which have solidified from molten material called magma; (2) sedimentary rocks, those consisting of fragments derived from pre-existing rocks or of materials precipitated from solutions; and (3) metamorphic rocks, which have been derived from either igneous or sedimentary rocks under conditions that caused changes in mineralogical composition, texture, and internal structure. * Elements of weathering, erosion and gradational forces over time then shape these rock components into landform.This is known as the geomorphological process. * Such forces as tectonic plate movement, fluvial action, gradational forces and the action of the wind and sun shape landform features. * Tectonic plates move in three main ways relative to each other. Translation, seduction and convergence (Spreading). The results of this plate movement is often seen as volcanic activity (eruptions, geysers, hot springs) as earthquakes or tremors and in subsidence, land slips and slumping. * Fluvial action is the process of water eroding, transporting and depositing rock material. Wind can erode rock material by blasting, while the sun heating up rock and the rock cooling can break it down in a process call exfoliation. The top three soil issues confronting Australia are; 1. Loss of valuable topsoil due to over-clearing and subsequent erosion 2. Soils salinity – as result of over-clearing and or irrigation rasing the water table and bringing salt to the surface. 3. Acid Sulfate soil exposure – as a result of construction and mining exposing acid sulfates locked up in soil and these sulfates leaching into local waterways. BIOSPHERE The Biosphere is defined as the relatively thin life-supporting stratum of the Earth's surface, extending from a few kilometres into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the oceans. * The biosphere is a global ecosystem composed of living organisms (biota) and the abiotic (nonliving) factors from which they derive energy and nutrients. * The biosphere can be broken down into segments of abiotic and biotic components, called ecosystems. Oceans, lakes, and wetlands are examples of aquatic ecosystems, while forests, deserts, and tundra are examples of terrestrial ecosystems.Through these systems, energy flows and chemicals essential to life are cycled in what is known as biogeochemical cycles. * The biosph ere itself can be studied as a worldwide ecosystem through which the interconnectedness of all life and life-supporting systems on the Earth can be understood. * The earth’s biodiversity (total known stock of varying species of fauna and flora on the planet) is classified into several major Biomes. Each Biome is made up of a multitude of interconnected and interrelating ecosystems. An ecosystem is defined as the complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space. * An ecosystem can be categorized into its abiotic constituents, including minerals, climate, soil, water, sunlight, and all other nonliving elements, and its biotic constituents, consisting of all its living members. Linking these constituents together are two major forces: the flow of energy through the ecosystem, and the cycling of nutrients within the ecosystem. Cycles within ecosystems which transfer / transform energy and matter are known as t he Biogeochemical cycles (eg. Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorous etc.. ) * The biosphere supports between 3 and 30 million species of plants, animals, fungi, single-celled prokaryotes such as bacteria, and single-celled eukaryotes such as protozoans. Of this total, only about 1. 4 million species have been named so far, and fewer than 1 percent have been studied for their ecological relationships and their role in ecosystems. * A little more than half the named species are insects, which dominate errestrial and freshwater communities worldwide; the laboratories of systematises are filled with insect species yet to be named and described. Hence, the relationships of organisms to their environments and the roles that species play in the biosphere are only beginning to be understood. BIOPYSICAL ENVIRONMENT Impacts of Humans on the Biophysical Environment * The biosphere supports between 3 and 30 million species of plants, animals, fungi, single-celled prokaryotes such as bacteria, a nd single-celled eukaryotes such as protozoans. Of this total, only about 1. million species have been named so far, and fewer than 1 percent have been studied for their ecological relationships and their role in ecosystems. * A little more than half the named species are insects, which dominate terrestrial and freshwater communities worldwide; the laboratories of systematises are filled with insect species yet to be named and described. Hence, the relationships of organisms to their environments and the roles that species play in the biosphere are only beginning to be understood. Management Strategies for human impacts on BPE Management strategies can be based on a number of approaches such as reactionary, precautionary or proactive management. * As many issues have multiple causal factors at a variety of scales any successful management strategies must be designed with this in mind. Often the real measure of success of a management strategy is a direct reflection of effectiveness or otherwise of a co-ordinating authority. * An example of this need for a co-ordinated response to management can be seen through reviewing the Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC).This authority must oversee management strategies in literally hundreds of sub-catchments of the Murray Darling river and across local, state and federal levels of jurisdiction. Natural Resources Definition of a Natural Resource A natural resource is any part of the biophysical environment that can be used in some way to satisfy human needs. For example; air, water, forests, minerals. They can either be either RENEWABLE or NON-RENEWABLE. RENEWABLE RESOURCES Renewable resources are those that are naturally renewed within a sufficiently short time span to be useful to human beings.There are two categories of renewable resources: * Non-critical zone resources * Critical zone resources Non-critical zone renewable resources: * These types of natural resources remain renewable irrespective of how much and ho w often humans use them * Some examples include solar energy, tides, wing, waves, water and air. Critical zone renewable resources: * These are resources that naturally renew within short periods of time but can be affected by how much and how often humans use them, That is humans use them before they can be renewed. * Examples include fish, forests, animals, soil, underground water (aquifers)NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES * These are resources that have taken millions of years to form’ * These are resources that are deemed to be in fixed supply that is once they are used they can never be replaced. There are two categories of non renewable resources; * CONSUMED BY USE and * RECYCLABLE OR THEORETICALLY RECOVERABLE Consumed by use Non-renewable * These are resources that once used they can not be replaced. These are basically the fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. There are called fossil fuels because they were once living organisms million years ago. * Because of the ra te of use in recent times these resources could ace exhaustion. It is predicted that after 2008 that oil will reduce as we have used it up. Recyclable or Theoretically Recoverable Non-renewable * These are the metallic minerals that are mined such as iron ore, aluminum copper, gold, silver etc. These also take millions of years to be created and once used they too cannot be replaced; the significant difference is that these resources can be reused or recycled. Think of aluminum cans or metal scrap yards. What constitutes a resource? For these resources defined earlier several conditions must exist before it can actually become a resource. 1.It must be recognized as being a resource indirectly or directly. 2. There must be the skills, equipment and social organization present to transform the resource into something useful. 3. The transformation must be achieved at a cost and convenience that make it more appropriate than an alternative. 4. The adverse impacts generated by the activi ty must be acceptable to society. What a natural resource is, depends on a number of factors; 1. Economic – what is the cost of extraction e. g. , extracting petroleum out of deep-sea deposits is expensive and risky – the deep sea well in the golf of Mexico. 2.Cultural – What is a resource for one culture might not be for another e. g. Kangaroo meat. 3. Technology – the resource might not be technologically possible at the moment e. g. fusion power 4. Political – governments might promote exploitation of natural resources for strategic, economic & political reasons e. g. the cotton industry in Australia is a result of government policy in the 1960s that wanted to reduce our reliance on imported cotton. 5. Environment and health factors – concerns about the impact on the environment and the health of people and ecosystems may effect the nature and rater if resources exploitation.Environment + Impact Statements (EIS) are often used to assess t he impact on ecosystems of the exploitation of a resource. Economic & political issues related to the use of natural resource, their ownership and management 1. Rate of use: Supply and Demand * Economically, natural resources will be used at a higher rate while that resource is in demand. * If demand is reduced over time it could have economic repercussions for the country that relied on its sale – relevant to the economic well being of many developing countries. They take out large loans to help develop their country based on the performance of selling their natural resources * Once demand decreases their ability to pay back the loan is reduced which then makes the country more in debt. * Money made from selling the resources is used to pay off interest on the loans and little is put back into the country to make it better off. 2. Continued demand for a resource * Can jeopardise economic prosperity due to economically unsustainable practices * Uncontrolled exploitation may j eopardise long term production levels.A good example of this is fishing. * May cause stocks to be reduced * Threat to the preservation of the fish species * Industry and jobs would be lost * Boat owners would incur increasing debts * Food supplies would be threatened by high prices and limited availability Political Issues 1. Opposing views * Political issues of resource use can arise when competing groups wish to use the same resources. * Countries who dispute ownership of a major resource e. g. the waters of a river that flows through more than one country. * Subgroups within a society

Informative Essay Sample on Cars and New Technology Safety and Comfort

Informative Essay Sample on Cars and New Technology Safety and Comfort I will cover several main ideas in this report. First, I will cover an overview of the technologies that will make driving more comfortable, such as In-car Internet and Coast-to-Coast Radio. I will then cover different ways to make driving easier, such as intelligent cruise control, and voice control. Finally, I will cover technology that will make driving safer. This will include push-button help, seeing through fog and NightVision, and smart seats. I will now give an overview of the new technologies that are aimed at comfort. You will soon be able to send and receive e-mail, get news, traffic reports, sports scores, and stock quotes all without taking your eyes off of the road. This will all be done on the Internet through voice commands and a voice synthesizer. In order to activate these functions, all the driver has to do is say, â€Å"Start my E-mail† into a microphone on the steering wheel and the onboard computer will go to a specified web site where it will download the requested information and convert the text to spoken words for hand and eye free operation. The price will be about $2000 and a monthly fee for connecting to the Internet. This technology will be offered on the 2001 Cadillac Seville or DeVille and the 2001 BMW 750iL and Z8 models. Another form of comfort technology is Coast-to-Coast radio. This technology is used so that you will never need to face static or have trouble finding good stations in areas away from home. By the end of the year, two companies, XM Radio and Sirius Satellite, are expected to have satellites In place that will be able to broadcast synchronized radio signals all over the country. In addition to the high fidelity, static free sound, you will be able to listen to one station, from coast to coast. There will be about 100 channels to choose from with 50 being commercial free. Youll need to pay a monthly subscription fee of $9.95 to enjoy this benefit. BMW, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler have announced to have this as an option on new models soon. A final comfort tech is active body control. This sophisticated active suspension system is designed to counteract all types of body lean. It stops all lean from cornering, braking, or acceleration so that the car stays flat at all times. The result is a plush, comfortable ride. This also gives you the ability to control the car’s ride height and give you better clearance or better aerodynamics. This is currently only available on the Mercedes Benz CL-Class. There are several new technologies that will make driving much easier for drivers. The first of these is intelligent cruise control. Any cruise control system can maintain a set speed. This new system also maintains a set distance from other cars too. This system uses radar to detect any cars ahead for about 500 feet. If a slower vehicle is detected in front of your car, the system will slow down the car until you reach the set distance that you selected earlier. This is currently only available on the Mercedes Benz CL-Class. The next technology geared towards making driving easier is the electronic parking guide. This simple system uses radar to measure how close the vehicle’s bumper is to other objects and signals the driver with both visual and audio alerts to stop the need for guessing if your close or not and gets rid of the chance of scraping your bumper. This is currently only available on the Mercedes Benz CL-Class. The next piece of sophisticated technology is voice-recognition technology, or simply the ability to control systems by talking to the car. This lets the driver keep his eyes on the road and his hands on the steering wheel. The hard part about developing this technology was getting it to recognize different voices and inflections. There are still some bugs, but it’s a good first try. You will be able to control audio, climate-control, and cellular phone systems easily. With just a word or two, drivers can control radio station, CD tracks, and volume, adjust temperature, switch audio sources, dial a number, and lots more. The driver must remember several key words for the technology to operate properly. It doesn’t always work though, sometime you have to repeat the word or the system will just ignore you. This technology will eventually get much better though since the current technology is first generation. You will be able to enjoy this feature on the Jaguar S-Type and the Mercedes Benz S-Class. I will now discuss several safety features that will be put into high tech cars. The first safety feature is push-button help. With the push of a button, you can get travel information, roadside assistance, and emergency aid with the Mercedes Benz Tele Aid System. It connects you to a 24-hour center that can track your vehicle’s location via GPS. In an accident, the system will automatically call for help and transmit your location, while center personnel direct emergency help to the vehicle. This will also easily and quickly locate your car if it is stolen. This is currently only available on the Mercedes Benz CL-Class. The next technology which will make the roads safer are Thermal Imaging and NightVision to see through fog and at night. This technology uses a heads-up-display, like on fighter jets, mounted on the dashboard in front of the driver. This heads-up-display, or HUD, then projects the image onto the windshield. This NightVision gives the driver a view of the road ahead and picks up any heat-emitting objects., such as people, animals, and running cars. Heat-emitting objects appear in white on a black background. This can sense anything three times as far as low beams. When you are driving, you don’t look directly at the HUD, but your peripheral vision would pick up the bright object in the NightVision display. This can be used to avoid deer, see cars in dense fog, or even see a parked police car with its lights out and its engine running sitting by the side of a highway. This is only available on the 2000 Cadillac DeVille. The final safety technology that I will cover is smart seats. One new system has 10 air cells which sense the passenger’s weight distribution and automatically adjusts for better support, while other seats have heaters and cooling fans in them for maximum comfort. There are even massaging backrests to calm you down. For safety, seats are being tied into the passenger airbag systems. One system uses sensors that actually detect the electrical activity in a person’s body. Using this, the system can tell if a child is in the seat (by monitoring the height) or if a person is leaning against the door. In either case, the side airbag is deactivated and the front bag deploys at a lower speed. These various systems will be options on Cadillac’s, Mercedes-Benz’s, Lincoln’s, Lexus’, BMW’s, and Acura’s. In this paper, I have covered many topics. I have shown how you can use your car to check e-mail, get the weather, or listen to the radio without interference. You will be able to let the cruise control drive for you, park easily and without worry, drive without any sort of movements inside of the car, and control the car with voice commands. You will be able to get help with the push of a button, see on a pitch-dark night, and won’t have to worry about airbags hurting you. Your life will be affected in many ways from these new technologies. You will have much less things to worry about and have more fun driving. You will be more comfortable, and also safer. With these new technologies and the other technologies that will surely come, the roads will be a much safer place with less accidents and faster trips.

Iron in the Industrial Revolution

Iron in the Industrial Revolution Iron was one of the most basic requirements of the rapidly industrializing British economy, and the country certainly had plenty of raw materials. However, in 1700, the iron industry was not efficient and most iron was imported into Britain. By 1800, after technical developments, the iron industry was a net exporter. Iron in the 18th Century The pre-revolution iron industry was based on small, localized production facilities sited near essential ingredients such as water, limestone, and charcoal. This produced multiple small monopolies on production and a set of small iron producing areas like South Wales. While Britain had good iron ore reserves, the iron produced was of low quality with plenty of impurities, limiting its use. There was plenty of demand but not much was produced as wrought iron, which had many of the impurities hammered out, took a long time to make, and was available in cheaper imports from Scandinavia. Thus, there was a bottleneck for industrialists to solve. At this stage, all the techniques of iron smelting were old and traditional and the key method was the blast furnace, used from 1500 onward. This was relatively quick  but produced brittle iron. Did the Iron Industry Fail Britain? There is a traditional view that the iron industry failed to satisfy the British market from 1700 to 1750, which instead had to rely on imports and couldn’t advance. This was because iron simply couldn’t meet demand and over half of the iron used came from Sweden. While the British industry was competitive in war, when the costs of imports rose, peace was problematic. The size of furnaces remained small in this era, limited output, and the technology was dependent upon the amount of timber in the area. As transport was poor, everything needed to be close together, further limiting production. Some small ironmasters tried to group together to get around this issue, with some success. In addition, British ore was plentiful but contained lots of sulfur and phosphorous, which made brittle iron. The technology to deal with this problem was lacking. The industry was also highly labor-intensive and, while the labor supply was good, this produced a very high cost. Consequently, British iron was used for cheap, poor quality items like nails. The Development of the Industry As the industrial revolution developed, so did the iron industry. A set of innovations, from different materials to new techniques, allowed iron production to expand greatly. In 1709, Darby became the first man to smelt iron with coke (which is made from heating coal). Although this was a key date, the impact was limited - as the iron was still brittle. Around 1750, a steam engine was first used to pump water back up to power a water wheel. This process only lasted a small time as the industry became better able to move around as coal took over. In 1767, Richard Reynolds helped costs fall and raw material travel farther by developing the first iron rails, although this was superseded by canals. In 1779, the first all-iron bridge was built, really demonstrating what could be done with enough iron, and stimulating interest in the material. The construction relied on carpentry techniques. Watt’s rotary action steam engine in 1781 helped increase the furnace size and was used for bellows, helping to boost production. Arguably, the key development came in 1783-4, when Henry Cort introduced the puddling and rolling techniques. These were ways of getting all the impurities out of iron  and allowing large-scale production, and a vast increase in it. The iron industry began to relocate to coal fields, which usually had iron ore nearby. Developments elsewhere also helped to boost iron by stimulating demand, such as the increase in steam engines (which needed iron), which in turn boosted iron innovations as one industry bred new ideas elsewhere. Another major development was the Napoleonic Wars, due to increased demand by the military for iron and the effects of Napoleon’s attempted blockade of British ports in the Continental System. From 1793 to 1815, British iron production quadrupled. Blast furnaces got bigger. In 1815, when peace broke out, the price of iron and demand fell, but by then Britain had become the largest European producer of iron. The New Iron Age 1825 has been called the start of the new Iron Age, as the iron industry experienced a massive stimulation from the heavy demand for railways, which needed iron rails, iron in the stock, bridges, tunnels and more. Meanwhile, civilian use increased, as everything which could be made of iron began to be in demand, even window frames. Britain became renowned for railway iron. After the initial high demand in Britain dropped, the country exported iron for railway construction abroad. The Iron Revolution in History British iron production in 1700 was 12,000 metric tons a year. This rose to over two million by 1850. Although Darby is sometimes cited as the major innovator, it was Cort’s new methods which had the major effect and his principles are still used today. The location of the industry experienced as big a change as that of production and technology, as businesses were able to move to coalfields. But the effects of innovation in other industries on iron (and in coal and steam) cannot be overstated, and neither can the effect of iron developments on them.

Enron's Collapse and Ethical Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Enron's Collapse and Ethical Framework - Essay Example This was an eerie accounting policy that Enron came up with. Although the present earning look very appealing, but the profits earned today could not be shown in the future statements which made the future proforma financial statement looked a little weak.   Enron adopted another extremely innovative accounting policy of starting to make more future contracts in order to make financial statements of future years also look better. This created a never ending spiral and at the end of that spiral was destruction for the company. There were certain other accounting malpractices at Enron. They kept a debt of $600 million off book just to make sure that the financial statements of the company looked good. The reason why this practice is not encouraged is because it does not reflect the true accounting position of Enron.   Debt would have decrease the net value of the company, and share price would have come down. However, this action prevented this from happening and share prices of En ron’s stock remained constant. This is misleading because owners and investors were evaluating a company at a much higher price than the true value of the company.   This is an example of an open violation of truth and trust. Investors usually select the board of directors to make the long term policy for them. Directors hire managers to run the business for them. This shows divorce of ownership and control. This means that owners are not directly controlling the business, but they entrust it to their people selected.... There were certain other accounting malpractices at Enron. They kept a debt of $600 million off book just to make sure that the financial statements of the company looked good. The reason why this practice is not encouraged is because it does not reflect the true accounting position of Enron. Debt would have decrease the net value of the company, and share price would have come down. However, this action prevented this from happening and share prices of Enron’s stock remained constant. This is misleading because owners and investors were evaluating a company at a much higher price than the true value of the company. This is an example of an open violation of truth and trust. Investors usually select the board of directors to make the long term policy for them. Directors hire managers to run the business for them. This shows divorce of ownership and control. This means that owners are not directly controlling the business, but they entrust it to their people selected in the Ann ual General Meeting. These people than entrust the responsibility of day to day operations to managers. In this way, there is a series of trust contract being formed. Ethics of any action require that trust should not be betrayed and whatever happens truth should be told to the real owners who have trusted the directors with their responsibility. The first breach of trust in Enron case started when the directors started sending misleading reports to the owners to make the financial statements of Enron look healthy. This is open violation of truth and trust and shows that in the case of Enron there was a clear evidence of breach of trust. Another problem in this case is the abuse of powers from directors. They started a new system of accounting and started fooling the real

Comparing Criminal Justice Systems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparing Criminal Justice Systems - Assignment Example As much as criminal justice systems of all countries seem to follow some universal devising justice and punishment, there are wide variations between countries in the ways that these approaches work. This is because of the differences in power of law enforcement, style of policing, limits of search and seizure, the doctrine of presumption innocence and the doctrine of reasonable doubt. Other factors that create differences among criminal justice systems across countries include protection of self-incrimination rights, exclusion rules and other intra-systematic processes in criminal justice, which are not valued and practiced in the same way in every country. In this report, a comparison of criminal justice systems, based on the cases of Amanda Knox and Michael Fay, two young U.S. citizens accused of crimes in other countries, illustrates the differences between the U.S. criminal justice system and those of Italy and Singapore. The Knox case is a murder case, which is about the murder of a British student, Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. During the time of the crime, all the occupants of the cottage had left to spend their night elsewhere apart from Meredith Kercher, who was to spend the night alone in the cottage. On the following day, Knox and her boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, discovered that one of the windows of the cottage, where Meredith, Knox and others lived, had been broken. They called the police. The police forced the door to Kercher’s bedroom open and it was discovered that Kercher had been murdered. Knox and Rafaelle were accused of murdering Kercher because the deceased had refused to participate in a sex game. Knox’s boss was also accused on the same account, but he was released upon lack of evidence linking him to the crime. Forensic evidence led to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of Rudy Guede for murdering Meredith. On the other hand, Michael Fay was sentenced to four months imprisonment and six strokes of cane because