The Ice Age Essays - Pleistocene, Mammoth, Permafrost, Tundra

The Ice Age Twenty thousand years ago during the time of the last ice age period, many colossal mammals roamed North America. They survived during the times when much of the earth was covered by immense large bodies of ice that buried forests, fields, and mountains, but rapidly became extinct after the ice began to retreat and melt. Since then the human race has introduced many different theories to explain the extinction of these large mammals. One theory stands above all and explains the truth of this mysterious disappearance. The Paleo Indians that entered North America from Asia, the climate change, soil, vegetation and water levels were all major factors in this extinction. The results of these factors left the biggest impact on the food chain of these animals. The domino-effect of all these factors is responsible for the extinction of the ice age mammals. Animals, like all other living organisms have a tendency to adapt to the environment in which they live. A cold climate favors large animals, since large animals have more body fat and lose heat at a slower rate then do smaller animals. That is why many of the mammals that lived during the ice age were enormous. These large animals consisted of ground sloths and armadillos which came northward from South America, and horses, saber-toothed cats, mammoths, antelopes, and muskoxen that crossed over the land bridge from Asia into North America. For the longest time fossils from many parts of North America were the only evidence that many of these large beasts had once roamed the land, but in the spring of 1846 an unbelievable event happened that brought the world a step closer to the mystery of this great extinction. A Russian explorer Benkendorf and his survey team from Russia were heading for the mouth of the Indigirka River in Siberia. When they reached the spot of their destination, the land had disappeared and everything had changed. Left behind was two miles wide of torn up land, and wild waters carrying rapidly masses of peat and loam. In the mixture of the mess they seemed to notice what was once one of the mammoths who roamed the earth during the ice ages. (Chorlton 53) Our patience was tried. At last, however, a huge black horrible mass bobbed up out of the water. We beheld a colossal elephants head, armed with mighty tusks, its long trunk waving uncannily in the water, as though seeking something it had lost. Breathless with astonishment, I beheld the monster hardly 12 feet away, with the white of his half-open eyes showing. 'A mammoth! A mammoth!' someone shouted. (Chorlton 54) An elephant with a body covered with thick fur about thirteen feet in height and fifteen in length with tusks eight feet long that curved outward at the end. It had a trunk six feet long and colossal legs one and a half feet thick. The beast was fat and well grown. The outer hair was like wool, very soft, warm and thick, it was definitely well protected from the cold.(Chorlton 54) Unfortunately the mammoth soon began to decay and was swept away by the rapid waters. This dramatic find brought the world face to face with one of the great mysteries of the ice age, the sudden extinction of the great colossal mammals. These large mammals at one time lived in peace and survived gracefully for thousands of years, they adapted to the cold climate and tundra surrounding them. With an adequate food chain and nothing to affect it they were bound to survive forever, but because of simple changes that eventually triggered many other factors these animals are extinct and will never be on this earth again. When the massive continental glaciers locked up great quantities of water, the sea levels lowered which exposed parts of the shallow sea floor, therefore, the Bering Strait did not exist. Eleven thousand, years ago many Paleo Indians were able to cross the land bridge between Asia and North American which enabled them to populate North America. The great amount of large animals attracted these people to the frozen waste lands. In all hunting that ends with the extermination of a species, the motivation is never hunger. Money, and the greed for it, have been the incentive. The savage does not know these, he hunts to eat and so is unable to decimate the big game to any important extent (Cornwall 117) The large mammals of North American were never exposed

Suicide and its relativity to Stephen King8217s Suffer the Little Children essays

Suicide and its relativity to Stephen King8217s Suffer the Little Children essays Suicide and its relativity to Stephen Kings Suffer the Little Children Suicide is defined as an intentional, self-inflicted death that occurs in all cultures and usually is executed by people who are suffering from some sort of extreme emotional pain and feel unable to cope with their problems (Shneidman 6). Suicide is seen in our culture to be something that happens to only the crazy people. But the reality is that normal, everyday people commit suicide as well. Since suicidology is a fairly new field of scientific study there is still much to learn about it. Some theories and other scientific information have been discovered and are very interesting. In Stephen Kings Suffer the Little Children a teacher suffers from fear, anxiety, defeat, and delusional attributes and the end result was twelve students murdered the suicide of herself. These symptoms of suicide are explained later in the research paper. Suicide began being studied scientifically a little over one century ago by a man named Emile Durkheim. But the specialized study of the causes associated with suicide and suicidal behaviors, as well the assessment, treatment, management, and prevention of such behaviors, has only been recorded in the last half of this century (Maris 1). Why do humans kill themselves? Each day people go out into the workplace, school, or some sort of other activity and experience the threat of failure; what degree that possible threat my affect is a whole different story. We all know that life is sometimes enjoyable, usually routine, and almost always difficult. We experience happiness and joy along with contentment and love. Much of our life is also taken up by the routine, everyday, and emotionally neutral actions of life. Then on the flip side there are the negative emotions that we feel like sorrow, shame, humiliation, fear, dread, defeat, and anxiety. When we digest these negative emotions psych...

Sikhism in America Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sikhism in America - Research Paper Example The second type is the Ramgarhia Sikhs, which are mainly composed of the Punjabi community. The last type of Sikhs is the Rajput and they are mainly followers of the Sikh religion belonging to the Rajput ethnic group. In this religion, men fill all the ceremonial roles, with women given inferior priority when it comes to taking part in any religious matters. In recent years, the United States has witnessed a large number of non-Punjabi convert to Sikhism (Mann, Numrich & Williams, 2008). Most Sikhs, in the United States, reside in the east and west coasts with additional populations found in Detroit, Chicago and Austin (Mann, Numrich & Williams, 2008). Due to their weakness for culture and traditions, the Sikhs were initially concentrated in the agricultural Yuba city, California, but modernization has seen things change as they gain more education and move to more metropolitan destinations. The city of Queens has been the most preferred last stop for immigrants from India and Canada. The foundation of Virginia has played the role of uniting a large number of Sikh faithful in the United States (Mann, Numrich & Williams, 2008). The Sikhs insist on wearing a long beard and a turban, which restricts their potential involvement in being involved in more serious economic activities, in America. In the early times, the served in the American army during the first and second world wars, but in recent years, the long beard and turban has had a great influence on their recruitment.Only a few Sikhs with unique skills have been allowed to join the army. An example is Simranpreet Lamba who has been exempted to wear a beard and turban due to his knowledge of Punjabi and Hindi. The September 11 bombing ignited non-Sikh discrimination across the whole of the United States. Any individual who wears a beard and turban is targeted and they are physically attacked. This is a mistake that most people make, Sikhs

Model health promotion or wellness plan Research Paper

Model health promotion or wellness plan - Research Paper Example Hence, in community settings, this model is important in the health promotion campaign of enhanced success levels. In Montana, a community partnership had been forged between the Montana Department of Public Health, Benefis Healthcare, and Montana State University Social Norms Project in constructing a program that addresses the alarming epidemiology of high cardiovascular health-related risks. In particular, the Montana Cardiovascular Health Program had been established with several goals in mind. The program is formulated to elevate health community awareness on specific manifestations in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, reduce the need for treatment time, and enhance intervention outcomes through increased system efficiency in emergency response. In particular terms, community residents are further educated on what to look for in individuals for possible worsening heart and stroke conditions that need emergency care and treatment, as well as the risk factors that must be avoided before such incidents may develop.

William Blake English Coursework Essay Example for Free

William Blake English Coursework Essay From the poems that you have studied, what have you learnt about Blakes attitude to the treatment of children in his time? How does he try to persuade his reader to empathise with his characters? Which poem (or poems) do you think best achieve this aim, and why? One of Blakes main influences was the society in which he lived in. William Blake was born on November 28, 1757 in London. Blake was influenced by events in both the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, by the attitude of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. They inspired a new way of looking at the world. Blake thought that imagination was the force of art, and people thought his art was too adventurous and unconventional for that time. William Blake witnessed the effect Britains war with republican France had on society, and he talks about this in London (Songs of Experience) and The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience) He had radical religious and political ideas, which led him to write Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. In a lot of Blakes poems, he tackles the issue of child labour. After the industrial revolution, with a rise in population came a rise in the number of children being made to work. An employer could pay a child less than an adult, and children were useful for more jobs, for example when Blake wrote The Chimney Sweeper. In both of The Chimney Sweeper poems, Blake attacks the treatment of children at the time. The first one, in Songs of Innocence, shows a naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve view of how a child at the time felt. The first three stanzas are negative, starting with When my mother died when I was very young, and describing, thousands of sweepers were lockd up in coffins of black. But this poem shows children have a positive outlook on life, with the final three stanzas being positive. It talks about an Angel who set them all free. I think Blake is writing about God, and the children will be set free after being in their coffins and after death, and that all the children are happy in heaven. Blake is trying to convey the fact that the children do not fear death, perhaps because it is better than their lives. In the last stanza, Blake writes, Tom was happy warm, and he says the children are not worried as if all do their duty, they need not fear harm. This is slightly didactic, which is what a lot writing f or children was in the eighteenth century, but this last line also comes across as sarcastic and angry, as if Blake disagrees with what the children have to do in order to feel safe. The Chimney Sweeper in Songs of Experience is a contrast to The Chimney Sweeper in Songs of Innocence. In this version, Blake has taken on the persona of the chimney sweeper, and the chimney sweeper has been influenced by society. He has realised the faults of society that he had never noticed before. It still shows the children making the best out of life, but this time the chimney sweeper is questioning this, saying Because I was happy upon the heath, that They clothed me in the clothes of death. Blake is implying that because the children are happy doing these jobs, that the adults think this is doing them no harm. Religion plays a part in this poem, as it is mentioned a lot in the poem itself, saying his mother and father have gone up to the church to pray and are gone to praise the God his Priest King. Blake is conveying a message that it is hypocrisy; the mother and father in the poem are good religious people, but even so they are still exploiting the children. Another poem where Blake writes about children is The School Boy (Songs of Innocence and Experience). In this poem, Blake has written it to persuade the reader that children should not go to school, and uses phrases like O it drives all joy away! and The little ones spend their day/In sighing and dismay. Blake is trying to make the reader agree that there is something wrong with society, and that they are doing wrong by making innocent children go to school, when they should be free. At the start of the poem, Blake represents the schoolboy as a skylark (And the skylark sings with me). A skylark is associated with the morning and therefore connected to the children, and then connected to the boy himself. The skylark only sings in the sky, and the skylark is often used as a nickname for someone who is doing well, and this is why Blake used this particular bird to represent the schoolboy. Later in the poem, Blake refers to the schoolboy as a flower bud, using a metaphor to say the schoo lboy is beautiful and should be free. In The School Boy, Blake uses a contrast of positive and negative words next to each other to create an oxymoron. He uses phrases like blossoms blow away and the tender plants are stripped to highlight the fact that the schoolboy cannot experience the freedom as it has been taken away from him. The positive words are blossoms, tender and plants, but the contrast is used by adding words like blow away and stripped. The School Boy is similar to both The Chimney Sweeper poems, as Blake is attacking the way people were treating children. Blake believed that children should be free, otherwise The little ones spend their day/In sighing and dismay, and that they should not have to work or go to school (But to go to school in a summer morn,-/Oh it drives all joy away!) but to enjoy freedom and innocence. Blake refers to children in London (Songs of Experience). In the first two stanzas, Blake uses repetition and alliteration to create a mournful atmosphere. In the first stanza he uses words like wander, weakness and woe. This creates the scene of London; making it seem depressing and slow. In the second stanza, Blake repeats the phrase In every to draw attention to the points he is making, that nobody is happy and everyone is fearful. In the third stanza, Blake brings in religion, which is also clear in The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience). Again, he is attacking religion, describing the church as blackning. He also refers to the chimney sweeper, saying How the Chimney-sweepers cry, which is very similar to The Chimney Sweeper and also shows he does not agree with it, by saying the children are crying. Blake says even infants are upset, with the new-born Infants tear. Blake makes the reader feel sorry for the children, by describing them crying, and using words like youthful and new-born, which makes them sound naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and innocent, and this makes the reader agree that they shouldnt be made to feel fear or be upset. Blake also makes the reader empathise with the children and infants in Infant Joy (Songs of Innocence). Infant Joy represents an innocent baby, who has come into a world where everything is expected to be joyful and well. It is as if Blake has adopted the persona of a mother or father, writing about how the child has come into the world. Blake is saying that all babies are happy, by using phrases like I happy am and Joy is my name. He is implying the baby is joy and expects joy. The reader immediately warms to the infant, because at the time people believed babies to be sinful, but Blake wrote about them as innocent. Blake believed children only did wrong because of the effects on society, and the baby in Infant Joy is represented as not yet part of society as it has no name (Joy is my name). Blake also describes how the baby is not only happy himself, but also brings joy to others around him, by saying Thou dost smile. This is one poem where Blake writes about a child or an infant being happy, innocent and free, as most of the others describe children as being trapped or upset. Infant Sorrow (Songs of Experience) is another example of a poem like this. It is a complete contrast to Infant Joy and it is not seen from a real babys point of view, so it is not a joyful or naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve outlook on life, but it shows a more real view from the baby that is wise. The baby has been brought into a world of suffering, not joy. This world does not welcome the baby, but Blake describes how My mother groand! my father wept./Into the dangerous world I leapt. Both stanzas in the poem use a lot of plosives, like piping and bound, which makes the poem sound abrupt, and makes the reader more shocked. The phrase Like a fiend hid in a cloud, makes the baby sound like a devil in the thundercloud, and that the baby is seen as threatening and unwanted by the family. The reader automatically sympathises with the baby and the way the baby has been welcomed into the world. Many of Blakes poems highlight the treatment of the children, and I think the poems that best achieve this are the ones Blake wrote for Songs of Experience, as these are usually cynical views that draw the readers attention and makes the agree with Blake.

Summary of Great Expectations :: Great Expectations Essays

Great Expectations Great Expectations is one of many great books written by Charles Dickens, and in my opinion it will always be one of the great classics in English literature. Charles Dickens introduces Miss Haversham to the novel in the following way. The story is told by Pip, a grown man describing his experiences as a young common labouring boy in the early Victorian period. He sometimes tends to narrate the story as if through the eyes of an innocent child. The effect that has on the reader is that it brings out both a mature and young adventurous side in us, it also makes us feel sorry for Pip in a way, because of the way he was treated by his merciless sister. For example when Pip?s uncle Mr Pumblechuck tells Pip he has to go and entertain a woman he doesn?t know called Miss Haversham, his sister forces him to go even though he doesn?t want to with a threat. ?If Miss Haversham wants a boy to go and play there and of course he?s going, or I?ll work him?. The explanation for this is she never wanted Pip in the first place as he was dumped on her, so she was happy to get rid of him. When Pip is delivered by his uncle (although Pip is not allowed to call him uncle) at Miss Haversham?s mansion, he is informally greeted by a pretty young girl called Estella, who he takes a liking to at first sight, even after she refers him as ?boy? in a rude manner repeatedly. Once he enters through the creaky wooden gates notices a few details that may reflect on Miss Haversham, for example the clock has stopped on quarter to nine, the hedges haven?t been cut in a long time and there are bars on every window to keep someone in or out. When Estella guides him through a ridiculously dark tunnel with a candle instead of opening a pair of curtains, this suggest Miss Haversham wants to keep the outside world and light away from her, it could even reflect on the mood she?s in. the effect this would have on Pip is that, to him it?s a big mystery in a dark not knowing were his going to he end up, also hiding his fear and nervousness to impress Estella. Estella points to the door he must enter and leaves with the candle intentionally being cruel.

Culture and Cognition Essay

Culture may be defined as a combination of different traits of a social group. These traits or ways of life can be language, arts, sciences, thoughts, spirituality, social activities, interactions, and many more (â€Å"Definition†, n. d. ). The world has many peoples and thus many cultures, thus each has their own beliefs, traditions, and customs. Another characteristic of a certain culture may be cognition. Because of human diversity in traditions and customs, there is also diversity in intelligence. According to Cole, Gay, Glick, and Sharp (as cited in Sternberg, 2004), certain behaviors may be smart in one culture but plainly stupid in another (1971). Culture and Intelligence According to Robert Sternberg in his article entitled â€Å"Culture and Intelligence†, intelligence cannot be fully measured, developed, and conceptualized when it is outside the cultural context. This creates an impression that intelligence is a norm and being a deviant from that norm would mean less intelligence (2004, p. 1). An example given by Sternberg about intelligence tests shows an evidence of his argument. Any intelligence test created in one culture may not be valid in another culture. Sternberg also constructed models in order to determine if the culture has a significant effect on intelligence. On the third model, the dimensions of intelligence are the same as with the other models. However, the instruments used are different from the other models. The measurement process was therefore derived from the culture being studied and not from outside it. As this is done, the psychological meanings of the scores of the assessments change from one culture to another. Culture and Cognition Intelligence is just one of the cognitive characteristics of man. Culture, as well as social systems has a role in developing the people’s system of thought. This is according to Richard Nisbett, Incheol Choi, Laiping Peng, and Ara Norenzayan, when they studied the difference between easterners and westerners in terms of cognitive processes (2001). They stated that east Asians are holistic in their cognitive processes, focusing on an entire field and its causality. On the other hand, westerners such as Americans are analytic because they pay more attention on the object and the categories, making use of rules such as formal logic. The authors of this article suggest that the origin of these differences is traceable to different social systems (p. 291). They were able to conclude that there is still a very great difference between cultures. It is because of the circumstances brought about by these cultures that one process will always be different from another. Furthermore, the norms or the normative standards for though will differ across cultures (p. 306). The influence of culture has many implications in cognition. This insight may change the very definition of intelligence as related to different social systems. This also has a great effect in cognitive assessment since one measuring tool may not be appropriate for all cultures. Although international communication is already established, this information would give more understanding to people as to how others with different cultures are different to them in terms of learning styles, perception, and other aspects of cognition. It would also change the perception on people who are considered as intellectually inferior since intelligence no longer focuses on a dominant or normative standard set by those perceived as superior. References â€Å"Definition of Culture†, (n. d. ). Roshan Culture Heritage Institute. Retrieved 24 May 2010 from http://www. roshan-institute. org/templates/System/details. asp? id=39783&PID =474552. Nisbett, R. E. , Peng, K. , Choi, I. , & Norenzayan, A. (2001). â€Å"Culture and Systems of Thought: Holistic versus Analytic Cognition†. Psychological Review. 108(2), pp. 291-310. Sternberg, R. (2004). â€Å"Culture and Intelligence†. American Psychologist. 59(5), pp. 325- 338.