Analysis Of Nietzsche The Birth Of Tragedy - 1998 Words

Nina Melovska Essay 3 Professor: Arne Hà ¶cker GRMN 5030-001 Foundations of Critical Theory 15 December 2017 Friedrich Nietzsche: â€Å"The Birth of Tragedy† On Aesthetics for the benefit of life To look upon things from the perspective of beauty is one way of ascribing meaning to things, and whatever path we chose in the attempt to define perfection, it must have begun with the contemplation of beauty. As Oscar Wilde once wrote in his essay The Critic as Artist: â€Å"It is through art and through art only, that we can realize our perfection; through art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.† In an attempt to glorify aesthetics and to draw attention to its importance for the appreciation of life, in†¦show more content†¦As it can be inferred from its etymology, aesthetics has to do with a feeling coming from within the human body as a result of something that happens outside of it. Thus, aesthetics indicates perception, which in turn indicates a mean of knowing. This important feature of the word offers a stable basis for the argument in favor of the instincts as being crucial to the process of formation of con cepts. Hence, Nietzsche wrote The Birth of Tragedy in an endeavor to provide a philosophy of aesthetics that would stand as a justification for the ability of art to transform society, and he found in the Greek tragedy a model for such thinking. By means of the tragic stories of human beings in conflict, Nietzsche considered the Greek tragedy as an analysis of the human suffering and strive to find meaning in life, and recognized, therefore, its relevance to the modern man. Nietzsche structured his book around an opposition between two Greek gods – Apollo and Dionysus, in order to create a frame of reference in which the reader would understand the artistic process through a dichotomy between the two deities. Apollo, who stands for light, for the truth of logic, for prudence and rationality, is linked to the concept of dreaming in Nietzsche’s book. Through the symbol of Apollo as a god-like beauty, flawlessness and perfection, the act of dreaming signifies the yearn fo r a better reality.Show MoreRelatedEssay about Dostoevsky and Nietzsches Overman2123 Words   |  9 PagesNietzsches concept of the overman, or superman, which are essential to an understanding of this idea.    Walter Kaufmann provides a detailed analysis of Nietzsches philosophy in his work Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, a book which Thomas Mann called a work of great superiority over everything previously achieved in Nietzsche criticism and interpretation. Kaufmann outlines several essential characteristics of the overman throughout the work. 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Reflection Paper On Developmental Theories - 1283 Words

Reflection Paper on Developmental Theories First of all, through this assignment, I have learned that it is necessary to apply the knowledge of human behavior and the social environment to each case presented. Adults build life structures or patterns of living that are altered during their life cycles. They claim that each relationship an individual occupies cause some conflicts and balances that exist between the stages. It pushes a person to question their life structure and questions where they have been versus where their life is leading them. It will also provide a social worker with a set of ideas that will help get a better understanding of the problem. In addition, it is through the use of these theories that a social worker can determine what necessary steps need to be addressed to help the client. Timeline Sal Franco at age 19 emigrated from Italy as a newlywed with his wife, Maria. He and his wife owned and operated a small grocery store. 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The Blue Sword CHAPTER ELEVEN Free Essays

string(187) " of the pass just northwest of the †¦ of the Outlander station\? It is narrow, but not so narrow that the †¦ the Northerners could not send a line through to come up behind us\." In the hollow where they met Murfoth they set up their first proper camp. The hunting-beasts all went out that night, and everyone, not just a few Riders, had good fresh meat for dinner. The king’s zotar was put up, and it was obvious that it was the king’s, for it was the biggest, but this one was plain, a dull dun color, and the door was just a tent flap, and inside there were a few carpets, and hooks on side poles for lanterns, but that was all; although the black-and-white banner still flew bravely from the peak of the roof. We will write a custom essay sample on The Blue Sword CHAPTER ELEVEN or any similar topic only for you Order Now She and the king and Murfoth and most of the Riders – Innath and Mathin among them – slept within it; but she lay awake a long time listening to the others breathe. You didn’t hear the person next to you breathing if there wasn’t a ceiling over you to keep the noise closed in. She missed the stars. The next morning there was breakfast at a long table similar to the one where she had first met the Riders; they were all there again, with a few others of those who had joined them over the last few days. Corlath explained what was immediately ahead of them: how they would climb into the mountains again – the range was widest where the curve west was sharpest – to meet the high plateau where the Lake of Dreams lay, and where Luthe lived. Luthe? thought Harry. Most of the army would not climb all the way to the meeting-place, but fade into the forest in little groups and pretend to be invisible; for, so far at least, Corlath and the outriders believed they had not been sighted. Harry blinked and wondered if the morning mists that seemed to continue all day long every day as a kind of dull haze had after all been more than a curious local weather pattern. Luthe himself – Mathin told her this during an interval while the household folk brought in hot malak – had ways even Corlath did not understand of seeing things, and Corlath wished to see and speak to him. But Luthe never left his lands, and so it was necessary to seek him there. â€Å"Luthe claims that lowland air confuses him,† Mathin said, and shrugged the uneven Hill shrug. â€Å"It is not for us to know.† He picked up his cup. â€Å"Yes, but who is Luthe?† said Harry. Mathin regarded her with his inscrutable expression. â€Å"No one knows,† he said. â€Å"Luthe is †¦ someone who lives in the mountains, who sees things – things something like what some of us see when we taste the Meeldtar. He has been there a very long time. No one can remember when Luthe came, or when he has not lived on his mountain.† â€Å"And the Lake of Dreams?† Mathin stared into his cup. â€Å"There is a spring that runs into the Lake of Dreams, and it is where the Water of Sight is found; but sometimes the water from the spring is only water, and no one knows why; although it is believed that Luthe knows. Water drunk from the Lake of Dreams does not give the Sight, as the true Meeldtar does; but it is not quite like drinking †¦ water.† Harry sighed. Corlath explained briefly for the newcomers what the army was proposing to do. The Northerners must, perforce, choose the one wide pass in the mountains that led into the great central plain and then the bare desert of Damar, for it was the only gap large enough to accommodate an army’s numbers. The gap was a bit west of the midpoint of the length of the mountains from the curve where the north-south mountains, the Ildik range, became the east-west Horfel Mountains. When the last of Corlath’s little army had collected in the hollow at the elbow of the two ranges, they would ride as quickly as horseflesh would allow to the mouth of that pass, and prepare to engage the enemy among the empty villages and deserted fields of Damar. Then there was a silence, for all in the king’s tent knew that Corlath’s force could not win a victory from the Northerners; nor were they likely able to resist them to the point that the invaders would decide Damar wasn’t worth the trouble and return home. The best the defenders could hope for, and this they did hope for, was to cause enough trouble and loss that the Northern army would not have the strength left to seize all of Damar in quite so tight and effective a grip as Thurra would wish; and that pockets of renegade Hillfolk might hide in the Hills, or under the kelar of the City. If they succeeded so much, the battle would be worth what it would cost them, for they would have preserved themselves a future. Harry swallowed uncomfortably. She heard, a little dizzily, what Corlath was saying about the foothills the mountain pass gave into, and where the army would stand; and she cast in her mind for her best memory of Damarian geography, for she had the unpleasant sensation that something was being ignored, something that shouldn’t be. Corlath was saying that they would decide more exactly once they arrived, but he seemed to know every stone and clump of grass there, the exact location of every farmhouse, as did those who listened; no one fell so low as to seek recourse to a map. She frowned in concentration. She could almost see the Residency map of Dana; it was very poor at the eastern end; it barely admitted to the existence of the mountains where the king’s City stood – the City itself was one of Jack Dedham’s native legends – but about the west it was pretty accurate †¦ Ah! Corlath had fallen silent. Murfoth said something and there was another silence, and Harry put in, timidly but stubbornly: â€Å"Sola, what of the pass just northwest of the †¦ of the Outlander station? It is narrow, but not so narrow that the †¦ the Northerners could not send a line through to come up behind us. You read "The Blue Sword CHAPTER ELEVEN" in category "Essay examples"† Corlath frowned. â€Å"Let them take the Outlander city – it will keep them amused long enough to delay them, perhaps. Even the Outlanders will try to stop them when they are on the threshold.† There was a silence so rigid that Harry felt that speaking words into it was like chopping holes in a frozen lake. â€Å"They would do a better job trying to stop them if they were warned,† she said. Her words didn’t make much of a hole; the ice thickened visibly. She didn’t want to do anything so obvious as put her hand on her sword hilt; but she did press her elbow surreptitiously against it, and stiffened her spine. â€Å"They were warned,† said Corlath, and Harry raised her eyes to his and saw the golden tide rising in them; and wondered what that fruitless conversation in the Residency must have cost him. Yet he hadn’t burned the Residency down with that golden glare of his, as she suspected he could have; and so she blinked at him now and said, â€Å"Colonel Dedham would listen to you. You did not know the Northerners were on the march †¦ then; you know for certain now. The pass is narrow; he could hold it for you indefinitely – but not if they have had time to come through and go where they will.† Her voice was rising with fear and perhaps anger: was there anything but stubborn pride, the offended majesty of the absolute ruler of his small land, working in Corlath, that he should waste a chance to gain a little more time? How little she knew him after all, and how little she knew Damar, she who could not visualize every yellow blade of korf before the great p ass in the mountains. And yet she could see – did she not truly see? – the threat that this second, narrow pass presented; a threat that the king and the commander of the army was choosing to overlook. She did not understand; she was born of a different people and she understood different things. â€Å"No,† said Corlath; the word rang like an axe blow, and his eyes were as yellow as topazes. Harry stared back at him – you great bully – even knowing what he could do to her, even as the sweat broke out on her skin with the effort of holding his eyes. Her elbow clamped desperately on Gonturan, and the hard edge of the blue gem dug into her ribs and encouraged her. Then he snapped his gaze from her and pointed it at the tent flap and shouted, though he rarely shouted, and fresh malak was brought in and fruit with it. The ice began, nervously, to break up, and Harry glowered at her cup and refused to be drawn into conversation, and listened to her heart beating, and wondered if she were a traitor; and if so, to whom? The next morning thirty-five chosen horsemen, with Corlath at their head and Harry, still somewhat sulky, among them, started up the track to Luthe’s holding. The rest of the army broke camp first, and melted into the scrub of the mountains’ feet, taking the hunting-beasts and the pack horses with them. Corlath and the little band with him waited till last, watching them go, judging if their disappearance was effective; looking to see if there were any too obvious paths broken in the undergrowth. A few fleeks broke cover, but that was the only sign of their passage. Corlath and whoever else might have a weather talent must have been satisfied, and Harry watched, with a few cold fingers working their way up her spine in spite of the heat: for the loyal fog over them was blandly breaking up. The sky was blue and clear. A britti burst into song, and Harry raised her eyes to watch the little brown speck zigzagging madly overhead. Corlath sent his big bay forward, and thirty -four riders, and one obstinate hunting-cat, followed. Harry hung near the back. She had not slept the night before for thinking of the northwest pass and Jack Dedham; Dedham’s face watching Corlath as he stormed out of the Residency; and Corlath’s face as he said, â€Å"Let them take the Outlander city – it will keep them amused.† Surely there was a reason none of the Hillfolk thought that gap into Damar worth consideration? But if there was a reason, what was the reason? Perhaps this Luthe would show some sense. Perhaps his crystal ball or what-have-you would say, â€Å"Beware the northwest pass! Beware!† And then again maybe it wouldn’t. So, Harry, what do you propose to do about it then? She didn’t know. She concentrated on Sungold’s ears, slender and pricked, framing the trail in front of her, and the dark grey haunches of Innath’s horse going on before. The scrub gave way to trees, and the trees to greater trees, till they were walking in a forest heavy with age, where even the air tasted old. By the end of the afternoon all the riders were on foot, walking with their sweat-dark horses up a steep uneven incline. Harry was panting, but she tried to do it quietly. Corlath probably never breathed hard. Tsornin’s nostrils showed red, but his ears were as alert as ever, and occasionally he would rub his nose gently against the nape of her neck, just in case she was momentarily not thinking about him. Narknon ranged beside them like a dappled shadow. The trees were so tall and grand that Harry, watching her, could believe that she was no bigger than a housecat; that when she came up to be petted, she would twine around Harry’s ankles, a nd Harry would pick her up with one hand and put her on her shoulder. The trees were so high overhead that the twilight beneath them might have been sunset, but might only be leaf shade; and they were a silent company, for no one spoke and the footfalls were muted by leaves and moss. Harry allowed herself to wonder about the trail, as an alternative to her endless mental circles about northwest passes: that it stayed clear enough that no one had to duck under low-hanging branches, or fight a way through an encroaching bush, but so little used that the moss underfoot was thick and smooth. And still smooth after thirty horses and thirty human pedestrians have tramped over it, the thirty-first pedestrian thought, scuffing it curiously with one foot. Sturdy moss. Maybe Luthe is a botanist in his spare time. By nightfall Harry was still walking only by dint of holding a large handful of Sungold’s mane in one hand. She had tried resting an arm across his back, but his back was too high for comfort; and her sweaty hand kept sliding through his fine hair. Even his head was hanging a little low, and Harry knew she was still in company only by the soft creaking of other saddles and the occasional flicker in the gloom immediately ahead that was Innath’s horse flipping its tail. As she walked her eyes closed and the colors of exhaustion twinkled across her eyelids. Then to her dismay they began to sort themselves out into patterns, but she was too tired even to open her eyes and disperse them. She saw a red-haired rider on a white horse. The horse was old, white with age, the bones of its face very clear and fine; she thought it went just a bit short with its right hind foot, but its neck was arched and its tail high. The rider’s shoulders were set grimly, the legs against the horse’s sides were determined, not eager. There was a smoky redness to the horizon beyond them, scarlet that did not look like dawn or sunset; they were going toward it, and the light flashed off a chain around the rider’s neck and the helm tied to the saddle, and the rider’s hair, and the horse’s flanks. Harry wondered where they were going, where they had come from. The countryside could have been Damar. It could have been almost anywhere. She realized there was light shining through her eyelids; it was setting the white horse on fire. The horse broke into a canter, a shining glistening wave of motion †¦ Harry dizzily opened her eyes. They were approaching a clearing set with torches; she could see Corlath halted, talking to a man as tall as he was, but narrower; the man’s hair was yellow. Innath broke into the lighted circle, and Harry came after, trying not to stumble, too tired even to take her hand out of Sungold’s mane for pride’s sake. She looked around a little, and the faces she could see near her were haggard and drooping. Perversely, this gave her strength; she dropped her hand and straightened her shoulders. Sungold turned his head to rest his chin on her shoulder. â€Å"Who’s reassuring whom here?† she murmured, and Narknon immediately sat on Harry’s feet and bumped her hand with her head as if to say, I am. Someone knew the way, for while Corlath finished speaking with the yellow-haired man the rest of the Riders were following someone else to †¦ someplace to lie down, Harry wished fervently. She stole a glance at Corlath as she passed him, and was comforted by the hollows under his eyes and cheekbones. It might have been only the torchlight. When Harry woke up the sun was high, and for a minute she had no idea where she was. Her first thought was that she had missed breakfast and her father would tease her about burning midnight oil. Then she remembered, with the old lurch of the heart, that she was in Daria with Richard – no, Damar, with Sungold, and Narknon, who sprawled across her feet. And Corlath, and Gonturan. Her hand had rested lightly on her sword hilt again as she slept, and through the first upheaval of waking; now her fingers recognized what they touched. She shivered, sighed, sat up. She was in a long narrow hall with a dozen or so low beds in it; high overhead, narrow but close-spaced windows let in a flood of sunlight. She only dimly remembered coming here, having seen Tsornin stabled and unsaddled and happy with a manger of grain and a heap of hay; and falling into her bed, asleep before she touched it. Most of the other beds in the room were still occupied. The hall was built of large blocks of undressed grey-and-white stone; the same sort of stone, she thought, as much of Corlath’s City. The room was cool, but it smelled clean and sharp, like young leaves. There were doors at each of the narrow ends of the room, and as she stood at the foot of the bed she could look through either of them. The flagstones were cold underfoot. She sat back down on the edge of the bed – It’s even a real bed, she thought – and regarded her pillow a moment. Then she sighed regretfully and pulled on her boots. Narknon opened one eye and closed it again. The rooms on each side looked much like the one she was in, and full of still-sleeping bodies rolled in dark blankets. There was another door midway in the wall opposite the windows. This she went through. Here was a vast hall, taller than the ancient trees of the forest she had just walked wearily through, with windows cut at the very heads of the walls to open above the lower roofs of the sleeping corridors. At one end of this space was a fireplace that in any room less immense would have been itself enormous; here it looked insignificant. There were several massive wooden chairs before it, and a long trestle table beyond these; the rest of the chamber was empty. Opposite the fireplace wall were doors, thrown open to admit sunlight and birdsong and the rustle of leaves. She looked up at the ceiling. Curiously, there was no sense of oppression built by the stone and space; rather there was peacefulness, the quiet of repose. Contented simply to be less tired than she had been the night before, she stood a moment, drinking in the sense of relaxation. For the first time since the confrontation with Corlath, the thought of the northwest pass left her freely, without her straining to push it aside; even the knowledge of the coming war, of her part in her first battle, did not trouble her at present. Of the latter she did know it would trouble her later – soon; but she would attend to it later. For now she smiled. Her mouth felt stiff. She brought her gaze down from the ceiling and directed it again toward the fireplace. Sleep and peace were all very well, but she smelled food, and she was hungry. The man with yellow hair who had stood talking with Corlath the night before was sitting in one of the great wooden chairs; she did not notice him till she was quite near. Her footfalls dropped gently to silence; no sullen echoes ran up the walls to disturb the birdcalls. She stopped. There was a tiny fire, barely two hands’ breadth, burning at the front of the cavern of the hearth. Over it hung a large silver pot on a chain, and on a stool nearby were a stack of deep silver bowls, and a heap of shining silver spoons. â€Å"Breakfast,† said the man with yellow hair. â€Å"I’ve had mine; eat as much as you like. I flatter myself it’s quite good, although I admit I’m not much accustomed to cooking for so many, and one begins to lose count of how many potatoes one has already put in after the first armful.† She sat down with her bowl, feeling that formal introductions were not wanted and that he would be amused if she tried to be conventionally polite; and she was so hungry. As she sat, he brought up a leather bag from the far side of his chair and poured into a flagon discovered at his feet. He handed it to her: â€Å"Goat’s milk,† he said. There were brown flecks of spices floating in it. She smiled, not so stiffly this time. She looked at him as she ate; and while she was sure he knew she watched him, he kept his eyes on the small leaps and dance steps of the flame beneath the pot, as if letting her look her fill was a courtesy he did her along with filling her belly. He was tall, she knew; sitting, he looked even taller, for he was so slender. His arms were spread wide from his sides to rest on the is of the chair; but his long fingers reached well over the curled fronts of the armrests, and his knees were several inches beyond long seat of the chair. He wore a dark green tunic, and a brown shirt beneath it, with long full sleeves gathered at the wrists with gold ribbons. He wore tall pale boots that reached just above his knees, where the tunic fell over them. The tunic was slit up the side to his waist, and the leggings beneath it were the gold of the ribbons. He wore no sash; rather a narrow band of dark blue cloth made a cross over his breast, and wrapped once thinly about his waist. The ends of it were tassels, midnight blue shot with gold. A huge dark red stone hung on a chain around his neck. His face was thoughtful as he stared at the fire. His nose was long and straight and his lips thin; his eyes were heavy-lidded and blue. His hair was curly as well as bright gold, and it grew low over his collar and ears although he was clean-shaven. He should look young, Harry thought. But he did not. Neither did he look old. He turned to her as she set down her bowl and cup, and smiled. â€Å"Well? Did I know when to stop adding potatoes?† Hill potatoes were golden and far more flavorful than the pale Homelander variety that Harry had eaten obediently but without enthusiasm when she was a child, and here they blended most satisfactorily with the delicate white fish that was the basis of the I stew. It was the first time she had eaten fresh fish since she had left her Homeland, where she had often brought supper home after a few hours beside a pool or stream on her father’s estate; and she was pleased, now, to notice that remembering this fact caused no nervous ripples of emotion about her past or her future. â€Å"Yes,† she said peacefully. Their eyes met, and he asked, as though he were an old friend or her father, â€Å"Are you happy?† She thought about it, her gaze drifting away from his and coming to rest on the tip of Gonturan, as she leaned against her sol’s chair; for she had, without thinking about it one way or another, slung Gonturan around her as soon as she stood up from her bed. â€Å"No, not precisely,† she said. â€Å"But I don’t believe I wish to complain of unhappiness.† She paused a minute, looking at the thoughts that had been with her constantly for the weeks since she had left her old life as a bundle across Fireheart’s withers. â€Å"It is that I cannot see what I am doing or why, and it is unsettling always to live only in the moment as it passes. Oh, I know – one never sees ahead or behind. But I see even less. It is like being blindfolded when everyone else in the room is not. No one can see outside the room – but everyone else can see the room. I would like to take my blindfold off.† The man smiled. â€Å"It is a reasonable wish. No one lives more than a few moments either way – even those fortunate or unfortunate ones who can see how the future will be cast; and perhaps they feel the minute’s passing the most acutely. But it is comforting to have some sense of †¦ the probability of choices, perhaps?† â€Å"Yes,† she sighed, and tapped a finger on Gonturan’s hilt, and thought of the red-haired rider on the white horse. He had looked as though he knew where he was going, although she had to admit that he had also looked as if the knowledge gave him no joy. â€Å"Not he,† said the man with yellow hair. â€Å"The Lady Aerin. You should begin to recognize her, you know; you have seen her often enough.† She blinked at him. â€Å"You carry her sword, and ride to a fate not entirely of your own choosing. It is not surprising that she in some manner chooses to ride with you. She knew much of fate.† Not surprising. It continued to surprise her. She would prefer that it surprise her, in fact. She permitted herself – just briefly – to think about her Homeland, with the wide grassy low hills and blue rivers, when the only sword she knew was her father’s dress sword, which was not sharp and which she was forbidden to touch; and where the only sand was at the seaside. She rediscovered herself staring at a silver pot over a tiny fire. â€Å"I’m afraid I can’t comfort you very much with predictions; it is pleasant when I can comfort anyone with predictions, and I always enjoy it as much as possible because it doesn’t happen too often. But I can tell you even less than I can usually tell anyone, and it hurts my pride.† His hand closed around the dark stone at his neck; it glowed through his fingers like fire. She looked at him, startled. â€Å"You have already begun to see the hardness of the choices that you will soon be forced to make; and the choosing will not be any easier for your not knowing why you must choose.† His voice took on a singsong quality, the red light of the stone pulsed like a heart, and the heavy eyelids almost closed. â€Å"Take strength from your own purpose, for you will know what you must do, if you let yourself; trust your horse and the cat that follows you, for there are none better than they, and they love you; and trust your sword, for she holds the strength of centuries and she hates what you are learning to hate. And trust the Lady Aerin, who visits you for your reassurance, whether you believe it at present or not; and trust your friendships. Friends you will have need of, for in you two worlds meet. There is no one on both sides with you, so you must learn to take your own counsel; and not to fear what is strange, if you know it also to be true.† He opened his eyes. â€Å"It is not an enviable position, being a bridge, especially a bridge with visions. I should know.† â€Å"You’re Luthe, of course,† she said. â€Å"Of course. I told Corlath in particular to bring you – although he has always brought his Riders if he brings anyone. And I knew you had been made a Rider. I don’t ask for anyone often; you should be pleased.† â€Å"I can see the two worlds I am between,† she said, unheeding, â€Å"although why the second one chose to rise up and snatch me I still don’t understand – â€Å" â€Å"Ask Colonel Dedham the next time you see him,† Luthe put in. â€Å"The next – ? But – † she said, bewildered, and thrown off her thought. â€Å"You were about to ask me a question important to you, for you were trying to put your thoughts in order, when I interrupted you,† said Luthe mildly, â€Å"although I won’t be able to answer it. I told you I am not often comforting.† â€Å"What are your two worlds?† she said, almost obliterating the question as she continued: â€Å"But if you can’t answer it, why should I ask? Can you hear everything I’m thinking?† â€Å"No,† he replied. â€Å"Only those arrow-like thoughts that come flying out with particular violence. You have a better organized mind than most. Most people are distressing to talk to because they have no control over their thinking at all, and it is a constant barrage, like being attacked by a tangle of thornbushes, or having a large litter of kittens walking up your legs, hooking in their claws at every step. It’s perhaps also an effective preventative to having one’s mind read, for who can identify the individual thorn?† Harry laughed involuntarily. â€Å"Innath said you lived where you do, high up and away from everything, because lowland air clouds your mind.† â€Å"True enough. It is a little embarrassing to be forced to play the enigmatic oracle in the mountain fastness, but I have found it necessary. â€Å"Corlath, for example, when he has something on his mind, can knock me down with it at arm’s length. He’s often asked me to come stay in his prison that he calls a city, saying that I might like it as it is made of the same stone as this – † He gestured upward. â€Å"No thank you.† He smiled. â€Å"He does not love the stone walls of his city, and so he does not understand why I do love my walls; to him they look the same. But he knows me better than to press it, or to be offended.† â€Å"If it is only within arm’s length you find Corlath overwhelming, I have no sympathy for you,† Harry said ruefully, and he laughed. â€Å"We soothsayers have other means of resistance,† he said, â€Å"But I shall be sure to tell him you said so.† She sobered. â€Å"I’d rather you didn’t, if you don’t mind. I’m afraid we’re – we’re not on the best of terms just now.† Luthe drummed his fingers on the wooden armrest. â€Å"Yes, I did rather suspect that, and I’m sorry for it, for you need each other.† He drummed some more. â€Å"Or at any rate he needs you, and you could do a lot worse than to believe in him.† Luthe rubbed his forehead. â€Å"But I will grant you that he is a stubborn man at times.† He was silent a moment. â€Å"Aerin was a little like that; but she was also a little like you †¦ Aerin was very dear to me.† He smiled faintly. â€Å"Teachers are always vain of the students who go on to do great things.† â€Å"Aerin?† said Harry. â€Å"Aerin? Lady Aerin of this sword?† – and she banged the hilt of Gonturan. â€Å"Yes,† said Luthe gently. â€Å"The same red-haired Aerin who troubles you with visions. You asked me about my two worlds: you could say that they are the past and the present.† After a long cold moment Harry said, â€Å"Why did you ask Corlath to bring me here?† â€Å"I told you that, surely. Because I knew he needed you; and I wanted to find out if you were the sort of vessel that cracks easily.† Harry took a deep breath. â€Å"And am I?† â€Å"I think you will do very well.† He smiled. â€Å"And that is a much more straightforward answer than anyone consulting an oracle has a right to expect. I shall stop feeling guilty about you.† Corlath and his Riders spent two days in Luthe’s hall; the horses grazed in a broad meadow, the only wide stretch of sunlit green within a day’s journey of the tree-filled valley where Luthe made his home. Harry found Sungold tearing across the field, head up and tail a banner, on the first morning, the toilsome way up the mountain apparently forgotten. He galloped over to where Harry leaned on the frame of the open stable, where a few of the horses still lingered inside, musing over their hay. â€Å"You make me tired,† said Harry absently, thinking of her conversation with Luthe. â€Å"You should be recuperating, not bounding around like a wild foal.† Tsornin thrust his nose under her chin, unrepentant. â€Å"You realize we will have to do the whole thing again shortly? And then go on – and on and on? You should be harboring your strength.† Sungold nibbled her hair. The other Riders and the fifteen other horsemen slowly seeped out of the tall stone house. Harry tried to decide, watching them, if any had had bewildering conversations with their host; but she couldn’t guess, and it did not seem the sort of thing one might ask. They all looked only semi-awake, as if the journey so far – this was the first real halt since they left the City – combined with the sweet peacefulness of Luthe’s domain prevented the lot of saddle-hardened warriors from feeling anything but pleasantly drowsy. They smiled at one another and leaned on their swords, and even tended their precious horses nonchalantly, as though they knew that the horses did not need them here. Narknon, so far as Harry could tell, never moved from her bed; she merely stretched out when Harry left it, and reluctantly permitted herself to be shoved to one side when Harry re-entered. Harry, although she felt the same gentle air around her, was surprised; whatever it was , it had less effect on her. Corlath himself strode around in his usual high-energy fashion; if any sense of ease was trying to settle on him, it was having a hard time of it, for he was no different than he ever was, although he did not seem surprised at the condition of his followers. Harry stayed out of his way, and if he noticed this, he gave no sign. Mostly he spoke to Luthe – Harry saw with interest, on the occasions she saw them together, that Corlath seemed to do far more talking than his companion – or muttered to himself. The mutter-ings couldn’t have been pleasant, for he was often scowling. The two days were fine and clear; warm enough during the day to make bathing in the pool at the edge of the horses’ meadow pleasant, cool enough at night to make the blankets on the beds in the sleeping-chambers of comfort. The torches that formed a ring outside the front gates of the hall were not lit again; Luthe was willing to welcome his guests, but did not deem further illumination necessary. On the second afternoon Harry followed the stream that spilled out of the bathing-pool, and after a certain amount of fighting with curling branches and tripping over hidden hummocks she burst out of the undergrowth to a still silver beach bordering a wide lake. The Lake of Dreams. The stream stopped its chattering as it left the edge of the woods, and slid silently over the silver sand and slipped into the waters of the lake. Harry went to the edge of it and sat down, looking at the water. There was a step at her side; she looked up and it was Luthe. â€Å"There is a path,† he said. â€Å"You should have asked.† He bent down and detached a twig from her hair, and another from the back of her tunic. Then he sat down beside her. â€Å"I will show you the way to return.† â€Å"Do you live here alone?† Harry said, extracting a leaf from the neck of her undershift. â€Å"No,† he replied, â€Å"but my housemates are even shyer than I am, and have a tendency to retreat into the undergrowth when visitors are anticipated. There are quite a number of visitors, now and again.† â€Å"The oracle is a popular one,† said Harry, smiling. Luthe smiled back, but sidelong. â€Å"Yes; I think it may be private dismay that sends my companions away at such times; they have something of kelar and the Sight themselves.† He did not seem disposed to go on, so Harry said: â€Å"Does everyone who comes here behave as though they’re half asleep?† â€Å"No again; I and my friends are generally quite sharp. But yes, most visitors find it a sleepy sort of place – a reputation I, um, encourage, as it makes their thoughts sleepy too, and thus easier to dodge.† Harry said, â€Å"Encourage?† Luthe said, â€Å"You are not a sleepy one, are you? The source of the Meeldtar taints all the water here; and the air that passes over the Lake of Dreams carries something of sleepiness with it. Only those bearing much kelar of their own do not find that faintest touch of the Water of Sight a little drowsy. Like you. And Corlath.† Harry, at that, caught a thought just as it was streaking out, and stuffed it back behind her eyes. â€Å"Very good,† said Luthe. â€Å"I thought you might prove apt. I didn’t catch a glimpse of that one.† Harry smiled faintly. â€Å"I suspect, however, that it might make you more comfortable to ask me it nonetheless,† Luthe said, looking into her face; but she turned away. â€Å"Corlath, eh?† Luthe said gently. Harry shook her head, not denying it, but as though she could shake herself free of her anxieties; but Luthe said no more. At last she stood up, gazing across the lake; she could not see its farther shore. â€Å"It is so large,† she said. Luthe rose to stand beside her. â€Å"No, not so large,† he said, â€Å"but it is a private sort of lake, and hard to see. Even for me.† He was quiet a moment, looking across the water. â€Å"I think perhaps the reason I stay in this particular uninhabited valley of all the uninhabited valleys in the Hills is that it comforts me by reminding me of things I cannot do. I cannot see the farther shore of the Lake of Dreams.† He turned away. â€Å"Come; I will show you the path. Unless you prefer fighting your way through the poor trees, which are accustomed to being undisturbed.† How to cite The Blue Sword CHAPTER ELEVEN, Essay examples

Muhammad Ali Essay Example For Students

Muhammad Ali Essay He grew up in a poor family. Ali had problems in school at an early stage andfelt he had to do something different. His future career was fulfilled at 12. When Joe Martin police officer and boxing coach, tried to get Ali started withboxing. At the age of 16, Ali had won two Golden Glove Titles, two National AAUTitles, he was by now nationally recognized. When the 1960 Rome Olympic Game wasabout to take off, Ali was provided with an opportunity to represent hiscountry. At this point he had fought 103 amateur matches, and had only lostfive. Ali went with Olympic team to Rome, and ended winning the gold medal. Whenhe got back to his hometown, Louisville, he thought that he was going to betreated as a champion, but he still was discriminated by the white society. Alidecided to throw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River because of his angerabout the racism in his hometown. By the age of 22 Ali had a professional boxingrecord of 19-0. On February 25, 1964, Ali got the heavyweight title shot. Through all the media he was considered to be the underdog. Before thefight Ali used the media to psyche Sonny Liston. He predicted that Sonnywill fall in four. Ali entered the ring as a 7-1 underdog to the Champ SonnyListon. Ali used his speed and movement to thoroughly outbox the champion. Alibecame the second youngest champion in history. After the fight Ali told theworld that his name was now Muhammad Ali and that he had joined the Nation ofIslam. It put a great effect on his boxing career. As the champ he realized hispopularity in society, and he used it to his power to speak for the CivilRights. He became a political symbol of the black society, and maybe mostinfluential beside Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. During the next threeyears, he defended his title nine times with Ernie Terrell and then became theundisputed Heavyweight Champion. On April 28, 1967, the army for the inductionof the military service to fight in the Vietnam War drafted Muhammad Ali. Herefused to step f orward when they called his name because of the religiousbeliefs. He was immediately stripped of the heavyweight title, and got a fiveyear sentence to serve in prison, which was he appealed right away. He had nomore fight in 1967, 1968, and 1969. Ali said he could not fight in the warbecause of his religious beliefs. He already taken the army test and score 35percentile, and to qualify you needed at least a 55 or higher. Then most peoplewere drafted through the ages of 18-22, and he was 25. What he did made him evenmore popular in his society, then they overturned his conviction. In 1970 hemade his first fight back and he didnt lose a step on his skills. His repgave him a title shot against Joe Frazier, the fight was known as the fight ofthe century. That was when he suffered his first pro lose. In October 30, 1974,it was Ali vs. Forman a match that everyone had waited for. It was held in Zaireand it was nicknamed the rumble in the jungle, and once again he was theunderdog. People w here actually feared for his safety because it was know thatForman was the hardest puncher in boxing history. Ali ended up winning the fightby KO, and once again the heavyweight champ. It was the third match between JoeFrazier and Ali, and it was going to be known as The Thrilla In Manilla. .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 , .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .postImageUrl , .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 , .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:hover , .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:visited , .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:active { border:0!important; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:active , .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719 .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub1572fcb389e7f53477fa4ecdaf82719:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Mathematics Technology Lesson Plan EssayThat was his hardest fight of his career. Then he lost the title in 1978 againstLeon Spinks, but got it back 8 months later. He announced his retirement on June27, 1979. He left boxing with a professional record of; 56 wins and 5 loses. Nowhe suffers from Parkinsons disease, and still does a lot of charity work. Hejust might have had the greatest success in sports history. Ali wanted toeveryone to know that he was the greatest, I think he did just that.

Alcoholism Research Paper

Alcoholism Research Paper Example research paper on Alcoholism: Alcohol’s importance in our social history is significant. Even more significant is the abuse of alcohol and the how alcoholism has effected modern society. However, before the word â€Å"alcoholism† was ever spoken, alcohol was used for many purposes such as settling battles, giving courage in battles, celebrating festivals and wooing lovers. The history of alcohol can be traced all the way back to the Egyptians. In Egyptian burials, it was used to help the dead’s journey to the afterlife. There is also evidence that the Babylonians, around 1600 BC, knew how to brew 20 different types of beer. It was also around this time that alcohol was tied to abuse. The Babylonians made their laws include punishments against drunkenness. The Greeks and the Romans drank mostly wine, and they loved it so much that they worshipped Dionysus, the god of wine. When they worshipped, the Greeks and Romans would become extremely intoxicated. Their writings are full of warnings against drinking too much. In 55 BC, the Romans introduced beer, right before alcohol become important in religious cultures. The Old Testament refers to alcohol numerous times, and wine plays an important role in the rituals of many religions. Wine was sanctified by Jesus in the New Testament, and many Roman Catholics still drink wine today as part of their worship. Some religions, like Judaism and Christianity, wanted to keep alcohol sacred, so they made drinking too much alcohol into a sinful act. But alcohol’s popularity grew fast, and by the Middle Ages, many monasteries were making beer to give to the monks and to sell to pilgrims. Soon, home breweries were showing up, and they became taverns and other public places where people could gather to drink. The making of alcohol, specifically beer, was not modernized until the time of the Renaissance. Science played an important role in forming breweries that could produce high-quality and large amounts of alcohol. The industrial revolution also brought along steam power and refrigeration, and technology soon allowed for much purer and stronger alcohol, likes gin, brandy and rum. Soon, other countries throughout Europe, like Germany and Britain, created their own unique alcohol. Russian vodka, Scottish whiskey, Mexican tequila and Italian sambuca are a few examples. Today there is even a wider selection to choose from. These new drinks helped to develop trade between Western Europe and the Far East. Also, as colonies developed in America, European nations produced alcoholic drinks to ship over to the new colonies. This became a very lucrative business. From this, we can trace the origins of alcohol and how our culture became familiar with it. People continue to use alcohol in rituals and traditions, just like hundreds of years ago. But it has turned into a disease that punishes those who enjoy it too much. The development of alcohol from religious rituals to today, where there are a wide variety of alcoholic drinks, shows how alcohol abuse has increased as well. Alcoholism has been a continuous problem for centuries due to its harmful effects. In moderation, alcohol is used by some to relax and considered safe. However, misusing alcohol can cause harm not only to the drinker, but also to anyone close to the drinker, and society in general. There are three stages of ingestion that happen once a drink is downed. First, it is quickly absorbed into the blood stream through the cell membranes of the digestive tract. As it passes through the digestive tract, some of is absorbed by the mouth and stomach, and most of it is absorbed by the small intestine. The amount of food in the stomach affects the rate of absorption. If a drinker has a pint of beer without having dinner first, the absorption rate of the beer will be much faster. The drinker will get drunk much faster, and maybe even vomit. Most of the alcohol is absorbed by the bloodstream within an hour of ingestion. The second stage is distribution. Once the circulatory system absorbs the alcohol, it is sent out to all parts of the body. Some parts, like the brain, liver and kidney receive larger amounts of alcohol than other parts of the body because they receive more blood. And the third stage is metabolism. As the alcohol travels throughout the body, enzymes released by the liver metabolize the alcohol. This breaks down the alcohol and turns it into a food source for the body. Most of the alcohol ingested is released through the liver. The effects of alcohol on the liver can be deadly. In large amounts, alcohol can damage major organs, particularly the liver. There are three different alcohol-related liver diseases: fatty liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Fatty liver disease is one of the first signs that alcohol is being abused. Fat builds up due to alcohol metabolism. This hurts the liver’s ability to work at full strength. Fatty liver disease can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. When the liver is too damaged from alcohol abuse, scar tissue forms, causing cirrhosis, and eventually causing the liver to shut down. Symptoms include loss of energy, loss of appetite, upset stomach, weight loss and weakness. Cirrhosis is one of the ten leading causes of death by disease in the United States. The third liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis, is the inflammation of the liver, the stage right before cirrhosis. Jaundice, mental confusion and swelling of the abdomen are common symptoms. Alcohol is known as a depressant, and its effects on the brain and central nervous system are serious. When intoxicated, drinkers experience a mild euphoria, or temporary â€Å"happiness†, and loss of inhibition. Alcohol impairs regions of the brain controlling behavior, judgment, memory, concentration and coordination. On the central nervous system, alcohol acts as a sedative. Large amounts of alcohol can cause respiratory failure, coma and death. Impaired vision, hearing, and motor skills also occur. The drinker may also experience numbness and tingling in the arms and legs caused by nerve damage. This results in the staggering walk often seen coming out of bars. Long-term drinking can cause brain damage (Korsakoff’s Syndrome) and drinking while pregnant is known to produce sick babies (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). Heavy drinking also has damaging effects on the stomach and intestinal system. Irritation of the stomach lining can cause peptic ulcers, bleeding lesions and cancer. Blood loss causes loss of iron, which can cause irritability, lack of energy, headaches and dizziness. Risk of pancreatitis is also increased. Other effects of alcohol abuse include irritation of the intestinal tract lining and the colon; nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, sweating and loss of appetite; and increase in blood pressure, risk of heart attack and stroke. These symptoms develop over time. Alcoholism, however, can begin to develop after the first drink. There are many reasons why people start drinking, such as to increase self-confidence, relieve stress, escape from personal problems, overcome shyness, or to overcome a poor self-image. Abuse of alcohol is defined as the use of alcohol interfering with physical, social, academic, or economic functioning. The first stage of alcoholism involves the use of alcoholism as a way to deal with other problems. The abuser will drink more than the average amount and is usually preoccupied with partying or going out socially to drink. The abuser will also drink to cope with personal problems, have trouble stopping after one drink, and they’ll feel guilty about drinking so much. The drinker will usually deny that a problem exists. The second stage of alcohol abuse begins to interfere with daily activities like work. The drinker finds it typically hard to get through the day without a drink. It also becomes difficult to get the same good feelings from drinking, so more alcohol is consumed. The drinker will start drinking alone and in secret. Ambition and drive are lost and interest in family and friends goes away. This leads to the third stage where the alcoholism takes over. The drinker lives for alcohol and nothing else. They experience loneliness and continue to drink even with disastrous results, including financial and personal problems. The alcoholic will experience physical symptoms in this stage, including difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, malnutrition, the â€Å"shakes†, and sometimes blackouts and serious memory loss. Alcoholism is the most serious form of alcohol abuse. Once the drinker reaches this stage, serious treatment should be considered. By tracing the steps leading to alcoholism, it is natural to ask what causes the alcoholic to pick up a drink in the first place. Of course, it is the own personal responsibility of each individual who chooses to ingest alcohol. There are however, outside influences that can effect that decision. The power of the media and the messages it sends out can influence any impressionable person, especially teenagers, to consume alcohol. Characters in film and TV are seen smoking and drinking all the time. Signs and advertisements for alcohol use fun animals to pitch the drink, or they show a drinker looking sexy and cool. If everyone is doing it and having fun, then everyone else should do it too. That is the message advertisers want the teenager to pick up. Advertisers leave out the negative information on alcohol on purpose. As a result, teenagers often do not know what the health risks are when they use alcohol. A study done by Washington drug and alcohol officials in 1998 showed that the media has major influences in all outlets. Some of their findings show that almost all, or 98% of movies depict some form of alcohol intake. They also show that nearly 30% of all songs contained messages about drinking. On the other hand, negative effects of drinking were only shown in half of the movies and only one-fifth of the songs. American consumers are heavy consumers of movies, music and TV. So the government is targeting the entertainment and advertising industries in order to change the positive image of alcohol being put out. Anti-alcohol propaganda has proven to be not very effective. Advertisements promoting alcohol usually make you want to try the product. The ads convince the drinker to buy alcohol so they can feel glamorous, powerful and successful. The ads also use status symbols like cars, jewelries and mansions so that everyone will believe they can have the same lifestyle as long as they buy their products. Visual propaganda is very powerful. Unfortunately, people fall for it many times. When you see advertisements against alcohol, they’re usually trying to scare the drinker away from alcohol. Often times bloody pictures of drunk-driving car accidents are shown. Images of badly torn up bodies can persuade someone to stop drinking for the moment. However, an alcoholic’s disease is more powerful than a picture. While the bloody pictures may make the drinker think twice, the effects are not huge in preventing alcoholism. A lot of the anti-alcohol propaganda is about driving drunk. Drinking and driving is a combination that leads to horrible accidents. Driving while under the influence is a serious concern that has gained more and more attention. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, the leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds is drunk driving. Whether it’s New Year’s Eve, the prom, or a weekend pizza party, there is a good chance that alcohol will be served. Getting behind the wheel puts in danger not only the driver who is drunk, but any passengers and non-drinking bystanders as well. The government and police force have come up with several ways to prevent drinking and driving. One of the methods is through a blood test. This is the most difficult one to carry out because it usually requires the person to go to a hospital after being pulled over by the police. Another test police administer is a breathalyzer test. The policeman will make the driver breath into a tube that is able to read the level of alcohol in the blood. This is a valuable test because the police are able to do it as soon as they pull over the drunk driver. The third test is less scientific. The police have the drunk driver attempt to walk a straight line and then cross their legs in the format of a number four. If they have been drinking, then they will be unable to stand up straight, their eyes will be redder, and they will lose their balance. Even though there should be more tests and more instructive propaganda on the subject of drinking and driving, the steps policemen take now do help to save lives. Unfortunately, innocent people can be hurt by drunk drivers. But there are ways to prevent unnecessary accidents yourself. Some ways include volunteering to be a designated driver, trying to avoid driving on rural roads, using four lane highways, avoiding going on the road after midnight, and always wearing a seat belt. It is also helpful to recognize when friends may be in danger of drinking and driving. A good thing to do is to take away the car keys or simply call a cab. Preventing drunk driving is only one way of fighting alcoholism. To really treat it well requires long-term care in almost every case. There are several treatments today for alcoholics to choose from. Three of the major forms of treatment are Alcoholics Anonymous, psychological treatment, and substance abuse clinics. Through treatment, alcoholics can lead normal, productive and happy lives. The ultimate goal of alcoholism treatment is to enable the patient to achieve lasting abstinence. Immediate goals, however, are to reduce the drinking in steps. It is very difficult to quit drinking †cold turkey.† If an alcoholic chooses a treatment program, there are several options out there. A short-term treatment that is popular is the 28-day in-patient treatment. This involves the patient going to a treatment facility for about a month to detox their bodies. This method can be helpful as sort of a crash course in alcoholism treatment, but care must continue following the month-long treatment. Other methods last longer, some for 6 months. These treatments include residential therapy, where the patient is living at a treatment facility for an extended amount of time. Many severe alcoholics need this kind of structure to succeed. The Betty Ford Clinic is an example of a treatment facility that allows patients to live there until they overcome their addiction to alcohol. Another method to treating alcoholism is outpatient therapy. Outpatient therapy offers a wide variety of programs for patients who visit on a consistent basis. Almost all of the programs will offer psychological therapy of some sort, in the form of individual or group counseling. Often it is easier to talk about the addiction in a group of people with the same problems rather than alone. Out-patient therapy often is not effective by itself for the serious alcoholic. Usually this therapy is combined with another method. The third method is the most popular one. Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as AA, was founded in 1935. It is based on the premise of the 12 steps to recovery. AA thinks of itself as a community of recovering alcoholics. They share their common problems with drinking and help each other recover from the addiction of alcohol. The main purpose of AA is to help people stay sober. Alcoholics Anonymous consists of more than two million people all over the world. They meet in local groups that can be big or small, some having a handful of drinkers and others having hundreds attend a meeting. All of the meetings are free. Most Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are open to the public. However, some places have closed meetings in case members want to talk only about their alcohol problems and not be distracted by anyone there who may not be an alcoholic. The 12-step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous is a world-renown treatment method that’s used for all kinds of addiction, not just alcohol. Alcoholics are encouraged to work the 12 steps. The first step involves admitting the powerlessness over alcohol, how it takes over the alcoholic’s life. The second step has the alcoholic believe that there is a greater power working that will help the alcoholic stay sober. This step is an example of the religious influence on the 12-step recovery process. The steps continue to involve the healing process. One of them asks the drinker to go to any friends or family that have been hurt by alcoholism and apologize. Another step asks the drinker to take a sponsor. A sponsor is also an alcoholic who has been sober for a longer amount of time. The sponsor helps the recovering alcoholic make it through the steps. Throughout their recovery, alcoholics will also get chips. The chips are usually different colors, depending on how long the alcoholic has been sober. The final two steps of AA involve â€Å"taking inventory† of your life and understanding why you did what you did when drunk. These are called the drinker’s motivations. Step 12 talks about three major parts the alcoholic should have accomplished. They are having had a spiritual awakening, practicing the lessons learned in AA, and carrying the message of recovery to other alcoholics. The final step seems like a lifetime step. It is practiced by the drinker, along with the other steps for the rest of their life. It stresses the amount of work they must put in for the program to work for them. Once completed, the alcoholic has a lifetime of recovery. Alcoholism is a disease that most alcoholics will admit never goes away. Alcoholics need ongoing treatment and support. There is always a chance to fall off the wagon. Ideally, alcoholics should enter a long-term treatment facility, go through detox, and join Alcoholics Anonymous and attend meetings regularly. The longer an alcoholic receives treatment, the better the chances for becoming sober. The best way to stay sober, though, is simply through abstinence. It is the only true cure of alcoholism. Drinking is classified as a disease by doctors and psychologists. It is a disease because once the drinker is addicted, they cannot stop drinking. It is beyond their control. They cause physical harm to themselves and others. Their health declines and death by alcoholism is not uncommon. That is why it is better if someone who is more likely to drink and enjoy it to abstain all together. Drinking in moderation works for some people, but for alcoholics, there really is no other choice. For the sake of their own lives, for their family and friends, and for society as a whole, alcoholics should pursue the most effective treatment and help everyone fight the terrible disease of alcoholism.

The Life of the Roman Poet Ovid

The Life of the Roman Poet Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid, was a prolific Roman poet whose writing influenced Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton. As those men knew, to understand the corpus of Greco-Roman mythology requires familiarity with Ovids Metamorphoses. Ovids Upbringing Publius Ovidius Naso or Ovid was born on March 20, 43 BCE*, in Sulmo (modern Sulmona, Italy), to an equestrian (moneyed class) family**. His father took him and his one-year-older brother to Rome to study so that they might become public speakers and politicians. Instead of following the career path chosen by his father, Ovid made good use of what hed learned, but he put his rhetorical education to work in his poetic writing. Ovids Metamorphoses Ovid wrote his Metamorphoses in the epic meter of dactyllic hexameters. It tells stories about the transformations of mostly humans and nymphs into animals, plants, etc. This is very different from the contemporary Roman poet Vergil (Virgil), who used the grand epic meter to showcase the noble history of Rome. Metamorphoses is a storehouse for Greek and Roman mythology. Ovid as a Source for Roman Social Life The topics of Ovids love-based poetry, especially the Amores Loves and Ars Amatoria Art of Love, and his work on the days of the Roman calendar, known as Fasti, give us a look at the social and private lives of ancient Rome in the time of Emperor Augustus. From the perspective of Roman history, Ovid is, therefore, one of the most important of the Roman poets, even though there is debate as to whether he belongs to the Golden or merely the Silver Age of Latin literature. Ovid as Fluff John Porter says of Ovid: Ovids poetry is often dismissed as frivolous fluff, and to a large degree it is. But it is very sophisticated fluff and, if read carefully, presents interesting insights into the less serious side of the Augustan Age. Carmen et Error and the Resulting Exile Ovids plaintive appeals in his writing from exile at Tomi [see  § He on the map], on the Black Sea, are less entertaining than his mythological and amatory writing and are also frustrating because, while we know Augustus exiled a 50-year-old Ovid for carmen et error, we dont know exactly what his grave mistake was, so we get an unsolvable puzzle and a writer consumed with self-pity who once was the height of wit, a perfect dinner party guest. Ovid says he saw something he should not have seen. It is assumed that the carmen et error had something to do with Augustus moral reforms and/or the princeps promiscuous daughter Julia. [Ovid had acquired the patronage of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BCE - CE 8), and become part of the lively social circle around Augustus daughter Julia.] Augustus banished his granddaughter Julia and Ovid in the same year, CE 8. Ovids Ars amatoria, a didactic poem purporting to instruct first men and then women on the arts of seduction, is thought to hav e been the offensive song (Latin: carmen). Technically, since Ovid had not lost his possessions, his relegation to Tomi should not be called exile, but relegatio. Augustus died while Ovid was in relegation or exile, in CE 14. Unfortunately for the Roman poet, the successor of Augustus, Emperor Tiberius, did not recall Ovid. For Ovid, Rome was the glittering pulse of the world. Being stuck, for whatever reasons, in what is modern Romania led to despair. Ovid died three years after Augustus, at Tomi, and was buried in the area. Ovids Writing Chronology Amores (c. 20 BCE)HeroidesMedicamina faciei femineaeArs Amatoria (1 BCE)MedeaRemedia AmorisFastiMetamorphoses (finished by CE 8)Tristia (starting CE 9)Epistulae ex Ponto (starting CE 9) Notes *Ovid was born a year after the assassination of Julius Caesar and in the same year that Mark Antony was defeated by consuls C. Vibius Pansa and A. Hirtius at Mutina. Ovid lived through the entire reign of Augustus, dying 3 years into Tiberius reign. Timeline of the End of the Roman RepublicRoman Empire Timeline **Ovids equestrian family had made it to the senatorial ranks since Ovid writes in Tristia iv. 10.29 that he put on the broad stripe of the senatorial class when he donned the manly toga. See: S.G. Owens Tristia: Book I (1902). References Porter, John, Ovid Notes.Sean Redmond, Ovid FAQ, Jiffy Comp.

The Global Expansion Strategy of Australian Hotel Chain Essay

The Global Expansion Strategy of Australian Hotel Chain - Essay Example The rapid developments and technological advancements in the last 3 decades have resulted in globalisation, universalisation and internationalisation of this world. Indeed, the advent of the internet, infrastructural development and transportation have contributed significantly in dissemination of information, open communication and socialization worldwide. Nevertheless, the reduction of trade barriers and constrictions (such as quotas, tariffs, custom duties etc.) have not only resulted in growth of international trade but also raised the standard of living across the globe. The free trade agreements (NAFTA, SAFTA), eradication of quota system (WTO and GATT) and minimisation of duties are some of the major steps that provided new investment and business opportunities to enterprises. For instance, the ease of communication and construction of secure and reliable transportation networks provide firms an opportunity to expand in global markets and enhance their business volume and mone tary profits. It should be highlighted that Australia is considered as a developed nation, with individualistic culture and values, among international community because of its phenomenal economic growth in last few decades. It’s highly developed secondary (industrial and manufacturing) and tertiary (services) sectors have contributed in nation’s economic prosperity and well – being. Nevertheless, the Per Capita Income in Australia is between the range $38,000 – 39000, which shows that Australia is among the rich nations worldwide.

Homework Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Homework - Case Study Example The practices proposed by NIST are too complicated and technically demanding for such business entrepreneurs to adopt and implement. 3. In the present age, technology advances at a very fast pace. It takes a lot of time and effort to implement the practices in the existing technology-based system, let alone a system that is constantly upgraded and renewed by the incorporation of new technology. 4. NIST requires configuration of workstations, laptops, and all types of technology with the industry standard active protection with firewall (â€Å"FASP Areas†). This becomes very costly for the business entrepreneurs particularly in the underdeveloped and the developing countries that tend to rely upon the pirated copies of software generally. 5. To consider the application of the NIST proposed security practices on a typical business, it is imperative that things are analyzed in a global context. While businesses in the advanced countries are extremely technology savvy and complying with the rules and regulations regarding computers, those in the third world countries are

Losing Isaiah Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Losing Isaiah - Essay Example When Isaiah’s biological mother went out of the prison and escaped from the iron clutch of drug addiction, she decided to get Isaiah back. Here the controversy began. In the courtroom the parties of the â€Å"conflict† raised questions of ethnical difference between Isaiah and his foster family and wisdom of bringing up the boy in the environment, where nobody is like him. After the heated argument in the court, the judge brought in a verdict to give Isaiah back to his biological mother. That was right decision from the point of common sense, but it did not work in the end. The arguments against the verdict are the following: Isaiah’s biological mother did not know anything about bringing up this child; the boy had psychology problems and radical change of the family could do harm to him; there was a possibility of compromise that would be acceptable for both mothers and the child. Firstly, despite the fact that Isaiah was brought up in the â€Å"white† environment and did not receive enough information about his roots, he was brought up in the atmosphere of love in Margaret’s family. His foster mother was with him from the very childhood. She helped him to overcome the drug addiction and kept him safe from the hunger and poverty. Margaret Lewin was right when she said that Khaila was not inherently his mother. Margaret said that Khaila wouldn’t even know what to do when Isaiah got sick. She really loved the boy, and on the trial she told Khiala’s lawyer that the skin color does not matter when it goes about love, and they are capable to bring up Isaiah as a decent person. Secondly, Isaiah was rather troubled child. He was born from drug addict and during his first days of life he did not receive a proper care. Moreover, his biological mother gave him drugs as a sort of â€Å"lullaby†. The new born baby was drug addicted. All these facts could not but influence his

The Role Of Intermediary Devices In Networks Information Technology Essay

The Role Of Intermediary Devices In Networks Information Technology Essay TCP/ IP model and OSI layers are the two network models used by the internet. In the OSI model, an Ethernet switch operates at the Data-Link layer to create a different collision domain for every single switch port. A multilayer switch though may work at more than one OSI layers, including physical, data link, network and even the transport layer. A router on the other hand is considered a layer 3- the Network layer of the TCP/IP model- device since it does most of its routing decisions according to information in the IP packet of layer 3. Role of Intermediary Devices in the network The switch, which is basically a modern and more efficient version of the outdated hub, is a network access device. The router is an internetworking device. They are both intermediary devices. The basic functionalities of the processes that run in them are to regenerate and re-transmit data, maintain information about the pathways that exist across the network and internet, inform other devices in case of errors and transmission failures, guide data along substitute pathways when there is a failure in the link, classify and direct messages according to Quality of Service (QoS) priorities and permit or deny data flow based on security settings. LANs AND WANs A Local Area Network (LAN) is a computer network which typically covers one geographical area, delivering services and applications to those within a mutual organizational structure. A switch is used to connect these computers. Switches lack the capability of connecting multiple networks or distributing an internet connection. A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a network of computers covering a broad area and is used in interconnecting two or multiple Local Area Networks. It is usually built using leased lines. A router connects two or more logical subnets and thus is usually connected to two or more LANs or WANs or also a LAN and its Internet Service Provider (ISP). Routers are also used to link segments of a LAN that has been sub-netted into smaller segments. Routers are located at gateways, the meeting point of two or more networks (Ilascu, 2007) Address Table Packet-switched computer networks employ a forwarding technique called bridging. Bridging is dependent on flooding and source address examination in received packet headers to establish the address location of unknown devices. Switches maintain a table of Ethernet MAC addresses referred to as a CAM Table also known as Bridge forwarding table using a method called Transparent Bridging involving learning, flooding, filtering, forwarding and aging. The switch records the source addresses in entries in the table, while destination addresses are looked up in the table and matched to the proper segment to send the frame. The show mac-address-table command can be used to show this table on a Cisco switch. Source route bridging is another form of bridging that was developed for token ring networks. Routers direct packets according to information stored in the IP routing table. A router looks inside each TCP/IP packet it has received to identify the IP addresses of the source and target, sear ches its own routing table for the best match between the destination IP address of the network and addresses in the routing table packet then forwards the packets as desired to ensure that data reaches its destination. The show ip route command can be used to show the table on a Cisco router. (Cisco, 2009) Security Switches and routers are often ignored as security devices because they were originally made to enhance network connectivity rather than network security. Consequently, they are conceptually less secure. An attack on the edge router can cut off the entire network from its users. Weak passwords, unneeded services, protocol and IOS vulnerabilities and IOS configuration errors can cause security breaches. Most routers nowadays have a hardware firewall integrated in their systems thus this has made routers an important component in fostering network security. There are several technical terms about switches and routers that one would encounter: Ports and interfaces A port is a point of physical access or physical interface between a circuit and a device or system at which signals are injected or extracted. It can also be a logical connection, identified by a protocol address in a packet header, associated with TCP or UDP service. The IP address and the port number identify a socket. An interface physically and logically interconnects two other devices or systems Broadcast, unicast and multicast Multicast is a transmission mode in which a signal or packet is sent to multiple devices or computers, but not all on a network, unicast is where a single packet or signal is sent to a single device and broadcast is where it is sent to all stations on a network in order to update the routing table. Gateway This is where one network meets another, for example where a LAN and a WAN are joined by a router. Protocols These are rules and conventions used to exchange information between computers or across computer internetworks. Their two major functions are handshaking and line discipline. Encapsulation and Decapsulation Different types of information are added as data from the Application layer passes down the protocol stack. A new header in each level and a new name is given to the data enclosed. Decapsulation is the reverse. As data goes up the protocol stack, the Data link layer takes it from the physical medium, does a Cyclic Redundancy Check, strips off the respective headers and the rest of the data is passed to an upper layer till it reaches the application layer. Packet switching LAN switches depend on packet-switching. A connection between two segments is established long enough to direct out the current packet. Inbound packets are stored in a temporary memory area, buffer; MAC address in the header is read and compared to those in the switchs lookup table.   An Ethernet frame comprises a normal packet as the payload of the frame, which has a special header including the MAC address information. Traffic-routing in a switch Three methods are used by packet-based switches for traffic-routing. As soon as the packet is detected by the switch, Cut-through switches read the MAC address. The 6 bytes that contain the address information are stored and instantly forwarding the packet to the destination node starts as the rest of the packet comes into the switch. In store-and-forward, the entire packet is saved by the switch, checked for CRC inaccuracies or any other problems before sending. The packet is discarded if it contains errors. The least common method is fragment-free. Its working is like that of cut-through but the first 64 bytes of the packet are stored before sending. This is because most errors and all collisions take place during the first 64 bytes of a packet. Switch configurations The physical design of LAN switches differ. Shared memory is one of the three common configurations in use. This brand of switch stores all entering packets in a common buffer memory shared by all switch ports (for input and output connections), subsequently sending them out through the correct port for the required destination node. In Matrix type of switch, there is an internal grid with input ports crossing output ports. Once a packet is identified on an input port, the MAC address is matched to the lookup table to get the suitable output port. A connection on the grid  where these two ports intersect is then made by the switch. The third is Bus architecture, where instead of a grid; an internal transmission  path (common bus) is shared by all ports using TDMA. There is a dedicated memory buffer for each port in a switch based on this configuration, with an ASIC to control the internal bus access. Router interfaces A router typically has multiple interfaces, as its main purpose is to interconnect several networks and send packets from one network to another. Every interface is a member or host belonging to a different IP network. The routing table comprises of network addresses for a routers own interfaces, which are directly connected networks, and remote networks. Though routers make their major forwarding decisions at the Network layer, router interfaces do this in Layers 1, 2, and 3. IP packets at layer 1 are encapsulated into data link frame at layer 2 and encoded into bits at physical Layer 1. Router interfaces participate in processes associated with their encapsulation at layer 2. A router Ethernet interface, for example, takes part in the ARP process like other same LAN hosts. Router interfaces may vary, but Serial and FastEthernet interfaces are common. Static and Dynamic Routes Static routes are easily and manually configured. However, in large networks the manual operation can be quite cumbersome. Static routes have a default administrative distance of 1. If theres not a more specific match in the routing table, the default route, 0.0.0.0 network address and 0.0.0.0 subnet mask, is used to forward the packet to another router. Dynamic routing protocols require less administrative overhead. They do discovery of remote networks, maintaining up-to-date routing information, choosing the best path to destination networks and have ability to find a new best path if the current is no longer available or if there is a topology change. Static routing is still used nowadays, more often than not, in combination with dynamic routing. Conclusion As introduction of more industrial devices which have built-in Ethernet capabilities continues, networks keep becoming more complex and get crowded with signal traffic. This increases the necessity for Ethernet switches and routers with advanced technology which limits collisions, control bandwidth and have ability to craft virtual local area networks. Companies like Cisco, HP and IBM are racing to produce devices based on the new Energy Efficient Ethernet Standard (IEEE 802.3az). The announcement of CGR 2010 and CGS 2520 router and switch products by Cisco Systems recently designed to aid utility companies in supplying power to homes and businesses under the Smart grid project, a conglomeration of existing and technologies under development, hoped to ameliorate aging US power grid in the near future. As internet speeds get faster, through copper and fiber, switches and routers must possess features of high capacity and expandability. HOW THE INTERNET WORKS (incl. IPv4 and IPv6) Internet protocol suite It refers to a model architecture which divides methods into one layered system of protocols commonly known as TCP/IP, the two most important protocols in it. It is composed of the Link layer, Internet, Transport and Application layers. The link layer provides basic connectivity between computer networking hardware and associated interface-interface messaging management. The Internet layer facilitates interconnectivity between networks and has the Internet Protocol defining IPv4 and IPv6 used to locate hosts on the network. Transport layer provides a framework to convey data between hosts with the help of protocols like TCP and UDP. Application layer deals with application-based interaction between communicating Internet hosts on a process-to-process level. The Domain Name System (DNS) This is the whole network of programs and databases that cooperate to translate hostnames to IP addresses. Internet hostnames are composed of parts separated by dots. A domain is a collection of machines that share a common name suffix. Domains can also live inside other domains. Each domain is defined by an authoritative name server that knows the IP addresses of the other machines in the domain. The primary name server may have backups in case it goes down. The name-servers do not have to know the locations of all the machines in other domains including their own sub-domains, just the location of name-servers. Each top-level domain server knows where the name-servers for the domains directly beneath it are. Classful and classless routing IPv4 addresses were initially allocated based on classes A, B, C, D. Classful routing utilizes routing protocols which do not send subnet mask information if there is a sent out route update . All network devices must use a similar subnet mask e.g. RIPv1. In classless routing, the network portion of the address is determined by the network subnet mask, also known as the network prefix, or prefix length In Classless routing, subnet mask information is sent out in the routing updates. It allows VLSM (Variable Length Subnet Masking) e.g. RIP V2 EIGRP OSPF. RIP V1 has no Support for VLSM and doesnt support discontigious networks. RIP v2, however, supports VLSM networks and discontigious networks through routers compliant with Classless-Inter Domain Routing, which reduce size of routing tables. Governance The internet is a globally distributed network made up of many voluntary interconnected autonomous networks. It runs without a central governing body. Nevertheless, to maintain interoperability, all technical and policy features of the underlying central infrastructure and the primary name spaces, that is, domain names, IP addresses, application port number and many other parameters are administered by a body called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in California. World Wide Web and the internet These two terms are often used daily without much distinction, yet have different meanings. The internet is made up of hardware and software infrastructure that ensure availability of connectivity between computers. The World Wide Web or just the web is one of the services transferred through the internet. It is a pool of interconnected documents and many other resources interconnected by hyperlinks and URLs. Technical terms related to the internet include: URLs It stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is used to uniquely identify each of the billions of web pages across the world and help one guide others to them. Internet Backbone The first high speed Tier 1 backbone was created by the NFS in 1987. Backbones are typically fiber optic trunk lines with multiple fiber optic cables to increase the capacity. Bandwidth This is the transmission capability of the lines that convey the Internets electronic traffic where a larger bandwidth transfers more data at a time. Lack of bandwidth can inflict severe restrictions on the quick information delivery by the internet. Peering This is where multiple ISPs are linked at peering points or Internet exchange points (IXs), permitting routing of data across each network, without transmission charges on one another for the data which would otherwise have gone through a third upstream ISP, attracting charges from the upstream ISP. Web hosting This is a form of internet hosting service that lets individuals and organizations make their own websites reachable through the World Wide Web. Web hosting companies offer space on a server they either own or have leased for use by their clients and furthermore provide internet connectivity usually in a data center. IPv4 The Internet Protocol enables internetworking and fundamentally creates the internet itself. IP Version 4 (IPv4) is the preliminary version on the initial generation of todays internet and is still dominantly in use. It was aimed to address up to 4.3 billion (109) internet hosts. IPv4 addresses were initially allocated based on classes. In the original specification of IPv4 (RFC 791) released in 1981, the authors established the classes to provide three different sizes of networks for large, medium and small organizations. As a result, class A, B and C addresses were defined with a specific format for the high order bits, which are the left-most bits in a 32-bit address. The remaining addresses were reserved for multicasting and future uses. However, IPv4 addresses are being exhausted due to the explosive growth of the internet, and the exhaustion is estimated to enter its final stage around 2011. (Microsoft Corporation, 2009) IPv6 The exhaustion led to development of IPv6 around mid-1990s, which provides massively larger addressing abilities and much more efficient routing of traffic. Presently, IPv6 is in commercial deployment phase across the world and internet address registries (RIRs) have started to urge all resource managers to organize rapid implementation and conversion. IPv6 is not interoperable with IPv4 as it basically creates a parallel form of the internet that IPv4 software cannot directly access. Software upgrades or translator facilities are thus essential for each networking device that requires communication on the IPV6 internet. While most recent computer operating systems have by now converted to function with both versions, network infrastructures still lag behind in this development. (Teare Diane, 2006) Client-Server Architecture A computer operates software known as the client and it interacts with another known as the server found at a remote computer. The client is typically a browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. The server interacts with the browser using a set of guidelines called protocols. These protocols aid in the correct transfer of data via requests from a browser as the server responds. The World Wide Web brings the many protocols available on the Internet together so one can use HTTP, Telnet, FTP, Email etc. on one platform, the web browser. Inside the HTML page the web designer embeds the server-side language code. This code is handed to the suitable interpreter which processes these guidelines and generates the ultimate HTML displayed by the browser. Internet security Cryptographic methods and protocols that have been developed for securing communications on the Internet ensure cyber security. Protocols including SSL and TLS for web traffic, PGP for email, and IPsec for the network layer security have been developed to secure internet communications. Firewalls are used to control access between networks. They consist of gateways and filters which vary from one firewall to another and screen network traffic, blocking that which is dangerous or malicious. Antiviruses are used to protect networks and devices from computer viruses, malware, Trojan horses, spyware, worms and botnets. Conclusion Since its conception in 1969, internet has evolved more than anything else to react positively to new requirements. With faster speeds now, internet is used in banking, gaming, advertising, social networking like Facebook and almost everything else. Shaping the future of internet, CSS3, Fonts as a Service such as Typekit that cater to web browsers that support the font-face rule already, and HTML5 are providing web designers the creative liberty that they have been craving for a long time. Yet new ideas and technologies bring new challenges. Many feel a clean slate approach is the one sure way of correctly addressing security, mobility and further challenges that have arose since 1969. Researchers believe its time to reconsider the Internets underlying architecture, a change that might mean getting to replace networking equipment and modifying computer software to channel future traffic over the existing pipes better. Within a decade, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded GENI and European Union backed Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE) research programs would be making a considerable change of the internet. (JESDANUN, 2007)