Dragons Essay example -- Expository Animals History Essays

Dragons What’s the first thing people think when they hear the word â€Å"dragon?† Most Americans and Europeans probably envision a huge scaly green beast, one that sits on a hoard of golden treasures and breathes fire. Asians are more likely to think of a benevolent snake-like creature, one that controls rains and rivers. And some people will think of the dragons in movies, or in books, which come in innumerable shapes, sizes, and dispositions. Practically every culture on Earth has dragons of some kind. The broadest way of categorizing dragons is into Western and Eastern dragons, though some of the dragons in the media have distinct characteristics as well. And then, of course, is the ultimate question: did they exist? Western dragons are the storybook monsters that most Americans recognize. The most common variety have four legs, two bat-like wings, a long tail, and a lot of teeth. They breathe fire, are covered in scales, hoard treasure, and have dangerous claws. They vary in color, and can be any shade of the rainbow, white, black, or any of various metallic shades. They are usually fierce, and feast on young virgins or sheep sacrificed by nearby villagers in an attempt to pacify the beast (Blumberg 6-7, Lurie n.p, Walker, Tempest). The Eastern dragons, by contrast, are benevolent water spirits. They are long and sinuous, covered in scales, and wingless, though they have four legs. They have whiskers, horns and often a mane, and always have a pearl either under the chin, in the mouth, or in the claws. Eastern dragons govern rain and rivers, and breathe clouds rather than fire. They are fond of swallow’s meat, and afraid of centipedes. The Chinese and Japanese emperors were believed to be descended from dragons (Ayles... ...gons have over the human imagination is as legendary as the great beasts themselves. Works Cited Aylesworth, Thomas. The Story of Dragons and Other Monsters. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. Blumberg, Rhoda. The Truth About Dragons. New York: Four Winds Press, 1980. Dickinson, Peter. The Flight of Dragons. New York: Harper and Row, 1979. Dragonheart. Dir. Rob Cohen. , 1996. Lurie, Alison. Fabulous Beasts. New York: Rae Publishing Company, 1981. McCaffrey, Anne. Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983. Mulan. Dir. Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft. Disney, 1998. Pete’s Dragon. Dir. Don Chaffey. Disney, 1977. Tempest. â€Å"Advanced Dragon Description.† D.R.A.G.O.N.S. n.d. 14 May 2002. . Walker, Jennifer. â€Å"Physiology of a Dragon.† Here Be Dragons. n.d. 14 May 2002. <

Charles Perrault Bio Essay

Charles Perrault is a famous French poet and author recognized for writing the Mother Goose fairy tales. He was the seventh child from his father Pierre Perrault and mother Paquette Le Clerc, born on January 12 of 1628 in Paris, France and then died and indefinite death which means it is undefined that was on May 16, 1703. He was a Roman Catholic. He married Marie Guichon in 1672 when she was nineteen years old, with her he had three children and when delivering the third one Marie passed while giving birth in 1678, which left them to be married for only six years. After her death Perrault never remarried. Career wise Perrault didn’t start out as a poet; he was actually a lawyer who was in charge of royal buildings in 1660. Perrault also took a huge share in the making of the Academy of Sciences and the renewal of the Academy of Painting. But then later on he worked in the Academic Franà §aise where he played an important role of literacy disagreement as many know today had to do with the clash between the Ancients and the Moderns, to which Charles coincided with the Moderns. Perrault then decided he was going to spend the rest of his lifetime promoting the education of literature and the arts. Where then he started to become a well-known as a poet with stories such as â€Å"Red Riding Hood†, â€Å"Puss in Boots†, â€Å"Cinderella†, and â€Å"Donkeyskin†. â€Å"Donkeyskin† is a famous French literacy and was republished by Perrault in 1697 with a little help from Andrew Lang another popular poet. â€Å"Donkeyskin† was the French version of Cinderella. There are plenty of versions of â€Å"Donkeyskin† but Perrault’s is the most well-known and made him popular.

Foundation Course in Science and Technology

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE BaBUR The foundation of the empire was laid in 1526 by ahir al-Din Mu? ammad Babur, a Chagatai Turk (so called because his ancestral homeland, the country north of the Amu Darya [Oxus River] in Central Asia, was the heritage of Chagatai, the second son of Genghis Khan). Babur was a fifth-generation descendant of Timur on the side of his father and a 14th-generation descendant of Genghis Khan. His idea of conquering India was inspired, to begin with, by the story of the exploits of Timur, who had invaded the subcontinent in 1398.Babur inherited his father’s principality in Fergana at a young age, in 1494. Soon he was literally a fugitive, in the midst of both an internecine fight among the Timurids and a struggle between them and the rising Uzbeks over the erstwhile Timurid empire in the region. In 1504 he conquered Kabul and Ghazni. In 1511 he recaptured Samarkand, only to realize that, with the formidable ? afavid dynasty in Iran and the Uzbeks in Central Asia, he should rather turn to the southeast toward India to have an empire of his own. As a Timurid, Babur had an eye on the Punjab, part of which had been Timur’s possession.He made several excursions in the tribal habitats there. Between 1519 and 1524—when he invaded Bhera, Sialkot, and Lahore—he showed his definite intention to conquer Hindustan, where the political scene favoured his adventure. Conquest Of Hindustan Having secured the Punjab, Babur advanced toward Delhi, garnering support from many Delhi nobles. He routed two advance parties of Ibrahim Lodi’s troops and met the sultan’s main army at Panipat. The Afghans fought bravely, but they had never faced new artillery, and their frontal attack was no answer to Babur’s superior arrangement of the battle line.Babur’s knowledge of western and Central Asian war tactics and his brilliant leadership proved decisive in his victory. By April 1526 he was in contro l of Delhi and Agra and held the keys to conquer Hindustan. Babur, however, had yet to encounter any of the several Afghans who held important towns in what is now eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and who were backed by the sultan of Bengal in the east and the Rajputs on the southern borders. The Rajputs under Rana Sanga of Mewar threatened to revive their power in northern India. Babur assigned the unconquered territories to his nobles and led an expedition himself against the rana in person.He crushed the rana’s forces at Khanua, near Fatehpur Sikri (March 1527), once again by means of the skillful positioning of troops. Babur then continued his campaigns to subjugate the Rajputs of Chanderi. When Afghan risings turned him to the east, he had to fight, among others, the joint forces of the Afghans and the sultan of Bengal in 1529 at Ghagra, near Varanasi. Babur won the battles, but the expedition there too, like the one on the southern borders, was left unfinished. Developme nts in Central Asia and Babur’s failing health forced him to withdraw. He died near Lahore in December 1530. Babur’s AchievementsBabur’s brief tenure in Hindustan, spent in wars and in his preoccupation with northwest and Central Asia, did not give him enough time to consolidate fully his conquests in India. Still, discernible in his efforts are the beginnings of the Mughal imperial organization and political culture. He introduced some Central Asian administrative institutions and, significantly, tried to woo the prominent local chiefs. He also established new mints in Lahore and Jaunpur and tried to ensure a safe and secure route from Agra to Kabul. He advised his son and successor, Humayun, to adopt a tolerant religious policy.

Critical Summary of Conflicts as Property Essay

Introduction The article I will be critically summarizing is â€Å"Conflict as Property†. It is an influential article written by the criminologist Nils Christie in the late 1970s. Throughout the entire article Christie argues â€Å"criminology to some extent has amplified a process where conflicts have been taken away from the parties directly involved and thereby have either disappeared or become other peoples property†1 This statement is what I have found to be Christies thesis in which all of his points refer back to. Christies Argument Throughout the article Christie reflects on why he believes the conflict between two parties, the victim and defendant has been â€Å"stolen† by the authorities, the state, and by professionals. Christie said that not only does the victim loose his or her say in the proceedings but is relatively thrown out of the case in which it becomes between one party and the state. He found this unsatisfying and argued that it should be given back to the initial parties involved, the victim, the defendant and the neighborhood. He says when a conflict is created that we are less capable to take on the situation and are more likely to hand it off to some one else. This is where there is a lineup of professionals willing to take the conflict from us and we are just as willing to give it away. Christie explains his notion of â€Å"conflict as property† as not referring to material compensation but rather to the ownership of the conflict itself. He then recognizes the effects of victim losing the â€Å"property† initially and puts forth a method as a remedy for this process. He proposes a new court model for dealing with conflicts in which the court is victim centered and lay-oriented. My Opinion For most of the part I agree with what Christie has to say. I believe that throughout a proceeding it should be of most importance that the victim’s situation is to be heard whether it is relevant to the law or not. Instead of letting the state or professionals take over and say what they think has the most relevance to a case the court should hear the entire story from the victims point of view. This would show the courts to what affect this act by the offender has caused in the victims life. Also they should hear out what the victim seems fit as a fair punishment or payment in forms of restitution whether it is labour or monetary to go along with the judges sentence. I think that by having the initial parties involved instead of being pushed to the side, society will be more concerned to make sure that everyone is given a fair, equal, and consistent resolution to a conflict. It would ensure that the neighborhood and state have the same set of shared values and goals that the y are working towards to support social order. Most offenders after committing crimes do not want to see the victims or their families that they affected. It is an emotional encounter in the courtroom where the offender can show his remorse and the victim(s) can show pity I think that the two types of segmentation that are observed in our highly industrialized societies are the most important factors in why we don’t have the ability to deal with conflict. The segmentation in space is how we go through our daily lives and not recognizing any of the people we see as who they are but by what they do. Secondly we segregate people based on their physical attributes such as race, gender, and sex. This segregation has many consequences on society as a whole. The most influential consequence that we experience is depersonalization as Christie said. Not having this person-to-person relationship is detrimental, especially when conflicts arise seeing as how we can’t deal with them between the parties involved. We need professionals to step in and take the roles from us, which results in us being cast aside. Conclusion â€Å"Except for execution, castration or incarceration for life, no measure has a proven minimum of efficiency compared to any other measures†2 instead of continuing with the traditional way of a legal proceeding we need to change  things. People need to be able to interact face to face and have a more personal interaction. Conflicts must be given back to the initial parties and not â€Å"stolen† by these other powers. Is it not what somebody deserves? To have a case in which they are heard. Bibliography Nils Christie, â€Å"Conflict as Property† (1977) 17:4 The British Journal of Criminology Pg. 1-15

Discuss the impact that race, class and gender played in Bulosans life Essay

Discuss the impact that race, class and gender played in Bulosans life in American and which had the greatest consequence in shaping his life. Then compared an - Essay Example Today, he is best remembered for his semi-autobiographical work, America is in the Heart, which is credited for giving a 'Third World' perspective to the labor movement in America and for vividly showcasing the experiences of Filipinos during the 30s and 40s. Bulosan left for America on July 22, 1930 at the tender age of seventeen like most Filipinos during the early twentieth century. Being highly influenced by the American style of education during his high school, young Bulosan was led to believe that equality existed among all classes and individuals in the United States. America, he had hoped would help him escape his troubles and find salvation from the poverty and economic depression of his home country. However, as soon as he arrived in San Francisco, he was faced with the hostility of racism. Consequently, he was forced to work in low paying jobs-serving hotels, harvesting in the fields, and even working in the Alaskan canneries. As a result, his dreams were soon shattered and for years he encountered discrimination, starvation and sickness, later undergoing surgery for tuberculosis in Los Angeles. In the meantime, Bulosan took time out to self-educate himself, transforming himself later into the spokesman of the trials and trib ulations of the Filipinos in United States. In his own words, 'Writing is a pleasure and a passion to me'. Not only was he a protective voice of the immigrant Filipinos but also a prolific writer. Race, class and gender all exerted an influence on Bulosan's life and writings, but according to me the most prominent factor was race discrimination. There has been a lot of talk revolving around the racism faced by the African Americans in the United States. Bulosan through his work and writings brings to focus the rampant racism suffered by the other minority races like Filipinos in the proverbial 'land of oppurtunities'. Once while in Washington, the whites torched a bunkhouse where he slept. The treatment metted out to him by the whites left him feeling bitter, and isolated. His sums up his sentiments in the following lines: I know deep down in my heart that I am an exile in America. I feel like a criminal running away from a crime I didn't commit. And this crime is that I am a Filipino in America. Bulosan's angst and sense of alienation poured out in his writings. His major theme in his work is exile and return-the effect of leaving home and the need to return to the Philippines in order to make sense of the exile's experience in the United States because of the colonial status of the Philippines. In real life however he could never set foot on his homeland again. His hometown, Binaknan, is also the starting point of his famous semi-autobiographical novel, America is in the Heart. The novel is composed of stories loosely based on his brothers' and friends' experiences, providing a poignant peek into the immigrant Filipino's life during the 1930s and 1940s. America is in the Heart has been since then used as a symbol for the Filipino American identity movement of the 1970s and is also included in many bibliography lists for college courses on Filipino American studies classes, reflecting the importance of this seminal work in Asian American studies. Another important factor in Bulosan's life has been his sense of identification with the working class, having experienced their conditions first-hand

Short written presentation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Short written presentation - Assignment Example The housing market was not unaffected with foreclosures, evictions and the resultant massive unemployment. The crisis contributed to the failure of many businesses, it reduces the consumer earnings and a reduction of overall economic activity (Anon, 125). The current European debt crisis is attributed greatly to this crisis with countries affected taking austerity measures that have had far more adverse effects on the citizens of these countries. This paper analysis how the crisis led to decreased lending and how this affected the economy. During the summer in 2007, the lending market experienced drastic disruptions with the market for asset-backed commercial disintegrating while the interbank market stagnated. The financial crisis created a fright that led financial institutions to seek to run through other financial institutions as a way of mitigating the escalating financial risks. These institutions suffered greatly when the lenders increased their lending requirements as a way o f reducing lending. The banks hoarded liquid asset as a reaction to a number of factors. One, there was a rising concern solvency of these interbank operations. Moreover, the banks were experiencing an increase in the risk of their asset collection. Moreover, they could predict a risk related to draw-down of a long line of committed credit. Besides reducing lending, the banks used several other measures to management liquidity. These range from one bank to another depending on the pressure they felt for having liquid assets. During the crisis, the banks increased their liquid asset by selling assets such as government securities and treasuries. This enabled them to accumulate huge reserves in the central bank which was lucrative as they would earn huge balances from the large reserves. The banks also invested more in mortgage backed securities from Fredie Mac and similar banks whose security was guaranteed by the government (Anon, 1230. The liquidity hoarding was seen to be common a cross all banks irrespective of their sizes. The reduction in lending was seen to be different on the local and foreign banks. The foreign banks reduced lending compared to the local banks. This is because; the financial shock such as the one that was experienced has been seen to transmit negative effects to the foreign subsidiaries. A research conducted showed that there was no decrease in lending in both local and foreign banks in the fiscal year 2008 to 2009 (Anon, 69). This could be probably because the effects of the crisis had just started to be felt. However, in the following fiscal year, foreign lending was seen to have reduced by 5% more than the local banks. This is a reason why foreign investment across Europe reduces at a greater rate compared to local investments. The effects of the crisis are still being felt by banks around Europe and the globe in general. Banks have been restricted to in order to improve their immunity against the effect of such crisis. This is eithe r through government conditions or the banks initiatives. The banks have also been forced to adapt to the changing economic climates. They now have to deal with a shrinking economy in the advanced economy and increasing economic opportunities in the emerging economies such as China. It is evident that the decrease in lending has a detrimental effect on investment. This is because with reduced lending or greater credit requirements, investors will shy away for making investments. The uncertainty of the market also discourages

Navigation app for iOS Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Navigation app for iOS - Literature review Example This framework is designed to work with the newly introduced M7 coprocessor that is dedicated to handle motion sensors without reducing the battery performance of the device. It gives the developers accurate data about the users, which they can later make use of in their applications. For example, a developer can find out whether the device is currently with an individual who is in the act of walking, or with someone who is travelling in an automobile etc, without actually processing the accelerometer’s data. Core Motion Framework provides answers to such questions through constants defined by the classes of framework. â€Å"Now Core Motion has been around since iOS 4.0, but the iOS 7 includes the new classes needed to access data from the M7. The two main classes used here are CM Motion Activity Manager and CM Motion Activity. These two classes work hand in hand to make work the motion activity updates† (Graves 2014: 1). Most iPhones contain an accelerometer and 3 axes Gyroscope built into them, which provide the device with 6 operational axes when used together. This axis data and motion data populated by the M7 co processor could be used along with Map kit or any other third party Map API to create great navigation apps. The gyroscope data as well as gravity sensor data are also used for building motion sensitive gaming-applications. Various class references of Core Motion framework include â€Å"CMAttitude, CMAccelerometerData, CMDeviceMotion, CMGyroData, CMLogItem, CMMagnetometerData, and CMMotionManager† (Aguinaga 2013: 9). The Map Kit framework is used for embedding custom maps into iOS application windows. The 5.1 version and the previous ones basically made use of Google Maps API for displaying the maps through the MapKit framework. â€Å"This framework also provides support for annotating the map, adding overlays, and performing reverse-geocoding lookups to determine placemark information for a given map