James Gordon Bennett, Legendary New York Herald Editor

James Gordon Bennett, Legendary New York Herald Editor James Gordon Bennett was a Scottish immigrant who became the successful and controversial publisher of the New York Herald, a hugely popular newspaper of the 19th century. Bennett’s thoughts on how a newspaper should operate became highly influential, and some of his innovations became standard practices in American journalism. Fast Facts: James Gordon Bennett Born: September 1, 1795, in Scotland.Died: June 1, 1872, in New York City.Accomplishments: Founder and publisher of the New York Herald, often credited as being the inventor of the modern newspaper.Known for: An eccentric with obvious flaws whose devotion to putting out the best newspaper he could led to many innovations now common in journalism. A combative character, Bennett gleefully  mocked rival publishers and editors including  Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune and Henry J. Raymond of the New York Times.  Despite his many quirks, he was respected for the level of quality he brought to his journalistic endeavors. Before founding the New York Herald in 1835, Bennett spent years as an enterprising reporter, and he is credited as being the first Washington correspondent from a New York City newspaper. During his years operating the Herald he adapted to such innovations as the telegraph and high-speed printing presses. And he was constantly seeking better and faster ways to collect and distribute the news. Bennett became wealthy from publishing the Herald, but he possessed little interest in pursuing a social life. He lived quietly with his family, and was obsessed with his work. He could usually be found in the newsroom of the Herald, diligently working at a desk he had made with planks of wood placed atop two barrels. Early Life James Gordon Bennett was born September 1, 1795 in Scotland. He grew up in a Roman Catholic family in a predominantly Presbyterian society, which no doubt gave him a sense of being an outsider. Bennett received a classical education, and he studied at a Catholic seminary in Aberdeen, Scotland. Though he considered joining the priesthood, he chose to emigrate in 1817, at the age of 24. After landing in Nova Scotia, he  eventually made his way to Boston. Penniless, he found a job working as a clerk for a bookseller and printer. He was able to learn the fundamentals of the publishing business while also working as a proofreader. In the mid-1820s Bennett moved on to New York City, where he found work as a freelancer in the newspaper business. He then took a job in Charleston, South Carolina, where he absorbed important lessons about the newspapers from his employer, Aaron Smith Wellington of the Charleston Courier. Something of a perpetual outsider anyway, Bennett  definitely did not fit in with the social life of Charleston. And he returned to New York City after less than a year. Following a period of scrambling to survive, he found a job with the New York Enquirer in a pioneering role: he was sent to be the first Washington correspondent for a New York City newspaper. The idea of a newspaper having reporters stationed in distant places was innovative.  American newspapers up to that point generally just reprinted news from the papers published in other cities. Bennett recognized the value of reporters gathering facts and sending dispatches (at the time by handwritten letter) instead of relying on the work of people who were essentially competitors. Bennett Founded the New York Herald Following his foray into Washington reporting, Bennett returned to New York and tried twice, and failed twice, to launch his own newspaper. Finally, in 1835, Bennett raised about $500 and founded  the New York Herald. In its earliest days, the Herald operated out of a dilapidated basement office and faced competition from about a dozen other news publications in New York. The chance of success was not great. Yet over the course of the next three decades Bennett turned the Herald into the newspaper with the largest circulation in America. What made the Herald different than all the other papers was its editors relentless drive for innovation. Many things we consider ordinary were first instituted by Bennett, such as the posting of the day’s final stock prices on Wall Street. Bennett also invested in talent, hiring reporters and sending them out to gather news. He was also keenly interested in new technology, and when the telegraph came along in the 1840s he made sure the Herald was quickly receiving and printing news from other cities. Political Role of The Herald One of Bennett’s greatest innovations in journalism was to create a newspaper that was not attached to any political faction. That probably had to do with Bennett’s own streak of independence and his acceptance of being an outsider in American society. Bennett was known to write scathing editorials denouncing political figures, and at times he was attacked in the streets and even publicly beaten because of his strident opinions. He was never dissuaded from speaking out, and the public tended to regard him as an honest voice. Legacy of James Gordon Bennett Before Bennett’s publishing of the Herald, most newspapers consisted of political opinions and letters written by correspondents which often had obvious and pronounced partisan slant. Bennett, though often considered a sensationalist, actually instilled a sense of values in the news business which endured. The Herald was very profitable. And while Bennett became personally wealthy, he also put profits back into the newspaper, hiring reporters and investing in technological advances such as increasingly advanced printing presses. At the height of the Civil War, Bennett was employing more than 60 reporters. And he pushed his staff to make sure the Herald published dispatches from the battlefield before anyone else. He knew members of the public might purchase only one newspaper a day, and would naturally be drawn to the paper  that was the first with the news. And that desire to be the first to break news, of course, became the standard in journalism. After Bennett’s death, on June 1, 1872, in New York City, the Herald was operated by his son James Gordon Bennett, Jr. The newspaper continued to be very successful. Herald Square in New York City is named for the newspaper, which had been based there in the late 1800s. Controversy has followed Bennett many decades after his death. For many years the New York City Fire Department has awarded a medal for heroism named for James Gordon Bennett. The publisher, with his son, had set up a fund to award the medal to heroic firefighters in 1869. In 2017 one of the recipients of the medal issued a public call to rename the medal in light of the elder Bennetts history of racist comments.

Understanding The Great Gatsby First Line and Epigraph

Understanding The Great Gatsby First Line and Epigraph SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips There’s a reason why magazines regularly put together lists of the greatest first lines in all of literature: book openings make a huge impression on readers.How a book starts helps us orient in the world that the book is creating. First, it gives us our first idea of the narrator, and the type of narration we’re going to encounter. Will it be a breathy first-person confession? Or a cool and detached third-person observation? Second, it introduces the setting, letting us know where and when the story takes place - which is very important for modulating reader expectations. What we think about two people kissing in prim and proper Victorian England will be very different than what we think about the same couple in modern day Canada. So what does the beginning of The Great Gatsby reveal? Read on for the meaning of this work’s epigraph, its opening line, and its beginning paragraphs. Article Roadmap Analyzing the epigraph ofThe Great Gatsby Exploring the meaning behind The Great Gatsby's first lines Understanding Nick as a narrator from The Great Gatsby's first paragraphs Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. The Epigraph Poem of The Great Gatsby The novel is prefaced by this four-line poem: Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!" - Thomas Parke D'Invilliers First, let’s analyze the poem, and then we can talk about who this D’Invilliers fellow is. â€Å"Then Wear the Gold Hat† In the most basic sense, the poem is a piece of advice. We know this because the first words, â€Å"then wear,† make it sound like we are hearing the middle of a conversation. Someone has been complaining about his romantic problems with a specific â€Å"she,† and the poem’s speaker is answering with some tips on what to do. The advice the poem is: go out of your way to impress her with your wealth/status (â€Å"gold hat†), and with your derring-do (â€Å"bounce high†). Whatever you can possibly do to attract her attention is worth it if she ends up won over, because then she will be insatiable (â€Å"I must have you†). Of course, this image of a ‘gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover’ is clownish at best and completely absurd at worst. The poemechoesthe novel's plot and characterizations: Gatsby’s approach to winning over Daisy is exactly that of the gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, desperate totry anything - including buying a giant mansion next door and throwing weekly parties in the vague hope that she would show up. The idea of putting on a hat as a way of burnishing your image is exactly what Gatsby has done in adopting his â€Å"Oxford man† persona, and relates to the way he is sometimes described as an actor or charlatan. (Nick calls Gatsby a "turbaned "character" leaking sawdust at every pore" (4.31), while owl-eye glasses party guest compares Gatsby to David Belasco, a famous theater producer in Chapter 3). At the same time, the clear mockery of the image of this lover points to the craziness of Gatsby’s obsession and the absurdity of his monomaniacal quest for Daisy’s heart. There is no dignity in the approach the poem recommends, as there is none in Gatsby’s as well. This idea is further reinforced when we consider that Fitzgerald originally wanted the novel to have a more satiric flavor (check out our article on The Great Gatsby'stitle for more details). The poem also connects with novel through the character of â€Å"she,† who stands in for Daisy. It's important to note that the "she" in the poem is someone to impress and win over, and not someone to learn anything about. Just like Daisy in the novel, the poem's "she" is a prize or an objective rather than a person. Thomas Parke D’Invilliers Guess what? There is no such poet as D’Invilliers! Fitzgerald made him up, and made up this poem as well. In fact, D’Invilliers is a minor character in This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald’s earlier novel about Princeton. In that book, the main character befriends D’Invilliers, who is a talented poet - but whose poems tend to ignore the problematic or unpleasant aspects of reality. Here, the assumed name and invented persona of this poet also tie into the Gatsby journey, playing into the novel's key theme of the mutability of identity. James Gatz transforms himself into the glamorous Jay Gatsby, andthis poet is a cover identity for Fitzgerald. So,D’Invilliers was based on the Fitzgerald's buddy, poet John Peale Bishop. Couldn’t the real guyhave written something to be Fitzgerald’s epigraph? The Great GatsbyFirst Lines This is how Chapter 1 of this novel begins: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. â€Å"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,† he told me, â€Å"just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.† (1.1-2) Let’s take the Great Gatsby first lines apart in a variety of ways. What We Learn About the Narrator The first thing we figure out is that the story is going to be told in the first person (meaning it’s narrated by an â€Å"I† voice who is a character in the story and who is present at the events he describes). The second thing we see is that there is at least onetime shift in the narration. Nick is older now, but is looking back on youth and a more â€Å"vulnerable† time. There are several different ways to interpret this vulnerability, especially before we have read further: this narrator may be vulnerable to being hurt by others, to being influenced by bad surroundings/people, or maybe even to taking his dad’s advice at face value. We also get our first clue into Nick’s background: he comes from money, education, and breeding (â€Å"advantages†), which will allow him to fit in reasonably well in the old-money East Coast world that he will encounter in the novel. The Advice Given to Nick by His Father We discover that Nick has had a hard time connecting with his dad’s advice. It’s interesting that he tells us about this difficulty before he actually tells us the advice itself - almost as if he would like us to read this bit of parental wisdom with the same ambivalence and grain of salt that he himself has. Exactly why he has been â€Å"turning it over in his mind† is not spelled out, and again could be for a variety of reasons: Nick may wonder when and where it’s applicable, useful, true, or even whether he can actually stick to it. The â€Å"advice† from his father seems really more like a dig at Nick. The phrase â€Å"whenever you feel like criticizing anyone† makes it sound Nick often judges other people’s behavior and actions without considering context or circumstances. This tells us one of his main weaknesses - and it’s a pretty significant one considering Nick is going to be the eyes through which we see all the other characters! How Nick’s Father’s Advice Shapes How Nick Tells The Story Unlike the novel’s epigraph, which really is advice on what to do, Nick’s father’s words seem more like either a criticism of Nick’s bad habits or even a warning of some kind. In other words, the dad's-advice-framing-narrative makes the novelinto a reverseAesop’s fable, where the moral comes first and is followed by the story that proves the rule. Primarily, this â€Å"advice† puts a big barrier between Nick and â€Å"all the people in this world† because he has had â€Å"advantages† that they haven’t. So what are these advantages? the kind of wealth that classifies Nickas â€Å"old money† (we learn that the Carraways have been a prominent family for several generations) a sense of morality and emotional groundedness that Nick calls "the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth† (1.3), snobbishly implying that he is ethically above most other people This means that during the rest of the novel, this snobbishness and this tendency to dismiss everyone else as being inferior is something to watch for in Nick’s description of other people and events. Gotta love that Nick’s dad is basically like, â€Å"Maybe check your privilege every once in a while, son.† The Novel’sFirst SixParagraphs Nick spends the first paragraphs of the novel encouraging us to trust him and to believe in his impartiality and good judgment. Instead of launching into the plot of the story he's about to tell, Nick instead spends a significant chunk of time explaining his family background, giving us a quick bio of himself up to the point of the summer of 1922. In other words, the first six paragraphs of The Great Gatsby are devoted to establishing Nick as both an interesting character and a relatively objective narrator. Should we accept everything he says at face value? Nick as a Narrator The main question we have to ask ourselves is: is Nick's first-person narrator reliable or unreliable? On the one hand, Nicksets himself up as an objective outsider. He comes from the Midwest, a place of morality and stability, compared to the wild East that has replaced the Wild West as the siteof moneymaking and excess lawlessness. And he talks about his father’s advice making him â€Å"inclined to reserve all judgments† (1.3), which makes him an ideal confidant (â€Å"I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men† (1.3)). But on the other hand, Nicksaysthat his tolerance and neutrality isn’t infinite (â€Å"After boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit† (1.4)). So which do we believe? Is he a neutral observer? Or a secretly judgmental critic? The fact that even this early on we have two competing descriptions of Nick reveals that he is an unreliable narrator. In other words, his opinions, biases, and agenda will color the way he tells us the story. Our job will be to tease out which parts are â€Å"fact† and which parts are just a â€Å"Nick’s eye view.† Nick as a Character We also learn that writing the novel is Nick’s way of grappling with the meaning of a story in which he played a part – like a form of psychotherapy. The experience he is telling us about has caused Nick to leave the East Coast jaded and disappointed. He comes â€Å"back from the East [feeling]that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart† (1.4). Because we are listening to a story an older and wiser Nick is telling us about this formative summer, the mood is already elegiac (in other words,mournful) and sad. The summer that he is telling us about was formative, and for Nick, the novel is a coming-of-age story. It’s not surprising that Chapter 1 ends with feelings ofregret and yearning for the unreachable, culminating with the crucial image of Gatsby stretching his hands toward the unreachable Daisy. Nick’s self-reflection here is somewhat muddy. The Bottom Line How a book starts cluesus in to the novel's narrator andsetting. The Great Gatsby starts with an epigraph poem advising a disappointed lover to impress a woman until she can no longer resist. This is a mocking short summary of Gatsby’s undignified and increasingly desperate approach to winning over Daisy. The poem’s ostensible author is actually a character from one of Fitzgerald’s other novels. The first lines of The Great Gatsbyshow us afirst-person narrator, and atime shift in the narration. Nick’s father’s advice seems criticizes Nick for beingjudgmental and snobby - something we need to watch out for in Nick’s description of other people and events. The first few paragraphs of the novel set Nick up as a character and a narrator. He is an unreliable narrator: either an objective outsider or an intolerant observer. The story is a coming-of-age narrative for Nick, who is telling us about the summer of 1922as a therapy session to grapple with a formative experience. What’s Next? Explore the rest of Chapter 1: it’s plot, most important quotations, connections to the novel’s larger themes, and the main events for each character. Learn more about Nick Carrawayto see whether he lives up to his promise of objective observation, and what it is that so disappoints him about his time on the East coast. Consider how the unreliable first-person narratoraffects our understanding of the novel’s events, settings, and other characters. Get an overview of the whole novel: its plot, characters, themes, symbols, motifs, and all the other analysis that we have put together to help you make sense of what you’re reading.

Work Based Integrated Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Work Based Integrated Project - Essay Example As a young Muslim female growing up in the u.k, my parents always have been very protective and kept me grounded. Morals and values have had a huge impact on my life because my parents have been brought up in a traditional Muslim way, were they raised in Iraq they brought me up the same way their parents have been bought up the tradition Muslim way for example dressing in a modest way and wearing a scarf (the hijab). This is something that has come natural to me and I often have to explain to people what it is and why I wear it and to be honest its made me the woman I’m today, its part of my identity and I will never change it. Obviously being a Muslim girl, it usually restricts us to a certain way of life we live in and living in the UK is such an eye opener to everything. However I have such strong beliefs and challenging the western ideologies wasn't an issue growing up, under the influence of my parents i was on track with religion as well as being modernized. I have alway s wanted to make something out of me, it will be very common if i just accepted in getting married at the age of 16 to a young Muslim man but that was not what I wanted for myself, I’m a very confident and passionate young women wanting to be successful, its my goal to follow my dreams and be very wealthy and proud be able to say I did it, for taking radio after my degree is what I want to do for definite. Furthermore I want to be an inspiration to the young Muslim females that didn’t get a chance to finish education and follow their dream, because it’s very tradition in my culture to get married and have a family of your own. Without a doubt I do want to follow my tradition of getting married and having family, but for now I will take a step ahead to follow my dreams and what I really want to do quite funny I can imagine myself being on a radio station and people would want to tune in early hours in the morning on their ways to work sampling the radio I did for year 2 part of media communication course we studied radio module and produced a 10 minute radio show, I received a lot of positive feedback not only from my peers but also my lecturers told me to take this on. My passion for radio grew even more since I started my media communication course at university. This was an eye opener into taking on radio presenting as a career it’s my comfort zone and if I'm honest I do like the sound of my own voice. My main goal is to work Kiss 100 a British radio station in London since it’s my favorite London station and hopefully follow experience with having my own radio show named: ‘MunMun Radio’ but for now my main focus is work for kiss 100 and be successful. Self evaluation expressed as personal SWOT CV and cover letter should be included in this section Interpersonal sensitivity based on agreeableness encompasses the status of being considerate towards situations and events. Agreeable personality is marked by nature of being tactful, sensitive, as well as altruism qualifying leaders to be more agreeable. There is that sense of modesty and non-excessive affiliation to certain groups. Within the social set-up people tend to discover certain group affiliations, however, the need for affiliation appears to be negatively related to leadership. There’s some sense of ambiguity between agreeableness and leadership (Ellis and Harper, 1997). Leadership based on conscientiousness focuses on the end results whereby the leader ensures appropriate completion of tasks. Positioning of leadership within organizations determines the level of group effectiveness. Performances within organizations depend on the nature of individual conscientiousness which ultimately determines the

The Causes of the Financial Crisis and the Overhauling of Regulatory Essay

The Causes of the Financial Crisis and the Overhauling of Regulatory Framework - Essay Example Firstly, with regards to the banking and economic meltdown that occurred between 2007/2008, this must be understood as a global crisis. Although it began in the United States as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, it rapidly spread globally and has affected every extant economy in the world; slowing growth, diminishing export strength, and devaluing a litany of world currencies in the process. Figure 1.0 denotes the issue of debt to GDP within major world economies. Figure 1.0 Preventative Steps: As a function of the breakdown in regulatory mechanisms capable of dealing with the size of the crash of 2007-2008, many of the largest and most effective regulations have been international in scope. But a few of these global regulations include the Basel III International Framework as well as further EU regulations concerning Markets in Financial Instruments Directives (MiFID). Ultimately, these further regulations, in tandem with existing regulations on the banking sector seek to in tegrate a set baseline of rules with regards to the standards underlying capital liquidity within the market. Due to the fact that the ultimate issue that the banking system was faced with during the crash was concentric around liquidity, most of the further regulations that have been passed with regards to seeking to provide a remedy to any further exhibitions of the same problem have been concentric upon speaking to the underlying weakness of the liquidity requirements that existed prior to the crash of 2007/2008. In seeking to identify the overall effectiveness of the current regulations, it can be said that they have kept the world from experiencing any further shocks similar to the ones that precipitated the events of 2007/2008; however,... This essay aims to fully discover the means by which the financial and banking crisis occurred and also seeks to establish whether or not the current regulatory framework is in and of itself sufficient to provide a firewall against any further shocks to the market. The discussion is also briefly concentric upon the future outlook that the global economy has to look forward to; based upon the realities that have been discussed and presented. The financial crisis of 2007/2008 was predicated by the banks which had leveraged bad debt in order to create more debt for their clients. Ultimately, this can understood as a situation in which certain types of outstanding credits that a bank had in the form of loans to various entities or stock market derivatives were falsely identified as suitable contingents upon which further money could be created and/or loaned within the financial system. Any further bailouts or interference on the part of the government within the banking system are deemed ineffective. The ramifications of inaction are strong, the fact of the matter is that a precedent has now been set whereby the banking system can behave in a reckless manner, knowing that as long as their bank is large enough to be considered â€Å"too large to fail† they can always count on being backed by the government, and ultimately the citizen taxpayers. The greatest threat that continues to exist is with regards to the economic threat of unsustainable debt; a risk that has only grown in the years since the economic collapse.

Constitution of Uk Essay Example for Free

Constitution of Uk Essay As Pryor mentioned, a Constitution â€Å"is a written document setting out a system of founding principles according to which a nation is constituted and governed, and, most particularly, by which is sovereign power is located† (Pryor, 2008, pp. 4). Therefore, constitutions limit the governments’ powers, protect people’s rights, and infer the legitimacy of the state. The constitution of Great Britain hasn’t been brought together into a single document like other commonwealth countries such as France – it is not written or codified. Britain’s constitution is made up of common laws, Parliament acts, and customs and traditions. But Britain does have some important constitutional documents from the Act of Parliament such as the Magna Carta (1215): â€Å"which aimed to protect citizens against arbitrary power and guaranteed the right to a fair trial and trial by jury† (Barnett Diamantides, 2007, p.33), and Bill of Rights (1689): â€Å"the Lords and Commons, previous to the coronation of King William and Queen Mary had framed a bill which contained a declaration of the rights which they claimed in behalf of the people, and was in consequence called the Bill of Rights† (Jean Louis de Lolme, 1853, pp. 50). Britain has no written constitution because â€Å"the country has been stable for too long. The governing elites of many European nations, such as France and Germany, have been forced to draw up constitutions in response to popular revolt or war† (Morris, 2008). In addition, since the current situation has been working well for a long time, why to change it? Besides, the constitution can be changed or adjusted by acts of Parliament, or by an agreement. Since it is flexible, effective amendments in laws can be easily made. A.V. Dicey explained that a flexible constitution is â€Å"one under which every law of every description can legally be changed with the same ease and in the same manner by one and the same body† (Dicey, 1885, pp.65). It is also very valid for Great Britain not to have a written constitution so not to limit the power of the executive branch – the main executive branch being the parliament. Without the laws of the country written in a formal document where people can check them, it is very difficult to know the limits of the government. Hence, an unwritten constitution preserves the parliament’s sovereignty. Moreover, without a written constitution, the parliament is able to inspect the ministers in favor of the public. Albert Venn Dicey, who was a law professor in London School of Economics and a constitutional scientist, said that it is actually advantageous for Britain not to have a written constitution. He mentions that the people’s rights and democracy have been long respected in the constitutional arrangements of Great Britain. He called it (the respect of people) as the ‘The Rule of Law’ which is â€Å"the security given under the English constitution to the rights of individuals looked at from various points of view† (Dicey, 1885, pp. 107). Dicey summarized this rule in three main points. According to Dicey in his book ‘The Law of the Constitution’, no man will be punished except if the law allows it. Secondly, every man, regardless of his status, is subject to the law (no person is above the law). Thirdly, people’s liberty and rights are respected, and consequently, there is no need for the Bill of Rights (Dicey, 1885, pp. 110-115). A country might have a constitution, but may not enjoy constitutionalism. According to Kuper and Kuper â€Å"Constitutionalism is a political condition in which the constitution functions as an effective and significant limit on government† (The Social Science Encyclopedia, 1996, pp. 134). For constitutionalism to occur the constitution must constrain the government; hence, any government that is constitutional can be referred to as â€Å"limited government† (The Social Science Encyclopedia, 1996, pp. 134). In many regions, such as the European Union, constitutionalism is maintained by the Court of Justice, or judicial reviews. According to Kuper and Kuper, these practices aren’t required in the British system because â€Å"the most important constitutional precepts are maintained and enforced more informally through well-established popular attitudes and the restraint of politicians† (The Social Science Encyclopedia, 1996, pp. 134). Furthermore, there are countries with a written constitution such as Middle-eastern countries, but don’t practice constitutionalism. It is the executive body that rules and sets the laws, and in addition, there is no limit to its power. Furthermore, an opposition party or a judiciary, those who make sure that constitutionalism is practiced, and maintain constitutional limits are actually â€Å"not independent of government, because they are controlled by social or economic interests aligned with the government† (The Social Science Encyclopedia, 1996, pp. 134). Hence, even if there is a written constitution that can limit the government’s power, those who enforce constitutional laws may be in line with the government. A constitution might be nothing but a symbol or tool in order for governments to acquire both internal and external legitimacy, and for the public to respect the political and social rules. In the case of Britain, the people chose the anniversary of Magna Carta as the new national day, which shows that the people believe that the power of their ruler is bound. Magna Carta â€Å"didnt work in practice but it set a precedent. It advanced the cause of liberty, constitutionalism and parliamen tarianism†¦..† (The Telegraph, 2006). Reading in the news, the idea of forming a written constitution in Great Britain is being addressed by the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown in order to increase the democracy in Britain. But what must and must not be included in the constitutions? So, since this system has been working in Britain for centuries, and there is a body (the Parliament) that has some power over the prime minister, the system must not be tampered with. The well functionality of the system, the stability of the country, and the great flexibility in making and terminating laws are some of the reasons why Great Britain has an unwritten constitution. To sum everything up, Great Britain does not have a written constitution, but they do have other forms of constitutional documents. This system has been working well for a very long period of time, and even without a constitution, constitutionalism (which is limiting the government’s power) is still being practiced to some extent. Bibliography Adam Kuper, Jessica Kuper (ed.): The Social Science Encyclopedia (London: Routledge, 1996). A.V. Dicey: Introduction to the study of The Law of the Constitution (London: Macmillan, 1885). John Louis De Lolme: The Constitution of England (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853). Judith Pryor: Constitution (London: Routledge, 2008). Hilaire Barnett Marinos Diamantides: ‘Sources of the Constitution’, Public Law. Published on 2007 by University of London, accessed from http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/current_students/programme_resources/laws/subject_guides/public_law/public_chs1to4.pdf Nigel Morris: ‘The Big Question: Why doesnt the UK have a written constitution, and does it matter?’ published on 14/02/2008, accessed from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-big-question-why-doesnt-the-uk-have-a-written-constitution-and-does-it-matter-781975.html No author: ‘Magna Carta is favoured date for British Day’, published on 30/05/2006, accessed from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2006/05/30/nmagna30.xml

Greek History Essay -- Essays Papers

Greek History "In this book, the result of my inquiries into history, I hope to†¦preserve the memory of the past by putting on record the astonishing achievements both of our own and of the Asiatic peoples†¦." With this "mission statement" Herodotus introduces his Histories, the first recorded history text in the western world. Using fragments of the past he reconstructs a picture of the whole; the objects of his researches included first-hand accounts and tales passed down through generations, physical remains and artifacts, and his own intelligence and creativity. Using sources such as these (though he cites nothing), Herodotus describes the foundation of the Theran colony of Cyrene, ca. 630 B.C.E.. In compiling this account, he may have used the colony's foundation decree. The facts given in this decree, which we know through a fourth century B.C.E. inscription, agree with those given in the Histories. The authenticity of this decree is strong. The decree could not have been the only source Herodotus consulted, for while certain details in the Histories agree with the foundation decree, Herodotus gives an account of Cyrene's founding containing much more description. Both accounts begin with Apollo's oracle at Delphi urging the Therans to found a new colony in Libya, on the coast of northern Africa. Already Herodotus' account goes into much more detail than the inscription. The inscription tells only that, on the oracular advice, Thera sends Battos with colonists to Libya. Herodotus, however, records how the Theran king Grinnos chose Battos, not a Theran by birth, to be the leader of the colonists. Herodotus' account continues with a description of a long delay in the found... ...Works Cited addendum to the Histories, and scholars have often maligned his work for taking many liberties with sparse evidence to flesh out the work. Such scholars can, however, use facts and artifacts known to modern archaeology to confirm his writing, and the inscription of the Theran decree does verify the Histories on several counts. Other aspects of the events related in the Histories, such as Herodotus' record of the dead at Marathon, archaeologists have proven through research and excavation. Alone the colonization decree cannot completely prove the truth of Herodotus' account, for he provides many aspects to the story which lie beyond the scope of the decree, but it does serve to reign in the skepticism with which several classicists regard the Histories. BIBLIOGRAPHY Demand, Nancy. A History of Ancient Greece. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Cognitive Term of Behaviour

Examine one interaction between cognition and physiology in terms of behavior. Evaluate two relevant studies. One of the most famous case studies of amnesia in the history is HM who was suffering from epileptic seizures and had a surgery when he was only nine years old that removed 2/3 of his hippocampus, medial temporal lobes, parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala. The operation was successful in its primary goal of controlling his epilespsy but as a result of the operation he suffered from severe anterograde amnesia. After the operation, he could not commit new events to long-term memory. He could remember events from before the operation for the rest of his life. His working memory and procedural memory were intact. After the operation, he could continue to complete tasks that require recall from the short-term memory and that involved procedural memory but could not make use of long-term episodic memory after the operation. After the operation, he lost his declarative memory (semantic and episodic). Because of the removal of these parts of brain, he might face these problems. One that might be he couldn’t encode the information or he could do that but he couldn’t retrieve it or he could do them but could not store them in his memory. Clive Wearing had brain infection -herpes encephalitic- affecting the parts that are concentrated on memory. MRI scanning shows damage to the hippocampus and some of the frontal regions. His ability to perceive what he saw and heard was unimpaired. But he did not seem to be able to retain any impression of anything for more than a few blink. In he did blink, his eyelids parted to reveal a new scene. In Clive’s case, the virus damaged his brain. It damaged the hippocampus, which play a major role in the handling of long-term memory formation. Additionally he sustained marginal damage to the temporal and frontal lobes. The former houses the amygdala, a component implicated in the control of emotions and associated memories. Clive developed a profound case of total amnesia as a result of his illness. Because the part of the brain required to transfer memories from the working to the long term area in damaged. He is unable to encode new memories. He only remembers a little part of his life before. He still knows how to play piano, which is because his cerebellum responsible for the maintenance of procedural is not damaged. The fact that he could no longer remember anything and was not aware, tells us that the hippocampus and the temporal and frontal lobes are the bits responsible for LTM’s and STM’s formation and recall. In both cases, the hippocampus was damaged, and so they both had problems with their long-term memory. In HM’s case only two thirds of the hippocampus was removed while in Clive’s case most of it was destroyed. As a result both had very severe amnesia and because of that we can conclude that hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for forming/retrieving or storing the LTM. This is an example of the link between cognition and physiology of the brain. However, certain exceptions make this theory a lot more complex. For example HM had remembered JFK’s assassination and both could still learn new skills. In Clive’s case, the fact that he could still emotionally remember his wife does not fit into the former explanation. However, the researches that were done consistently for these two people are reliable, giving us the opportunity to generalize such hypothesis on the cognitive part of the brain. For example, Brenda Milner, who studied HM following his surgery till his death, is a very well-known researcher and in her reports she has clearly mentioned HM’s past and present conditions. Since she is known and experienced, her reports are likely to be true and not exaggerated. And because of that we believe it to be dependable and creditable as well as following a data triangulation. Milner hasn’t had any brain illnesses in her life, so we can easily decide that her research was in no way influence by her own disabilities. On the other hand she has not checked and re-checked her research results, trying to find fault in them, since HM’s case is a very unique case in the world. And the fact that HM was old at the time when most of her research were conducted, we could argue that his memory loss was due to old age. Another fault in her research is its inaccuracies, an example of such inaccuracy is when HM remembered John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Based on these findings we can assume that her research is strong enough for us to be able to generalize its effects. That is why recently, scientists associate hippocampus and amygdala with memory formation and storage.

Ophelia’s Descent Into Madness Essay

Shakespeare, through his intricate uses of symbolism and dramatic irony, arranges a brilliantly detailed account of how Hamlet’s mental upheaval served as the driving force of Ophelia’s swelling insanity and imminent suicide. He floods the early acts with an impending sense of confusion within Ophelia, for her feelings toward hamlet greatly contrast those of her brother and father. Ophelia begins to willingly take heed of her family’s advice as the prince finds himself removed from a lucid pattern of thought. However, because her feelings for him are genuine, this serves only to exalt her mental strain. In the height of Hamlet’s incoherent rage, he provides Ophelia with the ultimate medium for her ensuing madness. The murder of Polonius is the greatest among many factors that were contributed by Hamlet to the somber fate of Ophelia. A prelude, composed of warnings from Polonius and Laertes, is tactfully set up by Shakespeare during Ophelia’s inertia l appearances in the play, aiding in the preparation for her subsequent mental deterioration. -Pol. What is between you? Give me up the truth. -Oph. He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders of his affection to me. -Pol. Affection, puh! You speak like a green girl Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. Do you believe his â€Å"tenders† as you call them? -Oph. I do not know, my lord, what I should think. (I, iii, ln.107-113) Ophelia openly professes her confusion. Polonius’ response is presented in a manner which is clearly intended to sincerely disdain Hamlet before his daughter, making obvious his opinion of their involvement. His intent for her actions, however, will merely magnify her confusion. Ophelia concedes that she is not aware of a solution with which to halt or even improve this situation. For this reason, no preventive measures are taken, only allowing the situation to worsen. Hamlets mind grows more and more clouded as his goal becomes clear, and in the midst of his pervading preoccupation, he pushes Ophelia to the point of mental breakdown. This notion appears in the second act, after Ophelia first sees a deranged Hamlet. -Oph. Lord Hamlet †¦with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors -he comes before me -Pol. Mad for thy love? -Oph. My lord I do not know but, I truly do fear it. (II, I, ln. 87-97) Her confusion has evolved into a state of dread, and this dread will begin to penetrate her consciousness as it grows more and more intense. Polonius suggests that Hamlet may have fallen victim to â€Å"the very ecstasy of love†. Yet, Ophelia’s response is peculiar in it’s morbid tone, for if love is the liable force, she displays no form of satisfaction for it’s effect on Hamlet. During an encounter later in the story, he tells Ophelia, -Ham. â€Å"†¦I did love you once -Oph. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so -Ham. You should not have believed me, for virtue cannot so (inoculate) our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you not. -Oph. I was the more deceived †¦And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, That sucked the honey of his musicked vows†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (III, I, ln.125-130,169-170) Again, her mind is twisted by Hamlets involuntary fraudulence. His apathy attacks and consumes her innocence, takes grip of her mind and ultimately destroys her spirit. In the above quote, she describes her opinion of Hamlet’s present character, that of an untruthful user. Moreover, however, she feels naà ¯ve, placing undue blame on herself and enlarging the gap between herself and reality. As the impending tragedy becomes increasingly apparent, Ophelia is finally and completely consumed by the delirium of her sick mind. The most significant factor in this event is Polonius’ murder. Her condition is explained by the king after she makes it obvious. -King. Thick, and unwholesome in thoughts and whispers. For good Polonius’ death, and we have done but greenly poor Ophelia divided from herself and her fair judgment. (IV,v, ln.81-85) Ophelia, who was once nearly flawless, now moments from suicide, has been completely mentally shattered by Hamlet and has made it quite obvious. He was the fate of her father, and had apparently manipulated her quite ruthlessly. Her demise is inevitable, for her only love had hone mad and methodically destroyed all that was her reality. Shakespeare is distinct in his portrayal of this downfall. The obvious becomes just that when the aim of the author is discerned through the symbolic congruencies and events which precisely outlined the tragic decline of Ophelia’s character. The author provides a vast amount of foreshadowing in the early acts. The tragic hero then drags her into the same hell that is his personal realm. He accomplishes this by eliminating everything that had sustained her. Eventually, a the factors developed, she was overwhelmed by these acts, a reality becomes nothing more than an illusion, and she falls victim to the limits of her own mind.

Casablanca - A Classic Film essays

Casablanca - A Classic Film essays Many times when we say or think of any word, automatically we relate to an image. Casablanca, for example, principally is associated with the place where U.S. presidents live. However, others like me think it is a great classic movie that was made during the Second World War in 1942. Casablanca is a black and white film that along the years has won the taste of the public. This has been made possible thanks to good music, excellent actors and an unpredictable story. While watching the movie Casablanca, I really enjoyed the different types of music. The music was nice because it shows all kinds of languages and sounds. For example, in one of the flashback scenes in Paris, Rick and Ilsa dance to Rhythm of Perfidia by the Mexican composer Alberto Domà ­nguez. Also another scene from the movie, which was characterized by music and that definitely impressed me, was when Laszlo begins singing followed by many people, La Marsellesa, the French national anthem, even before the occupation of the country. This singing was significant at Ricks Caf Amricain because it was louder than the Germans, who were singing Die Wacht am Rhein, which was considered a patriotic anthem during Nazi Germany. Undoubtedly music represents much more than a sound. The song As Time Goes By witnessed the love between Rick and Ilsa. For them this song always brings fond memories and we can see it, when Ilsa is sitting adjacent to Sams piano quietly enjoying this song. Casablanca is not only admired for its music, but also for excellent actors, who transmit their characters situations very well. I love the acting of Rick because at all times he shows an incredible personality. Hes intimidating, but also respectable. However, this also shows as he faces his loneliness when smoking a cigarette, plays a game of chess unopposed and is always taking sips from his glass of wine. Despite this, Rick is a hero thanks to unforgettabl...

Definition and Examples of Philippics

Definition and Examples of Philippics Philippic is  discourse (traditionally an oration) that is characterized by fierce condemnation of a subject; a diatribe or rant. The term philippic (from Greek philippikos) is derived from the virulent denunciations of Philip II of Macedon delivered by Demosthenes of Athens in the fourth century BC. Demosthenes is commonly regarded as the greatest orator of his age. See Examples and Observations, below. Novelist Donna Tartts Philippic Against Prescriptive Usage Michael Pietsch: Before I began editing your book, you sent a philippic against standardization. You declared that spell-check, auto-correct, and (if I recall correctly) even sacred cows like Strunk White and the Chicago Manual of Style are the writer’s enemies, that the writer’s voice and choice are the highest standard. Do you have advice for other writers confronted with editorial standardization?Donna Tartt: Was it really a philippic? I thought it was more a cordial memorandum.Pietsch: Two-thirds of the way through a set of notes to the copy editor, you wrote: I am terribly troubled by the ever-growing tendency to standardized and prescriptive usage, and I think that the Twentieth century, American-invented conventions of House Rules and House Style, to say nothing of automatic computer functions like Spellcheck and AutoCorrect, have exacted an abrasive, narrowing, and destructive effect on the way writers use language and ultimately on the language itself. Journalism and newspaper writing are one thing; House Style indubitably very valuable there; but as a literary novelist who writes by hand, in a notebook, I want to be able to use language for texture and Ive intentionally employed a looser, pre-twentieth century model rather than running my work through any one House Style mill. Tartt: WellIm not saying that the writers voice is always the highest standard; only that a lot of writers who are fine stylists and whose work I love wouldnt make it past a contemporary copy editor armed with the Chicago Manual, including some of the greatest writers and stylists of the 19th and 20th century. (Donna Tartt and Michael Pietsch, The Slate Book Review Author-Editor Conversation. Slate, October 11, 2013) Paul Simons Simple Desultory Philippic I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored.I been John OHarad, McNamarad.I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till Im blind.I been Ayn Randed, nearly brandedCommunist, cause Im left-handed.Thats the hand I use, well, never mind! . . .I been Mick Jaggered, silver daggered.Andy Warhol, wont you please come home?I been mothered, fathered, aunt and uncled,Been Roy Haleed and Art Garfunkeled.I just discovered somebodys tapped my phone. [Paul Simon, A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamarad into Submission). Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme by Simon Garfunkel. Columbia, 1966] The Philippics of Demosthenes (384-323 BC) From 351 BCE, until his self-induced death by poison in 323 BCE (to avoid death at the hands of Philip of Macedons soldiers), Demosthenes turned his talents to public affairs, particularly to rallying the Athenian people against the imminent threat of invasion by Philip...The Philippics are speeches delivered by Demosthenes between the years 351 BCE and 340 BCE. There are four Philippics orations although Dobson doubts that the fourth is legitimate. The first two Philippics are calls to the Athenian people to resist Philip before Athens itself is threatened with domination by the barbarian from the north. The Third Philippic occurs after Philip has gained control of many parts of the Athenian empire and is about to march on the city of Olynthus. Demosthenes pleads urgently and desperately for a military mission to help the Olynthians and prepare for war. Despite his failure in rousing the Athenian people to arm themselves against Philip, Demosthenes Philippic orations are considered masterpieces of rhetorical invention and technique. (James J. Murphy, Richard A. Katula, and Michael Hoppmann, A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric, 4th ed. Routledge, 2014) The Philippics of Cicero (106-43 BC) With Julius Caesars assassination in 44 BCE Cicero re-entered a political arena that granted him an opportunity to renew his consular voice and use his Republican rhetoric, now against Caesars lieutenant Marcus Antonius. These Philippics allowed Caesar to revive his Demosthenic persona and to provide a capstone to his claim to be the near embodiment of the [Roman] Republic, boasting at the start of the Second Philippic that in twenty years there has been no enemy of the Republic who has not also simultaneously declared war on Cicero... Ciceros proscription by the triumvirs and his brutal murder showed that he miscalculated his rhetorics power to impose his image of the Republic upon this changed political landscape.Ciceros final stand on behalf of the Republic in his speeches against Antony secured his heroization as the orator who embodied the Republic and its values, his contradictions and compromises largely forgotten.(John Dugan, Rhetoric and the Roman Republic. The Cambridge Com panion to Ancient Rhetoric, ed. by Erik Gunderson. Cambridge University Press, 2009) Despite the final outcome, Ciceros fourteen extant orations against Antony (perhaps three more are lost) may be felt to represent his finest hour. . . . Cicero invokes a rhetoric of crisis, in which good is pitted against evil with no room for compromise (cf. Wooten 1983; Hall 2002: 283-7). Even his style has changed. Sentences are shorter, periodic structures less frequent, and main ideas are not kept in suspense until a sentence ends . . ..(Christopher P. Craig, Cicero as Orator. A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, ed. by William Dominik and Jon Hall. Blackwell, 2010) The Lighter Side of Philippics A PHILIPPIC*Down with that phrase soporific, bromidicWhatever that isRelic of days paleozoic, druidicWhatever that is.Does one remark, in a tone unspectacular,I think the comet diffusely opacular,Some one will cry in the vulgar vernacular:Whatever that is!Curses on him who invented the sloganWhatever that is!Jump on his neck with an ensiform broganWhatever that is.Phrase without meaning, bourgeois and pestiferous,Phrase that is wearying, dull and somniferous,Here is anathema umbraculiferousWhatever that is.*Whateverthatis. (Franklin Pierce Adams, By and Large. Doubleday, 1920)

Saudi Arabia's Trade Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Saudi Arabia's Trade Policy - Essay Example Saudi Arabia has embarked upon ambitious industrialization schemes, but, apart from possessing a few large modern plants in aluminum, steel and petrochemicals, their industrial structures are essentially simple. They are dominated by food processing and the production of an array of construction materials, though a wide variety of light industry is being promoted both by local demand and government encouragement (Saudi Arabia and WTO 2008). The improvement in the situation of Saudi Arabia with respect to food imports since 1990s is partly a reflection of changed prices for food, partly the result of quite minor shifts in the composition of trade and partly the result of successful, if "pensive, food security policies. It also arises from the importance of all primary products in exports and the leading roles of industrial supplies and machinery in imports. The export trade of Saudi Arabia is dominated by petroleum for which the major markets are outside the region, and most of their import needs cannot be met from within the Middle East. Political isolation, of course, has not helped its intraregional trade (Bradley 54). The trade information allows to say that commerce is connected with total financial flows between trading partners, whilst investment capital is essential to programs of industrial and infrastructural development (Bradley 87; appendix 1). This lead to the expansion of development programs in Arabia and to the formulation of massive investment plans, but it also raised the problem of how to use the large surpluses whilst the absorptive capacity of the economies was growing. Financial services had to be improved in the oil rich states, not only to assist investment and development, but also to recycle funds abroad. New commercial banks were established, national banking systems were expanded and foreign finance houses were allowed to trade, especially in the states on the Arab side of the Gulf. "The Kingdom's balance of trade has improved noticeably since 1986, when it had a surplus of only SR3.6 billion (U.S.$0.96 billion). During the Gulf Crisis, the Kingdom's balance of trade recor ded a surplus of SR76.2 billion (U.S.$20.3 billion) in 1990 and SR 70.1 billion (U.S.$18.7 billion) in 1991" (Saudi Arabia Trade.2008). Small towns, however, play a more basic role in the internal trading patterns of Middle Eastern states. Agricultural goods flow into them for distribution up the urban hierarchy or export abroad, while the small towns distribute nationally manufactured goods and foreign imports to the countryside (Al-Rasheed 33). Further away from the centre are shops specializing in cloth and clothing, but mixed in with them are often traders in perishable goods. Its physical characteristics are narrow alleyways, old property, small open-fronted shops and workshops and a degree of spatial con- centration in the various types of activity. A fourth shopping zone lies outside the tradition bazaar, along modern streets and at major intersections (Cordesman 43). According to statistical results, Trade per capita is (US$, 2004-2006)and Trade to GDP ratio (2003-2005) is 75.0 (appendix 1). These results allow to say that Saudi Arabia succeeds in its trade policy in spite economic changes and crises occurred in the region. During 2000-2004 it was Saudi Arabia which came to dominate the Middle Eastern scene with an oil production which approached 500 million tonnes in